Red has a fairly new engine and transmission. Her 302 has all of 80,000 miles (we have no idea how many Red herself actually has), while her AOD transmission has about 50,000. In other words, while she may look a little rough, her "heart and muscles" are pretty strong! I don't have much to mess with here, aside from perhaps a tune-up and some minor adjustments to make her run a little better first thing in the morning.
BODY
Given the fact that most 1980s Ford trucks tend to be pretty rusty, Red is not too bad in that respect. She has some rust in the cab corners, and a little elsewhere, but her biggest body image issue is dents. I'm planning to try the old toilet-plunger trick to pull the passenger door back into shape. Otherwise, it'll be a matter of a patch here, a patch there, and then the $50 paint job. More on that later. Just think "Rust-Oleum."
INTERIOR
For a 20-year-old farm truck, to be honest, I expected worse. Instead, the place is pretty well all there, except for the radio (which is fine; I'll just buy a cheap AM-FM tape system). I'm examining options for covering the seat, possibly with a Wal-Mart-sourced cover or an old blanket. The dash is OK, and the floor mat isn't too bad, but I might redo that later on down the line if the mood strikes me.
TIRES & WHEELS
The tires, to be nice about it, are in pretty poor shape. I have a couple of decent used Kelly tires I took off of my old GMC van, so those may go on the front of the truck. The wheels are kind of a mix-and-match thing. Some are black, at least one is white. I haven't decided what color they'll be in the end. Possibly red, to match the truck, possibly white. I don't know yet. I am planning to get some hubcaps, since there are none presently. NPD has those nifty old-school doggy-dish caps that I like so well. Yes, they're $23.50 a pop, but I might have to do it. We shall see.