Hello,

I posted this truck on here years ago and ended up doing absolutely nothing. But I have decided to restore my 2002 F150 King Ranch that has 258,000 miles on it assuming I can get it done for a reasonable price. And no I am not sure what reasonable is, but it needs a new front window, new paint, work on the back window, and new leather in the front seats.

I have an answer for the leather but need recommendations for someone to do the work in the Austin-Waco corridor. I am in Temple and everyone around me is busy with hail. I would prefer Waco over Austin.

I came to this conclusion mainly because I trust this truck a lot. I know everything that has been done to it and it runs fantastic. I do not want to buy a newer one and end up with a bunch of problems that I have already addressed on this one. Also, my 18 yo Temple HIgh grad barber at Super Cuts said 'that truck is a classic'.

Going to give it to my daughter for Christmas and need about six years out of it before retiring it to the farm.

Any recs, or if you think I am wrong, are appreciated. Pics coming in just a second.

Cool truck. I had the identical Lariat version (2003). It was a great truck.

Sold our 03 Expy 5.4 with ~310K miles. Still ran like a champ.

Will reach out to him next week. Thanks for the rec.

Are you just planning on doing the hood? May sound crazy, but the Maaco in Waco does decent work for the money. The Maaco in Killeen not so much. If you want to paint the whole truck, this is the route I'd go. A traditional body shop/restoration shop would charge a lot to paint this correctly.

Hill Country Collision on the east side of Lampasas also does work like this. I had them paint the hood and roof of my X5. Paint work was good other than around the sunroof seal that they didn't remove or tape back properly. Communication needed work. They're a big shop and didn't look crazy busy recently. They typically have cars stacked in the lot. Had the work done a few years ago, car sits outside not washed, and no paint failure or other issues so far.

If you're open to wrapping it instead, I know a mobile guy in Killeen that's fair and does good work. Prob $2-3k to wrap the whole truck from him any color you want.

If you just need new door glass, Safelite is about the cheapest I've found in the area. You can usually find a $20-30 off coupon online, and they always seem to discount onsite too if you're nice and help with the work some. I've also used the glass shop in Copperas Cove that drives the trucks that look like fake DPS cars. They did a good job on a shattered rear hatch

The JY in Belton has a good selection of these trucks and you should be able to get the glass there. Not an overly complicated job to do the door glass. The door panels on those trucks don't even have any clips. Just a few screws and it lifts right off the door. It's awesome.

I'd swap out those headlights too! The Lightning or Harley variants look way better. Those yellow lights really age the truck.

That is a cool truck. Love the color combo. I bet you can polish those headlights and get them clear again for minimal $. I have two 16 year old boys who are about to start driving who would be all over a truck like that. I wish Ford would offer the King Ranch in Maroon today.

Personally, I would have the truck painted. This has 433,000 all original miles.....original engine and transmission. Wife Bought it brand new and no matter how hard you try, unless you store it in a vacuum, it's going to get damaged and age. This still polishes well, but it needs paint. Years at A&M Red Lot and love bugs have not done the paint any favors.

I am in the process of slowly restoring. I am going with Katskin leather in a couple of weeks. The factory leather has worn out where I slide out of the seat and I am going to lose the OEM badging but it is what it is. All interior dash parts that flake and peel can be repainted by your paint and body guy. Dents, if you have them, can be pulled and I would personally repaint it and I would spend a reasonable amount to do it. Cheap paint looks like ass. Doug is who I would recommend. If you don't want to spend the coin or the drive, I would at least find a place that does restoration work and will make it look good. It doesn't need to be show quality, but 'good' and MAACO are pretty far apart on the quality side.

But, no, I think keeping it nice is a good idea. I have zero desire to buy a 'new' truck of any kind. The newest Ford trucks I will seriously consider are 2007 year models.

Interior: Katskin
Dash: Paint
Headlights: Go aftermarket. These are discontinued OEM but you can find them on Ebay. I have bought a few used but nice ones, and they don't last long before yellowing. You can polish them, but htey will still be yellow. Aftermarket are cheaper and last longer. Just go that route.
Body Paint: Paint the hood and the top of the cab. If your sides will polish out OK, then you can get away with that. Just have them fade it and it will look ok. However, the top will look new and the sides won't even if they match otherwise, so be aware.

Who else read the OP and then immediately scrolled down looking for a 1ags post

My daughter is driving an '01 Z71 to high school. The paint is worse than yours. I was fully expecting to get it painted, but she honestly doesn't care. I would not drive it like that but you have to remember girls are don't think the same when it comes to cars

I'd recommend simply replacing the headlight assemblies as they are fairly cheap and will last much longer than a so-called restore. That, along with your paint job, will make a huge difference aesthetically.

The way new truck prices are now I may be driving my 2012 F150 for a lot longer also.

We're of the same mindset. Just was trying to give the OP a realistic answer in his area. Doesn't make sense to put a $10-12k paint job on the OPs truck at this point in its life.

I think we dive into projects at the same depth. I recently taught myself how to wrap cars because I have a few cosmetic hoopties that need paint work, I want them painted at a nice shop but don't want to drive around cosmetic beaters, and refuse to pay a shop $5k in labor for something I'm capable of doing. I'm all on board with a nice repaint when it makes sense A repaint of my "rare" Outlaw edition 6.0 F250 is on my list at some point so I 100% understand where you're coming from.

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new truck prices and the problems so many are having

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Man to me the bolded part is even more worrisome besides the fact that trucks cost entirely too much. You fork over $65K for a new truck to immediately have several problems, all within the warranty period. Is it basically just recommended these days to go with an extended warranty with all the electronics?

agsalaska said:

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Thanks again for the suggestion for MAACO in Waco. Drove up there this morning and got a quote for paint, new front headlight covers, and a new windshield for $4800. The paint job comes with a five year warranty which is all I really need for it right now.

That's exactly what I was hoping to find.

Take it in Sep 9. Will post after pictures.

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You mentioned needing a back window? Any other parts you need? I have a few supercharged lightnings/Harley Davidson edition Round noses that I'm parting out. Let me know, I'll hook you up