Try to find one at your Ford dealer that isn't tricked out like a gangsta-mobile and priced north of $35K. The entire auto industry seems to have decided that no one buys trucks for work any more.
Try a search on someplace like cars.com. The main brands have basic work models, sometimes with manual everything! Or they did until very recently.
In-stock ‘work models’ are usually handled by dealers that emphasize their trucks and commercial vehicles.
I found the solution to that at my local Ford dealer and it was simple. I just marched in over at the fleet sales side of the dealership and told the nice gentleman that I wanted a truck, with my specifications.
He poked around on the computer a little bit, printed off a window sticker, grabbed it out of the printer and wrote the "real" price on it, and said "We have this truck and two others like it. You can buy one for this much."
I started hemming and hawing some and he said "I sold 720 trucks last year. Either way is fine with me."
The next day I went in a bought a truck for, uh, a few thousand less than the amount you mentioned and it has a V8 instead of a V6, automatic transmission, 4wd, anti-spin differential and even some convenience features I didn't expect to have.
Vinyl floor so that when I get it dirty inside it doesn't even matter. Nice radio/CD too, not quite premium sound but pretty good when some good music comes on. I don't carry CD's in the truck...
If I had wanted just a RWD, standard cab, V6 really basic work truck it would have cost even less. They really did me right.
I don’t work for Ford or the dealership, BTW. :)
In my experience, the best Ford bargain you can get is an F-250 4WD beer can.
Right now, they are 31k new, with limited options - phone, radio, power mirrors, power windows, vinyl. Snow plow and trailer package, like that. Nothing fancy.
I agree about the F-150s—they seem to be mostly suburban toys. But I wanted a work truck, something capable of pulling a loaded four-horse GN through a mountain pass, and I am not willing to pay for decorations. So I bought a 250 Superduty. No bells or whistles, a plain Jane truck, but it does the job and gets great gas mileage. It surprises a lot of people when this little blonde lady hops down from the cab, when they’re expecting a Mexican landscaper to get out of such a truck. :-)