“The 1959 model year was the first time Ford built light truck 4x4s in-house. Up to that point, they were farmed out to Marmon-Herrington (M-H) for conversion using a Dana 44 closed knuckle front axle.”
http://www.therangerstation.com/resources/history_of_4x4.htm
Now they might have called them a different number, but they were selling 4x4 pickups long before 1975.
“Now they might have called them a different number, but they were selling 4x4 pickups long before 1975.”
True but they were a different truck than an F-150. The F-150 came into being because of unleaded gasoline. In 1975 the rules changed so that the F-100 half ton pickup had to use unleaded gasoline but the three quarter ton F-250 could still use leaded gasoline. Ford brought out the F-150 which had a three quarter ton payload rating but used five lug rims and tires rather than the six lug type on the F-250 thus getting around the rules on the unleaded gasoline. The F-150 sold so well that Ford dropped the F-100 and soon it didn’t matter because the three quarter ton pickups had to use unleaded gas anyway. What I said was true, you could not buy an F-150, let alone a four wheel drive F-150 fifty years ago, they did not exist. I didn’t say you could not buy a four wheel drive F-100.