1973 Ford Courier: Regular Car Reviews

One of my uncle's had an early '70's model Ford Courier, which my high school aged cousins, his son and daughter, used to go to and from school, work and just knocking around town. It was one of the first vehicles besides the Ford 9N tractor, that I helped to drive.

I didn't say I drove it, I "Helped" drive it. The Ford Courier was where I first learned about "Gear Patterns" and how to shift. Which came in very handy as on the tractor, you didn't shift, you just put it in gear and let out the clutch. S-L-O-W-L-Y

The older Ford 8N, was the first vehicle I actually drove. I think I got it up to 6 mph. And for a 7 year old boy, that was pretty fast enough.

The actual first vehicle I drove was my uncle's 1967 Ford F100 with an inline-6 and three on the tree.  The second truck I drove was my cousin's Dodge D250, which had an automatic transmission.

Now I LOVED, driving any of the vehicles on the farm.  But I LOVED driving that old Ford F100.  The manual transmission let me feel in more control, than my cousin's Dodge.  For the next few summers I spent on the farm, I begged my uncle for that little Ford Courier.  By now both of my cousins had graduated from high school and one joined the Army the other was going to college to study agriculture.

Alas, it was not meant to be.

As I was ending my school year and getting ready for my summer sojourn to the farm, my little brother was born.  And mom and dad needed me at home to help around the house.

So the summer of my ninth year, 1977, was the last time I saw that little Ford Courier.

I found out from my cousin, that he took it when he went to college, yes his sister is the one who joined the Army, and became a nurse, while my cousin Del, took the little truck to college where after 5 years of studying and partying, my cousin graduated with his Masters and the little truck was about destroyed.

So the Courier got traded in on a new Ford F250 Crew Cab.

Of all the vehicles I miss from when I was younger, I miss my Saab 900 3 door, my Datsun B210 and that little Ford Courier.