1970 Ford F-250 Dubbed ‘Gold Dust’ Is One Seriously Cool Camper

This 1970 Ford F-250 looks pretty vintage, but it has enough modern components to make it quite comfy.

With outdoor activities becoming even more popular in recent years, we’ve seen all kinds of cool overlanding machines and custom campers pop up. Typically, folks are converting vans like the Ford Transit into campers, but sometimes, we come across cool camping pickups like this amazing 1970 Ford F-250 owned by Soloman Lunger, the man behind the YouTube channel Ford Era. At the recent Lone Truck Showdown, that truck – dubbed “Gold Dust” –  just so happened to be in attendance, which made for a good time to take a closer look at this awesome build.

Lunger bought the 1970 Ford F-250 around two years ago and it’s quite literally his dream truck, as cliche as that might be. This particular truck also helped Lunger kick off his now-popular YouTube channel, too. Amazingly, he flew out to Idaho to buy the F-250 sight unseen, handed over the money, and then proceeded to drive it 3,000 miles home to Miami. From there, he began tearing it apart and building it into one seriously cool camping rig.

The previous owner has already treated the vintage Ford to an entire chassis swap using a 1996 Dodge Ram 2500 as the donor, which includes the iconic 12-valve Cummins diesel. From there, however, Lunger changed out virtually everything else, including the motor, which he replaced with a built version of the same oil burner that has an o-ring’d head, ARP head studs, a Diesel Power Source Turbonator VGT 467.7 Turbo, a titanium exhaust and charge pipes, and a Mishimoto radiator, intercooler, and trans cooler, as well as a CA Conversions Allison 6-speed gearbox.

Lunger then turned his attention to the suspension, which also received a big upgrade in the form of a 4.5-inch BDS Suspension long arm lift kit. That made room for a set of 20×11-inch Detroit Steel wheels and 37×12.50-inch Toyo AT3s. Inside the cabin, this vintage Blue Oval pickup features the seats and center console from a 2017 F-150 Lariat, Dakota Digital RTX Gauges, and a Restomod HVAC system.

Throw a camper in the bed, and you’ve got a very reliable, endlessly cool vintage pickup to drive around that handles, feels, and goes like a modern truck. And to us, that’s pretty much the definition of the perfect daily driver.

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Brett Foote

Brett Foote has been covering the automotive industry for over five years and is a longtime contributor to Internet Brands’ Auto Group sites, including Chevrolet Forum, Rennlist, and Ford Truck Enthusiasts, among other popular sites.

He has been an automotive enthusiast since the day he came into this world and rode home from the hospital in a first-gen Mustang, and he's been wrenching on them nearly as long.

In addition to his expertise writing about cars, trucks, motorcycles, and every other type of automobile, Brett had spent several years running parts for local auto dealerships.

You can follow along with his builds and various automotive shenanigans on Instagram: @bfoote.