I had the pleasure of meeting the owner this afternoon and going over Ol' Bub with a fine tooth comb with her.
My knowledge of this truck dates back to 1982 or 1983 when I was a skinny little 13-14 year old Bronco geek and the truck was on auction at the local county maintenance yard. It has a Denver DSO but I have no reason to believe it didn't spend the first 14-15 years of life anywhere else than as a county vehicle in Prescott, AZ. As noted, it's a U15 wagon that came with a bench seat and bulkhead (no seat holes in the bed).
It was sold to the parents of some kids I went to school with that lived about a mile from our home. They had it for a few years and then sold it to the parts guy at our local Ford dealership. I'm pretty sure he's the one that put the half cab on it (fiberglass) and installed the Windsor along all the doodads. I saw it around town quite a bit during that time as he used it as a DD. Then it was sold to a guy in our Bronco club who showed it at local car shows, etc. The ownership is a little fuzzy then but it went to the present owner in 2006.
Bub has a lot of add-ons from the 80s like Rancho RS5000 shock absorbers and steering stabilizer, Ventshades on the windows, sunroof, modular steel wheels, Grant steering wheel, AM/FM cassette radio, K-Bar-S style paint on the scoop to to let everyone know what engine you have and chrome ashtray and glovebox door (and diamond plate sill covers).
I took Bub for a drive this afternoon and she drives great! The 351W idles smoothly and pulls strong - oil pressure is good. She tracks straight and true and the Lincoln steering box is tight. The transfer case shifts well as does the Hurst shifter on the 3 speed. The turn signals work as do all the gauges.
The truck has air conditioning but the current owner has never used it nor has she used the auxiliary tank (it's probably cracked). As she noted, the floorboards do have rust - we see that even with longtime AZ trucks (mine had it too) due to cowl leaks and sometimes water soaking into carpet/padding etc..
Todd Z.