This 1994 Ford F-250 Has the Wrong Diesel and Still Somehow Sold for $32,000

You don't need me to tell you that old trucks are going up, up, up in value. Squarebody Chevrolets and first-gen Dodge Cummins pickups have landed in collector territory with prices that are higher than ever. The same can be said for '90s Fords, so what's so special about this 1994 F-250 with a stick that just went for $32,000 on Bring a Trailer?

Even though that's still a lot of money, it's far from the most expensive Old Body Style Ford ever sold. I mean, a crazy-low-mile dump truck with the 7.3-liter Power Stroke from the same era went for nearly $85,000 last year. But this one from Specialty Cars, Trucks, and Classics in Idaho isn't a Power Stroke—it's a 7.3-liter IDI.

That engine isn't nearly as vaunted in the truck world. It features indirect injection rather than the Power Stroke's hydraulically actuated, electronically controlled unit injection (HEUI), and it's significantly down on output. The shared displacement leads people to believe they're the same, but really, it has more in common with the 6.9-liter IDI that preceded it. Naturally aspirated 7.3-liter IDI trucks topped out at 185 horsepower and 358 lb-ft of torque, while turbocharged examples like this one made 190 hp and 395 lb-ft of torque. Compare that to 215 hp and 425 lb-ft of torque in the Power Stroke that debuted in MY1994.5 pickups.

Strangely enough, 1994 Ford F-250s were offered with all three diesel engines as well as a couple of gas options—the 351-cubic-incher as well as the legendary 460. We've seen several examples powered by the latter V8 bring more money than this truck, but I'm not finding any other IDI that's sold for so much scratch.