Choosing this specific salvage truck

This project starts with a downsize. The F-250 had gotten too tall for the kids and aging family members to climb into comfortably, but towing a 6,500-lb Airstream still had to work, and the truck still had to look right doing it.

The search had a specific checklist: a 3.73 axle, adaptive cruise, a moonroof. On top of that, the plan going in was to find a salvage truck whose existing damage happened to land on the same panels already slated for replacement anyway — bumpers, fenders — so that fixing the truck and building the Raptor-inspired look wouldn't mean throwing away good factory parts. This 2023 F-150 Tremor 5.0L V8 fit.