My dad bought a truck with aftermarket headers installed and dual aftermarket glasspack mufflers. If you were going down a hill and let off the throttle, it would "popcorn" like you described, but not obnoxiously. It was loud when you accelerate quickly, though. Scared a horse once when he pushed the clutch in and revved the engine.
I'd personally rather have a fast, but quiet vehicle. Most vehicles people make loud don't really have enough displacement to warrant that much sound so it's usually loud AND slow lol
I looked it up and the 1987-1991 Ford F series trucks came with some carbureted trucks and some EFI trucks, so it definitely could have been a carb helping too :)
I'd personally rather have a fast, but quiet vehicle. Most vehicles people make loud don't really have enough displacement to warrant that much sound so it's usually loud AND slow lol