Western Movie: ’66 Ford Ranchero
We can hear the announcer’s voiceover on the movie trailer…”Ranchero! A love story about a rancher battling Mexican banditos starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Sullivan.” Some product planners at Ford must have seen the flick back in ’57 when the 1st Ranchero was born. It was a clever and successful move for Ford as the Ranchero became quite popular. When small cars became the thing in the ’60s, Ford called up the Falcon to represent the model designation. What we have here is really the the transition year between Falcon and Fairlane Rancheros. In fact, although the front end used Falcon bodywork, it was built on a station wagon based chassis different than earlier models. Which brings us to this offering.
It is hot. A wonderful 289 V-8 upfront, connected to a bullet-proof C-4 Automatic makes this a competent cruiser. The Ranchero has bucket seats and A/C that is said to work just fine. A proud blue/yellow California plate confirms the 3-owner California car history. It was restored in 2007 and the work is said to stand up well. The American Torque Thrusts look great and we wouldn’t change them. All in all The Duke would be proud to have this one on the Double Flying Bar Ranch. See it here on eBay.
Michael:
This is interesting to me.