While visiting fellow ex-TTACer Edward this past Wednesday in Portland, our walk-to-lunch conversation about life after TTAC was interrupted by a lawnmower. Looking towards it, I see that its owner-operator ferries it to his jobs in a somewhat unusual rig. Well, it is Portland after all, and nothing is unusual there, but a bicycle-ferried lawnmower might have been less conspicuous than this 1979 Ranchero. “Nice truck!” I shouted to the owner. “Nice truck my eye” was the droll response.
This generation Ranchero has the unique distinction of being a center-cab vehicle, with a hood as long as the bed.
Kind of like this.
I owned a 66 El Camino but never could see myself driving one of these. Had the chance. Stick and big six. Probably would have been better than a lot of choices I have made.
I wish the owner had expanded on his seemingly derogatory comment but I do not doubt that the CC Commentariat can easily fill in the blanks. This looks like a big fat bloated LTD had the garage door close on it prematurely.
the long hood and crappy lines after the cab just make this a pig of a car— without even delving into the wasteful, bloated motor.
Last year for the the Ranchero. :_( There was a coachbuilder who tried an aftermarket concept on the 1981-82 Fox-body Fairmont Futura named Durango but I think Ford should had built a Fox-body Fairmont. I spotted one “Fairmont Ranchero” who’s not one of these Durango aftermarkets conversions. http://www.concoursdlemons.com/forum/showthread.php?t=122
A missed opportunity for Ford, they could had continued the Ranchero on the small Fox-body LTD after the Fairmont retirement as well or even the Mustang. What might have been….
Speaking of “Mustang Ranchero”, here a customized 1966 “Mustero” (unless it could be a “Rancherstang” 😉 ) then I spotted on Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com/2011/12/21/ebay-find-of-the-day-1966-ford-mustang-mustero/ and one 1968 but no 1979-93 Fox-body “Mustang Ranchero”
This may be my favorite LTD II.
I see what you mean on the centrally located pilot house. But I am thinking that this one is more barge than train car.
Yes, that is more like it.
I always wondered if you owned one of these, and went to the junkyard to grab a hood for it, could you fit the hood in the bed?
Sure. And you could use the old hood as a ramp for your lawn mowers.
Heh. I use the tailgate of my truck as a ramp for the lawnmower. Kinda awkward, but it beats trying to lift the damned thing into the bed.
Even as a child I thought these were odd looking with the extra long hood. Time has no changed my opinion. It always makes the front tires look too small as well.
You’re right, a bicycle-ferried lawnmower would not get much attention in Portland. We have a local mattress shop who delivers by bike. Really good shop too, we’ve bought from them twice. They delivered to us by truck.
Love that center-cab comparison!
Clearly the inspiration for the bit on Portlandia about the bicycle powered movers.
I <3 Carrie Brownstein. Between the bands Sleater-Kinney, Wild Flag, and the show Portlandia, she's about the coolest chick in the universe. I understand, however, that she and I both prefer the ladies. Oh well, I'm married anyway.
When I lived in Atlanta back in the early 90’s there was a small-time handyman/contractor who did all of his deliveries and shuttling of materials by bicycle. It was very strange to come upon this bicycle and homemade trailer pulling several rolls of pink fiberglass insulation and a bunch of 2″ X 4″ X 12′ lumber in midtown traffic.
I’ve never really noticed the proportions on these things but picture #2 really puts it into perspective. The cab looks downright tiny on these! I think these Fel Caminos & Torino Wagons were more attractively styled than Zachman’s favorite GM competitors…mainly the taillight & rear bumper configuration.
Hey, that one’s a GT to boot.. My favorite year would be the ’72: make mine green with 429CJ please.
My great-uncle drove Rancheros for years as a more comfortable way to drive his ranch to school commute (teacher/rancher). His last one was the *the* last Ranchero built. I don’t know what happened to it when he passed, but I wish I’d been in position to buy it.
http://hooniverse.com/2011/02/10/hooniverse-truck-thursday-a-last-year-ford-ranchero-with-only-2300-miles/
It was very similar to this one, with, if I recall correctly, bucket seats. There was a commemorative plaque, and the GT trim was in gold, I believe.
He also had a nice LeSalle, ’49 Ford, and a ’55 Crown Victoria Skyliner.
I had a high school shop teacher who drove one of these. He rounded a curve one night to find a bull standing in the middle of the road. When the carnage stopped, the Ranchero was totaled, the teacher crawled out unhurt, and he said the bull stood up, mooed once and then keeled over dead.
Beef BBQ on the hoof!! I wonder who got the carcass?
It was a bumper crop!
(ba-dum! I’ll be here all week! Try the veal!)
A friend’s wife once hit a deer while driving in either Kentucky or West Virginia, I can’t recall which. An outdoorsy looking guy in an old pickup pulled over and asked her if she was going to want that deer after the police got done. She told him that he was welcome to it. Sort of the good ol boy equivalent of “ya gonna eat that?”
I ran around a corner one night late in 2008 into a herd of stampeding cows coming my way. Skittled 3 of them, one took out the bumper/lights/grille then slammed down onto the bonnet, up the driver’s pillar, over the roof and came down beside the car where it proceeded to kick in the doors. I can still see its head coming through the windscreen at me… Every panel was damaged except the left-hand (passenger side) back door. The car (2005 Mazda6) still seemed to run and drive, but I found out after driving it home that most of the intake and injectors were crushed and sprayed fuel everywhere as I drove…
NZ$8,500 later, the lease company had fitted had new panels down the RH side and forward of the windscreen, repaired the pillar and roof etc and repainted it. The lease was up a month after the repair and they sold the car to me for $10,500. Four years later my sister has it, it still goes great, and is still worth more than she paid for it. But rounding the corner to see the cows was horrible, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget the cow’s head coming through the windscreen at me…
Speaking of shop teachers, I remember my metal shop teacher (whose lectures would wander) telling us one day that in his opinion El Caminos and Rancheros were neither good pickups or good cars
I had 2 uncles that both had Rancheros. Rancheros were the cool “pickup/SUV” to have in the 70’s. They were both in construction and both of them had CB radios with the huge antennas on the roof! They would have fit right in with the Ford brochures of the day showing a foreman at his site with the hard hat on and blue jeans looking at an architectural drawing on the front hood of his Ranchero! LOL I remember thinking how big those vehicles were and how small the interiors were, barely fitting 3 people if you had a bench seat. I also rememeber how weird it was to have “BROUGHAM” on the door panels of a GT Ranchero. I guess it was Ford saving money by using the same style interior door panels from the LTD II and not coming up with a special GT logo for the doors. Go figure!
A new term, “Center Cab Styling”. I like it, and it sure fits here. IMO, the GE centercab locomotive has much cleaner lines then the Ford! I liked the looks of the Falcon based Ranchero, but with this LTD model, you can see the future design malaise of bulk right here in this 79 model. The Ranchero was one of the holdovers from the Lee Iaccoca years. It’s somewhat ironic this Ranchero came from the same company that gave us the lightweight and clean looking 79 Mustang. And I would venture to guess the owner was thinking of his near single digit fuel mileage when you complemented him on his beast!
In my quest for a small work truck (mostly stalled by lack of money) I consider Falcon-based Rancheros, and the last generation El Camino. I wouldn’t touch one of these with somebody else’s torque wrench.
I was issued one of these (an earlier version, I think it was a ’65 or ’66 – much smaller than the subject) as my company “truck”. The rest of the company trucks were bright yellow with the company logo prominently displayed on the doors.
My job at the company required stealth. Hence, my powder blue Ranchero.
I really hated that thing. It would occasionally decide to lock up, steering wise, so that you couldn’t correct it but had to somehow control its predetermined trajectory as best you could. Once, just south of Eugene on I-5, it sent me into the right hand shoulder where I ended up about 10 feet below the highway.
Fortunately, after coming to a stop, it again decided to function properly and I was able to make my way back up onto the Interstate where the grade was less steep.
Despite these mechanical deficiencies, it did accomplish its mission. The people who were not supposed to know where I worked, did indeed not know where I worked.
Your power steering fluid was low. My Galaxie did that to me on a trip when I lost PS in a sweeping turn on the interstate at 70 mph but was able to turn the wheel with brute strength and then the PS came back. What the hell?? I stopped, had my wife turn the wheel while I looked around under the hood and I saw a tiny, tiny pressurized jet of PS fluid arcing right onto the exhaust manifold and disappearing in a cloud of smoke. That explained why no fluids were collecting under the car before the trip. Since PS hoses for a 30 year old car were pricey and power steering fluid was cheap, I deflected the jet with some duct tape, and routinely replaced the tape and topped off the fluid when I changed the oil. It worked just fine until the car was eaten by the mildew monster three years later and then sent to the scrapper.
That explains it. Thanks.
Nice to get these problems sorted out, even if 40 plus years after the fact.
I’d rather have a 60s Torino based model with the 240 six. Less complex, easier to fix and anything gets better mileage than this era car. I routinely got 9.9 mpg on trips with my 78 Cougar at 65 mph with the a/c on.
Me, it would be a 1972. Same basic body; but I think the front clip has a somewhat shorter hood.
It’s only my memory; but I have plenty of memories. Around the corner from my house, on my walk to high school, was the local Ford dealer. And in late 1972 to around June 1973, he had a ’72 Ranchero he COULD NOT SELL.
I don’t know why. At age 14 I wasn’t versed on the unsaleability of six-cylinder engines in land yachts; or how awkward three-on-the-tree was in such a car. It was undecorated, but not unattractive in bright red.
It eventually went away; I know not where. But that original grille on that originall blaze of originality that was the Gran Torino; that on a Ranchero body….where do I sign, dammit?
Someone maybe ordered that I6 Ranchero and balked, leaving it sit on the lot. But, if found now would be an interesting Car Show conversation piece.
Nice find & write-up Paul.
Pic 2 – any wonder why those of us outside NA have ‘trouble’ with 70’s full-size cars? Having a coupe body, or indeed a sedan, doesn’t make that front overhang any less egregious.
i have a 79 with a 71 460 but i can hardly tell its so long actually parks itself