For some reason, this year in New England, Spring is struggling to arrive. We probably say that every year. But in 2025 we’re nearly to June while temperatures have rarely moved out of fleece jacket temperatures. In order to give Mother Nature (and her efforts to have impact upon the seasons) a morale boost before she understandably just packs it in and goes to yell at the residents of another planet, we continue to engage in time-honored Spring rituals such as driving to those places where you can purchase pallet-loads of 40 pound bags of dirt.
Because if there’s one thing that Mother Nature intends us humans to do, it’s to redistribute dirt from one location to another.
4 bags of dirt, a week’s worth of groceries, 40 pounds of bird seed, 2 18 pound bags of charcoal, and a giant dog bed. Because you can never have too many dog beds.
My preferred vehicle for bagged dirt redistribution duty is of course my 2008 328i wagon. It’s “preferred” because it’s really the only vehicle I have conveniently available for such duties; and generally it does an admirable job. I even loaded the entire car with sod one year. Sometimes, it’s not enough to just move the dirt but you also need to move the whole lawn. That’s where sod comes in, and let me tell you (in case for some weird reason you’ve not experienced it), sod is a lot heavier than plain old bags of dirt.
Anyway — I need to get to the point here as this is supposed to be a short article…since I actually have plenty of dirt, as well as gazillions of electrons, to move so that I can pay for the dirt in bags that is clearly better than the dirt that’s just laying around — the other day when I was at the bagged dirt store I encountered what I’d rather have as soil transport.
That would be this thing, which I will call an Honest Little Truck. You call it a 2010 Ford Ranger XLT Regular Cab.
I may have the exact year off by a bit. It does seem to be a third generation Ranger. Given its multiple year run, this one could be plus or minus a few years from 2010. I’m sure that there is someone here who is expert on these things and will set matters straight in the comments.
What attracted me to this little red truck is its honest simplicity. This is a basic little truck. I was also particularly drawn to the single (a k a “regular”) cab. It seems nearly impossible nowadays to encounter a pickup on the road that doesn’t either have four doors or at least an “expanded” cab. I suppose the giant cab is fine, but totally unnecessary and wasteful for me and my dirt, trash, and occasional furniture hauling needs. The single cab echos back to a set of Chevy Luv (Isuzu) trucks we owned way back in the early 1980s. While the single cab was not terribly convenient for transporting stuff that needed to be moved in the interior of a vehicle (e.g., the giant dog bed featured in my car photo, above; although I have a memory of shoving one at least once into the narrow space behind the hinged seat), it was perfect for how the truck was in fact used on a day-to-day basis. That use was either as transport for one or two people, with the bed empty or hauling a lot of stuff that didn’t mind being in the open air. Like dirt.
This Ranger’s bed has definitely seen its fair share of dirt and who knows what all else. Therefore of course it has the scourge of most old pickups, including our Luvs from years ago. Rust. It was this Ranger’s rusty bed that actually prevented me from leaving a card with a “Call me if you want to sell” message under the Honest Little Truck’s wiper. See, while walking around this truck in the Dirt Redistribution Center’s parking lot, I took it for being much older than it in fact is. I’ve changed the rusty bed on pickups before, but I kind of figured that finding a replacement bed for something like this would be difficult and would turn an afternoon’s project into something rusty sitting in my driveway for an indefinite period of time. As much as I’d not mind that (since I make it a habit to keep my tetanus boosters up to date), I don’t need that.
Now that I know it’s actually newer than either of our current daily drivers, I might reassess my assumptions about body parts availability.
As if to goad me further, this one has a manual transmission.
It turns out that maybe the manual transmission versions of these Rangers aren’t so rare. I encountered another recently at the 2-year college automotive program that I evaluate for NSF (i.e., part of my real job).
This one – also a single cab – was found moldering away in someone’s backyard by one of the program’s faculty and was purchased for a song. An internal combustion engine vehicle of this age is just about perfect for students to learn basic mechanics. It’s not so old as to be an antique – so no carburetors or mechanical ignition systems – but it’s simple enough that they can get all of the alternator changing, brake bleeding, plug-changing practice they need. It’s also a 5-speed manual and so it affords students the opportunity to work on something with a clutch (albeit a rarity today). Assuming the kids don’t somehow destroy it during the learning process – and they’re good students, so I’ll bet it’s safe – it may eventually be sold to free up garage space. I’m keeping my options open there.
The one at the school is green. So there’s that, too.
Of course, if I were to make an offer on the automotive technology program’s Ranger, I’d want to offer a fair price; and that’s an issue as well. These things aren’t as inexpensive as what my dewy eyed memories and misconceptions indicate that a “basic” working vehicle should cost. My cursory research on used car sites indicates that a 2010 regular cab Ranger XLT with a manual transmission can easily run $10,000. Which given that the vehicle originally listed for just shy of $19,000 means that these things have generally held their value. Obviously I’m not the only person out there looking for a small, basic, truck.
Not that I’m actually “looking”.
Meanwhile, back to our Curbside Classic at hand, I think this one is continuing to work hard and isn’t likely to be for sale for a while. Unless those “Veteran” license plates indicate WWII, Korea, or Vietnam, in which case this one too could soon wind up parked after its owner stops driving altogether. At which point, between being “just an old truck” with a rusty bed and the extra pedal which means none of the grand kids could drive it even if they were so inclined…that’s how this Honest Little Truck will make it back to Mother Nature.
Which will be too bad for me and my small truck ownership aspirations. By the time I get around to it, about the closest I will be able to find in terms of newer small trucks might be this current generation of Ranger. I encountered this one at the stop I made shortly after seeing the 2010(ish) Ranger. It’s too bad I couldn’t photograph the two side by side. In addition to being a double-cab – which of course it needs to be in the modern market – and having four wheel drive (ditto), it’s also physically a foot taller and considerably more bulky than the 2010 Ranger. The bed itself is more of an appendage/shelf than anything functional.
And more to the point, honestly, this thing’s not a truck. At least not in my book.
All of the dirt that this new Ranger is going to haul is definitely going to be in bags. In which case, I might as well just keep moving my dirt in the BMW.
I did just replace the rear shocks.
Additional Ranger Reading on CC:
Auld Lang Syne: Ford Says Goodbye To The Ranger
COAL: 1995 Ford Ranger XL – Son of Ranger
COAL: 1998 Ford Ranger – “Winter Beater”
Curbside Review: 2020 Ford Ranger Lariat SuperCrew FX4 4X4 – Ford Has A Very Bright Idea
Tough little trucks. I had a friend who owned a base model Ranger, which I think he bought new in the mid-90s. The bed of the truck usually had a cooler, scattered beer cans, fishing gear, and sometimes snapping turtle shells. He regularly drove between northern Illinois and southern Louisiana. I think he put about 200,000 miles on the truck in the few years that he owned it, and knowing him, he probably had a friend change the oil at least 3 or 4 times during the life of the truck. The truck provided cheerful service despite the neglect!
It’s undoubtedly the difference in location, but I’ve never seen any pickup bed rust quite like that.
My sister had a ’92 Ranger XLT, with the regular cab, long bed, and 2.3 with a five-speed. It was a nice pickup but grossly underpowered – which is just what that lead-footed girl needed. That’s my only experience with Rangers.
While I need to get them scheduled, I have three pieces in the can of vehicles from my formative years. Two of them are pickups my dad had – a 1970 F-100 (a picture of which I’ve twice put in comments with no explanation) and a 1984 F-150. Both regular cab, 8′ bed, manual transmission, and six-cylinder powered. Those two, along with my ailing ’91 Dodge 1/2 ton, have got me thinking about pickups again.
So, the other day I was riding my bike home from work. The trail runs alongside the local Ford dealer. They had something I’ve not seen in years – a basic regular cab, two-wheel drive, F-150 with an 8′ bed. It was even black! The only option was the 5.0 engine. The sticker? $41,500. Hard pass.
The Rangers will likely have very long lives.
It does occur to me that not knowing anything about what this red Ranger has under the hood, it might not be the optimal engine and therefore could be rather underpowered or plagued.
Then again, for my needs, I doubt that power would be the prime consideration.
8′ bed, regular cab, rwd. Those would be my criteria.
I love these honest and simple Rangers. We inherited Grandpa’s ’08 XL a few years after he passed away. He managed to put 90k miles on it, and it had done dump duties for several members of the family after Grandpa, so it was no creampuff when we got it. The window sticker in the glovebox shows that Grandpa paid $17k for it new: It’s the complete strippo, with crank windows, AM/FM radio only, etc. But it runs like a champ, and it’s perfect for ferrying around music or camping gear. And it’s been in the family since new. Hope to keep it for many more years.
That’s pretty much what I think that this red one that I encountered is.
Long may Grandpa’s truck roll.
Buyer beware! Old Rangers were tough little trucks but the frames rotted out in salt country. They are mostly gone in my area.
A guy down the street from me used to have a Mazda version of this truck – single cab, manual transmission, and few options. I always admired it when I’d walk by. What stopped me from leaving “Call me if you want to sell” card on his truck was that he and his wife are exceedingly obnoxious people – but still I liked the truck. Sadly he replaced it with a Honda CR-V a few years ago.
Trucks like this have been on my mind this week because I’m finishing up an article on a Ford Courier, which I found curbside earlier this Spring… first one of those I’ve seen in decades. I miss these honest little trucks – it’s always good to see one still in use.
I bought a base version like this new in 2003. Paid $9,950.00 for it.
Excellent find! Of a once very common, and familiar truck, on American and Canadian roads.
Weather across the eastern part of Canada and the Northeastern US, has been significantly cooler than normal, for the past week. And earlier. With much cloud, brisk winds, and angry skies, at times. Today the warmth appears to be slowly returning to various regions, impacted by the cold air.
These used to be everywhere. Supercab versions were especially popular here in Ontario, as work trucks. And well-liked by country-living seniors. As their numbers declined, they were in-demand used vehicle purchases. FX4 versions especially, in demand. Sad to see these leave, the automotive landscape.
Warmth seems to be finally arriving down here. Let’s hope so, since I have positioned the dirt and embedded the plants in it, and I’d surely like them to grow.
Weather over a very large region, remains below average today.
See screen cap below. Boston at 60 degrees (6:00pm EDST) remains very cool. As Ottawa reached 75 today. Warmer double digit overnight lows in Massachusetts starting tonight, should help retain some of the daytime warmth.
That rust in the bed is easily fixable. Somebody who is competent with a welder could cut that out, bend you a new piece of steel and weld it in. Rattle can it with some red spray paint. The rest of the bed looks great for up north, usually trucks this old have big gaping rust holes above the rear wheels and rusted out rockers.
Ive never owned a Ranger, but from what Ive read it kinda depends on the motor if its any good. 4 cylinder, the 3.0 vulcan v6 are pretty much bomb proof. The 4.0 cologne v6 is a real piece of work. If its the same thing as the explorerer it has 2 timing chains, one on the front of the engine and one on the back. They like to break, getting to the back one by the firewall means yanking the engine out.
As for the reg cab on these old trucks, Ive had Toyotas with the reg and extended cab. That extra 2 feet of dry storage is a godsend if you use the truck every day. Unlike a reg cab full size truck, reg cab compacts are TIGHT inside. And on the toyotas you got better padded seats that leaned back, had armrests or a console/buckets, more sound insulation, they were a big step up in comfort. But for occasional use, reg cab is just fine, cant be picky when it comes to used cars.
I think you’re right about the welding. I might even be able to locate someone with those skills. Or better yet, in my imagination, I might be able to get that someone to show me how to do this myself and thereby add rudimentary welding skills to my collection of rudimentary skills.
It’s a dream.
By the way, and this addresses Jason’s comment above too, I think that the reason why this Ranger’s bed rusted the way it has is that there’s probably a story to this truck. That story may well involve the truck being rescued from lengthy “storage” outdoors. There were tell-tale signs of moss having lodged in areas like around the key-way chrome on the front doors and then being scrubbed off (but not very well). If the Ranger had sat outside for a number of seasons where the bed filled with stuff like leaves, that could explain the rust.
It’s possible that Grandpa’s truck sat around for some number of years before some relative (who didn’t need to re-register the truck, hence being able to keep the Veteran plates) put it back on the road and it resumed its dirt distribution duties.
Yes ;
This is a *very* honest truck, it was made to work and be reliable and dirt cheap to operate over a long time mileage wise, Ford rather dropped the ball when it came to rust proofing, these rust out even in the Desert .
I can’t tell you what year but it’s almost identical to my beloved 2001 base model Ranger, hand crank windows and all .
FWIW, rust free beds are in every junkyard in California, apparently ABS (?) bed liners were very popular, mine has one and the bed underneath was still pristine the last time I looked .
I never fail to be amazed at the good looking rust and dent free vehicles Californians love to junk .
These are good drivers too ! .
-Nate
I bought one of these new in 86. Drew Ford in La Mesa(San Diego) had 100s of them in all colors $5495 for the base single cab, 4 cyl,5 sp. 4 cylinders were the better engine in my opinion. Great gas mileage and bullet proof. V6s had head gasket issues.
Based on the front end, the red Ranger would be a 2004 or 2005 model. The tail lights indicate an ’01 at the oldest, but the steering wheel & gauge cluster from then–POSSIBLY all the way back to 1995 & shared with the then-new Explorer–were last used in 2003. My 2011 Ranger and my dad’s ’08 have the the same steering wheel & gauge cluster as the red truck, but have the front end, tail lights, & tailgate first used in 2006. So that would make the red truck an ’04 or ’05. Quite a few “minimal” changes to an otherwise stagnant basic design indeed!
I’ve got you covered with a side-by-side shot I took back in 2020 at Cromley’s in Saluda.
Rear view
I do love how the CC community pretty much always has you covered 🙂
Those photos, particularly this second one make my point exactly. And I have to say that I’m not too proud to admit that at my age, I’d so much rather be lifting something into the older Ranger’s bed than struggling to get whatever it is up into that new one. It’s just nuts (to me)…who the heck wants to lift something a foot higher to get it into their pickup?
Ditto Jeff my knees are shot big lifting isnt on the menu these days never mind that high.
I dont actually need a ute/pickup untill I do, I recently unloaded a storage shed of my parts and other stuff seats folded down in my hatchback gives almost a 180 cm load bed and my old utility trailer did it in two large bulky loads,
I did look at local Ford ranger/Mazda BT 50 utes for sale when I changed cars but a double cab is all I could find and the turbo diesel engine that is top of the range and makes less hp and torque than my Citroen, the V6 was dropped from the NZ market the diesel goes better and sold well but they are nearly all mordoor so I’ll just keep my hatchback unless a C5 wagon turns up at the right time/price.
I have the Nissan version of the honest pickup; mine is a 1998 XE 2wd regular cab with the 2.4-liter 4-cylinder, 5-speed manual, and hand-cranked windows. Come August, I will have owned it for 27 years (109,000+ miles) and it’s been perfect for my needs — light hauling plus transporting my bicycle to where I can ride the latter safely. The only real luxury is A/C, and it still works great after all these years.
Pic taken earlier this afternoon:
Looks great!
Please accept my virtual “Call me if you want to sell.” card. 🙂
Thank you! I plan though to hold onto it for a while longer.
As the former owner of a 1st Gen and pre-refresh Ranger, and the current owner of a Tacoma, I’m not a huge fan of the current Ranger. But I think it’s 5’ bed deserves some kinder words. The red truck featured by Jeff has a 6’ bed. Sure that’s 20% more volume than a 5’ bed, and that extra foot makes a big difference for hauling bikes or sleeping, but it’s not a huge difference for dirt. Five or six feet, filling one with soil definitely exceeds the payload. DAMHIK. And if it’s bagged, you can always make the pile a little higher; loose soil and just make sure your tarp is big enough to cover the mound. And when you’re shoveling it out, your muscles will appreciate working 20% less. The early Ranger was available with a 7’ bed which provides some nice sleeping room but even more opportunity to overload. I’m quite sure no compact truck offered an 8’ bed.
Not quite 8′, but our long bed 1981 Luv had a 7.5′ long bed.
https://www.xr793.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/1981-Chevrolet-LUV.pdf
I think the only less than full size to offer an actual 8′ bed were midsize trucks the Dakota and Toyota T100 I think everyone else with at least 6″ shorter. The one possible exception may have been the early Toyota 1 ton pickups, I know the cab and chassis fltabeds were longer but you could order them with a bed for a couple years and I don’t recall if they were longer then the regular pickup.
I am amazed at the number of old Rangers still on the road. And surprised at how many of those seem to be in very nice condition. A guy I work with has one that looks like new.
I sometimes wonder at the wisdom of buying dirt in bags (and absolutely refuse to tell my farmer brother in law when I do), but it’s certainly handy for those of us who only need small amounts. I once got 50 bags of mulch in my minivan.
I guess people who know what they have know how to take good care of them.
I agree that dirt in bags is handy, but it still seems to be counter to what nature intended.
I have a 1989 Ranger with a 2.3, 5 speed, and 3.45 gear. It was my daughter’s first vehicle (“daddy, I want a little red truck”). I bought it in 2000 for $1500. It served my daughter well and, in fact, taught 4 teenagers what a third pedal was for. It has never been loaded really heavy (since I have an F-250 for such), but makes a fantastic light hauler. This is a basic, no frills truck. It didn’t come with a radio or power steering. It has now rolled 337K miles without any major work to the engine. I have a spare 2.3L to rebuild for when it needs it. I have put 3 clutches in it since teenagers learning can be rough on them.
My two buddies have 1995 and 1997 Ranger trucks. Both are 2.3L, 5 speed trucks as well. The ’95 has 282K miles and the ’97 has 345K miles. Neither have had major engine work (head gasket on the ’97).
My brother in-law has a 1987 Ranger 4×4 with a 2.3L and 5 speed. We just rebuilt the transmission. Mileage is unknown since the speedometer hasn’t worked in the last 15 years.
I also have 3 Ranger parts trucks.
To say I’m a fan of Ranger’s is an understatement. I appreciate them for what they are and use them accordingly. Great little haulers that get (with the 2.3L) great fuel mileage. The 1989-1997 trucks were the optimum, in my opinion, for the 2.3L engine since the 1998 redesign made them bigger and heavier. Prior to 1989, the didn’t have the upgraded head and ignition.
Up until the start of this year, my daily drive was a 2003 Ranger “Cross Roads Edition”, which replaced my 1996 Ranger XLT in 2016 when it had attained 265 + K miles. Both red and short beds; the shell from the 1996 worked on the 2003 (and both resemble the lead truck in this article). The 2003 is a manual (five speed ) and I refer to it as “my ‘lil red two-seater”. As I realize the value on having a simple truck for home and yard work, I retired it from daily use, replacing it with a 2015 Kia Soul manual (six speed)… I refer to it as “the four-door Gremlin”! I hope to have both for a very long time.
And that’s really all I want…is a simple truck for mostly around home use. Although there’s a big part of me that whispers that that’s not enough reason to have another vehicle and thus I shouldn’t have such profligate aspirations.
Furthermore, if I did throw my oddly Calvinist principles to the wind and have one, it would still need to be able to drive me half way across the country on those whims where I needed to go pick up some big thing that simply didn’t fit in my car. I have no idea what that thing would be, but there’d sure to be something. So yeah, it’d need to be dependable enough to be a daily driver, even if I seldom used it for that.
Many years ago we found ourselves renting a 1995 Ranger to transport something we had built to its recipients over 200 miles away. It was a regular cab Ranger, 4 cylinder with automatic. We found that the regular cab was uncomfortable for us six-footers, and we couldn’t lean the seatbacks back for a comfortable angle. But when we needed to replace our elderly, run-into-the-ground 1979 Toyota pickup, we went for a two-year-old Ranger, this time with the extended cab, rear jump seats, and rear doors. We also wanted and got the 3.0 liter V-6 and automatic. It served us well for many years, and it made a big difference to us to be able to get the seats to fit us, not the other way around. Once in a great while, we had to transport passengers in those jump seats. Not fun, but they were good to have then.
I like smaller vehicles and detest the huge pickups dominating the road today, so I have some affection for the little Ranger.
People who own them seem to absolutely love them, but apparently the people who buy pickups new are not as fond given the dearth of new ones.
My Ranger story is thus. I was an electrician at a county hospital in the early 90s. We had what was probably a mid to late 80s Ranger as a loaner for whatever piece of junk was our normal pickup. A V6 with fuel injection according to the badges on the side, unlikely to be ad ons as it was a county government vehicle. Again, note FI V6, it ran like a 4 banger with a bad carb. Hard to start, coldblooded, gutless, you name it. I was actually impressed at how Ford had managed to make FI run like a bad carb.
The best was the Tee handle shifter for the A/T. IIRC you had to push a button, then pull it one way, then push it another, then pull again, then push it the other way, just to get to drive. So one day I decided to just give it a good hard yank to get it where I wanted it. And ended up with the Tee handle assy in my hand, not attached to the truck anymore. Oops. It did actually just push back on, seemingly no worse for wear, but I thought I was going to be in trouble for a while until I figured that part out. It was almost like something out of a cartoon. Never did like that thing.
That particular vehicle doesn’t sound like a good one. Must have been born on a bad day of the week. Or at least on a day where Quality Wasn’t Job One. Like, maybe Job Five or Six at Most.
Doesn’t necessarily have to be a quality issue. Something like that may also occur if scratches extending to the metal aren’t discovered in time and/or aren’t repaired with paint in time.
I kind of like the poor thing. Seems like an honest buddy.
We owned a 2000 Ranger XLT. Black over tan with A/C, stereo and a 4 cylinder 5 speed, it was simply a great truck. At the time, when we bought it used, it had some 160,000 miles on a new trans/clutch set up.
At one point, my job required me to go measure flooring for Lowe’s customers and I was driving that truck 1200 miles weekly! Plus it went from Ohio to Chicago and from Ohio to Virginia Beach.
Other than regular maintenance it was just a no break truck. Then, it happened. I was measuring a whole home for new flooring when I came out to see all the antifreeze had landed on the driveway. I was about 2 miles into the country when I thought it might limp back. No dice.
I traded it to a mechanic for some needed work on two other cars. I’d own another for sure.
So how many miles on it total when you finally stopped driving it?
It sounds as if that Ranger did you well and departed still being useful.
Honest simplicity indeed. Ok, I bought a new 2007 Ranger, well, in 2007. It’s got 135k on it and it is, and I have had countless luxury cars, the best vehicle I HAVE ever owned! It has been my work truck and my around the house pick up too. Just talked to a mechanic and he said that the new generation Rangers are junk. I will take this little white Ranger XLT with me to my grave…..
I have never owned a double or extended cab pickup, need the bed space for cargo or camping. Had a 1988 Ranger XLT with smooth running 60 degree 2.9L V-6 and Mazda-sourced 5-speed. First EFI vehicle and was amazed at how well it started and ran at high altitude in freezing weather. Otherwise, a simple machine.
Today, the regular cab K2500 is hauling a slide-in camper, so mini-truck no longer works. So, the base model Honda Fit (manual trans, of course) handles trips to Lowe’s surprisingly well. 40 gallon water heater actually fit in the Fit.