Here is my first, only and current Ranger. It's an '83. I rescued it from the pound...Translation: I bought it from the city impound lot. Believe it or not, the previous owner abandoned it on the interstate when the old 2.0L gave up the ghost.
My plan is to re-power it with this 5.0 from a 2000 Explorer and use it as my summertime daily driver.
I would love to find that in my local pound. Can hardly even find one around here in decent shape. They are fairly low rust, but owners beat them all to hell. Good plan for it, doing very similar with my current first gen.
My first not long after it was painted, when I first got it it had tiny tires flaking silver paint, painted grill, and both exhaust dumped on pass side. Was painted on New Years Eve/Night of 00-01, and started driving it that year.
After it became an organ donor in 2008 (or was it '09?):
Planned recipient (plans have changed to Explorer V8):
