photoshopped?
So, no one else noticed the photos on page #1 and page #4 are the same, just one is photoshopped to make it look different? (the one in the parking lot, with the white truck behind it)
I'm not sure which is the original. What's different is the front grill and bumper colors, and the missing rear double tube bumper in black. Also, the side graphics/stripe.
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I've got one of these original Rangers. It's an '88. Black with silver trim paint, and aluminum diamond plate accents. Name on the tailgate says "Southern Coach".
Originally bought from a dealer in NJ, by a girl. Dad was a Ranger aficionado, and he chased after her for years to sell it to him. Transmission went bad (auto), and it sat in a shed for some years until a barn collapsed on the shed, and she decided to sell it to him. Couple dents from that incident that he never fixed.
He had it changed to a stick, and drove it for some years until he blew the 5spd case open. I never got the details as to how that happened. He used it as a toad behind motorhomes or trucks he was delivering or picking up. Had a towbar permanently mounted on a brushguard, but it was all steel, and heavy. I swapped it out for an aluminum one, to better match all the aluminum trim it has.
He got a new 4x4 supercab, and I got this from him. Put a just rebuilt auto trans from an '87 BII in it, which lasted until I got back to CA. Been sitting since '05. I move it around once or twice a year. I'm planning on having the trans rebuilt, but I have a couple other Rangers in the queue ahead of it. I've got a stick trans that could go in it. Haven't decided.
I'll probably sell it when I get the trans situation sorted out.
My truck has that same double tube rear bumper, which I gather from a comment by dad is the original one.
It also has that large moon roof, and sliding rear window. They also appear to be original. Has a hood scoop with Southern Coach lettering. Non-functional scoop, I think.
These trucks have the cab/chassis partial build plate from Ford. The story I got is that the bed builder company got them from Ford sans bed, added their dress-up bits, and then sold them through any Ford Dealer that would order them.
Unfortunately, Ford decided they could sell more of them, and copied them to make their "Splash" model. That put a hurt on the bed maker, as Ford stopped letting them compete directly, but Ford never sold enough of the Splash to make it worth their while, so they dropped it after a year or two. (A car manufacturer has to sell a LOT of a particular model, or price it very high if sold in small numbers. Cost a lot to stamp out bodywork and fab the associated parts to match. They couldn't do either with the Splash, so it went away.)
In the meantime, the bed maker started dealing with GM to do the same thing. No idea how that went. I think they were also doing van conversions/hightops and other add-on body parts, but I don't have any details.
No idea how many were built. Dad only saw a couple others over the following years, and he traveled a lot in the PA/DE/MD/NJ and FL/east coast area. Also out to AZ/CA a lot in the 80's-90's. He ran a Ford dealer's bodyshop in the 70'-80's, and worked on the Rangers when they were newly issued. He liked them, and specialized in them in his own shop until he had to retire. Besides this truck, his preference was the diesel models. The Mazda 2.2 and the 2.3 turbo Mitsubishi versions. He started collecting them in the 80's, along with the Dodge/Mitsubishi D50 diesel models. There was even a 4x4 diesel Ranger.
I'm surprised he never put a diesel in this custom truck. He had a virtually new Mits/turbo engine mounted on a pallet for many years. Never in a truck, just a training aid for Mitsubishi Importer.
He died in '07.