automatic

[mrmallard]

wen did ford stop putting stick shifts in the ranger

 

[stmitch]

I don't know that Ford ever officially stopped putting manual transmissions in the 4 cylinder trucks. They start to get pretty scarce around 05 or 06 though since most of the 4 cylinder Rangers sold after that were fleet trucks where an automatic makes more sense.

 

[RonD]

Back in the early days of automobiles there was only manual transmissions, some were "4 on the floor" others were "3 in the tree", floor shifter and column shifter both manuals.

When automatics first came out the manual transmission started to be called a "standard" transmission, because it came as standard equipment, automatic was optional.

As said above, in 2000, and even earlier, automatics became the "standard" transmission, and manual was the option, and for some models there was no manual option, if you wanted a stick shift then you bought another model
Currently if you want a manual transmission on any truck be prepared to pay extra for that "option", $650 to $2,000 extra

Rangers always had both available, buyers choice.
Like it or not most people wanted automatics so if you are shopping for used Rangers most will be automatics, but there will be a higher percentage of manuals than in the used car market because many truck buyers wanted manuals.