Family Heirloom: The chronicles of Sarah's Ranger

[Lefty]

Lucky for me, the frame on mine is not quite as bad. I started to restore it last summer but ran out of time. My hope is to finish when the weather warms. I'm not quite as OCD as Sarah. I will not be removing every bracket and bolt.

 

[Saddle Tramp]

That'll be cool to see.
Are you posting this as you do it?

 

[Lefty]

That'll be cool to see.
Are you posting this as you do it?

I didn't photograph last summer, but I could I could show more this time around.

 

[Saddle Tramp]

Sarah gets philosophical and pulls the timing chain cover in this episode.

 

[Lefty]

Sarah gets philosophical and pulls the timing chain cover in this episode.

Sarah gets philosophical at several points in the video. At one point she asks her friend Fred what his shop would charge to do a total frame off restoration repainting and replating every single nut and bolt along the way. He says, "about $50,000. She replies, "50,000 for a $5,000.00 truck." It's certainly something to keep in mind.

Maybe we need to ask, "Is it worth it if we choose to do the same?" Quite frankly I'm inclined to go down the same road with her, at least 80% of the way. How about you?

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Well, by the time she is finished it WILL be a new truck. A $50,000 new truck? Probably not. But definitely more than $5,000.

 

[Jazzer]

With new truck prices what they are now, frame offs make more economic sense if you’re not set on making good wages for your labor.

-Jazzer

 

[Lefty]

There was once a time when Model A Fords filled the junkyards and were resold on the cheap. And then the next generation found them, knew they were easy to restore, to hot rod, too. Suddenly those old cadavers became something more than what they once had been. They were no longer practical transportation. They became something of a dream of speed, a promise of paradise on wheels, and local legends were born in diners and drive-ins and drag races.

Today, of course, they are worth their weight in gold. Old men stare wistfully and grease spots in their garages and remember, "It could have been mine!"

Millions of those old rangers may have been made in the last 40 years. They've become as common as covid. The graveyards are full of them now. Maybe this is the dawning of their new day. Get one for cheap. Drop a hemi in it. Go off road, or totally truxarosa lowrider on the street. And, if you are worried about the carbon footprint, you can go EV.

What makes those old Ford Rangers so very special is that they can easily become a platform, or even a pedestal, for whatever soap box you want to stand on, for what ever you dream. Sarah-n-Tune remembers her "Grams." I remember my off roading days. I don't know. Maybe you remember going fishing with your dad.

The old Rangers are perfect. They won't even break a poor man's pocket book. They can be had for just a song right now. Done right, that Ranger becomes you...and only you, a very rare chance in this pricey day and age, to dream your own American Dream.

So why not put $50,000 of your own labor into them if you got the time? And what good is your time anyway if you are living without a dream.

I'm very grateful to see a documented frame off restoration. It's fun! It's even educational. But there is an even greater lesson to be learned here: that time spent working with your hands is never time wasted. It always means something much more. I hope my grand son is driving my Ranger some day even long after I'm gone.

My two cents anyway.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Model A's are on the other side of desirable now.

Aside from a few history nuts few can relate to them so they are just kinda meh to the masses.

Hot rods are going down the same path in general. The guys that pinned away in study hall in the 60's/70's wishing they could have a '32 coupe are getting fewer and father between.

Random observation, people seem to tend to gravitate towards things about the same age they are... which puts the vehicles in the "high school kid car" price bracket when said person was in high school.

My car club started out as a Model A club in the 80's, that is all that would come to our car show (advertised as "Model A Day") Now our 200-250 car car show might pull in one or two and there are no club members that own one.

Time marches on... and all that mushy stuff.

And it is getting to be a special occasion when a first gen Ranger or BII pops up on my local yard's website. When I was doing my V8 swap in 2010 it used to be an easy 3-4 in a yard a trip.

 

[Lefty]

Model A's are on the other side of desirable now.

Aside from a few history nuts few can relate to them so they are just kinda meh to the masses.

Hot rods are going down the same path in general. The guys that pinned away in study hall in the 60's/70's wishing they could have a '32 coupe are getting fewer and father between.

Random observation, people seem to tend to gravitate towards things about the same age they are... which puts the vehicles in the "high school kid car" price bracket when said person was in high school.

My car club started out as a Model A club in the 80's, that is all that would come to our car show (advertised as "Model A Day") Now our 200-250 car car show might pull in one or two and there are no club members that own one.

Time marches on... and all that mushy stuff.

And it is getting to be a special occasion when a first gen Ranger or BII pops up on my local yard's website. When I was doing my V8 swap in 2010 it used to be an easy 3-4 in a yard a trip.

Time flies, even with the newer gen II Rangers. They're getting harder to find. Do you think more people are hanging on to them for longer?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Time flies, even with the newer gen II Rangers. They're getting harder to find. Do you think more people are hanging on to them for longer?

Getting rare to see one on the road too.

There is a mix matched 2wd shortbed in town and mine, It think that is about it for first gen Ranger's I see anywhere in the county. A first gen BII works at a grocery store and is a full time dd.

I am usually the only Ranger period at whatever car show I go to.

 

[Lefty]

Getting rare to see one on the road too.

There is a mix matched 2wd shortbed in town and mine, It think that is about it for first gen Ranger's I see anywhere in the county. A first gen BII works at a grocery store and is a full time dd.

I am usually the only Ranger period at whatever car show I go to.

Sounds about par for the course, except old Rangers are far more common here in Saint Paul, MN. There was once a Ranger factory here. A lot of gen II Rangers are still on the road. Most, but not all, could use a little love.

 

[Saddle Tramp]

I think it's a mix of nostalgia and practicality.

The longer it lasts the better. Like us, they're survivors. Nobody gets through life without a few dings, scratches, and worn parts.

Definitely worth the effort.

 

[Saddle Tramp]

Damn the engine looks good, but that trim!

 

[superj]

there are a still a bunch of rangers here where i live too. mine is never the lone ranger in the parking lot at work