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Thinking out Loud about Old and new Rangers: Three Schools


I imagine I’m more of a 1 and 3. I try to take care of my vehicles, I’m not afraid of aftermarket ad ons, and I’m not afraid to put them to work.
 
I guess I'm just a little bit of all 3, when it comes to Rangers. To me, it depends on where the truck is in it's life. 1) If it's still shiny and looks new after 20-25 years, keep it that way, in the garage. 2) If it's still in decent shape but needs some minor work, try to get it back into road worthiness status and use it as a worker. 3) It's too far gone, one way or another, motors good but body is shot, or the body is good but needs all new everything else, then it's like a blank slate and you can put whatever part you want to on it.
 
Not long ago, I had a very interesting conversation with a friend who spent most of his career on the Ranger assembly line. He really enjoyed his work. After he retired, he spent his time restoring and selling Gen IIs. He's got a three car garage with a second floor, most of it packed with Ranger parts.

He said that there are three different schools of thought for Ranger owners. The first is the most common. That a truck is just another tool: hauls sod, works on the farm, carries lumber every day. These are worked hard, very hard: seldom washed, never waxed, repaired the cheapest fastest way, never with a second thought. I'll never forget the Rangers that work at a local Upull. Resurrected from junk, they are not much to look at, badly rusting out. One is made from a number of different color body panels which might even be taped or wired on. Say whatever you want, there is a certain beauty here. These trucks are survivors, not at all pampered. They still turn in a good day's work. I bought a cheap old rusty-but-trusty and drove it for many years.

The second school is a rarer breed. These are men and women who implicitly understand that they are driving what has been (or will be) declared an antique. They are into restoration and preservation. They buy OEM, New Old Stock whenever they can, or scour the bone yards looking for a still pristine, but dated, old part. They tend to be purests. My friend from the assembly line wasn't at all impressed when one day, I showed up with new aftermarket wheels and oversize tires. Then there was another occasion when I put on fender flares. "They should never go on a step side." he told me. If this is you, then watch the Sarah-n-Tune series on You Tube. You will love it, even find some inspiration there.

Rarer yet are those who ignore the purists, totally make theirs over, just because its fun. They see theirs as a blank canvas, a beginning point to cut and weld with no regard for looks in order to race the big Baja race. Maybe too they lift them up impossibly high, bolt on big bumpers, roll bars, and the biggest winch they can afford. Or maybe they go in the opposite direction, do a truxarosa build. This is definitely not me. I don't have the talent, the time, or the money.

Personally I love all three schools of thought. They each have a special place in the great big Ranger dream, a dream we have all dreamed at one time or another. One way or the other, we make our trucks over as they age. Working men patch them up like a two bit prize fighter, and keep them working hard, even if just for another year or week. Or we dress them up,live the grand homecoming dream of the very first day, that special day when they rolled off the dealer's lot. Or maybe, just maybe, we get creative and crazy, the more outrageous the better, just because we can.

Which school of thought are you?

Not sure. Either, Neither, or All the above.

I was not necessarily a Ranger fan when I got my first one in 2002. It was a rusted down 87 the guy had driven from North Dakota to TN with his wife and baby onboard, and just wanted it gone.

The body was as rusted as I'd ever seen due to North Dakota road salt, and it wouldn't start. After tugging around on a few wires, and cleaning up the ground to starter, it fired right up.

In spite of the brakes being non existent ( I had been forewarned ) I took off to my house several miles away through eastern Nashville, using the gears and engine RPM for brakes. After putting it up on Blocks I discovered someone had used a rubber hose to splice a rusted brake line ( Hence his " just wanting it gone " ) , and began chipping and wire brushing for the next 2 or 3 months in spare time and fair weather until my faltering Chevy LUV gave up the ghost. I missed the next week of work finishing it up and getting tagged emmissions and insured.

Until that time I had never noticed any Ranger over any other smaller truck, but found this one to be like-able, even laughing when hitting overdrive and seeing it drag down to nothing everywhere but on a longggg downhill straight.

Three years later while considering another vehicle, and considering facts I had learned in the meantime, That Ford had been investing almost as much in their light trucks as they were making on them simply to stay abreast of Toyotas and Nissans and other foreign light trucks who were attempting to put Ford out of business.

When looking for my next one the only place I looked was the newspapers Ford Trucks columns, specifically F150 and Ranger columns.

Sure enough I wound up with another Ranger, this time with Four wheel drive, have put 130,000 miles of my own on a 360,000 miles total vehicle, and could hardly be more pleased.

I don't know about older or newer, I only know I was happy with the first one, and I'm happy with the second
 
Not sure. Either, Neither, or All the above.

I was not necessarily a Ranger fan when I got my first one in 2002. It was a rusted down 87 the guy had driven from North Dakota to TN with his wife and baby onboard, and just wanted it gone.

The body was as rusted as I'd ever seen due to North Dakota road salt, and it wouldn't start. After tugging around on a few wires, and cleaning up the ground to starter, it fired right up.

In spite of the brakes being non existent ( I had been forewarned ) I took off to my house several miles away through eastern Nashville, using the gears and engine RPM for brakes. After putting it up on Blocks I discovered someone had used a rubber hose to splice a rusted brake line ( Hence his " just wanting it gone " ) , and began chipping and wire brushing for the next 2 or 3 months in spare time and fair weather until my faltering Chevy LUV gave up the ghost. I missed the next week of work finishing it up and getting tagged emmissions and insured.

Until that time I had never noticed any Ranger over any other smaller truck, but found this one to be like-able, even laughing when hitting overdrive and seeing it drag down to nothing everywhere but on a longggg downhill straight.

Three years later while considering another vehicle, and considering facts I had learned in the meantime, That Ford had been investing almost as much in their light trucks as they were making on them simply to stay abreast of Toyotas and Nissans and other foreign light trucks who were attempting to put Ford out of business.

When looking for my next one the only place I looked was the newspapers Ford Trucks columns, specifically F150 and Ranger columns.

Sure enough I wound up with another Ranger, this time with Four wheel drive, have put 130,000 miles of my own on a 360,000 miles total vehicle, and could hardly be more pleased.

I don't know about older or newer, I only know I was happy with the first one, and I'm happy with the second
This is a beautifully recounted story filled with interesting and revealing things about yourself and the way you related to transport and self reliance. This is strangely what the Ranger is to me. I have a race car - I don't drive it much, mostly I look at it and service it. I have a modern Mazda 3 with all the luxo stuff like leather, sun roof, subwoofer - I don't drive that one much either except to see if I can top 45 mpg (I have done 50 with it). It's too refined; the six speed manual transmission is too perfect, too effortless. I like the Ranger because it reminds me of who I am - simple, basic, humble.
 
Not sure. Either, Neither, or All the above.

I was not necessarily a Ranger fan when I got my first one in 2002. It was a rusted down 87 the guy had driven from North Dakota to TN with his wife and baby onboard, and just wanted it gone.

The body was as rusted as I'd ever seen due to North Dakota road salt, and it wouldn't start. After tugging around on a few wires, and cleaning up the ground to starter, it fired right up.

In spite of the brakes being non existent ( I had been forewarned ) I took off to my house several miles away through eastern Nashville, using the gears and engine RPM for brakes. After putting it up on Blocks I discovered someone had used a rubber hose to splice a rusted brake line ( Hence his " just wanting it gone " ) , and began chipping and wire brushing for the next 2 or 3 months in spare time and fair weather until my faltering Chevy LUV gave up the ghost. I missed the next week of work finishing it up and getting tagged emmissions and insured.

Until that time I had never noticed any Ranger over any other smaller truck, but found this one to be like-able, even laughing when hitting overdrive and seeing it drag down to nothing everywhere but on a longggg downhill straight.

Three years later while considering another vehicle, and considering facts I had learned in the meantime, That Ford had been investing almost as much in their light trucks as they were making on them simply to stay abreast of Toyotas and Nissans and other foreign light trucks who were attempting to put Ford out of business.

When looking for my next one the only place I looked was the newspapers Ford Trucks columns, specifically F150 and Ranger columns.

Sure enough I wound up with another Ranger, this time with Four wheel drive, have put 130,000 miles of my own on a 360,000 miles total vehicle, and could hardly be more pleased.

I don't know about older or newer, I only know I was happy with the first one, and I'm happy with the second
You had a LUV to?

I feel your pain.
 
You had a LUV to?

I feel your pain.

Hey, that wasn't a bad little truck, I had a number of escapades in it. Drove it between TN and OK a couple times, swapped motors and went from a standard to an automatic transmission, even though it was a half inch shy of fully meshing with the driveshaft. Had to go a county over to tag it even though the 80 LUV didn't have a catalytic converter stock they couldn't comprehend that. I don't recall why it was parked but it still sat beside a barn when I was moving and gave it to a scrapper

It really wasn't far removed from the Ranger either, given it's Izuzu connections and the Ranger's Mazda ;)
 
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These days it seems that people buy a car or a truck, drive it for a few years, then trade it in at the dealers for another. Not us! Folks here tend to be different. Three schools or not, they all have stories to tell about their trucks. They hang on to them, work them, fix them up, and drive them until they can't anymore. They may scrap them out in the end or they may gift a friend or relative. Rusty ol Ranger replied to this thread saying that it was kind of crazy for him to think of his 02 as an antique. Maybe we are all a little like that.

The stories of their trucks may be colorful, but not half as much as the owners themselves. There is a special caliber of people here. They are all hard workers, often go home with dirty hands and skinned knuckles. And at the end of the day, they always have time to swap their stories, and maybe, just maybe help each other out. We may not really think about it this way, but we are not just telling stories about trucks, we are telling stories about us.

I know I've learned a lot here...and had a good time along the way.
 
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2/3 + I live on gravel and the guy that painted my truck apparently didn't use any hardener so it won't stay shiny for longer than a couple weeks if I could keep the gravel dust off of it.

My goal is to make the truck Ford could have built and keep it looking like they did in fact build it the best they can (and keeping mods period inspired)
 
Hey, that wasn't a bad little truck, I had a number of escapades in it. Drove it between TN and OK a couple times, swapped motors and went from a standard to an automatic transmission, even though it was a half inch shy of fully meshing with the driveshaft. Had to go a county over to tag it even though the 80 LUV didn't have a catalytic converter stock they couldn't comprehend that. I don't recall why it was parked but it still sat beside a barn when I was moving and gave it to a scrapper

It really wasn't far removed from the Ranger either, given it's Izuzu connections and the Ranger's Mazda ;)

My LUV was the reason i bought rusty #1. It blew up in dayton ohio when i was moving from TN to MI.

Going from a 78 LUV with its 88hp or whatever to a brand new 87 Ranger with a 2.9 was like leaving a Model A for a maserati.
 
2/3 + I live on gravel and the guy that painted my truck apparently didn't use any hardener so it won't stay shiny for longer than a couple weeks if I could keep the gravel dust off of it.

My goal is to make the truck Ford could have built and keep it looking like they did in fact build it the best they can (and keeping mods period inspired)
Maybe you just named a fourth school of thought: UPGRADING: the kind of Ranger that Ford would have built if it could. Our little trucks were made in an era when every major manufacturer was trying to build an economical truck. The Ranger had to be competitive about price.
 
My first was an Isuzu. I drove it for 20 years.
It wasnt a horrible truck...really. Just underpowered as piss and uncomfortable.

It mighta been worn out too when i got it. I dont know. I know when the rod went it went quick. Literally heard it hammering by the time i pulled over i didnt have to bother shutting it off.
 
995279DA-DB86-4CE1-A237-969EE2E76E8C.jpeg

well … i’d say it’s mostly stock …
 

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