Slick 60's

Welcome to the new 65, 66 Ranger forum, I will copy the Ranger Registry here in larger print for all to see. Please feel free to make comments and suggestions. If you own a Ranger please feel free to add pictures of your truck. If you don't own a Ranger you are also welcome to post Ranger pictures here. If any of you see a Ranger and are able to get a picture of it, please try and get a picture of the VIN plate as well.

My 65 Ranger serial number F10K677680 built April of 65 at the Kansas City assembly plant. This truck is an original 42,000 mile truck.

All Right Michelle!

At this point, I only have pictures of pieces/parts and disassembly, most of which are on the "Projects and Builds" page.

One of these fine days, in the (hopefully) not too distant future, I can load some pictures of my '66 Ranger.

I do have a lot of pictures of individual parts/pieces that are Ranger specific and could add those to mix if/when anyone else needs to see then for reference purposes.

Until then, I will be more than content to view any of the newly posted pictures.

I've been working with Michelle a little bit over the past week. We seem to share a certain draw to the early Rangers.

Michelle, it looks like a "racetrack" console lid in that one picture. Like the 1965 brochures showed. Is your truck currently sporting that lid? Not as common, I believe. It looks like you missed a D when you typed your VIN above, not in the registry. How long do they let you edit things on this site?

Mine is a 1966 F250 Deluxe Camper Special Ranger with 352 and Cruise-o-matic. It has the Parchment interior with console - code U81. It has a blank color code on the warranty plate, but Max knew it was Sauterne Gold and Wimbledon White for the Tu-Tone paint job, which it does appear to be in fact. Sauterne Gold is a car color (Mustang, Galaxie, etc.) not typically offered on the trucks in that same year without special order. It also has gold carpets from the factory. So far it is the highest VIN number I have found among surviving 1966 Rangers. There was July and part of August, though, so someone come up with a warranty plate showing a Ranger body code and higher VIN number. It'll be a challenge of sorts. Has to be some out there still.

F25YR874778. San Jose built June 1966 and purchased by Max on October 4th, 1966 at Garner Ford in San Bernadino, CA. Rather than retype all or some of it here I'll just link you over to my thread of the FTE site. My console has the single strip of chrome down the top of the lid. Not every Ranger got a console as they were optional on Rangers. Because it was a California truck all of its life there is almost zero rust-through. Very solid truck, rust-wise. But, no lack of surface rust. I've been gathering NOS parts for it, like the body trim moldings for example, and getting lots of little pieces restored back to a less weathered look.

Click Here:
http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/12668 ... anger.html

F100 production outnumbered F250 production by a factor of approximately 4 to 1 and this seems to hold roughly true for the surviving Rangers we know of so far. Of course, all F250s were long bed.

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Chad, I am very glad to have you over here to give me a hand. All you Ranger fans can thank Chad for rekindling the Ranger fire, if it were not for him I would not have put the Ranger registry back up. I had many people over the past couple of years ask me when I was going to put the registry back up. I had been thinking of doing another website, then Chad and I started talking and I decided to put it here. When you think about it, this is the perfect place for it on a site that is dedicated to the 61 to 66 Ford trucks. I have got a lot of info from Chad and hopefully he has learned a little from me as well. We will be putting out heads together to try and figure out a few Ranger/Camper Special mysteries as time goes on. As we have found everything from Ford is not carved in stone.

Just curious. I have always loved the Rangers, the first one I saw was ca. 1980 in Kelowna BC. I can't tell you if it was a Merc or a Ford.. my memory steers me to Merc but I just wouldn't bet my life on it. It did make quite an impression on me tho as when i found out it was built by the factory that way I was suitably impressed. Anyway my question for you guys is this///

What on the VIN indicates these as Rangers? I can't see any difference from standard Ford in the info plates i have seen either here or elsewhere.
What am I missing?
thanks
Curious in Edmonton

JC I believe it's the Body Code number on the data plate

That's correct. In order for it to have the bucket seats, by the book:

If it is 1965 it should be one of the following body codes on the warranty (warrantee) plate.

F81 (Red crinkle all vinyl)
G81 (Black crinkle all vinyl)
H81 (Palomino crinkle all vinyl)

For 1966 is should be one of these body codes

1T81 (Black crinkle all vinyl)
T81 (Black crinkle vinyl and black rosette pattern vinyl)
U81 (Parchment crinkle vinyl and black rosette pattern vinyl)
V81 (Red crinkle vinyl and black rosette pattern vinyl)

Palomino (1965) is a little darker color than Parchment (1966).

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TA455HO,
My ranger is the one that was built in November of 64 it has a body code of D81 it had black interior.

Like I said - By the book. There are some early exceptions to the rule. To every rule? The earliest F81 we have found is March, 1965 (663196, not yet on Michelle's list here but I have sent the info to her) so it stands to reason that Rangers built before that would be some other body code.

By the book a 1965 D81 is a bench seat. Light beige crush vinyl and medium beige ladder pattern woven plastic. D81 also implies 81B = Custom Cab.

You seen to have convinced Michelle but I would sure like to see your pictures as well. Do you have a thread anyplace? I see it was originally a 352 with 3 speed OD. That must go down the road nice with that overdrive. Is it still intact?

Chad

well thanks a lot that clears up a years long mystery for me!

As we get deeper into this you might see some Rangers that have Camper Special fender badges. This is not at all uncommon. If an F100 or F250 was ordered with both the Camper Special AND Ranger packages then the fender badges would reflect Camper Special. This is confirmed in a couple of different places, but the Salesmans Facts Book is a good source.

The Camper Special badges were the only ones that trumped the Ranger badges. Hopefully this shows up well enough. This information is 1966, but believed to be the same as 1965 in this case.

*Includes Carpeting, Gas Tank Cover, Ranger Emblem (when not used on Camper Special)......

I have some pricing on the Rangers for 1965. The Ranger package was a 120.40 option. The console was yet another option at 34.80 for a total with Ranger package and console of 155.20 That was a costly option for 1965, you can see why the Rangers are so far and few between today.

You might get a kick out of this. I have a "U.S." oriented 1966 Ford Light Truck Facts For Combination Salesmen book and a "Canada" oriented 1966 Ford and Mercury Trucks book. Most of the information in the Canadian version is straight from the U.S. version. The outside front cover and spline of the binder is a little different, and the price list is Canadian. For some reason my U.S. book does not have a price list in it. But, you can see the seats were listed here as Canadian $118.30 and the console was a whopping $66.30. It was printed March, 1965 but says the prices will be effective October 29, 1965 for 1966 Models.





Some more trivia that you can see - Ranger Package was not available on the 4x4 models in 1965, but in 1966 you could get the Ranger Package on an F100 4x4, either 115" or 129" wheelbase. These F100 4x4 trucks shared the same cab as the 1965 and 1966 2WD models with no cab step inside of the door and coil spring front suspension. The only caveat is with the 1966 F100 4x4 you could not order the optional console because it would interfere with the transfer case shift lever location.

Here's shots of my truck and the interior and warranty plate. Max was planning to repaint the truck. He'd started sanding the front clip and roof and tried to pry (!) the plate off since he didn't know how the rivets work. Anyway, I'm glad he didn't succeed or he might have lost the plate completely. The third picture is one of the carpet where it tucks up underneath the firewall pad. It's a nice color of gold. And underneath the body side molding is a good sample of the original colors.

The gold carpet sure was pretty. Are you going to paint it back to the original color? I guess since it was a special order and had no color code you could paint it any color you wanted.

Johnny Canuck wrote:Just curious. I have always loved the Rangers, the first one I saw was ca. 1980 in Kelowna BC. I can't tell you if it was a Merc or a Ford.. my memory steers me to Merc but I just wouldn't bet my life on it. It did make quite an impression on me tho as when i found out it was built by the factory that way I was suitably impressed. Anyway my question for you guys is this///

What on the VIN indicates these as Rangers? I can't see any difference from standard Ford in the info plates i have seen either here or elsewhere.
What am I missing?
thanks
Curious in Edmonton

There was a 1966 Ford F100 Ranger for sale in Kelowna this summer for $28,000 cdn. It was Red/White on Red and a longbox. The add disappeared within three days.

http://orlando.craigslist.org/cto/5866872474.html

Danny

Thanks Danny. I sent the seller a message through CL asking for a picture of the warranty plate and one of the interior. We shall see what that nets.

Chad

Its funny you mentioned that, I sent him one too Saturday, so far I have not heard anything from him. He had a number listed give him a call Chad.