Slick 60's

Does anyone know when the Ranger Package was first introduced? I know that they made '65s, but did the package appear during the 1965 model year and if so, at what point. The 1966 brochure shows it, the 1965 brochure does not. Was there a letter to dealers that announced the Ranger package's introduction? Also was the air conditioning factory installed or dealer installed?

I would assume that the Ranger pkg. was available from the start of 1965 production. In Nov. 1963 Ford made available to the dealers the XL pkg. It had Falcon bucket seats, center console, carpeting and fuel tank cover. Ford wanted each dealer to order a unit. The special order no. TTMS-0001-1AC4. Sounds to me that is the same as Ranger except I don't know about special badging for the XL.

Is anyone aware of a Letter to Dealers, or a Factory Memo that would have been used to announce the introduction of the Ranger Package?

Does anyone know what car line the center console that was used with the Ranger Package came from? It looks like the 1964 Falcon Sprint console. Would that be correct? Also was the air conditioner for the '65 and '66 pickups factory installed or dealer installed?

Red66 wrote:Does anyone know what car line the center console that was used with the Ranger Package came from? It looks like the 1964 Falcon Sprint console. Would that be correct? Also was the air conditioner for the '65 and '66 pickups factory installed or dealer installed?

The console is similar to the 1964 Falcon Sprint with bucket seats but was cut differently where it meets the floor pan. Rangers with automatic or 3 speed the console was cut differently than the 4 speed console, too.





All A/C was dealer installed - nothing factory installed for A/C in those years.

The Rangers with the actual Trim codes that specify buckets seats in 1965 (F81, G81 and H81) didn't seem to appear at the beginning of 1965 production. The oldest by sequence number that I have documented is a 657115 (G81) number which was March, 1965 well into the 1965 production cycle that would have started in August 1964.

Michelle has accepted five other 1965 trucks into the registry which preceded the 657115 number but they are all either B81, D81 or E81. The oldest of these other five trucks is November, 1964 build date.

I have records of many 1965 trucks in general and my list includes trucks with a 580xxx number which was August 1964 production sequence but none back that far that looked like factory Rangers that I've seen.

I do have 6 1964 trucks in my list that seem to have the factory XL bucket seat package but these trucks were not marketed as Rangers, of course.

Here's an early release original factory press photo. 1965 truck with Ranger package. Console has a slightly different lid with the race track trim on the top rather than the single strip down the middle. I have not seen this top on a Falcon Sprint before but it's not the first time I've seen it on a truck.