1966 Ranger finally unveiled - Slick 60s this is for you!!!!
Posted: June 22, 2008, 4:45 pm
Hello everyone! I have been waiting a long time to post these pics. I have come to the conclusion that this truck will probably never be completely finished. It has taken me 4 years to get this far and I still have some to go. It is not perfect, this truck has taught me that life is not perfect. I tried and tried to accomplish this but by sharing my dream with family and friends, scratches and nicks occur. It was painful. There have been mistakes along the way and I have learned a great deal doing this. It is my first frame off and was mostly built in the wee hours of the night after life's demands have been put to rest for the day. I have 3 beautiful kids and a very understanding wife who have helped me fulfill this dream. Even as I type this, kids are screaming in the background and I am needed as a father right now instead of fixing the headliner like I would rather be doing. I guess I have been finding the balance between reality and my passion for hot rods. Like I said, it is not perfect. Please don't crucify me for sagging hood hinges or other micro details. The hood has spent more time up than down on this truck. This baby hasn't seen the light of day for 4 years. I drove it a mile down the road to my buddy's grand opening for his body shop to a little show and shine. I will post more after the front bumper is on and some other details are touched up.
I want to thank all the crazies on the site for helping me get through this project as well. I joined back in 03 (I think) on the old site and I remember the warm welcome I got from JC (yeah, he was still there then) and from FordBoyPete. I was a naive kid who pulled a Rangoon Red Ranger out of the bush for $100 and started to mount it on a 76 frame. Didn't have a clue what to do but patience and perserverance paid off.
Without further rambling, here she is
OK, catch your breath for a second. Here are the details. Chassis and powertrain are from a 1976 Ford F150. Frame is cut 4". Rearend is a 31 spline 9" with detroit locker and 3:25 gears. Rear end traction is aided by Competition Engineering ladder bars and leaf spring floaters. Tranny is a built C6, Transgo shift kit, 2000 rpm TCS stall, brakes are stock Ford disk up front and drums are locked out with a Hurst LineLoc. Shift duties are controlled by a Hurst ProMatic 2 shifter that is integrated into the factory Falcon console. I will post more detailed pics of that in the next while. Engine is a mild 460 that I built mostly when I was 18. I freshened it up a bit here lately with the Edelbrock heads and the MSD ignition. Carb is an Edelbrock Thunder 800 with, of course, a manual choke. Hedman Headers, thermostatic engine and tranny fans, alum 4 core rad under stock tank. What else, there is a windage tray buried under the Keith Black pistons and a cool set of March pulleys up front. Custom stainless Magnaflows underneath with quad 2.5" slash cuts in front of the rear wheels
I still have a bunch of tuning to do, but after the trial outing yesterday, OMG it wants to rip. I built this truck to look like it was rodded in the late 60s, I think it turned out OK. There is about a 3.5 deg rake to it for those who like that sort of thing. And yes, those of course are brand new Cragar S/S wheels that were available at that time. 15" and nothing but. Hope you all enjoy the pics, I have waited a long time to share them with you. Now the real fun begins!!!!!
I want to thank all the crazies on the site for helping me get through this project as well. I joined back in 03 (I think) on the old site and I remember the warm welcome I got from JC (yeah, he was still there then) and from FordBoyPete. I was a naive kid who pulled a Rangoon Red Ranger out of the bush for $100 and started to mount it on a 76 frame. Didn't have a clue what to do but patience and perserverance paid off.
Without further rambling, here she is
OK, catch your breath for a second. Here are the details. Chassis and powertrain are from a 1976 Ford F150. Frame is cut 4". Rearend is a 31 spline 9" with detroit locker and 3:25 gears. Rear end traction is aided by Competition Engineering ladder bars and leaf spring floaters. Tranny is a built C6, Transgo shift kit, 2000 rpm TCS stall, brakes are stock Ford disk up front and drums are locked out with a Hurst LineLoc. Shift duties are controlled by a Hurst ProMatic 2 shifter that is integrated into the factory Falcon console. I will post more detailed pics of that in the next while. Engine is a mild 460 that I built mostly when I was 18. I freshened it up a bit here lately with the Edelbrock heads and the MSD ignition. Carb is an Edelbrock Thunder 800 with, of course, a manual choke. Hedman Headers, thermostatic engine and tranny fans, alum 4 core rad under stock tank. What else, there is a windage tray buried under the Keith Black pistons and a cool set of March pulleys up front. Custom stainless Magnaflows underneath with quad 2.5" slash cuts in front of the rear wheels
I still have a bunch of tuning to do, but after the trial outing yesterday, OMG it wants to rip. I built this truck to look like it was rodded in the late 60s, I think it turned out OK. There is about a 3.5 deg rake to it for those who like that sort of thing. And yes, those of course are brand new Cragar S/S wheels that were available at that time. 15" and nothing but. Hope you all enjoy the pics, I have waited a long time to share them with you. Now the real fun begins!!!!!
Lets think this through............THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A PERFECT slick that is driven (OK, my opinion). There are perfect trailer queens but for those of us who drive these wonderful machines, that is about as close to perfect as one could get. GREAT JOB!!! and an inspiration at least to me to keep working. I still have two years to go on this one. 
