Ford Ranchero

We found the 1971 Ford Ranchero after it had been abandoned by the previous owner. It stood for 19 years in a workshop in Germiston and had no engine, gearbox, drivetrain or brakes. In fact besides the basic shell, glass and the seat, virtually everything was missing.

The Ford Ranchero is an Australian design built in South Africa. They were available in 6 cylinder and V8 variants. This particular model was originally fitted with the 302 V8. I stand to be corrected, but as far as I know the 351 GT version was imported from Australia.

We were looking for parts for another car when the owner offered to sell the Ranchero to us. Initially we were a bit reluctant to take on another project as we had just started out and were still busy with the Valiant Charger. It didn’t take much to convince ourselves however, that we could do the two projects simultaneously. The enormity of the two projects was only to be realised later.

This car was already disassembled so it was a case of finding all the many missing parts. As luck would have it we met a gentleman who had hundreds of Ranchero parts. He had almost everything we needed.

Once we’d finished the bodywork we again decided not to go the factory spec route. The engine was upgraded to a 351 ci together with automatic transmission, new prop shaft, twin exhausts and a custom paint job.

It was completely rewired and every single major and minor component on the car was either restored or replaced. The interior got new carpets, roof lining, dash pad and the steering shift changed to a floor shift.

The entire process took 18 months to complete from start to finish. Today this 1971 Ford Ranchero drives like a dream. In fact it could almost be used as daily driver, that is of course if one could afford the fuel bill.

View the Gallery to see the progress made.