This Rotisserie Restored 1978 Ford F-150 Ranger is a Rare Beast
A rotisserie restoration is not uncommon on rare muscle cars, priceless classic sports cars, and even the occasional pre-60’s truck. But on a 1978 Ranger? Well, now we’ve seen at least one.
The 1978 model year brought the most significant styling updates for the F-Series in six years as Ford ditched the split grille for a much larger single piece unit. While Custom trim F trucks retained the previously used round headlights, Ranger models incorporated new, rectangular shaped units with optional chrome grille inserts and headlight doors.
1978 also brought a newly available Super Cab four wheel drive configuration, though most buyers still preferred a regular cab/long bed setup. That makes this regular cab/short bed ’78 Ranger a relatively rare sight today.
That alone probably makes this Ranger worthy of a proper restoration. This is not a 100 point resto, nor is it 100% factory original, but it’s a nice job nonetheless. Mostly original from top to bottom, it features the desirable 351 under the hood along with factory air, power steering, and a pretty sweet two tone paint job.
The interior has been returned to its factory shine as well with a restitched leather bench seat, carpet, and door panels. The biggest deviation from stock comes underneath, with aftermarket shocks, springs, wheels, and meaty BF Goodrich tires.
While it looks good and undoubtedly performs better with the aftermarket suspension bits, a prospective buyer could quickly and easily convert everything back to stock if so desired. Considering the time and care put into the rest of the truck, that might not be such a bad idea either.
The real question is, is this truck worthy of its $29,900 price tag? The restoration certainly cost a pretty penny, and this is not the most common truck out there, but that’s a lot of coin for a (at the moment) non-collector’s item. Would you pay $30k for it?
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