OK, so after being disappointed miserably by my last prospect I found a new one. A 1966 Ford Ranchero 200 I6. Its all there, SOLID and a runner, just needs some minor engine work, a good cleaning and a new paint job and ive got an awesome rig! As i make some progress i'll try and figure out how to post pictures up here in case someone wants to check it out!

Thanks For reading!

Alex

 

Awesome Find - I love them old Ranchero's. The one I had many years ago was that funky 2-tone yellow.

Can't wait to see some pictures of it.

 

66 Ranchero, "SOLID in the windy city area"; that's a gold mine in my opinion; Congrats I'm jealous, just kidding I think!!
Looking forward to seeing pic's & progress report.
Mitch

 

Well heres some updates:

Rebuilt the carb after it quit running on wednesday. Also replaced cap, rotor, wires, plugs and after that it fired up nicely! Changed the oil and took it for a quick spin. Only bad thing that happened was it backfired and exploded the muffler!!! (it was old and really rusted. By the way the engine only has 31,000 miles! I fixed the non functioning turn signals by fixing some grounds and all the lights work, even the backup lamps. Now i just have to focus on the details, ill have some pics soon, i left my camera at the shop.

 

Heres some pics:

 

As I mention above what a great fine. That thing looks better in pic's that what I was expecting. Now I know I'm jealous.
Looks great!!! I assume your going to paint it back red?

Mitch

 

I've got one of those 6 bangers in my 66. Great little motor. Good luck with your project.

 

Thanks for the compliments guys! I havent 100% decided if im gonna paint it red again, my dad suggested white which i think would look pretty good and match the interior well. The original color was dark ivy green but then i would have to have the interior redone which would put me over my budget. Im not the one who did the spray can primer job, the previous owner took it to a less than scrupulous body shop and they charged him 2,000 dollars for that and some half a**ed bondo work. Im gonna wait till it gets a little warmer (and save up some more money) before i paint it. So for now im driving it like that!! Makes a cool "rat rod" for now untill its finished. Now i just have to get the wipers and washer to work!

 

Either way you go red or white it will look good. Now that you mention white that with a red dash would really stand out. I like that combo. My better have is getting tired of seeing red toys in our yard (3 trucks). But after I finish my 78 F100 model project; the one will change from originial color red to flat black (64 F100). But with red interior & inner fenders though.
Keep us posted.

Mitch

 

I messed around with it again today, thought i'd take a look at the wipers. Turns out my motors bad, i get power to it when i flip the switch but it doesent turn. I hot wired the washer motor to see if it would work and thats fried too. I can get a new washer pump but i cant seem to locate a wiper motor. Looks like ill have to try and rebuild the old one.

 

Heres an update: Got new Firestones put on today, the car handles and rides a lot better than it did before! Still waiting for the exhaust to be put. I re wired the wiper, washer, radio and some other wires that some varmit decided to eat. Everythings coming along good, we had a nice day here today so after i put the tires on i went for a nice long drive in the country, put about 30 miles on it! I cant wait to paint it and polish up all the trim!

 

Nice ride and good job on the updates nice to hear its goin good.

 

Today i learned what happens when your too cheap to have the gas tank cleaned out. Ive driven the car every day for the past 2 weeks with no problems whatsoever, anyway today my gf asked me to take her for a ride today because it was really nice out. I pick her up, we were driving down the main drag in our town when all of a sudden, it quit running. Coasted to the median, looked under the hood, nothing obvious wrong. It restarted and we continued on, died again, this time at a stop light. What made it worse, the town that used to be a small, farming community turned into yuppieville usa and i had a line of lexus', bmw and mercedes suvs honking and shouting "get that piece of s**t out of the way" at me while we were pushing it to the median. Luckily my boss was passing by and pushed me with his truck the rest of the way to the shop! After that i checked my carb, it was dry, i cut open my filter and it was CLOGGED with rust. I changed it and it fired right up! Looks like tomorrow im pulling the gas tank! Might as well, it needs a new fuel sender anyway! At least it wasn't major!!

 

Still waiting for the tank to come back, but i got the gauge to work finally! Turns out that the varmit that ate some wires behind the dash made its way through the rockers and ate the wire going to the sender. Re connected it and she works great! I talked to the guy thats refurbishing my tank and he said that they would probably get about 3 coffee cans of rust out of the thing.

 

Atleast your able to search the wiring pretty well; to save buying a new sending unit when it seems those varmits like to make nest out of any materials.
If you read the lastest Custom Classic Truck mag; the editor's article is kinda like or about the Lexus & beamers' incident you had experience with the yuppies the other day's.

Mitch