ok this really has nothing to do with this forum but theres lots of good metal workers on here so lets brainstorm. ok so i have an 89 ford ranger. and ever since i got it i have been thinking how cool it would be to have a ranger sized 59 or what ever year ford. i just happen to have a 70s ford ext cab that might just have to go under the knife sometime to get rangerized and then put it on a ranger 4x4 chassis. This would involve narrowing it, shortening it, and most likely making the cab shorter too. would be a ton of work and lots of detail to get it proportioned right but it would be cool. so what do you guys think am i the only one that think this would be cool.

 

I'm sure it will be easier to use an older truck but go for it... lot's of adapters out there for v8swaps ect.. just don;t cut up a good truck.

 

The preportions will be similiar to the cars in the movie, er, Cars. Personally it seems like A LOT of work, you're going to have to cut EVERY thing down to size, from the hood, to the dash, to the doors, to the cab, to the fenders, to the bed, to the tailgate, to every last piece to get everything to be the right preportions.

For me thats a lot of work, so you're going to need some serious passion for the idea, plan on a couple years just to chop everything, line up and weld correctly, something is bound to twist. It's going to take A LOT of planning. A LOT of measurements, A LOT of working the ideas. Enough where it will probably end up a show truck that you never drive.

With that being said, if you love the idea, then by all means go for it. Just plan everything out before you cut ANYTHING, nothing worse than cutting everything up and decieded you're not that into the idea anymore or that it won't work cause of how it was cut or something. You basicly need to plan out every last thing, every single measurements to the point you could hand the plans to someone else and they could make it, before you start cutting anything, cause there is no going back, even if you weld back the piece, it's never going to be the same. That's my caution, it's going to take several years and you're going to need to be damn sure you're up for it, other wise everything will just be destoryed, but with a good set of plans you could make it in a lot less time than without. But like I said, if you're into it, go for it.

 

Why not try washing the truck in hot water and seeing if it will shrink?

It would definately be in interesting project requiring lots of fab skills. In my head I see a vertical section having to be taken out of the midline of the truck from front to rear of a couple of inches and then another section horizontally from front to rear, basically quartering the truck. It would take some careful preplanning and bracing to keep everything square during the cutting and welding stages.

Bobby

 

oh yea i know it would take a crazy amount of work but i think it would be really cool. and i probably wouldnt even think about trying to start a project like this for a long time. And yes i agree it would take a serouis amount of plans to make it work but it would be something different and cool. and as far as a show truck and the bed F that, ill never own anything that cant be drove and well i dont really like boxes. so it would just be the cab and clip to deal with.

Like I said before in order to pull this off, I would imagine you would have to cut the cab in half and take a few inches out to get the width right. then there would have to be a section taken out probably below the window then another one that would basically be chopping the top. this would bring it down to height. then you would have to take a section vertically out probably in about the middle of the door, and another one in the fenders. this would bring it to the right length. then a custom hood and grill and good to go. well keep the ideal and comments coming, and if any of you are handy at with photochop.....

 

When you go to do it, a helpful trick on figuring out the measurements is to take pictures of the truck you're going to use, but also mark on the actual truck measurements in inches or whatever. This helps considerably when you go to photoshop it because you'll be able to see exactly what you took out to make it look how you want, other wise it starts to become a guessing game and trying to figure out how much you removed and what not. I usually just put a piece of masking tape down, then mark on the tape the measurements on where ever I'm planning to cut. Having it in the picture helps tremedously, especially if everything isn't 100% square when you took the picture.

 

If you select the right vintage, you might be able to get away with mostly frame mods - a bit easier and they are not as visible.
Put a 56 or earlier F100 or F1 next to a long bed std cab Ranger. Pretty close. Even the 57 to 60 F100 is not that much larger.

Now, if you are really looking for a 3/4 size earlier F100/F1, you will also likely have to narrow the Ranger frame and possibly axles too. The older pickups are considerably smaller than todays full sizers, which really porked up starting in the 90s.

 

As long as it isn't any older than 1970 do what ever you want.
If it is older than 1970 expect me to lead the dog pile on you a**

 

I always thought I'd like to do this on a mid 50s Mack and make a pickup out of it. The problem is I never had the talent. Good luck with it...

 

I'm going to be mounting my 54 F100 on a 4dr Explorer 4x4 chassis The wheelbase and track width are very close to what the 53-56 F100 shortbox trucks are.

The regular cab long box Ranger is actually a longer wheelbase then the shortbox F100's from the 50's. The rangers are not that much smaller then the 50's trucks. So there really is no reason to narrow the 50's body to use the Ranger chassis unless you really want to. I've seen it done with a 50 chevy but it just looked kind of goofy to me. But then again I think the chevy looked goofy to start with.

 

Crap I totally forgot I had seen this done before! but of course I can't find it again...

 

what started in he 90's? 80-98 fords got smaller and thinner/flatter. 67-79 fords are the biggest in size. 99-current trucks are about the same as the 67-79 in size, the doors are just slightly bigger on the newer ones. 57-60 trucks are pretty big too, its just the interior and upper cab section that are smaller. A lot of four wheelers chop their cabs to narrow them. This makes them worthless as things of beauty after that, they look like funny cars, which are fairly ugly. If you are going to be cutting everything apart and welding (and warping) all of the panels on it, be sure to start with a smashed up clunker since you will be adding about 50lbs of bondo or lead to it anyway. most of your metal you will be sectioning, and re-shaping, making your own patches, etc. I believe this whole idea to be unnecessary and a waste of time.

 

are you trying to tell me that a '69 is different from a '70? please explain.

 

There was a red 56 done on a Ranger frame on Ebay a while back it had the engine & interior and also the side window from the Ranger's extended cab.

 

look at the Courier
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...rd_Courier.jpg
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/...-trucks-32.jpg