“Ranchero GT”1970 Ford Ranchero

The story

My truck was orignially built in May of 1970 at the San Jose plant. Most likely it lived most of its life out West, as when I bought it it still had Arizona tags (always good). The next owner I know of owned a body shop in Mass., hence the grotesque previous paint job. The guy my dad and I bought it from in NY had recently traded the body shop owner an old Tudor wagon for it.

I come from a devout Ford family and grew up with cars all my life. In my late teens I began searching for a project that I felt was worthy enough to hang with my Dad's 69 BOSS 302 and my uncle's BOSS 429. My Dad had shown me his old albums of him with his midnight jade 70 Torino, and I loved the lines. And since I can remember, my uncle has always owned some form of Ranchero, usually as a beater, parts runner, and family car. I decided - what better choice than something that connected the two people with the biggest influence in my automotive upbringing? A Cleveland-powered Ranchero GT.

I'm 22 now and had the car for 5 years. It is incredibly hard to make time to work on it like I want between college and work. But when I can I love it.

Really the direction I want to take it in is a sort of "resto-modification". I want to keep it stock appearing, because why mess with perfection? But I am making some subtle changes in favor of perfomance, safety, 35yrs-worth of improved technology, and better fuel economy (premium, ugh!).

I've already replaced most of the chrome and trim that was painted by the body shop, and my job at Walgreens funded my $5,400 worth of body work and original paint and graphics. I had them lay down the blacked-out hood, black out the grille (cobra-esque), and rather than restore the flamboyant Laser Stripes that were originally on it, I decide to keep it two-tone (like a BOSS), and take the "Twister Special" route. The Calypso Coral orange and semi-flat black is much more intimidating. I also want to add a spray-in bedliner, probably Linex.

I've found a Traction-Lok rearend from one of my dad's buddies' old vans. I've gotten ahold of an Edlebrock Performer dual-plane intake (still in the the process of hand polishing). We've also hopped-up some of the suspension, dropping all four corners about an inch for a better stance, then tossing the original front anti-sway bar for a massive 1-1/8" bar and then adding (no stock provisions for a rear bar) a 3/4" bar in back. — John Karl