the ranger diaries

I think in my fervor to get a pickup, I've been drawn into the Ford Ranger Zone. It's kind of like the Twilight Zone, just as weird and full of twists and misfortune. Last night, Paul called and said "Hey, you interested in a free pickup?" The answer is HELL YEAH! I had to pull 500 marionette's worth of strings to make it happen, but an old face from the past came through. Thank you very much.

Ranger #1 1985 2.0 carburated 5-speed short bed - The body was in great shape, it just needed a little TLC and engine work, it even had an old set of Cragar wheels that were appropriate for the age of the truck. I gave $600 for it and at the time I felt it was worth it. I was going to re-do the interior, put in a spray-in bed liner, and paint the old bumpers & grill black. I would have eventually put in a 302 to make it a hot rod. It *would* have been a great little work truck.

It was hit in front of my house (on a damn dead end)and nobody claimed responsibility for the wreck. It was due to have the entire top end reworked and caught fire the day I was to take it there. Very little was salvageable, but I saved the truck just in case.

Ranger #2 1985 2.3 efi auto long bed - Bought this one for $200 It's flat black and the obvious problem is some random emissions problem that I neither have the time, money, or patience to repair. So it sits, mainly because the guy who might could repair it, would rather get the money from converting it to a V8 and that's just not an option right now.

Ranger #3 1985 (see a pattern?)2.0 carburated 5-speed long bed. The free truck. Who ever was working on this one had the same idea I had for #1. It had a newer models seats and door skins. It has front end wreck damage that may or may not be fixable. It seems to want to run, but I really don't know enough about it yet. The paint was a really cool shade of dark blue and if it runs, I'll have enough now to form Voltron! ....I mean make a single decent running truck. I won't know for awhile yet.

More to come