Last updated on 6 / 28 / 2003 9:40 a.m.
The Ranchero lasted 22 years. This is quite a feat in the automotive world. It switch sizes several times over the years of it's production. I have owned the largest size, a 1959, since 1966. Mine is like a number of older cars, has seen better days. I am, like a lot of people who are trying to regain a small part of their youth by building cars from our past. In this case I have owned my past since High School. That being so, this part of this web site is for the three early year Rancheros. I would like for anyone having a link or useful source to please e-mail it to me so I can post it for all to use.
In 1957 Ford Motor Company celebrated its 25th anniversary of the manufacture of the world's leading V-8 engine. Ford gave the '57 models a revamp of the type not seen since 1949. In spending $246 million dollars they restyled their entire car line. The most wonderful of the twenty new cars introduced was the Ranchero. It is a kind of car/ truck. The Ranchero was built as a spin off of the Courier Sedan Delivery line. The idea came from down under in Australia. This was the Australian Coupe-Utility, or "UTE", as they are known. These odd automobiles are a crossbreed of a car with a pickup bed grafted into the back of it.
In 1957 Ford built the Ranchero on the smaller of the two available chassis, the one with the 116-inch wheelbase. The Ranchero used many body parts common with the Courier Sedan Deliver and the Tudor station wagons. Ford only needed to build a rear floor, upper roof and back window. They also built the side panels and the tailgate cap panel. Another interesting feature is the Ranchero has a large panel that unbolts from the floor. When this is done a person will find the station wagon floor underneath. I once heard that a Bootlegger had used this feature to haul illegal alcohol into the great state of Oklahoma, which was a dry state until 1959.
The '57 Ranchero was built with a number of options. A
3-speed manual transmission was standard as was the 223-cu. in.
144-horse power six. The other transmission options where the
Three speed overdrive and the Ford-O-Matic automatic
transmission. Other engines where also optioned too. The Y-block
272 cu. in. overhead valve V-8 rated at 190 horsepower, the 292
cu. in. Y-block rated at 206-horse power for the stick shift cars
and 212 h.p., for the automatics. Go figure on that one.
The following table was supplied by George W.
Lang of Fort Worth, Texas.
Click
here to ask Mr Lang about his chart
Ford built 21,705 Rancheros in 1957. Ford overall out sold Chevrolet in 1957 also it was a very good year.
1958, well it wasn't quite so good for Ford. They did a face uplift that just turned a lot of people off. Maybe Ford tried to get the New T-Bird look in the passenger line. Who knows, they didn't sell well for whatever reason. Ford added a new three speed automatic transmission to the line up and a new engine that was the father of some of Ford's greatest racing engines. The 332 cu. in. "FE" rated at 240 h.p. with a two barrel carburetion. The "Police" Interceptor was born in this year. Though not officially called the Police Interceptor, many police departments bought the new Interceptor 352 cu. in. engine rated at 300-horse power. The other less note worthy engines were, the 145 h.p. 223 cu. in. six cylinder (It got a big boost of one horsepower over the 1957 models!). The Y-block 292 cu. in. rated at a lower by one horsepower than in '57 at 205 hp.
The 1959 models were a dream come true for Ford sales were back, though not back to the '57 sales for the Ranchero the 14,169 built was certainly better than 1958 is 9,950 Rancheros built.
The '59 Ranchero got big with a 118 inch wheel base and a seven inch longer bed it had more cargo space too. The '59 saw the same six cylinder engine as '58. The 292 Y-block was still around and rated at 200 horse power, down again. The 332 cu. in. "FE" got a horsepower cut to 225 hp from 240 hp. The Interceptor 352 "FE" held on at 300 horsepower. With the introduction of the Interceptor 352 engine Ford was back in the horsepower race!
At the Brussel's World's Fair the 1959 Ford was awarded the gold medal for exceptional styling. Which lead to Ford's ad campaign proclaiming that the '59 Ford line was the "World's Most Beautifully Proportion Car". The Ranchero helped Ford kick Chevrolet into second place again in the sales race, and Ford sold its 50 Millionth car in 1959.
Click any of these for more Ford Factory Race Car pages!
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This club has included all Rancheros regardless of the body style.
'57 Ranchero pictures] ['59 Ranchero Pictures]
Original pictures of a stock 1957 unrestored
Ranchero owned by Gene Harris.
