I’m close to being stumped on the actual color of this 1999 Ford Ranger XLT SuperCab pickup. The photos were taken at dusk, making the color temperature incredibly “cool,” as in with a blue tint. Is it blue or black? The seller has it posted here on craigslist in Bellingham, Washington, and they’re asking $5,995. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Curvette for the tip!
This is PhD-level color decipherin’. It doesn’t help that the seller doesn’t list either the exterior color or the interior color in their listing. Anyone who is into photography knows that photos taken in the shade or at dusk will have a cooler color temperature, which will add blue tones to the images. What are your thoughts on the color of this Ranger? I vote for Black Clearcoat. Ford did offer a dark blue called Deep Wedgewood Blue Clearcoat Metallic, as shown on the paint colors on page 10 of this brochure.
Enough about that, the color doesn’t really matter anyway. The condition of this Ranger appears to be great, and the seller says it’s a “true rare barn find time capsule.” I don’t know if that means it was actually found in a barn, but they say it’s “located in a barn a few miles north of Bellingham.” There is a factory Ford bedliner in the back, and that’s good, right? The third-generation Ranger was made from 1997 for the 1998 model year until 2011 in Canada and the U.S.
Yeah, this truck is black. The interior is, I believe, (oh no, here we go again) Medium Graphite, and the seat fabric is showing a little wear, but it looks nice overall inside. The four-door Supercab is such a great feature, a perfect size for me. There’s no third pedal here; this truck has a four-speed automatic with a column shifter. The small-but-big-enough-for-a-lot-of-us space behind the front seats looks nice as well.
The engine is Ford’s 3.0-liter OHV V6 with 150 horsepower and 185 lb-ft of torque when new. Passing through the four-speed automatic to the rear wheels, the seller has listed an incredible amount of work that’s been done on this one recently. Please check out the listing to see everything the seller says about this truck, it looks like a good one. Any thoughts on this Ranger?
It’s a Ford Ranger, probably the last great mini truck built in this country. I know some GM folks are going to dispute that but there are still a lot of these on the road and there has to be a reason. This one isn’t broken in yet! Not exactly a collector item but it’s still up for trips to the home improvement store and light towing capabilities needed in a versatile small vehicle. These will do what the Maverick would like to.
I agree, sir. I’ve wanted a Maverick for a while, but I could barely fit a tiny oddball motorcycle in the back, and I do not need four doors on a pickup. A SuperCab Maverick would be a dream, I wish they made one (like this one I made in Photoshop a while ago).
If Ford would make a two door standard cab Maverick, I’d grab one. But in the current configuration, they aren’t very desirable.I had two standard cab Rangers, and they were great, but the salt got to them.
Ford is losing out by not making the Maveick in a standard cab configuration.
I like the Maverick picture and especially in that color!
I was close to pulling the trigger on a Maverick but I held off… so many recalls, so much computer stuff, so little a guy can fix himself, and as you said, too many doors, etc.
If I buy a small truck now, it probably say “Tacoma” on it and won’t be brand new. Toyota got rid of the opening, 1/2 doors on the extended cab trucks beginning with 2024 models. Who is the marketing genius that came up w/ that?? 😊
Barn find time capsule lol….this one has 104k mi, a well-used truck with still plenty of life left but hardly an unusually low mileage survivor future museum piece either. These were all over when new and even decades later aren’t a rare sight on the streets as they have proven to be quite durable.
Rust is their biggest enemy here in Ohio.
I see 3 or 4 a week pop up on Auto Trader.
I believe the 6 cylinders you could choose from was the 3.0 and the 4.0
They did offer the 2.9L (great engine) in older Rangers, but only up until 1992.
Based on the exposed intake runners, I believe the truck in this article has the 3.0 engine.
Oh man, you folks are so right! I don’t know why my stupid, bony fingers automatically typed 2.9, ugh. Sorry about that gaff, thanks for catching that, folks, and for being so darn polite rather than really letting me have it, as I deserved. Sorry again. I changed it to 3.0.
Even you make an occasional mistake buddy. (And I’m sure you know there was a 2.9-liter Cologne V6 in earlier Rangers, which is probably why you typed that. Hey, you were only off by 1/10 of a liter!
:)
~Lothar
You are way too kind, my friend. Hey, I’m out of oddball motorcycle tips, by the way!
Yes,the V6 offering was 3.0 (original Taurus engine. Smooth running durable and slow.) The other V6 was the 4.0 engine originally in the Explorer. More horsepower and torque make it a nice driving everyday truck. Also very durable. The Achilles heel here is the automatic transmission. NOT DURABLE! The rest of the truck, will last almost for ever. I have several Rangers in various states of restoration/resto-mod. This one here is probably the slowest Ranger you could buy.
I sold my 2003 F150 4×4 with the 4.6 V-8, and bought a 2010 Ranger Sport 4×4 Supercab, with the 4 liter V-6. Thinking my gas mileage would be a little better. Exactly the same, 16-18 mpg! But what it couldn’t do, was haul the stuff my F150 could. Nice little truck, but I sold it 2 years later, and went back to another F150. Got the 5.4 V-8 Supercab, and never looked back.
Had a 2000 XLT Supercab 4×4 in Emerald Green with the 3.0 and automatic. Got eight years/79k miles of nearly trouble-free driving.
Traded it on a used 2005 F-150 5.4 Triton Supercab because I wanted the extra room and capacity….it was a disaster from day 1. That engine was absolute garbage.
The Ranger is definitely on my list of vehicles that I wish I kept.
2.9 head gasket/cracked heads common..
I found a 2007 Ford Ranger Sport V6 4.0 by chance and got a great deal on it. The engine is in great shape and after a few months it needed new suspension, but I am impressed – everything I have learned since buying it makes me want another when my son buys this one off of me.
Too bad this wasn’t the Northeast. My grandson is getting his license and this is what he is dreaming about. Budget is right too.
Somewhere around the turn of the century the local Ford dealer advertised a Ranger sale: $9995. I went over there and saw a nice long row of base model Rangers, every color. I picked a red one with tan interior. What a good little truck it was. At around 50,000 miles I upgraded to a more optioned one, a Mazda B3000 which meant V6, king cab, auto, A/C. It had about the same mileage and I drove that one for many years. :-) Terry J
Nice truck, equipped just as I like it, with the V6 and 4WD. A good daily driver and Home Depot hauler, with just enough “patina” so I could use it without feeling guilty when I put a load of lumber in the back, LOL! The only problem is, it’s on the left coast, which means that it would cost me almost as much to ship it home or fly out and drive it home as it would to buy it! GLWTS!
Don’t think 2.9 available,3.0 or 4.0
I was given a 2001 3.0L Ranger by a neighbor; his kid had t-boned somebody with it, and it was just sitting in his driveway. I bought a headlight and lower valence, straightened the bumper, hood and support as best as possible, and installed a new transmission cooler. The hood closed perfectly, so the radiator support took little impact. Painted the front and rear bumpers gray to match each other.
It had been neglected a bit, as it was a salvage vehicle in the first place. I replaced upper control arms, lower ball joints, rear wheel cylinders, rear spring shackles and flushed the brake system. It needed a coil (misfire), fuel filter and I changed the oil. A set of new tires, inspection/emissions, and it was ready for my son to use as his college transportation.
It was bumped and bruised, but it ran great and what made it all worth it was when my son saw it finished (he helped a bit, but he was away at school for most of it). He loved that truck, and you’d have thought it was brand new the way he treated it. Immediately washed, vacuumed it – and couldn’t stop talking about how great it was. Made all the scrapes, sweat, and cursing worth it.
I think I had about $1800.00 in it all told, but where can you get a pickup for that, especially one with a cold storage unit for air con? He’d still be driving it today if he had his druthers.
If he had an opportunity at this, I think he’d rather have it than the CRV he has now. Maybe. :-D
I bought a 98 step side 3.0 5speed 4×4 got 348 k out of it still ran when sold ! Never apart , even original clutch , what put the nail in coffin was clutch slay valve went ,it needed tires 16”s, and exhaust , sold it to some one willing to put the $ and time n time into it but even the body was solid ! Greatest vehicle I’ve ever owned !! Went ever where n hauled everything even broke (Crushed)the body mounts at one point )
Bought a new 98 step side 3.0 5 speed 4×4 got 348 k out of it best vehicle I’ve ever had ! Still ran when I sold it ! Was never apart even had original clutch !
Some folks have managed to drop a 302/5.0L into a Ranger, but if you do, upgrade the transmission at the same time! I’m not sure how they find the room for one, but they are better than I am, LOL!
Robert, they make a kit to install a SBF in a 2wd. Ranger. But only certain years. I’m currently in the midst of a 5.0 V8 swap into a ’93 Ranger. I’m clipping the front of the frame and mating into the front of a 5.0 2wd ’98 Explorer. (You could do the same thing with a 4×4) The benefits are power rack and pinion steering, torsion bar adjustable front suspension, and using the rest of the Explorer, you get 4 wheel disc brakes, 4 wheel ABS. And the interior will get the leather interior from the Explorer also. The additional rear torque arms and single angled shock can also be swapped over. The wife likes to drive a truck! ( and I have to drive it also, so it needs to perform!)