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Car + Truck + Wagon = Ranchero Country Squire!

r1

As the song goes, “…any man who knows where it’s at will drive a Ford Ranchero…” (if you want a good laugh, listen to it, I’ve linked to it before for you long time readers) I don’t know about that, but before this I wasn’t aware that Ford thought three better ideas were better than two! By combining the Country Squire and it’s fake wood trim and the Ranchero car-truck, you had this Ranchero Country Squire! This one is located in Spring City, Pennsylvania and is up for sale here on eBay. The buy it now price is $7,500 and lower offers are welcomed.

r3

I’m pretty sure the beds on these were body color, so you’d want to change that if you wanted it to be original. I think I’d leave it alone and use the heck out of this vehicle, though. It’s got enough wear on it that I’m not worried about parking it occasionally at work, but not too much that I’m embarrassed to be seen in it!

r2

Is that a dent behind the door in the middle of the woodgrain? I couldn’t tell for sure. The basis for this generation of Ranchero is my favorite generation of Torino, so I’m sold on the looks off the bat.

r5

The seller has already replaced the floors, carpet, headliner and multiple other things, including a brand new set of tires. It doesn’t sound like you’ll need to do much if you just want to drive and use this car-truck. You could always choose to improve it as you went.

r4

The seller tells us that this is a 351 Cleveland V8 and that it has been professionally restored. I’d really like to know how you restore an engine rather than rebuild it, but I’m being nitpicky. What do you think? I like it even though it will need some work. After all, if the seller is correct, there were only 2,595 of these rarities produced!

Comments

  1. Avatar Ed

    I believe the 1970 Ford Torino was car of the year.

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  2. Avatar Allan

    Love the song. The woodgrain Ranchero… not so much.

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  3. Avatar Rex Kahrs Member

    The perfect beer-getter. The wood grain is awesome. Does the tailgate swing both ways? Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Almost as coveted as the 57 or 66 Rancheros, I’d own this in a minute. Great find.

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    • Avatar TC

      No Rex I’m pretty sure the tailgate just drops down.

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  4. Avatar Lee Hartman

    I had one like this back in ’83. Mine was a ’71, with the 429 in it. Another one of those “Wish I still had it.” cars from my past.

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  5. Avatar DRV

    The Torino Looks like an Italian design…but it looks good as a pickemup. Is tha a vinyl roof cover? It’s awesome…

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  6. Avatar Pete

    Pretty cool, but in addition to all the rust repair, the hood is bent back near one of its hinges and it looks like a load of bondo on the roof pillar.

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    • Avatar Bruce

      The load of bond is actually rust beneath the vinyl top. Very common.

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  7. Avatar Rustytech Member

    I’ve always wondered why these car/pickups have lagged so far behind their 2 door hardtop siblings, there are far fewer of them, and they look great. At first glance this one looked ok, but the closer I looked the worse it got. Yes that’s a dent behind the door, the roof pilar looks awful, kinda like a really bad sectioning job, the hood is damaged, dash cracked, door panels cracked. And what is the spray in bed liner hiding. This is only about 2 hours away from me, but not worth my time to go look!

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  8. Avatar MrBlueOval 57

    First of all it’s NOT a Ranchero COUNTRY Squire, It’s just a Ranchero Squire. And yes the beds were the paint color and spray-in bed liners weren’t even invented yet when this car was new. The only way to get rid of that textured bedliner now would be to sand-blast it off so I would probably just leave it that way, maybe spray the yellow over it. I don’t see what Pete is talking about with the hood being bent and that spot on the “B” pillar that you said was Bondo is actually glue residue from where the vinyl top was originally. Someone has removed it already. This one probably had the brown vinyl top on it, which was very popular in the 70’s but no Bondo there. That spot on the rear quarter panel behind the door IS a dent. I’m sure that could easily be pounded out from within. I would fix that dent, repaint it Corvette Yellow and replace all the woodgrain decals plus put on a black vinyl top and add a set of magnum 500 chrome rims with a set of BFG Radial T/A’s. Maybe dye the interior black too, the brown just looks bad. This one even has factory air conditioning and that 351-C is a good strong motor so maybe add a Shaker hood with scoop or just the “GT” hood to it and paint it black to contrast the yellow like my 1/25th scale resin model. Then I’d have a nice useable real muscle car for under $10K.

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  9. Avatar TC

    Not to be pedantic us Aussies don’t call these things car/pickups they’re a UTE (short for utility vehicle) that we invented back in the 30’s so a farmer could use it during the week but still take his missus to church in comfort on Sundays, the kids just sat in the back and hung on for dear life.

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  10. Avatar stillrunners

    Possibly the last good body style on these…don’t really like the 351/400 motors though….wish mine just had a 351W….looks like a nice Squire that maybe could be bought right.

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  11. Avatar TC

    Just played the song and love it although it does ‘rubbish’ my El Camino but it’s great anyway, everyone to their own.

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  12. Avatar kenzo

    These vehicles are a waste of money…..Not a car! Not a small truck (load size 500 lbs) Maybe up to 900 lbs with helper springs. Had one cause the wife loved them. Waste of money. Then and still now…

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  13. Avatar scottymac

    Wow! Where to begin? No belt on the a/c compressor, no idler pulley, looks like the a/c thermostat has been jerked out, heater hose looped back into the water pump, so probably no heater either. Peeling chrome on the rear bumper, broken taillight lenses, looks like many of the fiberglass “wooden” frames have been patched and painted with a brush. Cracked dash pad and armrest, filthy carpet and door panel. Pete’s comment on hood looks right. Always expect rust in the tailgate, what’s under the Di Noc woodgrain? Like the design, but the asking price is way too high, in my opinion. Would a Squire have had hidden headlights originally?

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    • Avatar Ed

      I believe you could order the hideaways on this model. On my 1970 convertible, they were like a 57$ option originally!

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  14. Avatar guggie

    My uncle had one with a 427 and it was Great !!

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  15. Avatar BillB

    I’d throw a $5K Best Offer and see what happens. It has a lot of possibilities and seems to be all there. Getting A/C working on a car that already has it is much easier than adding it to one that never had A/C.
    The fact that there are none of these around at local cruises is a bonus! Love the orphan factor.

    Like 0

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