Last updated on 7 / 17 / 1:30 a.m.
I have owned my Ranchero since 1966. Mine is like a number of older cars, it 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. 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 stations. 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 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.114-horse power six. The other transmission options where the Three speed overdrive and the Ford-O-Matic automatic 2-speed 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. Ford built 21,705 Rancheros in 1957. Ford overall outsold 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 carburation. 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 worth engines were, the 145 h.p. 223 cu. in. six cylinder (It got a big boost in hp over 1957). 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.
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 help Ford
kick Chevrolet into second place again in the sales race, and
Ford sold its 50 Millionth car in 1959.
I have a question. Does anyone know anything about the
Shelby cross ram manifold for the 289/302 engines? It came in two
versons. Dual and single four barrel. Since I own a dual four and
my brother at one time owned a single four, I would like to know
the history on these, any leads would help. Thanks, Paul
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