When you’re looking at a basket-case Ford Ranchero, a Cadillac 500-cubic-inch V8 plus TH400 transmission, an ancient Mercedes-Benz hood, and a yard full of random scrap metal, do you feel optimistic? The builder of this fine machine certainly did!
Built on a budget of just under a grand, this daily-driving, super-customized, tire-melting monster gets plenty of respect in the Houston area.
The engine came from an abandoned 24 Hours of LeMons Eldorado project, and the Shorty Ranchero’s builder decided to come check out the Yeehaw It’s Texas race and see what this weird race was all about. Little did he know that his machine would be worshiped by LeMons racers the way that cargo cults worship C-47s. I’m pretty sure he’s been drafted onto a team by this time.
Little touches like this “fuel gauge” abound; there’s a mirror positioned so that the driver can see the fuel level from behind the wheel. The beer keg fuel tank was found at the side of a Texas highway.
The Excalibur-style spare-tire mount didn’t have a tire attached, but that didn’t take away from the Shorty Ranchero’s class.
Supposedly it drives just fine, quite comfortable on the highway and with ridiculous power. We can’t see a single flaw!
Find Reviews by Make:
That spread eagle on the front grille has gotta go. Too tacky.
Carrying the fuel tank outside of the car, in front of the engine. Great idea.
I think it’s awesome, but I’ll never understand the US: Every coffemug has a “caution hot” sticker, but this death machine gets a registration…
This thing is the worst nightmare of a German TUEV-engineer…
That fuel tank is probably stronger than the one under your car, but up front is a bit much.
The most amazing thing to me is that it’s street legal, even in free-wheelin’ Texas. I wonder how often he gets stopped by the police to verify that it meets minimum requirements? And that front-mounted beer keg gas tank would certainly keep the driver from tailgating!
This would be legal in California as well.
Brook Stevens’ worst nightmare.
California had a law about fenders for a vehicle over a certain weight. The cops would use it to annoy
drivers of t-buckets and hiboys back in the American Graffiti era. I imagine it’s still on the books, but it’s nothing that can’t be fixed with some Yosemite Sam mudflaps.
If the AC works then he truly is a God among men, and I would totally drive this on my daily commute.
Who says we can’t make things in America anymore?
This truly is the Frankenstein’s monster of cars. All it needs is the back end of a Fiat roadster or something else equally as daft to finish it off.
This is what the Smart car should have been.
Well, that looks like quite a fun ride. It does have the same problem as the Ranchero it was based on in that you don’t want to pull out of an alley between two buildings with it, because it’ll be out in the first lane of traffic before you can see to the sides; but this rig would have the advantage that oncoming drivers would be more likely to stop or duck.
Too awesome for words. And yes, the A/C would make him god.
One amusing fact: Remos GX that I fly sometimes has a fuel gauge tube exactly like this one. I am not even jocking: it’s a plastic tube in which the crew watches the fuel-air menisc. But that airplane costs $125,000 off the dealer lot.
My French car, a KV, came from the factory with a similar length of tubing on the fuel tank as its gauge. This guy has me beat, though, because I’ve got to step out and raise the rear engine cover to check mine.
Centerline wheels, beer keg fuel tank, top bull’s horns for ornamentation, and he also managed to put a high mount brake light in there: outstanding!
T-bucket from the apocalypse, Mad Max beyond the Astrodome.
This thing is pure redneck and I love it. Think I have the enough crap hanging around my place to do one (SBC350not caddie) but don’t know if I have what it takes to drive it. Almost more fun than one person can handle.
Walk away and I’ll spare your lives. Just walk away.
Thanks murilee for the post! what an awesome car, the kind that used to frequent pages at j*l+pn^k before it started getting yuppified!