Junkyard Find: 1978 Ford Ranchero
Ah, the Malaise Era. Some cars are just poster children for the 1973-1983 period of diminished expectations, sclerotic automaker bureaucracy, tape stripes, and the ascendancy of focus-group marketers. Take, for example, the 1977-1979 Ranchero, during which Ford decided to use the massive Thunderbird platform as the basis for their popular cartruck. It should have been a commercial disaster, but in fact it sold quite well.
A “personal luxury” car, with a truck bed!
This example, which I found in a gloomy Northern California self-service yard a couple of weeks back, is pretty much used up.
When cars rust to death in coastal California, they do it like this. During the long rainy season (all winter), water leaks in past the low-bidder weatherstripping and pools beneath the carpeting; GM cars preferred the trunk floor for this process, while Fords went for the front floors.
Ford wasn’t shy about crazy snout treatments in the 1970s; while I think the peak was the 1970 Mercury Cyclone, the MalaiseChero still has some weird style.
Leather!
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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Say what you guys will...I like this! Definitely dig the swanky stacked lights, but it needs the oversized aftermarket "pimp grille" so common on the Caddys and Lincolns of the period. If you guys remember the Overhaulin' episode where they took an El Camino with a similar front end, and swapped the "Laguna" face on it...I was upset about that. I just like the "weirdness" of the 70s. Maybe it reminds me of being a kid, but nothing, not even the weirdness of the 80s can surpass 70s charm.
I know I'll get flamed for this, but I always thought the Ford LTD II looked quite nice, especially in wagon form. http://stationwagonforums.com/forums/gallery/files/6/1977FordLTDIISquire.jpg