Junkyard Find: 1979 Ford Ranchero

by Murilee Martin

Published: July 1st, 2015

Ah, the Malaise Era! Engines making one horsepower per three cubic inches. Broughams, Landaus, and molded-in fake stitching on petroleum-distillate Simu-Vinyl™ upholstery. And, of course, a pseudo-pickup based on the Ford Thunderbird platform. 1977-79 Rancheros still show up in California wrecking yards now and then, and that’s where I saw this green-on-green-on-green-on-some-more-green ’79 last fall.

It’s hard to imagine a greener interior. We’ve seen this phenomenon before.

351-cubic-inch V8 making 19 horsepower, or something like that. I don’t feel like looking up the exact number, because it will make me sad.

Still, this face has a certain appeal. I know it’s wrong, but I could see driving one of these every day (I blame Mr. Mehta for this sickness).

#1970s #1979 #1979FordRanchero #California #Cartruck #DownOnTheJunkyard #Ford #FordRanchero #Junkyard #JunkyardFind #Truck #Ranchero #Malaise #MalaiseEra

Murilee Martin

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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APaGttH on Jul 01, 2015

Back when I was a wee lad my father owned a '75 Chrysler Newport with a very similar green on green on green on green on green color scheme. The green vinyl interior was HORRID, even by my little kid standards, and in that God awful vinyl that would sear the skin right off your hide when you slid in on a hot summer day.

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MrMag on Jul 02, 2015

I always thought this generation of Rancheros looked funny. The front end looks like an LTD or Continental, but the rest of it is a 2-door truck.

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