Reviving 1965 F100 Ranger field truck

Working on getting this old dog running.
Rough old steed. Has a V8 old style FE set up. ....rough rough rough.
Raccoons won't catch it again. That mouse and raccoon mess is calling for a high pressure car wash.

Bucket seats need recovered.

 

Rough? That’s near pristine where I come from worked until unsafe for the road then given to kids to learn to drive around the farm and herd cattle till they won’t move anymore, pushed in the bush and robbed of parts, that’s how I find em

 

Floors were patched, was a weird hill billy bucket seat set up, only thing it needs us a cooler out back, and 60ac of hay to bale.

 

Guess we all have our own definition of rough what I brung home

 

Bed looks nice on that. Like the rear bumper.
Looks like a lot of Birch trees there... reminds me of WVa.

 

I need a temp fuel tank out back, then run 4gal gas thru it, change oil & filter again after its all warmed up.

 

I’ll second the sentiment of that isn’t rough. Yep it has a few custom deletes like the bed and parts of the floors, but it has straight-ish panels, most of the trim and all of the glass. That is a find. Can’t wait to see her come back to life.

 

Looks like a really good starting point!
I never had that good of a starting point.
Could be a fun project.
What are your long term plans?

The old motor turns over & could run??? What a score!
An old fuel cell or boat gas tank (or a 2 gallon gas can) would supply enough gas to get it running.

 

I guess its relative to how these vehicles handled ed rust. I found steering wheel horn retainer online. Wonder horn ring is not busted. Somebody commented they liked the auto column. Radio is missing, but it evidently had one at one time.

 

The bucket seat tracks could have come with the bucket seats. The other brackets are probably for a center console and could have came with the console. Lots of newer trucks have carpet, bucket seats, and consoles. Bench seats are pretty hard (and expensive) to come by that fit into old trucks.

I have not seen anything I would consider as outside of normal, in an old truck, up to this point. What I see is a truck that did its service and was turned out to pasture, then someone though it would be a great cruiser (or work truck for themselves). They pulled it out of hibernation, patched up the floors, probably redid most of the mechanical stuff, replaced the shot seat with something they had, or found, and made it a usable truck again. It probably outlived their use, and got parked for you to find. There may have been many owners between the guy that bought it new, and the last guy before you, that had a hand in making it survive this long. What has been done to it in the past may be an interesting journey, but the most important thing to us is what you plan to do with it.

Its your turn to make it the ride in your vision. You could redo what the last guy did, or do something completely different. Its an open canvas that is a great starting point for you to create from.

So, what are your plans with the truck? What do you want it to be?

Just a few examples for you. One guy (here on the HAMB) that uses a truck about the same year as your truck, to work on a 200+ mph Bonneville Salt Lake record. A different guy (here on the HAMB) is using his similar truck as a daily driver that is well past the mid point on a 3,000 mile road trip, right now!

 

Always liked bench seats in trucks, they were usually the best choice.

 

Grandpa always liked his 352s.

 

Nice! It looks clean to me.

 

Are you going to find an original bed or make it a flat bed?

 

Not sure. Flatbed might be easiest.

 

A flat bed until you can find a replacement bed is a good idea. You can drive the truck while you look for a bed in good condition, then replace the flat bed on your own time frame.

 

Looks like it could be nice if restored to this level.

 

compared to my "slick", yours is pretty nice, mine is a 1962 unibody, lots of rust

 

Could be restored, but what fun would that be? Hauling (not driving) it all over the country to enter in shows where everything is awarded by how perfect it has been redone, and hanging around a bunch of guys that are only interested in how much the truck is worth and how much it cost to to get it into the condition its in. To do well in that game, everything has to be documented. If indeed it was some early dealer promo for a future option, how will you be able to prove that? Unless you can prove the seats and console are a per-production promo, a real points award show will deduct the "incorrect seats and console" from your point total, and the other show guys will look down on you for not accurately restoring your truck. Doesn't sound like too much fun to me.

I can't imagine how expensive it would be to restore that truck into an award winning prize. Every part would have to be period correct Ford NOS or reproduction parts. If the Ranger guy thinks it should be restored, tell him to give you a better condition equivalent truck and then he can have the one you have and he can restore it. I'm betting he will pass, he just has parts he wants to sell you.

Sorry, my suggestion to you is to build it to what ever level and style you want (and can afford). Then drive the wheels off of it and enjoy the journey.

 

Shows can be painful.

 

I do have the gold options tag, it has Bucket seats and Radio on it. It matches SN on door tag. Ford Truck Guy sent back note 9" Ford rear 3.25 ratio. Auto Trans, 352 2V. Bucket Seats, Console Custom Cab. Shipped without paint, painted at Dealer. Short wheel base as well, probably not designed for hauling much.

 

Never knew ford had a bucke seat option on those trucks.

 

I had not previously ever saw one in person. Kinda like the Chevy Buddy Seats. I heard they used Falcon Car seats?

 

Today:
- Replaced Horn Ring retainer.
- Door locks lubed, orig key actually works.

 

Found this still wired to inside of drivers door.

 

Sounds like a neat truck. Glad you got it running already.
The seats didn't surprise me near as much as the 'shipped without paint' thing. Was that really a thing?
As said, if it's really a special from factory, see if someone is willing to step up and take the reins for a historic resto, but it's your truck to do your way.
What happened to the pics? I thought you had included one in the original post.

 

Carb kit & Ign Switch has arrived.

 

Carb inspection and Update.
Economize Valve (power valve) was bad.
Accel Pump diaphragm was bad, spring was reversed.

 

Color under primer is Gold/Bronze.

 

Going to rip rest of gold carpet out. Need to soak floor with good soap, smells so bad.

I see the Rear springs are available at General Spring.

Change oil today.