I had a buddy who died some years back who was big into Fairlanes. He had a cherry 64 he did all the work on. It was the car that introduced me to the Cleveor engine (Cleveland heads on a Windsor block). His car ran high 10s N/A, and he had a cheater nitrous bottle hidden in the door and plumbed into the rear of the intake so you couldn't see it upon casual inspection. Really sparked my interest in these cars. I'd maybe even give up my 55 for a clean 64 I could make into a Thunderbolt clone.
I’ve been looking at bellhousings, flywheels, clutches and top loaders with the idea of converting my Ranchero to stick shift. I came to realize that I don’t know enough about mid-60s Fords to buy the correct stuff and not pay premium prices for stuff that won’t work. So I’ll just stick the shift kit in my C6 and be happy.
Me too!! There's a handful of bucket list cars I have, and with the current state of things, the only way I can afford to do them is to sell or trade my 55. Not saying it will ever happen, but you never know.
My emotional bucket list is still long but my real-life bucket list is down to just a few. I’m trying to decide whether to sell off my projects, take the hit and get a bucket list car or stay the course and be happy with the projects I have. Tough decision as the years go by and my thrash endurance decreases.
1973 one of my buddies pulled into the HS parking lot beside me with one of these w/console 4spd. The best part was this: He didn't have it very long. Flipped it for a drop-top '65 Malibu, 283/glide.....
My high school buddy Keith had a beautiful Fairlane GTA, maroon with a black interior. It left an indelible impression on me. If money was no object I would have my Ranchero done just like his GTA except with a 4 or 5 speed manual and a lumpy solid lifter cam.
Sold this one last year. Got it cheap as a roller. Put a 351 Cleveland in it that was pulled from a Pantera years ago. I've always liked these cars. This one needed a full floor pan and quarter panel work.
Boy, that’s a lot of work. The one I bought has almost no rust and what it does have is mostly, “sand and treat”. It was garaged for most of its life. I’m most concerned that it has three paint jobs, factory and two more. Makes most painters say, it’s gotta be stripped - lotta labor, lotta $$$$.
I found some of the special Elapsed Times magazines that Car Craft put out years ago and have been reading them. There was a great article about the involvement of Art Carr and Bill Von Vliet building a Ford requested, 406 powered Fairlane in SoCal in 1962. It’s called “The First Thunderbolt” (spring 2013). They cover the builders, drivers and sponsoring dealers. Great article for early Fairlane lovers.
Dana 60 in that Fairlane. Little overkill in a street car but I guess it you gives you piece of mind.
I spotted this Torino GT at the the all Ford car show Sunday at Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn.... Sorry, I didn't know where else to post these pictures....
Man, that red Fairlane looks mean. Love the stance and tire fit. I can almost hear that solid lifter 427 sound.
I’m looking for a trailer hitch for the Ranchero. I’ve got a vintage flat bottom ski boat and I’d like to be able to use the Ranchero to move it around on the property and maybe even drag it to the nearby lake if I can figure out how to get the old boat registered. The internet has been useless so far. I’d prefer a bolt on hitch, even the old blade style would be ok. If anyone has a lead on one let me know. If not I guess I’ll just gather up the parts and make one. Thanks.
If you were in Indiana I’d tell you to go get the DNR forms from Cabellas or Bass Pro and fill them out and mail in a check. But your in Commiefornia and I have no idea.
Nice Ranchero! OK, I'm late to the party but yours is a twin to one I owned in the mid '70s minus the flattened passenger side where somebody laid it against a guardrail for a fair distance... But it ran good and was cheap. I needed a truck... I'll throw my .02 worth in... Body wise, the '66 and '67 were pretty much identical, the only visible difference being the front clip. There were differences under the skin however. The radiator bulkhead was changed to account for the different fenders and there were structural differences in the shock towers. Do check that the FE is the original motor as those had additional bracing where the upper control arms attached for the extra weight. Ford had three shock towers for these: sixes, small blocks, and the FE (no FE for '66). The FE would drop into any of them, but cracking around the upper control arm mounting bolts was pretty common with the lighter-duty towers, especially the six versions. The Fairlane model side trim is a mix of Fairlane two door and Wagon bits. The doors and quarterpanels are Ranchero-only, although in a pinch you can use partial wagon quarters from the wheel openings back or two door skins on your doors. Suspension. Be careful about lowering the front. I'll admit I'm surprised that yours is still 'nose up' as all of the 390 versions I saw 'back in the day' (including mine) within five years would drop down at least two inches from spring sag. It seemed to be a '67 390 Ranchero-only issue, the cars didn't do it and the '68-69 Ranchero didn't seem to have that problem. I'd bet money your springs have been replaced, but with what? OEM? Or a later year? One last thing here... Make sure your rear sway bar mounts are absolutely as close to the springs as possible. As they move inboard, the stress on the housing will bend it and you'll start eating axle bearings. Ford on the rare occasions that they offered optional rear bars on leaf spring cars mounted the bar to the body and the links went to the springs to prevent this. They did use housing mounted bars on cars with rear coils and full-size pickups, but those had much stouter housings. You might get away with yours. I learned this one the hard way... and it was an Addco bar like yours. Exhaust. A non-fun fact; Ford didn't offer dual exhaust for the Rancheros or Wagons in '67, which is why you can't find any listing for it. Walker used to make a kit to convert to duals, but it didn't fit very well and was a PITA to install. I bought one, but ended up having a muffler shop rework it. Engine. That's not the original motor, or at least the top end. It appears to be '66 390 GT as those pent-roof valve covers were '65-66 only. OEM would have been the later 'Power By Ford' ones. The weird plumbing for the PCV is another identifier. That's actually not a bad manifold (other than being heavy) as its nearly identical the OEM 428CJ intake. Ford did make an aluminum version, but it was only used on the '66 PI 428s and the exhaust crossover rotted out on them which makes them very hard to find these days (think $$$). I will note here if you go to aluminum heads, those don't have the heat riser so even one that has the rot can be used. Or block the riser at the head. A Ford part number stamped onto the choke air horn will be another GT identifier. If you find that, it's a 715 CFM carb and that's an excellent street carb. Ford didn't offer the 390 GT in the Ranchero in '67, just the 'regular' 390-4V. A note about all those cheap FE aluminum intakes. Way back when Edelbrock came out with an exact copy of the Ford 428 PI intake called the S-427. Ford took notice and forced them to pull it off the market (copyright infringement I'm guessing?). One thing Ford did on those was both vacuum points were drilled into both plenums, not just one for a smoother signal. When Edelbrock reintroduced the Performer RPM version later, this feature was gone (otherwise it was still basically the same intake). For some obtuse reason, they relocated the new, single plenum port to the front of the intake... right where it may interfere with a Holley carb linkage (although a Edelbrock carb will fit... not a coincidence I imagine. They did the same thing with virtually all of their Ford 2-4V intakes, only Edelbrock or Carter carbs will fit). Virtually all of those cheap offshore intakes that are showing up are copies of the Edelbrock with the same crappy location. If you don't need a vacuum port for power brakes, just plug the hole. But if you do.... Transmission. Ford never built an OD automatic for the FE, so your only option here if you want an automatic OD is something adapted to the motor. There are various kits out there. Yeah, the 390/C6 combo wasn't known for its fuel economy... I think the best I ever got with mine was 14 MPG on the freeway. Single digits in town. The C6 is nearly bulletproof, but its 50 HP internal drag is a mileage killer. A manual swap isn't all that easy either. The fly in the ointment is the bellhousing. Ford changed their trans-to-bell bolt pattern in '65 and made several different flavors. The truck bells were all the same until the end of production in '76. These are pretty easily found and for not a ton of money (I just picked up another this weekend for $125 with both the lower cover and throwout arm) and will have a C5TA casting number. There are multiple different car bells however, and they're NOT cheap or common. Expect to pay $800 or more. Quicktime makes one, but theirs is over $1K. The main issue is the truck bell is .350" deeper than the car bell which complicates things. This will go into more detail... Technical - FE Manual Bellhousings: What are the REAL differences between them? | The H.A.M.B. In most cases the truck bells will work, but it may not be a bolt-in... There may be a bit of tunnel bashing and clutch linkage mods required. The upside is most if not all of the clutch linkage bits you need are being reproduced. One last thing... Make SURE you have a VENTED gas cap. I don't know why, but the OEM caps on these always seemed to disappear. Mine had what appears to be the same cap as yours (mine was non-vented) when I got it and I never gave it any thought. Drove the truck for a good year with no issues. Until one day when the wife and I drove down to my parents to pick up some hand-me-down furniture. On the way home I remarked to her that it was getting particularly good mileage for some reason, the gauge wasn't dropping like normal. The words were barely out of my mouth when it stuttered and died. Quick check at the carb, no gas. No leaks around fuel pump either. I remove the gas cap, get a strong whoosh and a loud ka-wang under the rear. Yep, the cap decided that was the day it was going to seal and the fuel pump pulled enough vacuum to collapse the tank. Tried expanding it back with compressed air once I got home, no go. It wasn't easy to find another tank, no reproductions in those days. You can get them now, but they're $400+... I liked the Ranchero and had acquired most of the parts to straighten the body out, but divorce number 1 came up and I sold it and the parts to a guy who did bodywork... Anyway, I've always really liked the '67 Fairlanes, you've got a nice one! Good luck!
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