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on September 12, 2006
My Dad was a great record keeper, especially when it came to cars. He meticulously recorded all maintenance, parts purchases and fuel. Many times he recorded trips and stops, computing mileage and average miles per hour.
When I inherited Dad's 1967 Fairlane Ranchero in 1993, I found in the glove box the original warranty plate as well as the notebooks in which Dad recorded fuel purchases, oil changes and any maintenance or parts replacements. The ragged green Empire notebook in the Ranchero shows an entry "new car" on March 1, 1967. The actual purchase date was February 28, 1967. It was purchased from Rett-White Ford in Walnut Creek, California and I recall that the salesman's name was Jim Montero. Dad bought most of his cars from Jim.
Buying the new Ranchero was not a particularly big event in the family. My little sister, Gretchen, recalls going to the dealership to look for a new "truck". She was confused when my folks stopped at the front of one car and began to discuss it. The Ranchero it seems, was mixed in with several other '67 Fairlane's and, from the front, looked no different. Gretchen, then four, recalls being surprised when she walked around to the back of the car and saw it was a truck. A day or so later, Dad drove by the dealership on his way home from work and picked up the new Ranchero. The vehicle he traded in was a used '62 Ranchero which we had bought used a couple of years before. It had about 110,000 hard miles on it and was beat.
Our Ranchero was a basic Fairlane model. It was Brittany Blue and had no clock, no carpet, just a color-keyed floor mat. It was equipped with the standard 200 c.i.d. six-cylinder engine and three-speed transmission. There was a radio and a remote control driver-side rearview mirror. Shortly after purchasing it, Dad bought a fiberglass "camper shell" from Protect o Top of Santa Clara, California.
The Ranchero performed well over the years. In the first year, over 21,000 miles were clocked commuting and weekend use as a pickup. By January 1971, the Ranchero had traveled over 100,000 miles and the car now has been driven some 285,000 miles. It has performed its tasks faithfully, economically, and has been pretty much trouble free. For some reason I don't recall my Dad bringing a Ranchero home. I may have been away on an overnight school field trip, but in any event, the first time I recall seeing the car was one afternoon when Mom picked me up from school. I was in the sixth grade and we had to go by my scoutmaster's house to pick up equipment for a camp out. We had only had the car a day or two and as I loaded equipment I remember my Mother saying, "be careful, let your father put the first scratch in this car!"
Dad died in February 1993. My brothers, my sister and I began helping my Mom clean up the house and property. At the time of his death, Dad had been retired 18 years and upon retirement my folks moved to a ranch near Grass Valley, California. After Dad's death, we found the Ranchero in the barn surrounded by about two inches of water which had collected from the heavy spring rains. It had not run for at least one year. It had also collected many scratches and a few dents since that day I first recall seeing it. The original seat had been removed, replaced with bucket seats from a Thunderbird. The driver side floor-pan was rusted out and the Brittany Blue paint, which had failed in the early 1970's, was long gone. It had been replaced with a solid Turquoise enamel.
We got the old Ranchero running without too much trouble and used it to haul things to the dump and to help Mom move. When it had performed these tasks, the question became, what to do with this faithful friend which held many memories but which was of little value?
When no one else spoke up, I asked for the car. Many of the memories associated with the car were mine. I learned to drive in the car, and my wife and I went on our first date in the Ranchero.
The trip from California to Idaho was not pleasant. The weather stripping around the doors was rotten, leaving large air gaps allowing in road noise and cold air. The suspension was in bad shape, making the car just barely freeway worthy.
I spent the next eight years restoring the Ranchero. While it was being restored, we continued to use it. Suspension, brakes and mechanical items were addressed first. Dad had rebuilt the engine in the late 1980's so it seemed to be in good shape. A set of valve stem seals stopped the problem of oil consumption and smoking exhaust. My most vexing mechanical problem has been the clutch. I was unable to get it to adjust. Finally, I replaced the equalizer bar. When I took it out, it looked fine, but after I compared it to a new one, I saw it had bent slightly out of shape over 25 years and 282,000 miles.
Despite these efforts, the old Ranchero still looked awful. My daughter Lorelei refused to ride in it. Her brothers, Charlie and Will would tease her saying that I was planning to put a bale of hay in the back and give her a ride to school.
Originally I planned to modify the car. I was going to put in a V-8 and a floor shift along with a console. I wanted to make it an XL. I wrote the Ranchero Club for advice. Gene Makrancy wrote back asking me to restore the car, but not to modify it. He explained that most plain-Jane Rancheros had been worked to death. According to Gene, only a handful of the six cylinder basic Rancheros survive. Part of me felt like Gene had spoiled my fun, but I accepted the challenge to restore the Ranchero to the way it was when Dad brought it home.
Restoration proved a bigger challenge than I anticipated. There are very few after-market trim parts or other parts made for the base Fairlane Ranchero. Upholstery kits are available from Dearborn Classics for Ranchero 500's, but finding the original cane seat insert in dark blue, proved tough. I finally found the correct N.O.S. Upholstery and took it to the upholstery shop along with the correct bench seat and a color copy of a page from a '67 dealer's brochure. I instructed the upholstery shop to make the finished seat look like the color copy. Other interior restoration included a new dash pad, a re-chromed instrument bezel and new headliner. My only deviations from the original interior were to install a clock with a quartz movement, carpeting and an under dash CD player.
Finding the correct exterior trim proved to be the most challenging aspect of the restoration. Side trim pieces were either replaced with N.O.S. parts, or sent to California to be straightened and refreshed. I was thrilled with the restoration work done on the aluminum trim pieces, and if I had it to do over, I would take that route over the hunt for N.O.S. trim.
I spent eight years, 1993 to 2001, searching for the name badge which fits in the lower right-hand corner of the tailgate. It was used for only one year on Fairlane Rancheros and Fairlane wagons. A different badge is used on XL models and on Ranchero 500's. I seldom saw this badge in junk yards, when I did, it was broken exactly the way mine was broken. I was just about to give up when I decided to do a mass mailing to N.O.S. parts houses. I found the badge, in Cleveland!
In the winter of 2005, 2006 and continuing into the summer of 2006, a restoration of the engine bay and undercarriage was undertaken. The entire drive train from the engine back was removed. The bottom of the car was cleaned, degreased and re-sprayed with red oxide primer, just the way it came from Ford. Seals on the engine and rear end were replaced. The transmission and rear end were carefully cleaned and the location, type and color of inspection marks were noted. Before reassembly, all parts were cleaned, stripped, sanded and re-painted.
The initial restoration and the 2006 restoration still left some issues undressed. These will have to wait. My plan is to conduct another more thorough restoration of this car someday.
The Ranchero still serves us, primarily for pleasure, but sometimes for work. Our children, Charlie, Lorelei and Will like to drive it. Lorelei especially seems to enjoy it, and it's had its effect on her. Like her grandfather, she's developed a fondness for country music.
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