First restoration - 65 Ranchero

My son and I are starting on our first restoration. We have a 1965 Ranchero with a 1965 Comet front clip. Not running and needs some work but outer panels are fairly solid. Floor pan is another story.

 

Welcome Andy!great site,great bunch of folks to help you as you move along with your project,must be nice to have a father/son project !is it gonna be his?how old is he?keep us in the loop,and pics always welcome!

 

Thanks, My son is 23 and just moved home from college. We are planning to put it back together, enjoy it a little and use it to finance the next project. Will post more pictures soon.

 

Pics, of course, are always welcome. What do you two have in mind on the restoration?

 

Love those things with that comet front clip. Almost look like they shoulda been built that way! Looks like ya got yer work cut out for ya but dang, gonna be saweeet when it done.

 

It's the same with the last three years. The Cougar front, with the Ford grille style, is what should've been done, not the LTD II front end.

 

Not sure I've seen that done. You have any pics?

 

Wildest looking swap is a 70 or 71 Ranchero with a Cyclone Spoiler front clip. Plumb wicked looking. And there really is a Ranchero with the long aero nose like on this Mercury.

 

Looks like the only picture of that one is one I posted here years ago. Dad delivered parts to race shops in it, can't imagine the feed bill driving that Boss-9 all over the SouthEast.

 

Wow! Those are wild lookin! Very kool! Dig the heck out o both of em! Might have changed my mind about the 70-71 Ranchero. I almost bought one a while back but decided to hold off till I found my 67. I may just get one now and start lookin for a merc clip for it.

 

All kinds of front clips can be adapted to the different year Rancheros.

 

Those Merc clips are what are makin me drool!

 

This^^^is the one I love. This is what the Ford front-end design should've been.

 

My favorite that you have posted so far is the first one. That black cyclone spoiler. Man that thing sure is purty!!

 

We like pictures

 

Can get an idea what a 67 Cyclone nose looks like on a Ranchero and what a 64 full size Merc might have been as a Ranchero.

 

Think I like my 67 Ford fairlane a bit better than the cyclone. Now the bottom, that full size, it might grow on me.

 

The 66 and 67 Cyclones have a front end that has to grow on ya. I have a 67 Dad and I restored using extra parts left over from restoring his drag car. Four speed car that now has the correct 390 instead of a 427 I just thought I had to have in it. Saving that thumper for something more exotic than a Cyclone. His Cyclone and Thunder Bolt still have their 427 thumpers. I love firing off his 427's at shows, a couple of the guys here can testify that everyone stops dead in their tracks to turn toward that beautiful sound. Probably also the reason I'm nearly deaf today too.

 

Stacked headlights
Going to school, a couple of times our neighbor gave me a ride in his Black 1965 Merucry Maurader. It had 3 - 2bbls and I always remembering him saying it was a 410 (like the shotgun). I always figured he must be mistaken since I never heard of a 410 but when the second and third carbs kicked in, wow.

 

410 cid engines were of the MEL variety, Mercury- Edsel-Lincoln group. Huge, looked like a Perkins Diesel sitting in the engine bay. If it came with 3X2 carbs it might have been a Super Marauder 430 cid instead putting out 400 horsepower. Full size torque monsters that came before pony cars were thought about.