Good morning all, from a gray wet muggy miserable morning, from across the pond ! ( acknowledgements to Bill, at "Curious Cars", Naples,FL) Can anyone throw any light on this CA licence plate on my 78 GT please, is there any way to trace its history, I have tried to contact the previous owner, in 2013Zeeland Ct, Modesto CA 95356, with no success... Of course, he may no longer be with us, having imbibed too much of the coronavirus whiskey, but somewhere there must be some info available on this Ranchero, I think it was sold new in CA, it had cats, and a single exhaust system from new (now deleted, and a stainless twin pipe with H balance pipe fitted), It is a 400, with C6 auto, 2.5 axle for "Economy" The engine has chrome 8 bolt rocker covers, but otherwise all original appearance, with a blue air filter cover, which I am told is incorrect. It has a slide in tow bar assembly, below the licence plate, and I believe, air shocks at the rear, there is a white plastic pipe going to each shock absorber, about half way up. So I think this came with a heavy duty trailer option, as there is an antiroll bar fitted across the rear suspension as well. Would I be correct on that point? I am curious to know if it is the original engine, or someone has replaced, or "Modified" it (apart from Ford!) I can get around 15mpg on a long run, whoopee... the two barrel carb has no Autolite tag, or any I.D. numbers, so I think that has been replaced with a cheap chinese copy at some time... Thanks for any assistance or info, such a great forum and bunch of guys, much appreciated, have a good sunny monday, wherever you are, and keep sipping that whiskey
Ah Yes ! There is that damn cat lurking just over by the trees. Hello to another fan of Bill. I enjoy his whiskey induced humor, from that muggy Florida climate. You have the option of contacting Kevin Marti at Marti Auto Works to literally get a copy of your Ranchero's birth certificate. His search may resolve your questions about your Ford. Do a Google search to find him online. Marti Auto Works 13238 W Butler Drive El Mirage, AZ. 85335 Phone = 623-935-2558
I can tell you a few things. First, the format of the plate: 7 digits with only one of them a letter and 6 being numbers is the type for "commercial vehicles." Just about any car with a pickup bed is unfortunatley considered a commercial vehicle for tax purposes, no matter how car like. You are lucky you aren't renewing your registration in California since the "weight fee" for a supposed "commercial vehicle" adds at least a hundred dollars a year. As an example, a Falcon Ranchero from 1960 pays a registration three times what a Lincoln Continental from the same year would pay. Also, 1970's vehicles had blue plates when new. Usually the plate goes with the car when it is sold, but not always. So, if the car was sold new in California, that wasn't the plate it came with. Note California is one of the few states that requires both front and rear plates. Finally, the "BAR" (not a rifle, a state bureaucracy that protects crooked business but tortures car owners) keep records of smog checks. The smog test records for your Ranchero go back to 1997 with "pass" for most of them. It is rare for any car to have smog check records on the system prior to that. The regularity of the tests suggests that it was operable and registered continuously since then. A good sign. So there is no way to know if your car resided in California it's whole life or just since, say 1991 when blue plates ended or, say 1997 when the smog checks got recorded and saved. If you interior shows unusually high amounts of sun damage but the body is mostly unrusted, you can guess it was in California or other desert southwest states it's whole life. If it was within two miles of the coast, or up north this would not necessarily be the case. https://bar.ca.gov/services/Vehicle/PubTstQry.aspx There is also a DMV site , but I'd need the vin as well as the plate to look up a car. https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehic...egistration-fee-calculator/calculate-my-fees/
Hi guys, thanks to Hillbilly for the info on the Marti report; I know there is a charge for obtaining that info, not sure as to how that will work from over here in the UK. ?! Also thanks to Monk Daveohue, SO CAL resident, with all the info you gave about the plate, and licencing, I had a look on that BAR link you gave, amazing how so much info is recorded regarding yearly smog tests... only one year showing a fail, and another (2008) showing a "T" indicating a tampered smog device... I wonder what that could be! I shall wait and see what other info or comments might roll in, with any luck, amazing how helpful y'all are, Cheers
To Monk, here is the VIN # If you can kindly look that up for me please on the DMV link, much appreciated . 8H48S168307
I'm not getting anything from the DMV site. Is is possible the last 5 digits are not correct? But sometimes you don't get anything. You can go to the web site https://www.martiauto.com/martireports.cfm The two lesser priced reports contain info you can find from the web in about two minutes from your VIN and door tag by googling. The Elite report has info you can only get from Marti. But it is quite over priced. Marti Report REPORT - ELITE $300.00 REPORT - DELUXE $55.00 REPORT - STANDARD $20.00 Unless you have, say, a car such as a 7o Mercury Cyclone or Ford Torino that is one of only two with a "Drag Pack Ram Air 429" and want to prove it to justify your price tag for selling it, I don't think it is worth it for 300 dollars. For example, I know only about a tenth of 73 model year Rancheros were Squires. Would it really be worth 300 dollars to know that, say, only 108 were made with 302, 86 were 6f gold , only 49 were made with white vinyl roofs? And that mine was the ONLY one that was all three of these. Golly! No. Because none of these options were important to the price. Unlike having a 429 Ram Air with Drag Pack. You might enjoy looking at brochures. http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Ford_Ranchero/dirindex.html
Hi MD, thanks for that: VIN# is correct, I took it from the CA title that came with the vehicle, & just double checked on the door frame sticker. I did ascertain previously that, from the DSO number being "72" , that is San Jose, do you know the way to ?! Is that too near the coast? There is just one central split in the dash top cover pad, the screen has a top tint, only the drivers seat was badly split, in the center squab, the rest of the interior unmarked. So I am guessing it was sold new in CA, and has had a very gentle life, either as a boat or horsebox trailer tow vehicle, the bed just had light scratch marks, which I have since sprayed with some aerosol bed liner. Good talking to you, thanks for the info, & have an "ice" day, (english humor )
