This charming rendering looks like it’s straight out of my reading book in fourth grade: “the sleek little Falcon Ranchero is a popular unit for carrying small loads…” Yes, I’d have no trouble remembering that for the quizz on Friday. If I also tell you it’s a 1965 and has the 289 V8 option, will I get extra credit, Miss Johnson? Do you think I could grow up to do paintings like this all day long?
Update: How could I not make the connection to the most famous Ranchero in movie history?
Thanks to geeber for waking me up this morning. The tea just wasn’t doing it.
Those of us who have watched too many reruns of James Bond movies know that a 1964 Ranchero can carry a crushed 1964 Lincoln Continental, plus several hundred pounds of gold bars, plus the body of a recently deceased mobster, without so much as a sag in its rear springs!
I must have been feeling very innocent this morning when I first woke up; no longer thanks to you 🙂 Yes, that is the ultimate Ranchero movie scene. Post duly updated; thanks!
Yeah that scene in Goldfinger always gave me a good laugh because of the impossibility of the Ranchero carrying that load. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwPxnA2iTek Sadly no one seems to have posted the actual footage of the crushed car being put in the Ranchero.
I looked too; bummer.
The original Ranchero was a slick package; but I never understood the idea of making a GLAMOR PICKUP out of the dowdy Falcon. That had “fail” written all over it; the amazing thing was that the concept lasted long enough to be transported to the Torino format.
I’d have no desire for a Falcon Ranchero; but if I could get hold of a 1972 Torino Ranchero…perfect. Stylish, yet functional. And a big enough body to actually carry something in it.
I like the ’72 Ranchero too, but I think if you put a ruler to its bed and the ’65 model’s bed, you wouldn’t find much difference. The ’72 increased in length over its predecessors from the B-pillar FORWARD, not aft.
My dad had a ’65, bought brand new at the end of the model year for a song. He LOVED that little trucklet. He kept it until 1969, when he got gout in his left knee and it got too painful to pump the clutch. In the meantime, he worked fulltime at a chemical plant, and in his own time did body and fender work, automatic transmission repair, and hunted and trawled shrimp, and that little Ranch kept up with all of it. Don’t get me wrong, it was no F-100, but it was quite the versatile little truck. And it’s still around–it’s sitting in a storage lot not far from my mother’s house, awaiting restoration, I think. If that baby sprouts a For Sale sign, i may have to put my money where my mouth is….
Captain America’s favorite car!
The 64 Continental does another neat trick- it turns into a 63 just before it is fed into the crusher.(or perhaps a 61 or 62 with a 63 grille)