The 1966 Ranchero

This '66 Ranchero has a long and winding story. I bought the Ranchero in South Carolina in 1984. My older brother Larry lived there and my younger brother Fred was there visiting. I told my brother Fred that if I ever bought a Falcon Ranchero I wanted a 1966 because they were bigger and it was the last year for the Falcon Ranchero. To be technically correct...It is a FORD Ranchero. They never had the word "FALCON" on them. They used the '66 Falcon front fenders (wings), grill, bumper & hood. In 1967 the Fairlane took over the Ranchero name. They used the same main body from the '66 Falcon (or FORD) Ranchero and changed the front sheet metal, tail lights and dash to the '67 Fairlane design. NOTE: The US Ford Ranchero started in 1957, then in 1960 the F A L C O N took over.

OKAY.... Back to the long and winding story. My two brothers told me they found a '66 Ranchero for sale. I sent the money to my brother. They buy it and I head down to get it. They told me it smoked a little when you started it and also smoked after running for a while when you pulled out from a stop. We knew this was a symptom of needing valve seals. This is a simple job that I have done before. So I drive it home. It took several quarts of oil to get it home to Pennsylvania. When removing the valve covers to install new valve seals about 1/2 quart of oil ran out of each valve cover. The return oil passages to the oil pan in the block were clogged. Apparently this engine had not had the oil changed on a good maintenance schedule. I ran a coat hanger down the passages and flushed the engine with kerosene. I should have removed the oil pan and cleaned it out because when I stared the engine the oil pump seized and twisted and broke the shaft going to the oil pump (see below).

Here is a picture of Brian's 1960 Ranchero with his wife and oldest son. He converted it over to a V8.

Here is a picture soon after I brought it home. I installed the American Mag Wheels that were used on many of my cars including a 1973 Cougar, 1967 Falcon, 1983 Ranger Pick-up and the 1949 Ford. "A F O R D Tech Tip", the 5 lug 4 1/2 inch diameter bolt pattern was first used on the 1949 F O R D.

Here is a picture of the Ranchero at it's first Falcon meet in Delaware at Falcon Furniture .

I joined the Falcon Club. With 2 children and my wife, we couldn't go to a Falcon Meet as a family. So I sold it to a friend from work. Here is a picture right before I sold it.

Ed had a nice 1950 Ford Four door sedan and wanted a vehicle for his wife. He removed the drive train, rebuilt the engine, tranny, carb, starter, alternator and sand blasted the engine compartment. He stripped some of the body parts down to bare metal and painted them with epoxy primer. He painted the engine compartment and installed the drive train.

Ed put the Ranchero on hold to help his son restore a 1966 Mustang. Soon after that he left work on disability and could no longer work on the Ranchero.

So 10 years later, 1997, I bought the Ranchero back. Here are some pictures when I brought it home again. I drove it up onto the tow dolly to bring it home.

Here are a couple pictures of the '66 Ranchero with our '63 Falcon Convertible soon to be put up on my rotisserie.

Its been sitting in my barn for over 20 years.

Around Thanksgiving 2022, grandsons Tyler and Dustin helped move the Ranchero from the barn to the heated garage at the house. It will slowly get fixed and back on the road. Look for more pictures soon.

Here is a slide show of some pictures getting it out of the barn and bringing it over to the house garage. We towed it with daughter Lora's Jeep. WOW.... another barn find.

Starting on the disc brake conversion. The single chamber master cylinder must be replaced with the new disc brake master cylinder and proportion valve. More picture to come later.

Here is a slide show on the new rear brakes.

Here is the template used to lower the upper control arm 1". This is known as the Shelby/Arning Drop.

Above are dimensions for the template.

Here is a slide show of the progress on the after market disc brakes and the rebuilding of the front suspension.

Old single chamber MS

Proportion Valve

New MS Front View

New MS top VIEW

Removed the Gas Tank

Look what was inside. It looked like kitty litter but it was just the inside of the tank crumbling away.

NEW GAS TANK

AND SENDING UNIT

Moved the gas inlet to the inside of the bed.

I got my gas cap moved on the Ranchero to the inside of the bed. I made another inner panel and drilled a hole in it for a 1964 Falcon gas neck that I had. The panel is there to access the connection of the gas neck to the gas tank. I cut off and modified a 1966 Falcon sedan gas neck so I can put my stock gas cap on. I had an adapter made to go from 2” to 2 ¼”. It’s stainless exhaust pipe. It cost me $39.00, WOW. Six inches of pipe and 10 minutes of work. The 1966 Ranchero tank and gas neck are 2 ¼” diameter. The 1964 Falcon neck is 2”. That worked out great since the only flexible gas hose I could find was 2” diameter. I double clamped the connections on the adapter connections since there is no rolled lip.

Inside the Bed

Modified Gas Neck

A Look in From the Taillight

6" Adapter

The adapter hooked up to the 2 1/4" and 2" hose at the gas tank.

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