this is a very rare car, one of only 136 rancheros produced in 1963 with a 260 v8 coupled to a 4 speed manual gearbox. and today, fifty years later, it’s still a matching numbers car. 
 

these american rancheros differed slightly to the utes offered by ford australia. they were around 8 inches longer, and, amongst other things, featured a storage compartment behind the bench seat. 
 

this ranchero was meticulously restored around 7 years ago, and the restoration is still flawless. 

the rebuilt 260 still goes hard (not surprising, as it’s covered little mileage since the rebuild), and makes a gorgeous sound at idle or under acceleration. 
 

the ranchero is as it rolled out of the factory, except with better panel fit, and the addition of period 14 inch torque thrust d mags. 

the ranchero is also fitted with a bondi speed shop ‘plank gearshifter’, hand shaped in surf-grade balsa and cedar.
 

during the nut & bolt restoration the ranchero was kept in left-hand drive configuration, which, in hindsight could be a godsend, as thanks to the weak aussie dollar, many of these cars are now finding their way back to their country of origin. 

 

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