Most weeks, I’m usually so tired on Friday evening that I’m fine with picking up something for dinner for my family on the way home. But last Friday afternoon, my wife Eli sent me an unexpected text. Her mom’s friend Linda has been in town visiting, and all three ladies (along with my son Hayden) were going to the Desert Ridge Marketplace in Phoenix to do some shopping. Did I want to go? I was ready to be out of the house for an evening, so I told my wife that “Hell yes!” I would join them. On the walk from the parking lot to meet them at the H&M store, I passed this 1963 Ford Falcon Ranchero.
As my colleague Diego explained in a recent piece about the Ranchero, the car/truck hybrid changed significantly over its lifespan. The larger ’59 Ranchero gave way to the smaller, Falcon-based 1960 model with a narrower body, 8.5-inch-shorter wheelbase, and 19-inch reduction in overall length. One of the most noticeable changes to the second-gen Rancheros was the grille, which Ford altered frequently. The ’63 I spotted had one of the most attractive styles: a horizontal divider that ran from headlight to headlight and split the grille into upper and lower sections with six columns of horizontal bars. Bright trim (added to the Falcon Ranchero for the ’62 model year) surrounded the V-shaped scoop at the front of the hood bulge. The body was a color I’d call “Peachy Tan,” which had plenty of patina and several patches missing from it. Below that was a set of 13-inch wheels with dog-dish hub caps and trim rings that still had some shine, unlike the dingy whitewalls around them.
None of this was all that surprising. I was looking at a 63-year-old vehicle, after all. Rancheros are a little quirky and unusual, but I can’t imagine many of them are put through painstaking, concours-level restorations. The fact that this Ranchero was still on the road was impressive. What was even cooler was the thing I saw hanging over the back end: a Fox tailgate pad. Yes, not only does someone drive this Ranchero, but they also use it to carry their bicycle (perhaps a mountain bike?) to their favorite route. A lot of people in the Phoenix area are very outdoorsy, so I’ve seen these pads on trucks before, but they’ve usually been strapped to body-on-frame pickups, such as Toyota Tacomas or Ford F-150s. I have no idea if this Falcon Ranchero had the standard 85-horsepower 144ci “Falcon Six” or the optional 101-horse 170ci I-6 under its hood, but I do know that even two bicycles would be no match for its six-foot bed’s 800-pound carrying capacity.
I’m glad I was able to quickly snap the photos en route to meet up with my family, but I also wish the owner was nearby. I would have told him/her how cool it is that they’re keeping this unusual machine alive and using it as a means of transportation and a lifestyle vehicle.
