57 Ranchero build

J

jvo

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
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Well, I have always wanted a 57 Ranchero. Been looking for a decent affordable one for a long time now. Neither of those came along, neither decent, nor affordable. So, I ended up buying this rusty piece of crap. To make a long story short, I also found a 57 Fairlane for 300 bucks that was almost rust free. The Fairlane has a two inch longer wheelbase, and is longer overall. I did a bunch of measuring and meditating, and decided to bite the bullet. As you will see, I am definitely not butchering a good Ranchero. This thing is pretty much a junker, except that the trim is in very nice shape, and it has a good running although smoky 302 with a top loader 4 speed, and I have always been a 3 pedal type of guy.
I am going to stretch the cab a couple inches.
I am going to turn the Ranchero doors into "hardtop doors".
The Fairlane windshield and roofline will be retained, as it is 1 1/4 inches lower and sleeker looking than the stock Ranchero.
Going to keep the Fairlane 500 quarter panels and fins as they are about an inch taller than the stock Ranchero fins.
I'll try to explain the madness as I post pics.
 
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That should be enough pics of the rusty crap for everyone to get the idea of what I'm starting with.
Found this 57 Fairlane 500 four door sedan locally and got it for 300 bucks. It is almost rust free. I had to rebuild all the body mounts, and the floor pan above each body mount, the rocker panels, and the bottom of the door posts. But for a 57 Ford, its basically a rust free car. I have it up on the rotisserie right now, and the floor pan is all fixed, new body mounts are done, all except for the very back end, where I have to remake the tail pan below where the trunk lid was. It has to be totally rebuilt to accept the Ranchero tailgate.
Now, my findings are such that I think the floor pans are pretty close to the same in all these cars until you get to the trunk area. I am going to use the stock Fairlane gas tank, and haven't decided where I am going to put the filler neck yet. That's down the road a ways.
The inner fenders I was worried about, but after I got to looking at them closely, they are identical to the Ranchero inner fenders. They even have an accent line along the bottom edge where the station wagon floor, or Ranchero floor mated up, and I don't see any other reason for this accent line in the four door sedan inner fender other than that. I'm sure Ford used the same one in all the cars because of that. I just have to drill out all the spot welds for the trunk bracing, etc.
The Ranchero floor boards were totally rusted out, so I cut out all the junk. The Fairlane trunk floor is different, in that the spare tire is upright in a well, with the gas tank beside it. I am going to leave that, for ease of construction, as I want to drive this thing before I die.
 
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Pic of a couple new front body mounts, lower door post repairs, etc. The lower door post pics don't do them justice, they actually follow the same shape as the rocker panel.
 
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[/URL][/IMG]So, the Fairlane floorboards are done enough that I can continue with the build. Next up was to bring in ol' rusty and butcher it apart, then throw away all the junk, and keep the parts I need, like the roof, the back wall of the cab, doors, etc.
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Once I cut out all the rust, this is about all that's left of the ol' rusty Ranchero.
 
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On this first pic, where the camera flash glare omitted it, the caption on the green tape reads something like," this side of the line moves back."
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Now, this is where I have to make a couple decisions, and where it will start to get interesting. Hope this is explained well enough so everyone will understand. The Ranchero measurement, --- from the front of the door to the back of the tail fin, was 4 inches shorter than the Fairlane 500--. There is two inches longer wheelbase, which is added to the Fairlane frame just in front of the front spring hanger. That is where the two frames differ.
Now, I don't really want to add 4 inches to the cargo area, want to keep that stretch as minimal as possible for a couple reasons. Don't want to stretch the stainless trim around the top of the bed if possible to keep it simple, and that stainless trim is in really nice shape.
I do want to maybe add a couple inches to the cab area. If you care, pay attention to this. Hopefully the cardboard pics will show it.
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This cardboard pic shows the stock Ranchero B pillar. I am going to lean the B pillar forward to match the back of the B pillar angle. I am also going to use "hardtop doors, so to speak", and the area on the from of the cardboard shows the two inches of the Ranchero stock window frame. That will get cut off, and there will be only a piece of stainless trim around the glass from the 57 retractable window frames. I also have complete vent window assemblies from a 57 retractable to graft into the front of the Ranchero doors.
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Okay, this second piece of cardboard shows how the new B pillar will look. ** Note the bottom edge of the cardboard is now at the rear edge of the door opening. I am going to slide the whole roof back two inches, along with the back wall of the cab. This is where the "hardtop window glass" will begin. Doing this so as to keep the B pillar from looking too thick front to back. Also, the cardboard is actually parallel front to back, the camera makes it look like I can't draw two lines parallel to each other. Sorry.
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This cardboard image, if I got it in the right place, is only a maybe. Still thinking about it. What do you think? Should I add an extra inch to the B pillar, ( total of 3), or will it start to look goofy? Keep in mind the roofline will still be a couple inches above the top of the cardboard, and also this pic looks crooked, from the camera. The actual back of the roofline and the front of the B pillar are parallel. Also, I think I failed to mention that the top rear of the window glass will be rounded. Got the idea from one of the posts on that southern forum we're not supposed to mention, that had a photoshop done on it.
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This is a bad shot, but its the inner cab section of the B pillar. Whatever I add to the outer section, I also have to add to the inner section here in order for the roofline to slide back into the bed. I have to totally rebuild the back wall of the cab anyway, except for the top of the B pillars, and the area around the back window, which is still in pretty nice shape.
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This pic is of the top of the B pillar so you can see how I have to section it to move the back of the cab wall rearward.
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Maybe this pic shows the cut line, and how the front end of the B pillar will stay at the door opening, but the back end of the B pillar will move backward into the bed area.

That's about it for now. I have all the suspension pieces to rebuild it. Using 79 Tbird front spindles and disc brakes, supposedly the ones that do not drop the front of the car, and I bought some new Aerostar coil springs that are supposed to drop the front end 3 inches. Got all the new suspension bushings, just have to send the frame out for blasting, then paint it and assemble it. Over the next few months I will pick away at the body mods.

I bought new EMS quarter panels that go from the back of the door opening to halfway through the wheel well, and include the rocker panels. Also, new rocker panels for under the doors. The rest of the body is in pretty nice shape. I had to make one small patch to the rear lower quarter panel about 4 inches on the bottom, and made it from scratch, don't have a pic of it right now. I need to cut the tops of the doors off, and install the new vent windows that will match the Fairlane windshield opening. Its surprising how similar the sedan doors are inside, compared to the retractable doors. Originally was going to use complete retractable doors, but the back end of them didn't quite match the Ranchero B pillar. I will show pics of that in the future.
The top of the four door rear door skins will be used to fill in the void above the new EMS panels, but I'll show that when I get around to doing it also. That's about all I can show for now. Hope everyone enjoys it.
 
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....this is exciting as Hell and is going to be a head scratcher when it's done. I couldn't follow everything because I don't know Rancheros very well, but I can see where you're headed. I love this kind of stuff....
 
There was a brown 57 ranchero similar to that several years ago in High Prairie. Don't know whatever became of it. If you are interested I can try to track it down, see what happened to it.
 
Cody, this one "supposedly" has been in the Calgary/ Carseland area for many years. I was told the original owner was from the east, you know, that area on the other side of Manitoba. The guy was in the military and was re-stationed in Suffield. Then the Ranchero ended up in the Calgary area. That is what I was told anyway, not that it matters much. It hasn't been registered for quite a few years, for obvious reasons. One good bump and the frame would have folded up in front of the rear spring. Thanks for reading it.
 
I'm a fan of the early Rancheros, particularly the '57, so I'll be watching this one. :)

I love the idea of the slanted b-pillar. I've seen that before somewhere and thought it really improved the overall flow of the cab. The radiused door glass will be a nice touch too.

I like the 2" stretch on the b-pillar personally. I think that along with eliminating the window frames will be a pretty stealthy modification. Nice work so far!
 
Cheering ya on. Admire the skills that will be required, and the patience.
 
Need a LOT of welding now.

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[/URL][/IMG]Well, we're back from the sandblaster with the frame, and I have to say it looks better in most respects, although I am going to have to go over about 65 feet of weld. I have never seen such a mess of welding ever before. I think this frame must have been built by a guy on Friday at a quarter to five on his birthday, and maybe he was nipping on the jug while at work as well. What a mess.
Anyway, since the rear crossmember was broken on one side, the crossmember that holds the shocks broke out in transit to the blaster. The end had just a tiny bit of weld holding it to the side rail. No penetration at all.
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Both frame rails, top and bottom, the welds look like this. Obviously wasn't done by robots in 57. I think the guys on the assembly line must have been laughing about this one, saying they felt sorry for the poor sucker that got this car.
So, a lot of welding over top of what is already there. At least its nice and clean now, and not too rusty.
 
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Must have been built on a Monday morning. That or the person had Parkinson's. :)
 
frame rails, top and bottom, the welds look like this. Obviously wasn't done by robots in 57. I think the guys on the assembly line must have been laughing about this one, saying they felt sorry for the poor sucker that got this car.
So, a lot of welding over top of what is already there. At least its nice and clean now, and not too rusty.[/QUOTE]

It's obvious that a lot of welding must be done to fix this frame, but I sure hope you don't do "a lot of welding over top of what is already there." It may be in your best interest to get that frame clamped down to some sort of frame jig, then grind out a portion of the old "weld"; reweld that portion, then repeat until the repair is complete. I would venture to guess that if you ground out all the old weld, then started to reweld the frame without some sort of support [i.e., frame jig] it would just twist out of shape, rendering it useless. Ask around of some competent welders you know; they will have a solution,

Just my $.02 worth.........Bgbkwndo.
 
Hey John, was at a farm auction yesterday and ran into the guy with the brown 57 ranchero. Says he still has it and would sell it. He said it was in good shape but has been parked for quite awhile and has sunk into the ground a bit so suspects that the floor board might be bad. It may not be any better than what you have or it may be, don't know but is complete (as far as I know) and may have good parts. If it interests you, I have his phone number OR, if you like, I could go have a look at it for you. It's in High Prairie, only 30 minutes from here. I don't think he would want an arm and a leg for it.
 
Thanks Cody. I don't really need anything else now. I have a good Fairlane body and have repaired the little bit of rust that the floor pan had. Its unheard of to find a 57 Ford with a good floorpan. This one was only rusted out at the rockers and body mounts. The frame is easily repairable, I have ground out a bunch of the uglies already and am only going to stitch weld a few areas.
I have all the parts from the rusted Ranchero cut out, such as back wall of cab and roof, the tops of the box sides, and the doors were good as well.
For those that are unfamiliar with the Fairlane, it has a windshield that is 1 1/4 inch lower than the Ranchero or Custom 300 models, and the roofline above the windshield is a little sleeker as well. It might look slightly chopped when done, but will be at factory height for the Fairlane windshield.
Also, the Fairlane fins are about an inch higher, and the back end of the body is a few inches longer, combined with a 2 inch longer wheelbase. There won't be another one around like it.
I have pretty much all the stuff I need, except for more time. Thanks for watching.
 
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