Remarkable Ranchero

Ford’s Falcon Ranchero had many forebearers.The first Model T and Model A pickups consisted of a shortened car body with a separate bed mounted in the rear; a rare domestic 1931 Model A Deluxe pickup had smooth bed sides.The Australian market saw Ford launch a coupe utility, or “ute,” with integrated bed as early as 1934. Car-based trucks were far more refined than a standard truck, but in an era before our current pickup-as-fashion-statement environment, they simply cost too much for a self-employed working man who needed a work truck. Australia loved car-based haulers, but the concept didn’t initially fly in the States: Studebaker’s Coupe Express lasted from 1937 to ’39, while Hudson’s “Big Boy” pickups launched in 1939 and ceased production in 1947.

Another American-built coupe utility didn’t show up until 1957. Ford’s original Ranchero was based on the fullsize, two-door Ranch Wagon (and its cousin, the Courier sedan delivery). A 1957 Ranchero cost 10 percent more than a comparable F-100, but in the still-exploding postwar market, Ranchero was different enough