From my understanding, the ranger was a really popular vehicle for Ford, because it was the cheapest vehicle you could buy from them when stripped down 2wd single cab manual short bed. I always liked rangers, but a used f150 has suited me well since.
@ok4450 My story of a '54 Ford pickup is somewhat like yours, only the truck was mine.
In late '82 one of my best high school friends bought a house. She had a “moving party”. All the big stuff had been handled by pros. I had the only pickup in her circle of friends, so I HAD to show up. I re-met a really nice girl that day. To this day, I do not know if anyone else was invited. Our mutual friend had introduced us almost two years earlier, but it didn’t take. Six months later we were married, and we’re all still friends even though our cupid moved to Elk City a few months ago.
I agree that Ford messed up by dumping the Ranger, just like they did the Taurus. Guess what else has been resurrected?
The current Ranger is built on the Explorer chassis and is about the size of a Dakota…It’s not a small truck anymore…
GM sells a small unibody pick-up down in Mexico, as does VW…Few realize there is a 25% duty on all imported trucks…
Today the full size pickup is full of size with no more value. They’re too tall so you have trouble lifting things high enough to put in the bed. Then there are the $350 tires that go on them with the ridiculous wheels.
When I was in high school in LA in the late seventies the small Japanese truck was very popular with students. It was as cheap as an economy car, but more useful, especially with a shell. Cheap to buy, cheap to run. Of course the really cool kids had old Mustangs and customized vans, but more had small trucks and pretended they were surfers. Some of them actually were as we were only a couple of miles from the beach and you could take surfing as a PE class. Very Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
I liked the Ford Ranger but it was just too small for my tall frame and the same goes for S-10’s. I owned a few of them but finally found the Dodge Dakota and I’ll never go back. I like a little comfort and the Dakota is perfect for me. I’m not a fan of the large pickups at all. I would give my eye teeth for a 1954 Chevy pickup or a 1955 Ford F100. I know that I’m living in the past but I like it there. A neighbor of mine just completed a restoration on a 1953 International pickup and it’s a joy to behold driving up and down our streets. I never would have said that about an International back in the day. The same goes for old Dodge and Studebaker pickups as well. I knew they existed but they never were in my line of sight.
At least a few years ago you could still find late 40’s Ford F100’s that could be put on the road for much less than $20,000. If I could have adopted the 48 F100 that the chain of stores that I work for uses as a display piece I would in a hot second. An Instructor at our local Community college has used a 54 Chevy pickup as his daily driver for years. My cousin’s hubby is restoring a 50’s Chevy truck as he has time.
"Perhaps I should seek out a '54 pickup… "
Yes, I like younger women, too. So much so that I married one.
Ranger sales dropped from 226,000 in 2002 to 71,000 in 2011. In 2012 Ford sold 19,000 Rangers. This does not look like a popular truck to me.
Bad news - it turns out that speculation on a ‘new’ Ranger was just that. From Ford, when asked if they were going to sell a new Ranger here:
“No. We are continuing to invest in and expand our F-Series lineup for the North American market and are confident that our new F-Series addresses the needs of the U.S. pickup buyer. Additionally, our Transit Connect lineup addresses the needs of buyers looking for utility in a compact size.”
Well, I’ll say this . . . the Transit Connect does seem to be a decent fleet vehicle
I see a lot of parts being delivered. It’s probably more fuel efficient than the old 4 banger Ranger was.
I see a lot of small businesses in the area using them. To some extent, it seems to have taken the place of the old Ranger and S10
The other day I saw a Nissan, which looked kind of like the Transit Connect. Apparently they also want to get in the game. But the Nissan was ugly . . .
It seems like the whole reasoning behind the bigger and bigger trucks is a money play. That bigger F150 or Silverado doesn’t cost much more to build, but it is impressive and they can charge $30,000 to $50,000 for a loaded pickup. I’ll bet a comparably equipped smaller truck, like the size of a 1970 Chevy pickup or even a mid 80’s Toyota pickup, would cost the manufacturer only a little less to make than the huge beasts they make now, but the retail would be lower and the markup lower as well.
Pickup today are too big by a lot, and I can’t get in and out comfortably. The bed’s too high, the truck is too big to move around easily in a city, and pretty soon someone is going to get smart and come up with a smaller choice. That’s how a market economy works.
LOL, Texases, that’s an absolute riot! I haven’t heard such unmitigated blather since… well, since I last talked to a car salesman!
@jtsanders writes …
Ranger sales dropped from 226,000 in 2002 to 71,000 in 2011. In 2012 Ford sold 19,000 Rangers. This does not look like a popular truck to me.
That’s interesting. I wonder if it because buyers didn’t like the Ranger for some reason (reliability history, etc)? Or was it because of the way it was price and sold? Maybe Ford had a reason for making it difficult for a customer to choose the Ranger, by overpricing it, not offering rebates on the Ranger but having rebates on other of their models, by not providing it with options people wanted, or by forcing people to buy options they didn’t want, or by not making the trucks available for showing on the showroom floors, reducing the salesman’s or dealership’s cut of the deal, etc, and so fewer and people chose the Ranger and decided on another model instead. If so, there’s no reason the Ranger couldn’t make a come-back under a better pricing, configuration, and sales incentives. The problem facing Ford in introduce a new Ranger would be that improved Ranger sales might cause a decline in sales of their more expensive models.
@GeorgeSanJose
Maybe sales dropped, because Ford wasn’t really updating the Ranger
In that 9 year time span you mentioned, the Ranger got very few updates and improvements
The more time went by, the less competitive the Ranger was
That’s how I see it
It’s a real shame, actually. I think Ford messed up, when they decided to concentrate almost exclusively on the F-series, and virtually ignore the Ranger. It really showed, towards the end.
Oh, it’s definitely a money thing. I owned a 1991 Ford Ranger for about 4 years and loved it. V6 with a 5 speed stick. Reliable, and always started, no matter how cold it got.
Eventually retired it due to corrosion problems.
About a month later, while giving my brother a ride to the dealership to pick up his car from the shop, I walked into the showroom floor and walked over to the Ranger. I was seriously considering buying to replace the old one. Salesman showed up, and immediately tried to get me to look at the F-150. Told me I wouldn’t be happy with the Ranger. He literally grabbed my by the arm and dragged me over to the F-150, and said “I’m convinced sir, you’d be much happier with one of these!” Told him it was way too big and walked away. He (& Ford) lost a sale that day.
One of the prime reasons they killed the Ranger was because they carried a low profit margins. The F-150s are high profit cash cows for Ford.
Wentwest and Dr. Rocket have, IMHO, hit the nail on the head.
Still, I read all the time from car execs about how they want to offer multiple vehicles to cover all segments of the market. I guess it doesn’t apply to pickup trucks too.
Ford has been riding the success of their f150 in part on not offering a mid size alternative to steal sales numbers. There is a segment of the public clambering for better alternatives from US name brands in the mid size market. A small framed vehicle will not be brought back because in 4wd, they are rollover kings. But, Ford could bring over their mid size and improved Ranger like GMC is coming out with in an improved version. The full size trucks are just too huge for a lot of people ( like me). The only alternative has been Toyota which has not been forced to improved their Tacoma for over a decade because of the lack of competition. I think a competitive ranger would be great. Bringing back the old crappy Ranger would be a disaster and just wouldn’t sell in this day and age. It was a non performer, good as a parts truck but terrible as an all round vehicle. They world has passed by the Pinto ! The old Ranger was just too close to that era. A new small diesel might catch on…they would be expensive though. A 200 hp gas 4 cylinder that gets 25 to 30 mpg highway in 2wd…Ford can do it with direct fuel injection and turbo charging. They have the motors.
Plenty of businesses used small trucks in the past and could use them now, saving money and being easier to park in cities.
Well, if you make a vehicle that’s bought almost exclusively by fleet owners, that’s a ticket to no profits. Fleet owners buy in bulk and want bottom dollar; they don’t want options. If a manufacturer makes a big rental sale, for instance, it’s a consolations prize–the car couldn’t sell on its own, and the surplus was unloaded cheap to Avis or whoever.
Actually, the funny thing about modern trucks is that they are physically bigger, but can’t haul as much as the old trucks. I have a '94 F-150; GVWR at 6100. That’s typical; there was an EPA reg that they got around by weighing just over 6,000 gross. My truck weighs 3,900 (no fuel or driver) for a 2,200# payload. A modern F-150 can’t haul that much (without ordering the special “heavy hauler” package).
Also, beds are TINY. A mid-80’s S-10 probably has a physically bigger bed than a modern “full size” crew-cab shortbed. If you’re hauling something bulky but not too heavy, that S-10 is more capable than a 4-ton modern wonder.
I think Ford’s best idea in a pickup truck was the 1951 F-1 pickup. My late uncle had one that he bought brand new. It had the V-8 engine and was faster than the competing makes at the time. It wasn’t much larger than the Ranger, but I bet it would haul as much as the large F-150 can haul today.