New Member/ 2 owner 72 Ranchero

Hi folks,

I'm new and just got on here.
Marilyn (my '72) has been in my life for all of it. She was ordered by a work colleague of my dad, who then decided she wasn't exactly what he wanted, and sold it to dad before a year was out. She is HD suspension 500 model w/ a 400 C6 column shifter, standard hood, A/C, & rear sliding glass. Black standard interior with a cloth split bench.
Dad had bought mom a '72 GTS that was baby blue with buckets console and laser stripe (he worked for a section of Ford and was therefore given special pricing), and so it made sense to buy something from the same model family. My earliest memories are of both of these, but especially Marilyn because we took her on road trips (a shell was purchased and a foam mattress put back there for us kids). When I was about 8 I decided that I wanted her when I grew up. We moved to the UK and so the GTS was sold to my mothers grandmother (who was 83 yrs old at the time!) but the Ranchero was put in storage "because James' wants it".
I returned to the states in '91 at 18 and took off with the Ranchero from SE OK, and headed west to LA. She was my daily driver throughout college, and continued after and in my marriage. I bought another vehicle and took her off the roads as a daily warrior. I have been collecting parts from the start, waiting to do a complete restoration. This concept has changed from a teenager with a metallic midnight blue color change, and many other changes to deciding that I would take her back to stock, albeit with changes (as I would have ordered her with) 351CJ.
I wish I had the money to do exactly what I wanted (auto climate control - from Lincoln, a 6spd conversion, and a GT interior), with a 351 that has the tricks and nice parts earned from the Pantera crowd.
I've known her my whole life, and it was never negotiable to let her go, in fact my wife is convinced that Marilyn is jealous of her and that is why she will never drive her. Just in case you were wondering what happened to the 1 family GTS that was lightly used by a substitute teacher/housewife, and then her old granny, I had dreams/delusions of getting her back when I returned in '91. It was not to be, Grandma had sold her to my mother's younger cousin who unfortunately had a habit and he used the hot rod to try to run drugs and out run the police; this resulted in a blown engine, and a messed up body, of which those in custody were not willing to sell to me.

Welcome!  Great story!  Yes, we like pictures.  Doesn't have to be a show car for us to appreciate it.  Looking forward to Marilyn's progress!!

Awesome background! Pictures, yes!

Welcome  (and Pictures!)

Great story, welcome to the forum. Pictures would be good to see Marilyn.

Welcome to the site> Love the story, cant wait to see pics.

I was going through some photo envelopes, and found this in with some newer pics. This is mom's brand new GTS, in Nov of '71. The interior was a darker blue. One story I remember; one day when I was in 4th grade and we lived in San Jose mom picked me up at school early (for what I do not remember) and we were running late. Understand that at that time I thought of her car as just a 'mom mobile' as mom was always pretty plain jane with everything, well we were stopped by a cop (who probably thought he had a kid running hot) and instead he got a 9yr old kid and his late 30's mom who promptly cried because she was crestfallen knowing she had been breaking the law.
I am not sure this car ever got the workout she deserved while in my mothers or her grandmothers stewardship.
I know I have pictures of Marilyn from the different decades, but I haven't been looking. I will post more when I find them.

Joe,

As delivered from the factory period correct.
Ford didn't really market it as a fast car, it was the intermediate. The family never thought of it as a fast car, but many talked about how it had the "hot rod motor"and that it was wasted on mom. I am positive that dad ordered it that way because they planned on having a good resale value in 8-10 years when they sold it.
Conversely in '82 when we returned from tour, dad ordered a F250 extra cab long bed with just the 302 (for fuel economy), and was a stripped down interior.

Correction:-

Nomadlife wrote: Ford didn't really market it as a fast car, it was the intermediate. The family never thought of it as a fast car, but many talked about how it had the "hot rod motor"and that it was wasted on mom. I am positive that dad ordered it that way because they planned on having a good resale value in 8-10 years when they sold it.

Spoke with dad this morning and asked about the GTS (haven't talked about it forever) as I was trying to get info for another post.
He did special order (something Ford wanted those in their employ to do due to the low cost) it, and there were 3 things he wanted - a 351CJ, a manual transmission, and a full gauge cluster w/ tach. Unfortunately CA emissions ruled out the manual transmission. He stated that the laser stripe, and the wheel covers came with it (although there might have been an option group he wasn't sure), he kept the invoice sticker until they sold it to grandma. He did remember that the window sticker was pretty full with all that was added, but he said that a lot of it just came standard on the GTS package.
I was also wrong as to why his 29yr self bought it that way (especially since mom didn't know how to drive a stick at the time), it was a good compromise between the sport cars and family car.

351CJ with 4 speed was available in CA.  My buddy in Anaheim has a formal roof 72 sport 351cj 4 speed thats an original california car.  Sold new at Galpin Ford. He bought it from the original owner.  Still, COOL CAR and cool story!

Edited by mcford - 10-April-2015 at 6:13AM