1974 Ranger Restomod/Daily driver

[PhL0aTeR]

Whats up folks... My 74 has undergone some changes in the past couple years. I drove this Bronco in high school, it was my grandads and i left it with him with a 302 that had probably jumped timing and got forgotten for more than a decade. When my dad died, I asked him about the bronco and his new wife told me she would pay me to haul it off. So i worked on grandad and bought it for $700. He took the money back to Texas with him and replaced all the glass and bought new tires for it, and surprised me a couple weeks later when i went down to pick it up. Unfortunately even with the new glass and rubber, it looked like hell, and needed a LOT of rust repair.

Today the rust is less of a problem thanks to a few replacement floor panels including a salvaged rear floor fron the Bronco Hut. It also has a lower mile 5.8EFI from a 95 Bronco, modified 5.0 intake, 75mm TB, Hedman headers, Custom 2-1 3" exhaust, NP205, and an AOD with Wide ratio 4R70W gears. Then the more common mods, doors w/ removable window frames, 2" body lift, Ford tilt steering, driver's 8 way power seat (front seats from a Dodge Intrepid), power steering (4x4x2 box) Custom brake booster bracket, booster out of an explorer, front disks, aluminum radiator, and 23 gallon fuel tank/skidplate.

Its been a long last couple years, but it is currently registered and on the road, and although i owe a lot of credit to my buddy for helping me out and providing his shop, I am proud to say "Built, Not Bought".

It is still a bit rough around the edges, so im working on those small issues.... My next plans involve building a front and rear bumper, rock sliders, and a roll cage. Then comes bodywork, im pulling off all my trim, filling the holes, filling the antenna and front fuel tank hole, getting a new nosecone and fenders, the front to rear fender mod, and paint. After that I will look at getting some different wheels and bigger tires.

My intent is simply to have a capable 4x4, that still looks "nice".

There are some progress pics on my CB build thread, feel free to take a peek

Here is the latest pic with my better half in the driver's seat.

[Entourage]

Great story. I love that it has such a family history and true sentimental value. Sounds like you have the hard stuff done and now you get to concentrate on the fun stuff. It will be a ton of fun to watch how it progresses. Very cool that your "other half" drives it too. Thanks for the great intro of you and your family Bronco.

[Jesus_man]

It's always cool to hit those milestones! Nice job getting it back on the road!

Where is that picture taken from? Looks like the Westcliff area.

[PhL0aTeR]

Yep, just past silvercliffe where I decided to pull over and let her drive home :)

[Jesus_man]

Cha-Ching! LOL. Assuming your location on CB.com is accurate, that's further than I would venture out on my bronco!!

J.D.

[PhL0aTeR]

its not, we have been outside of westcliffe for about a year now. i just havent updated that forum yet, on the brink of picking up the anchor and going somewhere else anyway.

[Jesus_man]

Ahh. My inlaws live near Rye. Nice area.

You know any good camping sites N and NW of you? Towards Canon?

[PhL0aTeR]

Not at all. Unfortunately we havent done much camping this year. We spent a lot of time up around lake george last year though. the only camping ive done this year is at turquoise lake with family up outside leadville..

[socofn]

PhL0aTeR, Nice old bronco. We fly in the Wet Mountain valley all the time and it is one of the prettier places in SOCO. good luck with your decision to move> Jayson


Jesus-man, there are some good spots off the rainbow trail up higher that did not burn this year. You can also camp at Texas Creek on the Arkansas with lots of trails on the north side of the river. Jayson

[socofn]

Just look at your build thread on CB and I really like the cage. Where did you get it and are you doing the welding or is someone else? Just curious. Looks really good. Jayson

[ZOSO]

Good to see you post it up. Happy it's on the road and not just idling around.

[PhL0aTeR]

Just look at your build thread on CB and I really like the cage. Where did you get it and are you doing the welding or is someone else? Just curious. Looks really good. Jayson

Thanks, i liked it too, it was pretty much our own design, but im somewhat of a perfectionist and it would have rubbed on the top scratching the powdercoating. We were both kinda tired the morning when we put it together and by the time we realized what we had done it was too late and we had already done a bunch of the finish welding. The outer hoops were kicked in about 3 degrees, and we simply had them reversed. You probably couldnt tell just by looking at it, but it was annoying. I ended up selling it on craigslist to a guy who wasnt going to run a top, and he was more than happy with it.

Anyway to specifically answer your question, we did 99% of the work in house on the bronco. the ONLY thing we sourced out was having the exhaust built buy a buddy of Bill's. AS far as which one of us did the welding, i think he did a better part of the cage welding.

We have yet to build another one as Bill closed the doors to his shop and i saw his bender last week and it was rusting away in his backyard.

[PhL0aTeR]

Good to see you post it up. Happy it's on the road and not just idling around.

Thanks, me too!

[PonyCorral]

Congrats all on all the hard work!

[PhL0aTeR]

Congrats all on all the hard work!

Thanks! it aint over, but at least i get to enjoy it while i wrench.