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Seasoned...
Joined: Sat Oct 21st, 2017
Location: Near The Pointy End , USA
Posts: 1295
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I had many things change in recent years, I've also become a little bored with the current setup while looking over the wall at new ideas as new products have been created along with new opportunities. So that being said, I have multiple projects in vast varying stages of production; from near nothing to this in great but faded condition, 31 year old Ford Ranger which I might add, needed to come out of storage before the new 2025 year as a renewed project.
This time the plan is a full transformation of this truck from what it is now, but with the help of several entities helping me bring this to fruition and to show something unique, most likely far outside of the box, and remain masterfully functional and fun.
And it's going to start with one of these..
For the record I have long complained about my faded Caribbean Beach water blue paint, and although I've loved every blue vehicle I have ever had, it's just never been because of the color blue. In this case I've also got several filled rock chips in the windscreen along With 31+ years of West Coast/ Southwest sun and dust that have caused some scratches in the glass as well as dried out some of the rubber or plastics around the vehicle. And although I don't really need a lot of body work in the sense of dents or big scratches I do have one small door ding that seems to be above the driver's side rear wheel well arch there's a small 1 1/4 inch dent.
But with this project, I wanted to replace the windshield already and although I could be wrong, as its been a long time since Ive done glass replacement on a Ranger, I am changing out the manual regulators for powered options, and my belief is the mounting to the armature is slightly different and if I am going to this extent, I may as well just replace the door glass anyway, that way all the glass looks fresh as the rest of new parts & materials coming into play.
To start, I will be separating and stripping the entire cab completely down to basically,.. well just the cab itself. That means no glass, no trim, no carpet, no interior, no door glass, no back window, nothing at all will be in/on the cab. All exterior parts like door handles, mirrors and the like, will be removed. Everything will be completely cleared and cleaned up and inspected, and replaced if necessary.
I have long wanted to do a color change for the vehicle, I'm sorry the blue has just gotten to me and I am over it. I have been considering several different colors ranging from different types of grays, sandstone or many earth-tone like colors for more neutral aspects being in the desert. It does get up to 120° during the summer here in the pointy end of Nevada once in a while, so I as much as I love certain colors of black vehicles, I don't necessarily want one in the desert sun but I also don't want a white one either. Besides, Black doesn't exactly disappear in the dark of the desert night like you would expect, and many white paints, like 3G Tacoma's for example do not have a clear-coat on them, its a commercial paint like many domestics which is why most white vehicles are cheaper to paint.
Additionally this now impacts several other considerations about what I want to do and with those thoughts, one of those would be swapping the front end out for a newer version of the Ford Ranger. I've grown equally tired of polishing out the OE headlight assembly's every other year or two. Most of the manufactures making aftermarket headlight assemblies that are actually worth buying, no longer are selling or manufacturing those for the 93-97 front ends. I kind of slept on the R&R of them and well now, i'll end up paying more to a point. The theme or look I am going after, I rather fancy the 04-05 front grill, specifically modified for added purposes and as you know that means a new hood, fenders, header plate & core support and some small parts that makes all that work properly. [bottom left image below]
I'm not a big-big fan of the honeycomb style grills. It isn't the look so much but rather there's just too many people that are chasing that particular style or look and I am not much of a follower, I enjoy leading trends, so I'm going to skip that and go a different direction with my own little twist to get the results I am after. The cab as I mentioned will be void of everything that isn't a part of the cab itself, so all wiring, components like door regulators, handles, door locks and strikers, any and all sound deadener and plastics, and everything that is in the engine bay, including items attached to the firewall. The Snorkel will have a new look as it see's its own modifications take place. I just want the truck to look like it came that color so a ground up resto is the focal point of this build.
The one color that has caught my attention most recently is a new 2025 color, a charcoal gray like color with an amber metal flake, apparently a tricolor, which you can really see with the sunlight reflecting on the body of the M5 Wagon below.. the roof will also get the complimenting gloss black roof line as well. That will help out with the transition for all the new work happening behind the cab of the stout standard Ranger. I really wasn't thinking I was going to go with such a shiny color scheme because of all the matte finish wraps I was looking through that haven't been whored out yet.
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"Be never first, never last and never noticed." - Unknown
"The slave is held most securely when he is held by the chains of his own will and of his own fears, and when he is locked down by his own slavish desires for a comfortable life." - Michael Bunker
"Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur" - ~ attributed to Petronius (Gaius Petronius Arbiter (ca. 27–66 AD))
Roman courtier during the reign of Nero.
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." - Thomas Paine
~ Undrstm8ed Truckumentry Write Up Pg.
~ Undrstm8ed Trailermentry Write Up Pg.
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