1958 Ford Ranchero on 2040-cars

Virtually all the little doo-dads operate properly: radio, wipers, fresh air vents, heater, lighting, turn signals, horn, all gauges except the speedometer and clock. About that speedo: the cable is hooked up, and you can hand-spin the speedometer and get a reading, so the gauge itself seems to be fine. It's likely a bad cable or drive gear, so the listed odometer reading is approximate.  The clock seems to be toast, literally, as it looks like the contact points on the self-winding mechanism arced and cooked a winding or something.  Luckily, those clocks pop up a lot on ebay.  The accessory Stewart Warner oil pressure gauge seen in the pictures works too, and next to it is an AutoMeter temperature gauge (that's explained below).  Engine starts and runs very well, with no smoke or oil usage. Transmission shifts great, although with a solid 'thunk' into 3rd, as it's done since I've owned it. Plenty of power, nice on the freeway. Very sturdy tow-ball at the rear, which I've used occasionally throughout the years.

The wheels aren't original--they should be standard stamped steel with hubcaps--but the white spokes were on the car when I bought it and I never changed it back. One photo here shows the car with the original-style tires and wheels, which don't come with the car; I swapped those from another '58 Ford for a period-1961 Tom Hanks/Emma Thompson/Paul Giamatti movie shoot.  For the record, that film is "Saving Mr. Banks", due out in December 2013. The radio antenna isn't original; reproductions are available for less than $100 bucks if you really get nit-picky. But I think some of that stuff was dealer-installed anyway, since this antenna's fender hole isn't even the same place as some others I've seen.  I'm not sure the red-and-white seat vinyl is original to this model, but its sturdy construction feels very 'factory', and the seat cushion is a bit flat, so it's either original or a very old re-do.  And the seats exactly match the material on the door panels, so who knows?  At some point this Ranchero had a CB-style screw-on antenna mast on the roof. The screw mount is still there, and I do have a stubby 1-foot antenna that screws on just for looks, but it's not functional.  One photo shows a body mount, in this case near the area where the front of the cab meets the fenders.  This is pretty typical of the mounts and overall undercarriage condition; not perfect, but decent.  It is a California car, after all.

Facts 'n figures: this Ranchero was built in San Jose, CA on October 17, 1957.  It was the 388th '58 Ford to come down that assembly line, so it was made quite early in the run.  Perhaps that's why it's always had a black-knob 1957 turn signal stalk, rather than the white-knob 1958 version.

What's wrong with this vehicle? It's starting to show the typical bits of rust in two spots: above the headlights (see photo), where dirt tended to collect inside the fenders on most '50s cars... and at the bottom of the tailgate, which is apparently common with Rancheros, as owners forgot to keep the drain holes clear. The old paint is a bit checked in spots, especially along the center valley atop the passenger fender.  There's a couple inches of peeling chrome on the front bumper, but it's behind the center crossbar and is essentially hidden (I've tried to show that in a photo but you really can't see it). Some of the interior chrome is a bit pitted, particularly the horn ring and vent window handles, although still pretty nice for a driver. The rear bumper chrome is quite good except for around two bumper bolts, where it has some surface rust.  The original floor-mounted accelerator pedal was replaced somewhere along the line with a flat rectangular piece (not sure why, as those old rubber pedals are available, but this actually works great so I've never bothered to change it back). The gold anodizing along the sides is pretty dull but complete and undamaged. A lot of the weatherstripping is typical for California cars: very brittle and cracked from exposure to the sun. Windshield and rear window gaskets seem to be good though.  At some point somebody installed couple patch panels between the bed and the cab, likely to strengthen or replace weak/rusted metal in that area. In heavy rains, the carpet behind the seats does get damp, so maybe that was a troubleshooting attempt (it could be just the old weatherstripping that lets water in... who knows?).  It's certainly not a professional repair but at least it's symmetrical and isn't real obvious.  The steering wheel finish is quite worn, but miraculously, no big cracks. The "Ranchero" scripts near the tailfins are reproductions, and while they were purchased through a very well-known vintage Ford parts dealer, they're not exactly right: the lettering should have sharp, well-defined edges, and these repops are kinda rounded-off, as if their molds were made from script that had been rechromed or polished too much.  Obviously a small point, and perhaps current reproductions are better than these ten-year-old ones.  Also, just barely visible (barely!) is at least one of two tears in the seat, one of which is about two inches long, where the passenger's butt sits.  The other is where the seat cushion and back portion meet, near the driver's door (also about an inch or so).  The radio could use a tuneup; it works, but not all stations come in as strongly as they should.