Scary Jerry's Daily Driver- '93 Ford Ranger XLT

[Chuck Most]

Ever wonder what Scary Jerry's daily driver is? No? Think it's something wacky and over the top? Well, prepare to be sorely disappointed!

In the late fall of 1992, Jerry's formerly trusty old beater met it's end. After being sideswiped by an out-of-control Olds Custom Cruiser during a heavy rain storm, Jerry's '72 F-250 had slid off the road and into a ditch, which had demolished the front end, severed the drag link, and slammed the radiator into the fan. Other than some bruising on his palms where he'd braced himself against the steering wheel (which had bent during the crash), Jerry was fine. The elderly woman in the Olds was fine despite spinning out into the ditch on the opposite side of the road. His truck, on the other hand, didn't fare so well. The old Ford ran but was no longer driveable and in all honesty wasn't worth repairing. Jerry had always wanted a Ranger, as he had several friends, relatives, and co-workers who owned and loved them, and there was an all new Ranger for 1993, so Jerry figured now was the time to purchase his first new vehicle, and all signs were pointing to the new Ranger. 

One afternoon after work, Jerry walked in to G.R. Wilson Ford-Lincoln-Mercury and went to the desk of Ed Luchenbill. Though Ed was an imposing giant of a man, who bore a more-than-passing resemblance to Refrigerator Perry, he was quite soft spoken and very knowledgeable about the new Ranger, telling Jerry he was thinking of getting one himself. Jerry rattled off a list of what he wanted, and it sounded to Ed like what Jerry wanted was an XLT, seeing as how Jerry seemed keen to have something "way nicer than an Orkin truck". Upon reviewing literature showing the various features and options, Jerry agreed, and asked "You happen to have one with the 4.0 and five-speed in stock?" Ed replied with "Yes... but it is silver." Jerry had said that was one of the colors he'd have liked to avoid. But, a quick spin around town with Ed and Jerry told him he'd have bought the nasty metallic purple one with the four cylinder on the lot next too it, as he was so impressed with the new Ranger. That impression never really wore off, as Jerry drove the wheels off the little silver pick-em-up for years. 

In the late summer of 1996, when Jerry was promoted to third-shift supervisor at his job and a mere three months after making the last payment, he hit a deer on the highway about two miles from work. Though the Ranger was physically unscathed, the bumper had taken a pounding. The deer, naturally, had gotten up and trotted off into the twilight. That weekend Jerry went to the local junkyard to find a replacement, and the owner told him he had a brand-new chromed XLT bumper, minus the rub strip, for a mere 45 bucks. Jerry took it. He also grabbed an air dam from a Ranger in the yard. On the way back home, he also picked up a cheap set of fog lights... thinking perhaps they'd either help scare off any oncoming deer, or at least enable him to see them better and avoid them. Jerry had always planned to add the rub strip, but never got around to it. 

The old Ranger plugged along without incident until 1999, when, again, it had to quench it's thirst for deer blood, on the way home from work this time. The replacement bumper and air dam were okay, and so was the splash apron, but the grille had been demolished and the hood was crumpled badly enough that Jerry had to physically remove the latch to open it. Though undamaged, the passenger's side fender had been pushed back just far enough to jam the door on that side. Once more to the Junkyard, where there was a black '93 Ranger Splash that had met it's end after a hard rear-ender. He just loosened the bolts on the original right fender and pulled it forward so his passenger door could open again. Jerry had planned to paint the grille and hood (or maybe just the hood) to match the truck, but never got around to it. 

By 2001, Jerry had gone back to first shift, and at the end of the day he and some of his crew would often sit on the tailgate, having a smoke and gabbing about the day's events and plans for the evening. One day, as Jerry and two rather burly co-workers popped a squat on the Ranger's 'gate, there was a sharp "twang" sound as the rusted tailgate cables snapped and the tailgate slammed down onto the bumper. The three men had a good laugh, and Jerry went home with his tailgate down, as the impact had crunched the skin, ripped a hinge, and bent it just enough to where it would not latch properly. Minor blessing, the bumper escaped injury aside from a scuff on the plastic trim. Another junkyard trip, and the owner had a '93-'97 tail gate in Toreador Red on the shelf. Jerry had always had a mind to repaint the tailgate to match the truck, but opted to get a sprayed-in bedliner instead, as a local shop had just started providing the service and the deal was too good to pass up. A year later... the mismatched panels remained, but a brand-new Pioneer CD head unit had replaced the factory AM/FM/Cassette unit shortly after it had chewed up Jerry's treasured tape of Anthrax's "Persistence Of Time" album. 

The years wore on, and the Ranger wore out. Jerry followed the suggested maintenance schedule to the letter, and when he noticed something amiss, he fixed it or had it fixed as soon as possible. As the miles piled on, the Ranger had gone through countless front pads and rotors, one set of shoes and drums, two clutches, both radius arm brackets, rear leaf spring hangers and shackles (all casualties to rust despite a Ziebart treatment when new and periodic undercoating in the years since), and numerous normal wear-and-tear items. The driver's seat was in bad shape, both from ordinary wear and from Jerry's often horrendous farts. A fresher seat with reddish upholstery from a junkyard Ranger was swapped in. The old Ziebart treatment was beginning to wear off as well, as by this time a few spots of rust were visible at the cab corners. Jerry was often complemented on how rust free his Ranger was for a Michigan beater, but even an eternal optimist like Jerry knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. On his way back from interviewing for a new job at a metalworking shop in 2006, the spare tire carrier had broken loose due to rust. Jerry got the job, but the carrier never got replaced, and the spare took up permanent residence sliding around in the bed. 

Now, here we are in 2019. For just over a quarter of a century and nearly 375,000 miles, the Ranger has served Jerry faithfully through two "real" jobs as well as his various little escapades on his own. He's driven it to the theater to see every Jurassic Park movie since the beginning. Unfortunately, he also drove it to the theater to see all three Star Wars prequels. Not every trip is a success, after all. It transported parts and materials to create the Mobile Pork Incinerator and several of Jerry's other whacked creations. The Ranger is now older than the F-250 was when it was totaled, and has done nearly three times as many miles. But things aren't looking as bright these days. The cab corner and rocker rust turns out to be a bit more serious than Jerry had thought- one day after driving in a thunderstorm, Jerry noticed the carpet was getting wet. The floors are just about gone. That shocking development also solved the mystery what was causing the cab to sag and the random machine-gun click of the fan blades hitting the shroud.  Jerry first suspected the cab and core support bushings had collapsed, and he was right- and those are fairly easily replaced- but the cab mounts themselves don't look so hot. The scary part is that he had it up on a hoist the previous spring and the floor looked scaly but solid then...  And there's that plume of blue smoke that turns white upon startup, and persists for about five minutes of driving, despite no oil-fouled plugs or evidence of coolant getting into the cylinders. Jerry's not sure if it's just in his head, but he swears there's an ever-so-slight knock coming from somewhere under the hood, barely audible past the noise from the leaky gaskets on the cracked exhaust manifolds and the squealing alternator...

But as of now, the Ranger endures, just like Jerry. So does the sprayed-in bedliner Jerry had done all those years ago, more or less on a lark. And salesman Ed Luchenbill? So does he. In fact, he's about to celebrate his 29th year as a sales rep at G.R. Wilson Ford-Lincoln. Ed ultimately didn't get a new Ranger the year Jerry did, but he's already ordered his 2019 version. Will Jerry do likewise? Who knows...
 

Edited January 13, 2019 by Chuck Most

[Renegade]

Great build and story.

[mrmike]

I loved the story and the truck resembles exactly like it does in the story.  Great job!  The duck tape on the taillight is awesome!

[vincen47]

Awesome build, I love it! What a backstory, as always. I can only imagine the hot torture that seat and it’s predecessor had to endure. Funny! I like this Jerry guy.

[espo]

I always enjoy how you distress your builds, and the Ranger is no different. I have to ask which came first the story or the build ? This reminds me of all the old trucks I have seen in the past on the highway. Sometimes you just wonder how they got that way and how are still running.  

[Earl Marischal]

3 hours ago, Renegade said:

Great build and story.

+1

steve

[ChrisR]

Neat!

[1930fordpickup]

Looks just like many a Ranger around here. nIce work. 

[TarheelRick]

Very nice work on the Ranger, just hope mine makes it to that far.  Great story.  Wondering why the engine bay is so clean on a daily beater?

[mikemodeler]

Nice story and build. Which took longer, the build or writing the story?

[DRIPTROIT 71]

Very nice build!!

[Chuck Most]

On 1/13/2019 at 2:30 PM, espo said:

I always enjoy how you distress your builds, and the Ranger is no different. I have to ask which came first the story or the build ? This reminds me of all the old trucks I have seen in the past on the highway. Sometimes you just wonder how they got that way and how are still running.  

I had an idea what I wanted the finished model to look like, then worked all of that in. 

On 1/14/2019 at 6:25 AM, TarheelRick said:

Very nice work on the Ranger, just hope mine makes it to that far.  Great story.  Wondering why the engine bay is so clean on a daily beater?

It looks worse in person. I tried a rusty road-salt effect with thinned gray paint that didn't quite work out how I wanted. 

On 1/14/2019 at 8:06 AM, mikemodeler said:

Nice story and build. Which took longer, the build or writing the story?

The model took about a weeks' worth of evenings off work, and the story probably only took about three times as long to write as it does to read.

[spencer1984]

Awesome work on both the model and the story, it looks (and sounds) very familiar here as well!

[slusher]

Great build and story Chuck!,,

[Oldcarfan27]

Fun story.

Have you considered building a few more variations of the truck to go with the story?

I'd like to see it the day he brought it home, the day AFTER he hit the deer and the sad remains just before he got rid of it.

It'd be like an illustrated history of the life of one truck.

Well done, Chuck.

[Chuck Most]

On 1/20/2019 at 2:11 AM, Oldcarfan27 said:

Fun story.

Have you considered building a few more variations of the truck to go with the story?

I'd like to see it the day he brought it home, the day AFTER he hit the deer and the sad remains just before he got rid of it.

It'd be like an illustrated history of the life of one truck.

Well done, Chuck.

Not quite... but, I've been kicking around an idea as to what happens to the Ranger later. I started thinking about that one while I was building this one. The idea is that Jerry gets a new daily driver, leaving the Ranger parked behind his barn where it's vulnerable to be swiped by some buddies and given the Overhaulin' treatment. 

Or, it might become the basis to one of Jerry's business vehicles. Maybe both. I was poking around an AMT Ranger kit earlier today so we'll see...

[bobthehobbyguy]

Nicely done. Fun to read the back story and then see the model. Interesting way to present a model. Adds a dimension to the model.

[Chuck Most]

Bumping this because there's an update on the way...

[TarheelRick]

Having owned three Rangers I really appreciate this build and the backstory.  I just recently traded off my 2010 Ranger for a 2018 F-150. it hurt to let the Ranger go, but I needed the size of the 150 to equalize the size of my utility trailer. Enough of that, this build is really fitting of the Ford Ranger, truly one of Ford's "Better Ideas".  Looking forward to the updates.  As far as "Overhaulin'", I think Chip may have reservations on taking this project.