The Ford Ranch Wagon is a
station wagon
A station wagon ( US, also wagon) or estate car ( UK, also estate), is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door ( ...
which was built by
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
from 1952 to 1974. The Ranch Wagon was a full-size model, except in 1963 and 1964, when it was part of the intermediate-size
Fairlane series, and represented the lowest-priced selection in its respective line.
1952–1962
![Colorful_Fortepan_93162](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Colorful_Fortepan_93162.jpg)
In the early 1950s, the wood-bodied station wagon was becoming upscale and expensive. When Ford introduced a redesigned line of cars for the
1952 model year, its
Country Squire
''Country Squire'' is the third studio album by American country musician Tyler Childers. Recorded at the Butcher Shoppe in Nashville, the album was produced by Sturgill Simpson and was released on August 2, 2019, through Childers' own Hickman H ...
continued to cater to buyers who still wanted a station wagon with the look of wood (attained by applying simulated exterior wood decals, which were framed in genuine wood through 1953).
For other wagon buyers, Ford also gave them two new choices that year, the first all-steel wagons in the firm's history. These were the
Country Sedan, a four-door model in the mid-range
Customline series and the Ranch Wagon, which was a two-door model in the economy
Mainline series, inspired by the European-term
shooting-brake
Shooting brake (sometimes mis-identified as "shooting break") is a car body style which originated in the 1890s as a horse-drawn wagon used to transport shooting parties with their equipment and game.
The first automotive shooting brakes were ...
. The Ranch Wagon had either the standard "Mileage Maker" six-cylinder engine or the long-familiar flathead
V8, which was optional.
After receiving mostly cosmetic changes for 1953, a second Ranch Wagon model, a slightly fancier version in the Customline series, was added for 1954, the year Ford's new Y-block V8 replaced the flathead unit. The two models were renamed Ranch Wagon and Custom Ranch Wagon
for 1955, when the entire Ford station wagon set became a series of its own.
For 1957, the
Del Rio Ranch Wagon was introduced (replacing both the Custom Ranch Wagon and the
Parklane), sporting special ranch-pattern upholstery. That same model was the basis for the new 1957
Ranchero, and a Mercury version called the
Mercury Commuter
The Mercury Commuter is a full-size station wagon that was produced by Mercury from 1957 to 1968. When introduced for the 1957 model year it was priced below Mercury's other two new full size wagons as a part of the Mercury Monterey series, alongs ...
which was a hardtop inspired wagon without a
"B" pillar.
There were three Ranch Wagons the following year, as the first four-door Ranch Wagon was added to the model range. The Del Rio was dropped for 1959, replaced by a one-year-only two-door Country Sedan. By this time, full-size two-door station wagons were fading in popularity, and the 1961 two-door Ranch Wagon was the last full-size two-door wagon ever built (along with the two-door Plymouth Deluxe Suburban of that same year), leaving the four-door as the sole Ranch Wagon model for 1962.
Sales
1963–1964
![1963 Ford Fairlane 500 Ranch Wagon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/1963_Ford_Fairlane_500_Ranch_Wagon.jpg)
In 1963 and 1964, no Ranch Wagon was included in Ford's full-size station wagon series,
[John Gunnell, Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946–1975, Revised 4th Edition, pages 410 to 415] but the name was used for some station wagons in the intermediate-size
Fairlane series.
[ It was offered in the base and 500 trim levels, with the 500 also marketed as the "Custom Ranch Wagon". The 1963 models ran with a 200-cid six-cylinder or any of three optional V8 engines—221, 260- or 289-cid. The 221 was dropped for 1964.
]
1965–1974
The Ranch Wagon returned to the full-size line for 1965. In 1966, it was the beneficiary of Ford's innovative new dual-action Magic Doorgate, which could be opened either down or sideways. In 1968, two new Ranch Wagon models, called the Custom 500 Ranch Wagons, were introduced; one a six-passenger model, the other the first Ranch Wagon furnished with third row seating Third row seating refers to seating in a vehicle such as a station wagon, SUV, MPV, or minivan to expand seating beyond the front and back seat found in most automobiles. Such vehicles commonly seat between 6 and up to 9 persons.
In the 1960s and ...
, Ford's familiar side-mounted dual-facing rear seats.
Ford wagons ceased to be a separate series when they were redesigned for 1969, officially becoming part of the respective series on which they were based; thus that year's base Ranch Wagon was now a member of the low-end Custom
Custom, customary, or consuetudinary may refer to:
Traditions, laws, and religion
* Convention (norm), a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted rules, norms, standards or criteria, often taking the form of a custom
* Norm (social), a r ...
series. In 1970, for the first time, all Ranch Wagons were powered by a V8. A three-speed manual transmission continued as standard through the 1971 model year, with all cars fitted with a SelectShift automatic transmission starting with the 1972 models.
The Custom series was dropped when Ford issued the next generation of full-size cars for 1973, meaning all Ranch Wagons were Custom 500s. The 1974 Ranch Wagon was the last available for sale to the general public. From 1975 to 1977, small quantities of Custom 500 station wagons (no longer called Ranch Wagon) were produced strictly for fleet buyers.
References
;Notes
;Sources
*"Encyclopedia of American Cars" Publications International
*"Standard Catalog of Ford, 1903-1998", Krause Publications
{{Ford vehicles
Ranch Wagon
1950s cars
1960s cars
1970s cars