Welcome to another no-price-limit Friday edition of Shitbox Showdown! As you may have noticed, September has been Ute Month here at the Autopian, owing to Dave and Laurence’s Excellent Adventure, so I thought it would be fun to close out the month by looking at a couple of home-grown American utes. But first, let’s see which of our nor’easters yesterday took you by storm:
Six of one, half a dozen of the other, just about. Neither one is really all that exciting, both have some potential pitfalls, either one will probably get you around just fine. Hey, sometimes you need cars like that, that just do a job.
Speaking of cars that do jobs, let’s talk utes. Utes never caught on in the US like they did in Australia. The idea of a car-based pickup truck makes sense, especially if it’s going to be your only vehicle. If you need to haul stuff but also have a modicum of comfort and decent driving dynamics, a ute will fit the bill quite nicely. Both Ford and GM tried for years to get them to catch on (and Chrysler threw a tiny hat in the ring as well), but sales were lukewarm, and most buyers would rather just have a truck, it seemed. But we here all think they’re cool, so we’re going to show you a couple today.
1964 Ford Falcon Ranchero – $8,900
Engine/drivetrain: 170 cubic inch OHV inline 6, 3 speed manual, RWD
Location: Seattle, WA
Odometer reading: unknown
Runs/drives? Indeed it does
Ford was first out of the gate with utes in the US with the Ranchero in 1957. (Or, arguably, in 1925, with the Model T Runabout Pickup.) The ’57-59 Rancheros were based on Ford’s full-size – and at the time only-size – cars, basically a sedan delivery with the top cut off and a bulkhead/rear window behind the seat. In 1960, the Ranchero shifted to the new, smaller Falcon body, where it remained for several years before growing in size again.
This ’64 Falcon Ranchero features a 170 cubic inch version of Ford’s classic inline six, connected to a three-speed column-shifted manual. Just enough to haul 800 pounds of stuff and a couple of people around, nothing more. It’s refreshing to see a simple little truck in these days of wretched excess; even Ford’s new Maverick is a hulking behemoth compared to this thing.
It appears to be in great shape, especially inside, and the seller says it runs and drives well. It has had recent brake and electrical work, as well as new tires, new exhaust, and a rebuilt carb, so in theory it should be “hop in and go” reliable.
It’s not pristine outside, though, and I like that. Some scrapes and wear, and even a hint of rust, are evident in the bed, showing that this truck has earned its keep. A cool collector car you can take to the lumber yard on weekends? Sign me up.
1981 Chevrolet El Camino – $7,500
Engine/drivetrain: 305 cubic inch OHV V8, 3 speed automatic, RWD
Location: Altadena, CA
Odometer reading: 64,000 miles
Runs/drives? Doesn’t explicity say, actually
Across town, Chevy played catch-up with the El Camino, introduced in 1959, also based on a full-sized chassis. After two years, they dropped the idea, only to pick it up again on the mid-sized A platform in 1964. From that point on, the El Camino was essentially a Chevelle/Malibu with a pickup bed. The El Camino stuck around eight years after Ford dropped the last Ranchero, with production ending in 1987.
This 1981 model is from the last generation of El Camino, right before a facelift in parallel with the Malibu and Monte Carlo switched to a more squared-off nose with four rectangular headlights instead of two. The taillights of the El Camino are in the same place as the Malibu wagon: down low in the bumper. You probably couldn’t get away with this placement today, but I’ve always thought it was a good look for this truck.
This El Camino is powered by a 305 cubic inch variant of Chevy’s ubiquitous small-block V8, probably with a two-barrel carburetor, and probably backed by a Turbo-Hydramatic 350 transmission. The seller doesn’t actually say it runs, but for $7,500 I would hope it runs just fine, or else it’s going to be for sale for a long time. The registration is out of date, but I can’t read the tags in the photo to tell how out of date.
It looks like it’s in overall good condition, except for a sizeable dent in the tailgate. I can’t say for sure, but I bet one of those suction-cup dent pullers could yank that back out and make it at least less noticeable. The paint is otherwise shiny, the interior looks nice and clean (but missing a radio), and the Camaro five-spoke wheels suit it well.
So there they are: Different ways of going about doing basically the same thing, but comparable, I think. They’re both fairly well-preserved, but not so nice that you couldn’t enjoy them and get some use out of them as light-duty trucks. Which one catches your eye?
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
If the ElCa were a manual or the face lifted version, this would have been a tougher choice.
I like the slightly smaller cars of the early/mid ‘60s, and the Ranchero would suit me well. Locate a camper top, throw an air mattress in the back; ready to roam the backroads & byways.
the Falcon simply because the current generation of starting to be wealthy millenials kind of grabbed on to the falcons for some weird reason. I figure I could flip it easy enough. 1981 anything is usually pure garbage. the vaccuum snake carbs and letting them sit means a pain in the but to make run correctly. The only saving grace is an LS and 4LslippyE trans should fit without a lot of hoopla or even a mid noneties vortec 350 and 700R4 if you find one in decent shape.
Not a huge fan of the grill on the 81 camino, but it’s been a dream to own one in general, so I’ll take it
One could argue the Econoline pickup, Corvair 95 pickup, and A100 pickup were utes as well, so the US was awash in ute choices in the ’60s.
I’d take either but voted El Camino. No real good reason for my choice but I’d happily drive either if I had the space to park it.
Learned to drive on a car with the 305 and TBI, it’s a great motor. But the Ranchero is just too damn cool, and in great condition, and a stick. No brainer.
I’ll go down that road, gimme the El Camino. Always liked the styling of them.
I would happily bring either of these Utes home, I voted for the El Camino just on price alone, but there is no way I would Kick the Ranchero out of the Garage. One of the few times I wish there was a both option on the vote.
I can’t vote. Both are exactly equally awesome.
This was a toughie. The Ranchero is probably overpriced, but it looks so damn good and you rarely see them on the road these days. So rarely that I had no idea they made a Falcon based Ranchero until just now. I would have assumed it was a Bubba’s garage sawzall job without that context.
Ranchero. It calls to me. The El Camino… Eh.
And now that I’m thinking of utes, I would love a modern day Brat, graphics and all. I know the Baja was a thing but no thank you. Basically I want what Bucky and his daughter Paris put together but with modern safety features. I know it’ll never happen but it would be so cool.
We are, we are… the Utes of the nation. We are, we are…
Gimme the Ranchero. I DD’d an ’86 El Camino and it damn near ruined my life.
Story time!
So, in 1985, my Uncle-In-Law, a Florida real-estate lawyer, went and bought an El Camino. Two-tone, baby blue on top and a grey-blue on the bottom, 4.3L V6, basic car. He kept this car for almost the rest of his life. This is somewhat amazing as he bought more cars than anyone I’ve ever met. Usually two a year, although some years he’d buy three or four.
Well, fast forward to about a year or two before I graduated high school and went into the USAF; he had some idiot redneck pull the TBI from the 4.3L and slap on an Edelbrock intake, carb, and dual exhaust. It also had an HEI ignition on it, but I’m not sure if that was a factory setup or if it was something the redneck did, but whatever it was it had to be rigged up and had a crappy power wire running to it. More on that later.
The upgrades were done… poorly. The choke was held half-shut at all times by a zip tie. It idled at something like 1500+ RPMs (not sure what, as it didn’t have a tach.) The exhaust leaked, it was badly put together in general. But my uncle also had it repainted at the same time he got the “upgrades” and bought the bullet hole wheels that were on it at the time, and to be fair it looked great.
About the time I joined the USAF, my Mom bought the car from my uncle-in-law (who she worked for as a paralegal.) My Mustang’s rear end was pretty much shot, and I hadn’t been able to re-install the 8″ I pulled from a ’68 Mustang, so Mom gave me the El Camino to drive. For about a year it was fine. At that point in time:
– The water pump died. The bolts were rusted in place, I couldn’t remove them except with a rechargable dremel. I’d go work on dremeling the bolt out, battery would die, then I’d go back inside and recharge it. Luckily I was living on base and was less than 1/4 mile away from anything I needed to get to, work, chow hall, etc. I couldn’t use the base auto hobby shop as I was on nights and they weren’t open at all for anything but banker’s hours. Andrews AFB sucked for shift workers. Likely all bases do, but with how top-heavy Andrews was, it was definitely worse.
– Couple months after that, the balancer went out. It went out in such a way that the ring slipped and wore a nice 1/4″ deep semi-circle in the timing chain cover. I sourced a new balancer, timing chain cover, and timing chain. I tried to do the job in the parking lot again, tried to use the balancer bolt to install the balancer. Pulled the first threads out of the crank, buggered up the bolt. Panicked. Sourced a tap and die set from the shop, bought a new bolt (screwed up, only one I could find was at the speed shop just outside base, was a 12-point head, so I had to then buy a new socket,) bought a balancer installer which I still have and have used two more times! and finally got everything installed again.
– Chronic exhaust leak from crappy install of the exhaust. Went through multiple gasket sets.
– Remember the timing chain cover I installed? It constantly leaked oil. I pulled the pan multiple times, cleaned it all, redid it multiple times. Ultimately found out that somehow the pan itself was bent before I ever got it.
– Tried to go home on leave. Got from Andrews down about an hour into Virginia. Stopped for some reason and came out and tried to start the car and got nothing. Called a coworker that lived a couple doors down from me, he came down with some tools, poked at the car, got nowhere, so we went back to base. I burnt a day of leave and then next day went back down with my coworker’s roommate (a Vehicle Mx troop) and we both poked at the car. He found the HEI ignition power wire had worked itself loose, crimped a new female spade end on it and I was on the road.
Got out of the USAF, thankfully a year before I had bought my truck and I gave the stupid car back to my mom. Later the transmission cooler lines on the truck rubbed through and I burned up a transmission. So I went and got the El Camino from Mom again. Shortly after I got it (4-6 months) the reverse gear in the transmission burned out. I became very adept at finding parking spots where I could pull all the way through.
– Had to replace the plugs. The back two on each side I had to break the ceramic in order to get them out. No clue how I got them reinstalled.
– Around the point where the reverse gear died, I realized I was getting particularly horrible gas mileage. Somehow, this car that had lived all of its life in Florida, except for about 2 years in DC, had a gas hose rust through. I fixed it in a parking lot.
A lot of the issues here are related to this being my second car that I really had issues with and was wrenching on on my own. However, the first five items? They happened within a year. Then I had the El Camino after getting out of the Air Force for about 14-16 months before getting my truck back, so those last issues cropped up in that short of a time.
This stupid fudging car let me down at every single turn, whenever it could. It never had a single issue with my uncle as the owner. Its giving its current owner, my mom’s husband, fits as well. Maybe it was just mourning that my uncle sold it. Maybe my mom’s husband is a horrible mechanic. Maybe the shop that did the swap for mom’s husband was a bunch of idiots. No clue.
Mom let me know the other weekend that she’s taking it to a shop in order to get it fixed, then she’s going to give it to me.
Yay?
Get it running and sell it. Take the money and run!
Dunno that I could do that. Selling cars feels weird to me
Oooh, tough call. I chose the El Camino, but neither one would be a bad pick. I just liked the lower mileage and lower price.
Ranchero for me.
Biggest thing about the El Camino that bothers me is the wheels. The alloys are a touch too discordant with all the chrome. The original steel wheels of that time are really good looking and seem more appropriate than a Camaros’ here.
Yeah, the original styled steel wheels would look better. If I remember, they were painted body-color with chrome trim rings and accents? But I don’t hate the Camaro alloys. It looks like a mod I would have made (and possibly did make) to the MPC El Camino model kit back in the early ’80s.
I like the looks of the older Ranchero, and it’s a car I’d drive around. The El Camino doesn’t look nice enough to pamper nor beat enough to use.
Even though it has that wimpy powerplant, have to go with the Ranchero. More useful for my needs, smaller, more economical, simpler to service. The little Fords were practical back in the day, and still are now.
If I were going to go crazy, might think of a 260/four-speed swap, maybe even a 289 if I was feeling extra-frisky. But I suspect the Ranchero would do fine as-is. And it would do it today, without the fuss and feathers associated with fixing whatever has kept the El Camino from being registered — might be nothing, might be expensive — and fixing/replacing the tailgate.
If Seattle wasn’t so dang far away….
Realistically, the El Camino is the only one I’d seriously consider because it’s literally in my neighborhood. But shiny as it is, it’s from the very worst malaise era of not-smog-exempt shitboxen. There’s a whopping 150hp in that thing, or there was before Reagan got shot. It’s the ugliest and lamest era of El Camino. No thank you.
I honestly prefer the big 1st gen Ranchero over the Falcon ones, but y’know, the vast Mustang aftermarket sure lends a lot of goodies to the 60s ones. I won’t travel out of state for one, but I’d sure pick it over the El Crapino down the block.
Going with the Ford on this one: no dent, three on the tree, and just generally better looking to my eyes.
Both Dad and Granddad had Falcon Rancheros, so I should want that the most, but it just seems overpriced for a straight 6 in the most boring color (Granddad’s was an awesome blue/white 2-tone).
So instead, I’ll save $1500 with the El Camino and go to few Radwood’s with it.
Hate, hate, HATE the El Camino. I always have. I think it has to do with the type of person who used to one them back in the day. Also, SO ugly. Ranchero all day.
My 83 year old neighbor has an early ’80s Camino Conquista that he drives daily. I’ve got a lot of respect for that. I’ll take the V8 mullet on wheels. Get the tailgate sorted, and that thing will be looking sharp! El Camino all day!
I’ll never forget that scene in Goldfinger when they crush a Lincoln Continental, compact it into a cube, and haul it away in one of these little Rancheros. Even as a kid, I was like “there is no way that thing can haul that!”
El Camino! El El Camino!
The front is like a car; the back is like a truck!
The front is where you drive; the back is where you… OHHHHH!!
El Camino! El El Camino!
easy to get a crate engine for the El Camino 😉
Easy to get a crate engine for the Ranchero. Also, the Mustang was based on the Falcon, so lots of aftermarket parts should bolt right in.
Both are good but I like the El Camino a bit more.
What a dilemma! This is quite the matchup. I have tremendous nostalgic love for those El Caminos. Bu after reading the listings carefully, I ruled out the El Camino. Just too much cash for that car with expired registration and no clear statement of “It runs!” Falcon for me. That’s easier to work on as well.
Still… Those mouse fur seats in the El Camino….
The expired registration doesn’t both me as there are no back registrations in my state. The owner at the time is responsible for that, not the new owner.
I would want to see it and drive it around the block just to make sure there no issues other than the dent.
Ford, all day.