1965 Ford Ranger F100

1965 Ford F-100 Ranger Description

I have a 1965 Ford F100 Ranger 292 V8 auto bought brand new in March of '65 from the dealer in Renton (who was advertising them) by my neighbor when I was 9 years old. His sons wife told me the story of how when Papa Cottrell (who bought a new truck every few years) heard Ford came out with bucket seats he ran down and bought one. It really does have only 47k miles on it. He was retired and only drove to the tavern in town (8 mile round trip) mostly for the first 3 years. Then he sold it to his son who lived next door to us and he drove it for 7 more years to work less than a 7 mile round trip. It was then garaged in 1975. I drove it about 30 miles after taking it out of the garage and if there was any question about the mileage it was answered as it drove like a new car. All original Custom Cab two tone with the door pockets option and I think a spare tire option in the bed. A roll of roofing stored too close to it ate through the aluminum trim. It needs paint. Amazing how much damage can happen buried in a garage. The Ranger package was introduced in '65 and consisted of Mustang bucket seats, a fuel tank cover of either material or plastic, carpet, center console out of a Comet and silver on black Ranger emblems in place of the Twin I beam ones.I have the original plastic Ford Truck Owner ID card in its protective envelope and the original Ford Truck Operator's Manual along with all the registrations from '69 to '74 while his son owned it.The tag on the door does not have the correct letter for a Ranger but I do know it was bought brand new as one. The truck was built in California only days before the sale and does have a Sp marked in the engine compartment which says to me they needed a Ranger model and marked this one Special. I work at Kenworth and things like that happen when we build trucks. I think it would be easy to prove it has never been changed over. I think it is obvious. As you can see in the picture from Independence Day 1965 he already had the canopy on it and had changed the hub caps for the chrome look I guess. His son owned a gas station and added back up lights which is just a switch hanging on the steering column and a wire back to the lights along with a different base I guess but different lenses. I still have the originals. Also he changed the steering wheel to Galaxie 500 one but I have the original with only 3 years use on it. All I can tell you is I'm an honest guy and this is almost a one of a kind truck find. We will have to file for a lost title. Not a problem in WA.