Well, really this is my son's first rig - but it's in my name for now.

A little history, long time Falcon fan. Had a '65 Futura 2 dr hardtop as my first car in high school and sold it after I got married in 1988 (as a college student) to buy furniture for our apartment - dumb mistake #1. Also, had a '61 Ford Starliner (I know not a Falcon) at my 10 yr anniversary. Moved to Seattle and sold it - dumb mistake #2.

My family has always been a Ford one. While my '65 Futura sat in the driveway in high school my dad also had a '64 Sprint and '65 Sprint - yep, he sold them both. The '65 was obtained in a trade when a client couldn't pay his bill. It was redone with a stroked out 347 and 4.11 gearing - can you say scary fast. We also had a '66 F100 in the driveway at this time. Finally, my dad owned a '62 Falcon when I was just a little guy and we still lived in Bellevue.

Fast forward - 26 yrs of marriage, job changes, family moves, 6 kids and a wife who doesn't understand cars like I do and I still don't have a classic Falcon in my driveway/garage. I'm working on my kids now to make suggestions to my wife that returning my '65 Falcon to my garage for my 50th birthday would be a cool thing.

My 15 yo son starts looking for a vehicle and likes his friends El Camino but doesn't want to buy one because his friend already has one. Perfect opening for me so I start showing him Rancheros and we watch an episode from American Muscle Cars about them. He's starting to get excited and so am I.

After some searching we come across a '66 Ranchero for decent money and a decent looker. 68k original miles, 289, 3 on the tree. Cool, he can learn to drive the old fashioned way. He ends up wanting it and now it sits in my shop (because he failed a class in school and won't be able to learn to drive for a few months - bummer for him).

The car/truck runs great. A little hard on cold starts and I noticed the automatic choke was set a little lean so I backed it off a little and it's better. A carb rebuild (2100) is probably in the future. The rear feels a little soft so I think I'll start with some shocks - the ones on it are shot - before doing leaf springs.

I noticed a little shudder/vibration between 50-60 mph and am suspecting the universal joint needs some work. When you step on the gas the motor has plenty of response.

Rust - bubbles in the lower side panels and the base of the tailgate. There was some pretty poor body work done on it so it really needs to be stripped, fixed and repainted. It's got a Chrysler three stage pearl paint right now - that again wasn't done very well. What I call the rear body panel/cross member under the rear of the bed needs some attention as it has a rust hole in it on the front side.

Like a typical teen my son wants to address the wheels (doesn't like the baby moons) and the stereo - doesn't work. I've convinced him to leave the original AM radio in it.

I'm a novice at car repairs and have a drag racing neighbor who is going to help me learn as we go along.

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The armrest on the drivers door is broken - I'll need to source another