Old cars that are nice and shiny are great, reminding us of bygone days and so on. However, when you take the cars out of the picture, the bygone days kinda sucked in many ways. Take 1968, f'rinstance. You never hear old guys at car shows reminiscing fondly about the Tet Offensive or the '68 Democratic National Convention as "Dock Of The Bay" plays for the 55 millionth time, do you? That's why it's good to see an old car that reminds us that the old days would rip those pink-tinted nostalgia glasses off our faces and crush them beneath their hobnailed boots, if they could. Like, say, this here evil-looking '68 Ranchero I spotted lurking near the high school the other day.
Before I go any further, let's just make it perfectly clear that this Ranchero has a manual transmission. I hope it's a 4-speed, but a 3-speed iwould be almost as good. Many, many bonus points for the floor-shift/bench-seat combo.
Sadly, there are no beer cans, busted water pumps, or rusty cylinder heads in the bed. However, it does have some aftermarket tie-downs on the sides.
The sun-bleached NHRA sticker is a really nice touch...
...but not as nice as the cryptic "ICM" lettering on the left front fender. International Cabal of Murderers? Iridescent Cannabis Merchant? Who knows?
The grimy Cragar SS knockoffs are just about perfect on this car-with-truck-bed. Who would want an El Camino when you could have this? Actually, I'd want this and a primer '66 El Camino with a nervous lumpy-cam 327... and then I'd be bummed because Chrysler didn't make a B-Body with a truck bed.
Oh yeah! JC Whitney fiberglass hood scoops are our friends!
This view makes me miss my old '69 Fairlane (and my '68 Cyclone, for that matter). Sigh.
You couldn't make a meaner-looking Ranchero taillight if you tried! This Ranchero parks near the '78 XJ-6 we saw a while back, so I'm wondering if they're owned by the same person.
Related:
text [Ranchero: Spanish For Untamed]