Innovation deserves praise, and a man from Canton, Ohio isn’t getting nearly enough of that for installing a second-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee’s front fascia onto his Ford Ranger. It’s time we change that; it’s time we raise a glass to this genius of automotive design.
I stumbled upon this Facebook Marketplace listing while mindlessly scrolling through my Facebook feed, which is basically just car stuff because my whole life is basically just cars and travel (to be clear: The travel always involves cars). It’s a 1999 Ford Ranger that the owner, Cameron Downard, crashed some time ago.
The front-end damage gave Downard an idea: He was parting out a “WJ”-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee at the time and figured he’d try using its face to fix the battered Ford Ranger nose.
He had to cut the bumper and fenders using a grinder, but through use of many sheetmetal screws, he made his vision a reality.
Unfortunately, the photo above is the only one Downard has on hand, but it’s worth showing, because I think it works quite well! The hood and fenders looks quite similar to that of the Grand Cherokee; in fact, upon first glance, I thought this was a Jeep that had been hacked away and converted into a pickup.
But no, it’s a 2.5-liter four-cylinder, five-speed manual Ford Ranger with a Jeep face, and it works. It just works. [Raises glass of 80W-90 towards Ohio, chugs it. Falls to floor.]