Converting '57 Wagon to Ranchero....

[khier]

After so many disappointing attempts to hunt a stock Ranchero on Ebay, I am seriously thinking of converting one of Jimmy Flintstone's resin wagons to a Ranchero. It should not be a lot of work, especially that I have a chopped Ranchero kit. However, I am confused with the door issue as I could not figure out whether the Ranchero had a coupe/club (long) or regular/town (short) door. I think the Revell Ranchero has the wrong door. If true, then it is pointless to invest more for a Revell kit.

I have three possibilities between which I am torn:

1-Provided the door issue is correct invest more and get a Revell kit.

2-Carry out the conversion.

3-After hearing about the '57 Custom (Why not a 58 or 59?? a '57 was done by the Modelhaus), wait a couple of years for Revell to launch a Ranchero, or pray that a resin caster will do it.

What about the door in Revell kit? And which way would you go?

And, by the way, I intend also to make a Tudor Ranch wagon "Del Rio". It should be a straight forward conversion, or did I oversee something??

Thanks

[Edsel-Dan]

The old Revell 57 Ranchero is a Butchered Country Squire, That is why it was never re-issued,

and goes so high in auctions.

If you look at the interior panels, as well as the body sides, you can see were they only

filed down the engraving to produce the Squire's rear doors.

For accuracy, you should start with an AMT 57 Fairlane 500, and graft the Chopped top Ranchero

bed to that. It will give you the correct door size.

You can do the same with the upcoming Revell Custom/Base level 57 Ford.

The wheelbase will be closer to correct versus AMT's 500 too.

I have both a built & unbuilt, of the Stock height roof Ranchero kits.

I replaced the 59 grill surround/bar grill with AMT 57 grill, splash pan, & front bumper.

Tires are AMT hollow Firestones (formerly 500's) from the 'Count-Down series,

& hubcaps from the AMT 500 too

My Phantom 58 Edsel Ranchero has the Correct door size. I grafted the bed from

a Chopped roof kit to the Modern tool Pacer, making the cut to the Pacer right along the rear door line.

[Dr. Cranky]

This is excellent, useful information. Thank you.

[Eshaver]

Revell should have re-issued this kit YEARS AGO. I know as I had a stock rook one and it wasn't the impossible to build as some here have said it is/was ................ Ed Shaver

[khier]

First thanks for your reply....

.......If you look at the interior panels, as well as the body sides, you can see were they only

filed down the engraving to produce the Squire's rear doors....

Dores this mean the ranchero and station wagon shared the same door?

.......For accuracy, you should start with an AMT 57 Fairlane 500, and graft the Chopped top Ranchero

bed to that. It will give you the correct door size..

ok... i see the ranchero had the coupe (big) door, right...? But what about the trim? The Fairlane 500 had a different trim than the Ranchero`s, which had either its own or that of the custom 300n (or custom??)

.......The wheelbase will be closer to correct versus AMT's 500 too..

I thought the Ranchero and custom shared the same short WB.... which means in case of Revell kit no correction is needed.....

Sorry for that but it seems I got more confused than before....

[Jairus]

No, what it means is that Revell took the easy way out and simply used the shorter doors found on a 4 door car for it's molds and is incorrect for a the Rancharo it pre-ports to represent.

Wheelbase on a 4-door wagon and a Rancharo are the same at 116", but it is the door length that is different. As the doors on a Rancharo are same length as those on a Custom 300 coupe or a 2-door Country Sedan.

As for trim... Rancharo and Country sedan and Custom 300 coupe all share the same 2-door side trim depending on the trim level.

Edited October 22, 2011 by Jairus

[khier]

Thanks for the clarification....