AutoCult Ford Ranger II (USA) "Detroit Auto Show 1966"

About the Original

The Pioneer

In 1966, the Ranger II concept car under the Ford label entered the show stage, a previously pick-up version. From today’s point of view, the sensation about the design at that time is no longer relatable, but at that the USA a pick-up was nothing more than a simple utility vehicle intended for the quick transport of any goods, without comfort and without any refinement. The Ranger II, however, was designed completely differently – namely as a comfortable pick-up, equipped with all the technically feasible gimmicks, very futuristically designed, and, above all, a downright noble pick-up!

The fact that the open loading area – so distinctive for this type of vehicle – was laid out with fine walnut wood instead of the usual wooden or steel planks should have caused a lot of astonishment among those who examined the concept car at the exhibition.

What Ford ultimately wanted to achieve with the concept car is not known, and there were hardly any borrowings from it in later series production. The only one who created a nimbus for himself with the Ranger II was the then only 33-year-old designer Syd Mead, who actually did not specialize in cars at all, but appeared as an optical designer for industrial products and worked in the film industry. As a somewhat daring thesis, it can be said that Syd Mead was several decades ahead of its time in 1966, because in the current era, pick-ups have firmly established themselves in the luxury sector.