Ford Rangers have left the building. 1982-2012. RIP.

[surprise_i'm_armed]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/1 ... sel_Ranger

The above link details the end of production for the Ford Ranger pickup truck.
There's a 13 pic slide show at the bottom of the page.
The last one rolled off the Twin Cities, Minnesota assembly line on 12/16/2011.

My first brand new vehicle ever was a 1989 Ford Ranger, silver, 2.9 Liter 6 cylinder, 5 speed stick, regular cab, bought in
Kennesaw, Georgia on 11/28/89 as a leftover, but brand new '89.
I drove that puppy from zero miles brand new to 176,000 miles in 4.5 years.
It was Honda-reliable and cost me virtually nothing in repairs.

Fast forward to 11/30/07. I picked up my new 2008 Ford Ranger, Vista Blue, Super Cab, 2.3 L, 5 speed stick.
I was expecting the same happy ownership experience as the first one.
But this one has been LEMON CITY. My next vehicle is likely to be Asian.

SIA

[AEA]

Guess the value of my 2004 Ext Cab is going to go up! A collectors item! Who hoo!

[Zylo_X]

... My next vehicle is likely to be Asian.

SIA

I thought they already were "Asian". Wasn't the Ranger, as well as the Courier before it, re-branded Mazda?? Maybe I missed it, but was the plant in the story 'manufacturing' or 'assembling''??

[texanron]

My first brand new vehicle was a 1993 Ford Ranger Regular Cab w/Standard Transmission. I drove it for 10 years and logged 225k miles on it.

[jmorris]

My first Ford Ranger was a 1983. Six months later the lifters locked up*, the cam shaft twisted, and the dealer said "we've NEVER heard of this happening, we're sending the parts back to Ford".

*Yes, it had oil and had gotten one oil change.

[Maxwell]

My first truck was a '94 Ranger. I had it for 11 years! Sigh...

[Dragonfighter]

My first and ONLY new vehicle was and extended cab, 3.0L V6 graduating rookie school. We made tons of trips in it and kept encountering another identical one, same mods at the same time in Lewisville and area. It survived a teenager learning to drive and had nearly 300K on it when I sold it and it was still running great.

[danpaw]

I won't be buying Asians as long as Chevy makes trucks. I have had four of them and they have all been bullet proof. The last one had just over 300,000 and still ran great and never so much as had a valve cover off.

[Lambda Force]

I won't be buying Asians as long as Chevy makes trucks. I have had four of them and they have all been bullet proof. The last one had just over 300,000 and still ran great and never so much as had a valve cover off.

If you're a Chevy fan then you probably wouldn't have bought a Ford Ranger even if it wasn't discontinued.

I'm not a pickup man but friends who had 20th century Rangers liked them but the 21st century ones not as much. I don't know how much was Ford and how much was increasing unconstitutional federal regulations making vehicles more complicated and more prone to failure.

RIP

[Zylo_X]

I won't be buying Asians as long as Chevy makes trucks. I have had four of them and they have all been bullet proof. The last one had just over 300,000 and still ran great and never so much as had a valve cover off.

Wow, congrats! Which model??