Wild ideas know no boundaries and jump continents in the blink of an eye. Still, sometimes, they fall so far from the tree that it takes a detective to unravel the mystery. Take the Ford Ranchero as an example: the passenger-car-sized pickup vehicle was born In 1957, and 22 years later, it left the stage (and the gushing regrets wound never stopped bleeding since). Despite its muscular pretensions, nobody really bought a Ranchero with the declared goal of taking it to the racing circuit. Until now.
In 1969, Ford was going through a very busy period of its existence: the Mach 1, the Bosses, the Shelby breakup, the big block avalanche – FoMoCo had its hands full up to the shoulders. And yet, somehow, the Blue Oval still found the time, resources, energy, ambition, and audacity to squeeze performance from every corner of the car market.
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