Vintage ’73 Ranchero recaptures first-car feelings

Everyone remembers their first car. And whether it was a classic or not, most gear heads would love to have their original ride back, with an eye toward restoring it to better-than-original condition, to recapture an elusive bit of their youth.

That was the case with Brad Wedel and his prized 1973 Ford Ranchero. His uncle had purchased the green “utility coupe” brand new and, after getting some use out of it, sold it to Wedel’s father, who in turn racked up some miles on it. Eventually, the Ranchero was handed down to his older brother and and then onto Wedel, who drove it to high school and the University of Kansas, where he played tight end on the football team.

“It was ‘Bullitt’ green. A car for us was freedom back then,” Wedel recalled.

“I blew the motor up in that car. It gave out in Ottawa,” he said. “I was trying to get back to football practice at KU. I probably was pushing it a little too hard.

“I called my dad and he said he would take care of it,” Wedel said. “The way he took care of it was he called a local mechanic and told him if he went and got it, he could have it.” The mechanic rebuilt the engine and sold the green Ranchero to a local.

“I would see it around town for two or three years, and then I lost track of it,” Wedel said. “I had wanted to find it and restore it, but eventually I put it on the back burner.”

But that didn’t mean he gave up completely on the idea of having a nicely restore ’73 Ranchero again. He kept looking for one on various Internet car sites.

“And then I came across this one online, in Phoenix. It was for sale by an individual who owned several show cars,” said Wedel, referring to the brilliant white Ranchero now parked in his rural driveway.

“Originally, the money was just too much, but I watched it and it crept down to where it wasn’t too much,” he said. “I guess there weren’t too many people whose first car was a ’73 Ranchero.”

That was in July and, after several phone calls to the collector, Wedel figured it was worth a gamble to check out the Ranchero in person.

“My wife (Paula) and I borrowed a friend’s trailer and drove down to look at it. We dated in my first Ranchero in high school, so it didn’t take that much to convince her to drive to Phoenix to look at a ’73 Ranchero,” he said.

He and the seller had tentatively agreed upon a price if the Ranchero measured up to the photos he had been sent. The Wedels were clearly impressed when they saw the vehicle in person.

“I kind of lost my bargaining edge when we pulled in with a trailer,” Wedel recalled. The deal was finalized, the Ranchero loaded on the trailer and the journey back to Kansas began, although the Ranchero undoubtedly could have been driven all that distance without an issue, he said.

Based on the mid-sized Torino, the 1973 Ranchero featured a sleeker horizontal grille than the previous year’s “fish mouth” design. It had been repainted in that year’s factory white, with a fresh black vinyl interior installed.

Wedel’s Ranchero features a 400 cubic inch V-8 boosted by an Edelbrock intake manifold, a Holley 4-barrel carburetor and a set of dual Magnaflow mufflers. White-faced gauges in a carbon fiber-style dash insert keep track of the operating systems and power is routed through a Ford C6 3-speed automatic transmission.

Wedel has chosen to enjoy the Ranchero as it was delivered, with air conditioning, power steering, power disc brakes and an upgraded JVC sound system.

“I put rims on it and tinted the windows. I think I’ll leave it alone,” he said. The classic 5-spoke Cragar wheels are big 17-inchers, though, outfitted with Toyo 245/50R17 radial tires.

“I’ve put 3,000 miles on it already, almost all those at 35 to 40 mph down two-lane blacktops, with my ’80s hair/metal music playing loud,” Wedel said.

This ’73 Ranchero clearly will not be getting away from Brad Wedel.

This story was originally published December 18, 2015 at 4:41 PM with the headline "Vintage ’73 Ranchero recaptures first-car feelings."