Joe (Cool) Warham’s 1978 Ford F-250 Ranger Explorer ¾ ton pickup is a solid representation of light trucks from that era.
Joe’s truck has extra interior room behind the front seat, along with an extra side window that became a mainstay of domestic trucks from every Big Three builder at the time.
Jim Sutherland
You could even put people behind the front seat if they were small or you didn’t like them very much, but the cab extensions provided a generous storage area for the trucks’ owners. GM and Chrysler’s Dodge Division gave them trademark names (Extended Cab for GM and Club Cab for Dodge), while Ford named them Super Cabs.
The elongated cabs were different from crew cabs because they had no doors and were essentially a truck version of a two-door sedan car. These unique truck bodies were initially offered to buyers in the 1970s and enjoyed a long production run.
Another automotive concept that began in the 1970s was rectangular headlights, a feature not allowed on domestic vehicles until the back nine of the Me Decade. Joe’s ’78 Ford truck is an upscale model, so it has rectangular taillights, although a base model 1978 Ford pickup still had round headlights.
Joe labels himself as “a Ford guy all the way” and is very loyal to the Blue Oval brand, so his vintage Ford truck is a good fit with him. The truck popped up on a popular online buy/sell site about 10 years ago and Joe spotted it before anyone else.
He wanted to retain most of his truck’s original heritage, including its factory 400 small block engine and C-6 automatic transmission. Joe told MyStarCollectorCar he only did minor upgrades to the engine so it would perform better.
The upgrades included a 4-barrel carburetor upgrade and a header system to help the engine ignite fuel and breathe better under load. The results were very positive, according to Joe.
The most significant changes to Joe’s 1978 Ford Ranger Explorer pickup are cosmetic because he changed its two-tone paint job and covered most of the bright work on the truck.
Joe’s color choice is within the ballpark of the original paint scheme and lends itself to his nickname for the truck: ‘Citrous Mistress’.
As mentioned earlier, Joe chose to paint over the bright work and even included the hubcaps in the changes. He likes the hubcaps and their new look.
Joe also added a wooden center console that he custom-built for his ’78 Ford, mainly because Joe is a carpenter by trade and knows his way around woodcraft.
Joe mentioned the truck’s original owners had a camper on back and used it for road trips and, although he found the camper, it is not in great shape. That may change, given Joe’s trade, but he is not afraid to take his 1978 Ford on the road without the original camper because the truck is a solid performer when he “brings it out of hibernation” after a winter timeout.
The happy ending is Joe’s vintage Ford pickup now leads a pampered life because he is the right owner at the right time for his classic truck from the 1970s.
Jim Sutherland
BY: Jim Sutherland
Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section.
- CLICK HERE to Sign Up for the Newsletter
- CLICK HERE to Like us on Facebook
- CLICK HERE to Follow us on Twitter
- CLICK HERE to Follow us on Pinterest
