I am listing my 1958 Edsel Ranger for sale. The car has 55,000 miles +/-. I purchased the car from the second owner who lived in Washington state. He lived across the street from the original owners for years. The car is at my parent’s house in Brentwood, Ca (94513) and I am in Austin, Texas. I am asking $7,950 for the car. Exterior: The car has the original paint which is in good shape. I starting waxing it and it cleaned up nice. The body and paint is not perfect but is a great survivor. There is a dent and repair by the previous owner in the driver side door that has some primered spot. I was going to fix it and have it color matched. The chrome, bumpers, grill and trim is all in great shape. There is not any rusted through areas that I noticed or can remember. The windshield is cracked however I have a replacement that comes with the car. Interior: The door panels, dash and headliner are in great shape. The seat fabric and carpet is kind of dried up and need to be replaced. All of the gauges, radio, heater and lights work fine. The floors are solid with no rust. I was planning to re-upholster the seats, put new carpet with insulation and call it good. Drive Train: The car has a 361 and 3 speed auto trans. The motor ran great when I got the car. I put an oil pressure and water temp gauge and noticed the oil pressure was low. I pulled the motor and noticed the oil pump screen was clogged up. So I had the engine checked out by Mike Loyd at Loyd Engineering. He rebuild the heads with new valves and springs. He hot-tanked the block, honed the cylinders, put new rings, new cam bearings, rod bearings, polished the crank and I had Isky regrind the stock cam to a bit more aggressive profile. I have the specs in the car from Isky. The transmission worked fine, shifted through the gears and did not slip. It does leak though. I replaced the front and rear seal but it did not fix the leak. The tele-touch push button shifter worked fine as well. The rear end seems fine. It’s a 9” with low miles. I changed the gear oil and it all seemed pretty clean. I did not notice any whining or howling when driving it. Suspension and brakes: The front end was rebuilt by the second owner and seemed to be in good shape when I got it. I put a manual dual reservoir master cylinder from a 67 Mustang and new lines up front. The brake shoes and cylinders were replaced as well. The car stopped fine for 4 wheel drums. I put Aerostar front springs to lower it a bit. It rides a lot nicer with those springs as well. Exhaust, Tires and Electrical: The exhaust is currently single exhaust. I planned to put dual exhaust with glass packs but couldn’t get it done before we moved. The tires are low mile 14” bias ply wide whites however they are at least 10 years old now. All of the electrical worked great. The radio worked, the heater, lights, gauges…then two days before we moved from Ca to Tx, I was taking the car to get new exhaust and tires as I planed to have the car shipped to Texas, there was an ignition wire that fried. No electrical fire, but I turned the key and the wire smoked and all power was lost. This happened two days before we moved half way across the county so I pushed the car into my parent’s shop and that’s where it sits today, 4 years later. What the Car Needs and Current State: The car needs to have a few wires replaced that were fried, all the fluids changed and fuel drained to get running. After that, I would get the windshield replaced, new seat upholstery, carpet, tires and exhaust. After that, you should have a great little cruiser. I drove the car quite a bit when we were in the same state, it cruises nice and is fun to drive. I hate to sell it but I purchased two other cars and have no place to keep it here in Texas other than outdoors. So I figured I will sell it and let someone else enjoy it. The car is at my parents house, I am in Texas. My parents are retired however I do not want to waste my dad’s time with tons of people heading over there. If you are interested in the car, I can arrange times to come and check it out. I would prefer to talk to potential buyers first. My cell number is 925-305-9326. My email is [email protected] I can get more pictures in the next week or so when my parents get back home. The picture here is where I left the car after the wire fried.
The Jalopy Journal
