The previous-gen Ford Ranger has become a very popular vehicle to turn into a prerunner, or high-flying, desert-dominating off-roader. But most of the builds we come across are done on some sort of budget, at the very least. But in the case of this particular Ford Ranger luxury prerunner, owned by a fellow named Rob, money was certainly no object in its construction.
The whole thing started when Rob told his brother-in-law that he was thinking about building a Ford Ranger luxury prerunner, at which point he offered up his own work truck for the paltry sum of $1,200. Rob jumped at the chance and to buy that stock and running pickup, but little of it remains today, as this Ranger has since received a seriously comprehensive (and expensive) overhaul.
That process involved a blasphemous engine swap, as Rob just so happened to have a pickup in his possession with an old school iron Chevy big block sitting in it. Thus, he pulled that motor and placed it in his Ford Ranger prerunner, only because he hadn’t seen a Ranger running this kind of engine before. The big motor has been punched out to 460 cubic-inches and pumps out around 430 horsepower.
The Ranger rolls on a bespoke custom chassis with Fox shocks and around 20 inches of travel up front and 28 inches in the rear. Rob spent four-plus years designing and building the setup and did a ton of research to ensure he was doing it right. The result is a seriously beefy pickup that weighs in at 6,200 pounds, with impressive parts like huge 300-millimeter axles and six-piston Wilwood brakes with 14-inch discs.
However, this Ranger is what the kids like to call a “luxury prerunner,” which means that it has a full interior – no clapped-out, zero-amenity cabin here. It even has sound deadening and custom stitched racing seats, so everything looks as good as it performs. Throw on custom body panels, and few would even recognize the compact pickup for what it used to be.
Of course, all of these goodies don’t come cheap, and this build set Rob back a cool $350k to complete. But he certainly doesn’t seem to be worried about that large investment when he’s ripping around town or the local sand dunes in this bad boy.
We’ll have more cool builds like this to share soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford Ranger news and continuous Ford news coverage.
Comment
You guys are playing with us right? Every week another Chevy powered Ford vehicle.
At first I thought it was a mistake, now I see you’re messing with us.
Too bad because while you’re busy taunting us there is a group in Michigan (Lenger Racing) that is actually building a pre-runner with the new 7.3 Godzilla engine in it not some knappy old rat motor.
But hey do what you want. I’m torn because I really enjoy most of your content. If Ford enthusiasts want to see bastard cars there are a thousand places to find them.
Thought Ford “Authority” might be different.