We’ve seen our fair share of rebodied vehicles in recent years, a growing trend that’s basically a shortcut to building a restomod. Generally, people take older vehicles and simply figure out a way to slap them onto a rolling chassis of another, more modern vehicle, rather than trying to simply swap over a bunch of individual parts such as powertrains and suspension components. The latest of this very interesting group of builds comes to us in the form of this 1955 Ford Ranch Wagon, though underneath that vintage bodywork, it’s a completely different vehicle.
This 1955 Ford wagon is up for auction at Bring a Trailer, looking very much like a cool custom hot rod of sorts. However, in this case, those panels are just covering a totally different vehicle – a 2013 Chevy Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle (PPV), though it’s still titled as a 1955 Ford. To mash up those two very different models, the builder removed the Caprice’s body parts and cut away upper portions of the unibody, after which the Blue Oval panels were grafted into place.
During that process, the builder converted the hood to a forward-tilting piece and added some fender flares, making room for 18-inch steel wheels with chrome trim rings, wrapped in 235/50 Falken Ziex ZE950 A/S tires. The whole thing was covered in metallic brown paint, matching a distressed brown leather interior that adds some vintage flair to the more present-day Caprice threads and other equipment. There are also quite a few amenities, including a Bluetooth sound system, automatic climate control, cruise control, and power front windows, too.
Power for this new/old wagon comes from GM’s 6.0L L77 V8, factory-rated at 355 horsepower and 384 pound-feet of torque – though this one is equipped with Speed Engineering headers and a stainless-steel dual exhaust system – sending that power to the rear wheels via the 6L80E six-speed automatic transmission.
In addition to this very unique 1955 Ford wagon, we’ve seen a few other interesting body swaps as of late – including a 1961 Ford F-100 with Crown Victoria underpinnings, as well as a 1991 Taurus with Chevy Camaro bodywork.
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