The sedan-based pickup truck is one of those ideas that refuse to die. And why would it, when America still has some ruggedly-built traditional vehicles like the Crown Victoria?
The Australian Holden Ute is the most modern/famous car-pickup hybrid. However, the idea was obviously inspired by America’s iconic Chevrolet El Camino. It’s like the mullet of cars… or maybe we should call that a man-bun to gross out the younger generation.
But let’s not forget that Ford was technically the first to adopt a bad haircut. Way back in 1957, the Ranchero came out and it was such a hit that Chevrolet wanted to make one. Two years later, it arrived, and the El Camino only stuck around for a couple of years.
People hated it until, in 1964, the Camino returned with Chevelle underpinnings. Eventually, Ford lost interest in competing with the big-blocked Chevy pickup, but today we’ll imagine what would a modern Ranchero look like.
Digital artist Oscar Vargas aka wb.artist20 created the “Crown Ranchero.” The name gives it away; this is a digital makeover for the iconic body-on-frame Ford sedan that served as a police interceptor and so much more.
With a diesel twist
Oscar has a talent for making his photoshopped cars look believable. The Crown Ranchero does this with a simple pickup conversion that works around its sedan features. It looks like something the Red Hot Chilly Peppers would drive in a music video back in the 2000s.
However, you may have noticed an impractical feature of this car. No, we’re not talking about the short bed, which is obvious. No, the hood sports a massive bulge in the middle, suggesting something crazy just occurred under the hood.
This is inspired by a real car, a Crown Victoria sedan that sports a 6.0-liter Power Stroke and belongs to Matthew Barnett. It’s actually a pretty natural progression if you think about it.
The boxy El Camono of the 1980s was a slow car, but it became popular with tuners. Just think of Cleetus McFarland’s Mullet, which makes 1000 horsepower on low boost. Most drag racing Chevy truckies have this sort of power dome, especially the ones down in Mexico.
