Ford “Mustang” Ranger Is a GT350 Mid-Size Pickup from Thailand

Thailand is primarily known as a tourist destination, but they also have a thriving tuning scene over there, which likes everything from muscle cars to locally made pickup trucks. And the “Mustang” Ranger certainly speaks Thai, because it’s not what it appears at first.

This is the work of a local dealer called Wat Ford Custom Trucks, and the parts they used are available. However, we don’t see a lot of people spending big money on a fake Mustang pickup.

The biggest change is obviously the front end. The headlights you see can easily be found online as “Mustang-style pickup headlights.” A company out of the UK is selling “high-end” versions for around $900 (check out this walkaround). But these could be cheaper on eBay since they look like Chinese parts. And obviously, Ford never sanctioned Mustang lights for the Ranger.

Various companies offer a widebody Ranger kit. However, the one by Wat Ford is more like those of sports cars than off-roaders. It sits high on the body and adds muscle, integrating with the car-like design. And the bumper is obviously bespoke as well. The aim is clearly to make the Ranger look like a GT350. They’ve got the aggressive black splitter at the bottom of the bumper, as well as some car-like intakes.

And at the back, the little Ranger sits like the F-150 Super Snake, with its black wheels hugging the wide fenders. Too bad this baby truck can’t match a Mustang for power. In America, the Ranger features a 2.3-liter turbo four-cylinder making 270 horsepower, 40 shy of the EcoBoost Mustang.

However, Thai models usually have diesel engines producing around 150 hp. We have pretty high hopes for the next-gen Ranger Raptor, which could be sporty even without a fake widebody kit. There’s reason to believe it will carry the 3.0-liter twin-turbo with 400 hp from the Bronco Raptor, since the two share platforms.

For some reason, many mid-sized pickup trucks are made in that part of the world, including the Nissan Navara, Mitsubishi Triton, Toyota HiLux, Mazda BT-50 and especially the Ford Ranger. Ford is heavily invested here. It has two factories in Thailand that make about half a million vehicles per year, mainly for export.