Beverly Hills Ford (now defunct) secured permission from the Ford Motor Company to turn 1966 Ford Mustangs in to pickup trucks. The name they decided upon was a blending of the words Mustang and Ranchero to create Mustero. Beverly Hills Ford reportedly turned 50 Mustangs in to Musteros with 40 being exported and 10 being sold in the United States. It’s estimated that only 4 are known to still exist in the United States.
Musteros were not particularly good or practical trucks as the beds were small and made out of fiberglass, and not especially economical considering that the Mustero cost $6,500 when for just over $2,000 you could buy a Falcon Ranchero with a 289 V8 and a 427 Shelby Cobra could be purchased for around $7,000.
The rear seat and roof section just forward the rear seat were removed to accommodate a heavy-duty fiberglass truck bed of which they produced in the body shop. The roof line was again matched up with the rear window section giving the Mustang the look of a mini pick-up. The Mustang’s rear end and taillights were a perfect match for the little truck. The driver side and passenger side windows were replaced with custom glass so they would close properly due to the re-shaping of the roof line.
Getting accurate production counts is always a problem with a low production car built 50 years ago by a company long out of business. Several sites mention the same 50 vehicle estimate, while another site seems very definitive in its claim that 79 were made and that only 7 real Musteros are still in existence. I’ve also read that the Mustero’s were made from 1965 Mustangs as well.
As you can see, the years and total production numbers seem to be questionable.
Mustang Ranchero:
So the Ford Mustero is apparently a rare vehicle that was only built in 1966. If you search the internet, you can find other years of first generation Ford Mustang pickups. You also see the name ‘Mustang Ranchero’ being used. It appears that other people have built these old Mustangs in to Trucks.
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Below are some more Ford Mustang pickup photos. At this point, I don’t know if any of these are real Musteros built by Beverly Hills Ford.
More Photos:
Click to enlarge.
