The Wildest Ford Pickup Truck You Forgot Existed Is A Shockingly Rare Convertible Ranger

The terms “convertible” and “pickup truck” don’t often mingle with one another. When most people think of convertibles, they probably think of relatively small, bright, and fun little cars to zip along a coastline — not a pickup truck. But there have been a handful of times in history when builders ignored this and created epic drop-top haulers. The wildest of them is the Ford SkyRanger, a bizarre blending of compact pickup truck, tuner car, and convertible all wrapped up in rad 1990s aesthetics. Just 14 or 17 of these were ever made and right now you actually have a chance to buy one.

The sport truck is a wonderful niche in the pickup world that has seemingly gained some traction in recent years. The formula is exciting. Take a pickup truck, slam it to the ground, give it some slick wheels, spice it up with custom graphics, and have a blast. A sport truck sacrifices off-roading chops and maybe some utility to create a glorious piece of art.

Sport trucks have been around for decades. Recently, I wrote about how in the mid-1960s Dodge took its D100 pickups and adorned them with racing stripes and fitted their interiors with sporty bucket seats and luxurious carpet. A handful of these were given the option of a Street Wedge V8. The Dodge D100 Custom Sports Special is often called the first muscle truck, but it’s also an early example of a sport truck.

Another good example of an early sport truck is the famous Dodge Li’l Red Express. Once again, this was a truck with big power and bold looks. Due to a technical legal loophole in the 1970s, the Li’l Red Express was also the fastest production vehicle on sale at the time.

Many folks might point to the mini-truck craze of the 1980s and 1990s. Back in those days, the owner of a compact truck like the Ford Ranger, Dodge Dakota (which could be had in convertible form — see below!), Chevy LUV, Nissan Hardbody, Toyota Truck, Isuzu Isuzu P’up, or other might go all-out on customizing their ride. The mini-truck craze involved builders fitting tiny trucks with elaborate paintjobs, bodykits, huge sound systems, custom interiors, hydraulics, and even dancing beds. Some builders even turned their trucks into convertibles. Other builders gave custom sport truck treatments to full-size pickups.

The style of the street truck and sport truck seems to come and go as trends do. Right now, it seems like the sport truck is getting a little bit of attention. The Ford F-150 FP700 is a glorious sport truck, as is the Ford Maverick Lobo. You can get some convertible action with the Jeep Gladiator, too. Even if an automaker doesn’t sell a street-oriented special edition, you can often option a regular pickup to be more for the street.

Yet, none of these trucks hold a candle to the wildness that is the SkyRanger. I mean, just look at this thing:

The Real Holy Grail Of First-Gen Ford Rangers

It’s also based on the first-generation of the Ford Ranger, which was an important vehicle in the history of compact trucks. After selling rebadged Mazdas for years, Ford decided to build a new truck from the ground-up for buyers who wanted a real American truck that was scaled-down and easy on the wallet.

The original Ford Ranger, along with the Chevy S-10 and GMC S-15 trucks, proved that America knew how to build attractive smaller pickups. The Ranger went on sale in 1982, and by 1985 more than 232,000 Rangers had driven off dealership lots. Those early Rangers offered gasoline and diesel engine options, and advertisements claimed fuel economy as high as 41 mpg on the highway, though real-world numbers were less spectacular.

For some, the holy grail of Rangers is that rare diesel model, which has a 2.2-liter four-cylinder built by Mazda under license from Perkins. The first-generation Ranger is the only generation in which Ford officially offered a diesel to Americans, but there is a version of the Ranger that’s even rarer and perhaps best described as “bombastic.”

That’s the SkyRanger sport truck, and so few of these were ever built there’s a chance you’ve never even seen one in real life.

Information about this little truck is thin on the ground. How thin? For years, multiple sources (including buff mags like Motor Trend) reported that the truck was created by everyone’s favorite builder of oddball convertibles, American Specialty Cars/American Sunroof Company (ASC). This reporting made sense given ASC’s willingness to chop the roof off of just about everything.

However, thanks to brochure listings on eBay and an old listing for a SkyRanger, we now know that the real story is a bit weirder. The SkyRanger was not the work of famed ASC, but of a little-known company called Professional Auto Crafters (PAC) based out of Livonia, Michigan.

PAC was run by Bob Kaiser, a man who was known for his car customization work. In the years after World War II, Kaiser met Ron Clark, who rolled around in a distinctive chopped Buick. Kaiser loved this so much he was inspired to cut up his own car and learn how to do metal work. Later, Kaiser joined Ron Clark to modify cars out of their Clarkaiser Custom Shop in Michigan. One vehicle Clarkaiser was famous for was the bespoke DiDia 150.

It’s not known what drew Bob Kaiser toward building a convertible Ranger, but the brochure paints a clearer picture of PAC’s goal. According to the brochure, the SkyRanger was invented as a vehicle built for the people who regret not being able to buy their dream convertibles from decades past. PAC saw SkyRanger buyers as being folks who missed out on buying original Ford Mustang and Thunderbird convertibles when they were affordable. The SkyRanger was pitched as a sporty vehicle to get the wind flowing through your hair just like you always wanted.

PAC started SkyRanger builds with a Ford Ranger STX extended-cab truck. The company then sawed off the entire roof, replacing the metal with a soft top. The brochure notes that the soft top is made from Haartz Stayfast cloth, and the mechanism in the roof is designed to allow for opening and closing with one hand while being small enough to leave room to spare for luggage or groceries.

Other changes to the truck include reinforcements to the truck’s cab structure, a rear wing, and a hoop at the front of the bed that covers the convertible roof and has a hidden third brake light. The brochure talks of two versions. The SkyRanger Elite looks like a normal Ranger but with its roof chopped off, while the SkyRanger GTS sports a bodykit and sporty wheels in addition to the rest of the bits.

PAC never advertised changes under the hood, but did say that you would get Eurosport mirrors. Weirdly, the handful of production examples out there have the truck’s standard chrome towing mirrors.

Nobody really knows exactly how many of these trucks were produced, but depending on who you ask, anywhere between 14 and 17 examples were built. Back in 2016, one of these trucks appeared on Craigslist. Someone emailed the seller of that truck to say, via Jalopnik:

”Just for reference, these trucks were not built by ASC, they were developed and built by Bob Kaiser and my father at a company called Professional Auto Crafters. Also, they were not commissioned by Ford but rather they were built as a privately funded short run and pitched to Ford as a third party conversion to be sold on Ford dealer lots. (very much the same as ASC did with the Mustang, Dakota, Camaro, Etc.) Ford passed on the concept and that was the end of the SkyRanger and Professional Auto Crafters.”

Unfortunately, while it’s easy to conclude that these were built by PAC, there’s no surviving documentation out there to explain who came up with the SkyRanger, how it was sold, how much it sold for, and whether the survival of PAC depended on Ford greenlighting the truck to be sold in dealerships. It may also be impossible to find out for sure since Bob Kaiser passed in 2006, long before any modern publication has covered the truck.

What I can say is that PAC did file for a trademark for SkyRanger, claiming that it was first used in June 1989. That tracks, as the trucks that show up on the internet tend to be from the 1991 model year. Trademark filings suggest that PAC abandoned the mark in December 1991. Either way, PAC didn’t stick around for very long and neither did the SkyRanger.

You Can Buy One Soon

Amazingly, there is a SkyRanger for sale right now, sort of. Nick L of OIC Projects has been restoring a SkyRanger since 2018. His truck was in very rough shape, with missing parts and Bluetooth floorboards. Over time, Nick patched up the floors, fixed some bad wiring, found the missing bits, and put the SkyRanger back on the road. It isn’t perfect, but it looks great!

Power comes from a 4.0-liter Cologne V6 making 155 HP and it’s bolted to an automatic transmission. Back in August, Nick said his SkyRanger was for sale and that a listing was coming, but as of publishing he hasn’t quite gotten around to that yet. Nick says to stay tuned. He wants to get the truck out of storage, get it home, and prepare it for sale.

One of these trucks sold at RM Sotheby’s for $13,200 in 2008. Another appeared on eBay for $33,999 in 2015. A guy on Craigslist wanted $24,995 for one in 2016. So, prices are all over the place. I’ve reached out to Nick for more details on what he plans on selling his for.

The Ford SkyRanger is an interesting footnote in Ford truck history. These trucks are so rare that chances are you’ve never even seen one in real life. They also came from a sort of weird time when the idea of a street truck involved chopping off a roof. Maybe I’m a bit silly, but I’d love to see a modern take on this. My heart would melt for a Ford F-150 FP700 convertible. Until such a monstrosity is made, a SkyRanger will probably remain one of the wildest trucks in Ford history, even if it wasn’t an official Ford product.