DEARBORN, Mich. - We got to talking with Jay Cole of St. Helens, Oregon, and heard that he had documented a cool road trip that he took in his 1965 Ford Falcon Ranchero that he planned to reveal in the Falcon Club of America’s newsletter. When we asked if we might be able to share his Road Trip story in our Ford Fan Spotlight, he agreed and sent us some great photos with the email below:

“Hello, Ford Performance! My name is Jay Cole. As I’ve told my friends in the Falcon club, I love road trips! I’m lucky to have been raised by parents who loved seeing the country, and our family traveled and camped all over in big Ford wagons and travel trailers. I remember times cruising down the road, Mom making sandwiches in the front seat, pouring pickle juice out the door while I was calling out all the car brands I had memorized. Good times.

“I learned that given the time, car travel beats air travel hands-down. Seeing the country up close and personal, viewing the wildlife, smelling fresh-mown hay, and seeing sunrises over mountains just can’t be beat. One of my best trips ever was while being reassigned from Fairbanks Alaska, to the Air Force Academy in Colorado back in the 70’s. I decided to drive my ’65 Bug down the Alcan Highway, packing everything I owned into and on top of that car, tent-camping the whole way. My first bath was in a hot springs three days out from Fairbanks, and what a treat that was!

“After settling in Portland, Oregon, getting married and eventually retiring from my career in the sign business, I decided I needed a ‘toy’ to play with, and an early Ford Ranchero was my goal. And it had to be a 4-speed car. Neither my wife nor I have ever owned an automatic; we enjoy being a part of driving the car, rather than just sitting there letting the car make all the decisions. While checking Craigslist one day, I noticed a nice-looking ’65 ranchero, and not only was it a factory 4-speed, but it also had a freshly rebuilt 289 V-8. After I went to inspect the car, the deal was done and I drove it 300 miles home while my wife followed me in her car (with a tool box, just in case).

“Over the next few years, I went through it, rebuilding the front suspension, adding disc brakes, a new gas tank, timing chain and other items to make it a reliable road car. Reliability is No. 1 for me; I want to walk out to the car, turn the key and go wherever I want without issue. I put 30,000 miles on the car in the last three years, so I knew the car was road worthy.

“An email arrived recently announcing our 50th high school class reunion in August of 2018 (class of ’68, Delano Minnesota), and I thought it would make a great excuse for me to make an epic road trip in the Ranchero. I mentioned the idea to my good friend, Denny -- fellow co-worker, car guy, camper and jokester -- and sweetened the pot by suggesting we could swing by the Bonneville Salt Flats to see if Danny Thompson could break his Dad Mickey’s speed record in the Challenger 2. His response: ‘Hell yeah, and I’m ready to go now!’

“So the trip was on, and we started planning and packing for a classic road trip. The trip over to the reunion would be pretty well-regimented to get there on time, followed by NO schedule on the return to Oregon, just wandering at will. I drove, Denny cooked, and we had plenty of brewskis to beat the heat after long days on the road.

“Bonneville was our first destination, neither of us having been there before. Wow! A truly surreal scene, pure, white salt as far as the eye can see, meeting the azure blue sky at the horizon. Also, HOT! A 106-degree Day 1 and a 102-degree Day 2. And us in an old car with no A/C, tent-camping. Whew! But what an event to remember, with old hot rods and jet-like streamliners all mixed together on miles of salt, and the sound of rolling thunder as cars went from horizon to horizon at unreal speeds. Danny Thompson made history on the 50th anniversary of his Dad’s 406 mph record, running 446 mph on Saturday and 450 mph on Sunday. And we were at the starting line to see it happen. Awesome!

“After that, we continued our 16-day, 9-state, 4,846-mile trip. After a wonderful class reunion, we visited Mt. Rushmore, the Badlands, Deadwood SD, the Little Big Horn battlefield, the Corn Palace, Devil’s Tower, the Grand Tetons, and Glacier Park, with overnights at KOA campgrounds and the occasional motel for some A/C and a shower. Either man-made or sculpted by nature, the scenery was amazing. We encountered high deserts, prairies, mountains and cornfields for hours at a time, making us question whether overpopulation was really an issue after all. One of the more scenic and remote drives was from Missoula, Montana, down through Lolo Pass on Highway 12, and crossing the Continental Divide at an elevation of 9,584 feet. The Ranchero ran perfectly the whole trip; with the bed fully loaded, we got between 20.5 mpg on the flats, and 17.9 mpg in the hills. What an awesome car.

“So after all is said and done, would I do it again? Absolutely! In August with no A/C? Probably not. But I hear that Hemming’s is sponsoring a West Coast Great Race in (much cooler) June of 2019 and I’m thinking, maybe we could tag along for a while . . .”

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