[Vwdiesel] eBay Ranger diesel

[William J Toensing]

I looked at the eBay Ranger out of curiosity. Looks interesting but not for me. I thought Ford used Mazda diesel engines in those years as Ford did use Mazda diesel engines as the diesel option in the Ford Escort & Tempo & their Mercury counterpoints, the Lynx & Topaz. I would have bought one of them but the Ford dealers in the LA area wouldn't deal but in Oct. 1985 the Mazda dealers were dumping their 626 diesels due to the bad reputation GM had then given diesels & I bought one for $10,000 loaded with extras & I am sure I got more car for the money than any Ford would be. Also, in case you have forgot, Ford offered a Lincoln with a BMW diesel at that time.
Although I thought the Ranger used a Mazda diesel I could be wrong. I do know the only place Ford makes the Ranger is at their St Paul, Minnesota plant. I know the Ranger is exported worldwide & a  diesel option is offered outside the USA/Canada market. I wonder what diesel engine they currently use. Do they send their European made engines to St Paul for the export Rangers or do they source them from elsewhere. Ford wants to close their St Paul plant but people keep buying Rangers so it is cheaper for Ford to keep the St Paul plant going. Perhaps our UK members could tell us what engine Ford uses in Rangers sold in the UK.
There are two interesting automotive shows from the UK shown on HD Theater, #9412 on the Dish Network satellite on Tues night. One show, "Wheeler Dealers" this evening went to an auto auction & pointed out a Ford Ranger diesel pickup that was a "lemon". The other show deals with the restoration of 20 to 30 year old "classics" to save them from the crusher. They usually deal in restoring European cars but this evening they restored an AMC Jeep CJ5. I highly recommend watching these shows as well as "Top Gear" on BBC America on Dish Network #135. BBC America is probably on Direct TV satellite  as well as many TV cable systems but most appear to be re runs from what has shown earlier in the UK.