1962 Ford Econoline Pacifica Recreation

The Pacifica recreation that Gene completed in 2012. Photo courtesy of Optima Batteries.

The original Pacifica that Gene built for the Ford Custom Car Caravan in 1962.

Gene Winfield built two asymmetrical customs for the Ford Custom Car Caravan. Best known is the long lost 1963 Ford Econoline Pacifica that he recreated a few years ago. "I really liked the Econoline pickup in stock form," Winfield told David Grant when he was working on the book "The Legendary Hot Rods and Custom Cars of Gene Winfield, "so when we were given the opportunity to customize the Econoline, we held nothing back." This photo of Gene with the Pacifica recreation was taken in 2011. Photo by Sondre Kvipt - Kustomrama.

A couple of photos of the original Pacifica that Winfield used when he was recreating the car. Photo by Sondre Kvipt - Kustomrama.

The Pacifica recreation was completed in 2012. This photo was taken at the 2012 SEMA show. Photo by Mike Garrett, from Speedhunters.

1962 Ford Econoline Pickup restyled by Gene Winfield of Winfield's Custom Shop. In 1962 Gene restyled an Econoline pickup for the Ford Custom Car Caravan called The Pacifica. When Ford was done with the car, they sold it to Indianapolis race car driver Troy Ruttman, Jr.. In 1969 Ruttman was killed in a super-modified race, and Gene Winfield lost track of the truck. Later on Gene started to look for the truck. He ran ads for it in the Dearborn area, and he located Ruttman's brother to check if he knew what happened to it. Not able to locate it, Gene started to think about the idea of building a recreation of the old show car. Gene's buddy LeRoy Goulart, that Gene restyled a 1951 Ford for in the 1950s, knew that Gene wanted to clone the Pacifica, so he gave him a 1962 Ford Econoline Pickup for his birthday.

The recreation of the Pacifica is almost identical to the original on the outside. It has the same asymmetrical design, with two headlights and taillights on the driver side, and one on the passenger side. The license plates, grille and bumpers were also off center. A couple of years prior to building the Pacifica, Gene had bought a 1992 Ford Thunderbird with a 5.0 Liter injected motor. The car was sitting behind his shop, and as he had no special plans for it, he decided to install the engine, transmission and rear end from the Thunderbird in the Pacifica recreation. He installed these parts along with a Mustang II front suspension and air bags. Everything was chrome plated, and even the bottom of the floors were polished stainless. The Pacifica recreation was completed in 2012. After completing it, Gene brought the car to shows all over the United States.