Ford introduced the North American Ford Ranger for the 1983 model year.
The Ranger was created as a compact pickup for the North American market, where smaller trucks were gaining popularity. It replaced the Ford Courier, a compact pickup supplied through a partnership with Mazda, and gave Ford a domestically developed competitor in the segment.
The first-generation Ranger was available with several cab and bed configurations and used a body-on-frame design. Ford later expanded the nameplate into larger and more capable generations, while the Ranger remained separate from the full-size F-Series.
The North American Ranger should not be confused with earlier or similarly named Ford trucks sold in other regions. Ford also used the Ranger name for international models whose specifications and launch dates differed from the American compact pickup.