1974 Ford Gran Torino Elite - First Walk Around

[@floydt2029]

Looks amazing for the age!

[@NelsonandSonsGarage]

I agree! Super happy for him. He loves it.

[@melvinyosten3776]

I had one about 1977 to 83. Good car had a 351w. Engine was really weak, but alwas ran

[@kingjames1586]

Parents had a two tone green 2dr w/460 ci 👊

[@NelsonandSonsGarage]

Nice!

[@ronwagner9493]

I had a green one with quarter green vinyl top I had to 460 in mine my 460 was a mistake it was a police interceptor I love that car and I still miss it

[@NelsonandSonsGarage]

@@ronwagner9493 Sounds awesome. Do you happen to have any pictures of it?

[@ronwagner9493]

@@NelsonandSonsGarage I did but my ex tore up all my pictures I used to race mustangs and hemmings with it I used to beat them with no problem

[@NelsonandSonsGarage]

@@ronwagner9493 That's unfortunate. Sounds like a great car.

[@ronwagner9493]

2 years 74 to 76

[@NelsonandSonsGarage]

Thanks for the view and comment! I had to research this to learn what a "Gran Torino Elite" was myself and am still learning. Here's what I found: "The Ford Elite is a personal luxury car produced by Ford and marketed in North America from February 1974 to 1976, using the name Gran Torino Elite for its first model year only then simplified to just Elite for the following two model years. Introduced February 18th, 1974 as the Gran Torino Elite, it was initially the top-of-the-line model of the Torino series. Although advertised separately, it was titled and registered as a Gran Torino. For 1975 and 1976, the Gran Torino prefix was dropped and Elite became a stand-alone model nameplate. Early pre-production publicity photos for the 1974 model show the use of Gran Torino XL nameplates." After 1974 they were just call a, "Ford Elite".

[@milfordcivic6755]

I don't understand why it was Elite....it has no interior power options plus a bench seat and no armrest!

[@NelsonandSonsGarage]

I had never heard of them before my brother got this one. I am inclined to agree. The only thing I have learned as to the naming and marketing is from a Wikipedia page. "February 18, 1974.[26] The Elite was Ford's response to Chevrolet's popular low-priced luxury coupe the Monte Carlo.[27][28] The Elite was described by Ford as "A totally new 2-door hardtop...with Thunderbird-inspired styling, solid engineering and personal luxury...plus mid-size economy." The Elite wasn't totally new, as Ford described, but it did have a number of unique features. The Elite used the Mercury Montego and Mercury Cougar body shell with unique front end styling that resembled the Thunderbird. It had a large eggcrate mesh grille surrounded by single headlamps recessed in chrome bezels and vertical wrap-around parking lamps. On the rear there was large wrap-around taillamps with a reflective center panel giving it a full width taillight appearance. Large color-keyed vinyl moldings were placed higher on the body side, similar to the Thunderbird. Standard equipment for the Elite included a 351-2V V8 engine, automatic transmission, and radial tires. It also featured standard luxury items such as a vinyl roof with twin opera windows, split bench seat, "Westminster" cloth upholstery, woodgrain trim, and complete instrumentation. For 1974, Torino added several new luxury oriented options and features including a leather-wrapped steering wheel, split bench seat, an electric sunroof, rear fender skirts, speed control with steering wheel controls and opera windows for 2-doors. Opera windows were added as standard equipment on Brougham models. The exterior trim was revised, with moldings the rocker panels instead of the lower doors. Brougham and Sport models had an extra chrome molding that ran on the lower fender edge between the front wheelwell and bumper; this gave the appearance of bumper-to-bumper chrome. Squires had no lower body moldings. All 1974 Torinos used the seat belt-interlock system, as mandated by the U.S. government. This short-lived safety system would be removed after the 1974 model year. The competition suspension was no longer offered, and the only suspension option was a revised heavy-duty suspension package. This option was available on all Torinos except the Elite, and included a larger front sway bar and heavy-duty front and rear springs. Heavy-duty shocks and a rear sway bar were included in this package on 2-door and 4-door sedan models only." Thanks for commenting!

[@ronwagner9493]

And work something that had all the options my lead had all the mine had to split bench seat power windows cruise control air conditioning maybe mine with more rare than what I thought

[@roger628]

Like most cars of the time, there was a wide range of ala carte options to choose from. While many had the more upscale split-bench interior (the Interior Decor Group) this one has the standard bench. In order to quote a low base price, they had to limit the standard equipment. This could, and did, result in some oddly optioned cars. My dad leased a 1976 that was odd like that. 460 (dual exhaust Canadian Spec, no Cat), Auto temp AC. tilt, cruise , Interior Decor Group, dual mirrors, but an AM only radio, no power equipment at all, the standard suspension (handled horribly) and missing even key basic items like a rear defroster. One marketing quirk of all these Torino-Montego-Cougar-post 76 T-Bird cars was unless you ordered the light package, you got none at all, not even a glove box light. The option included a neat dome light with dual pencil beam map lights. I . as a pissed off 16 year old, carefully gathered all the light group items from a salvage yard and installed this option myself. I was rather proud of that. I never did find the interval wiper setup, which is a 15 minute job to add, at most . The lying scumbag dealer told us that there was no way it could be installed at the dealer, even though Ford's own dealer accessory catalog clearly showed it as being available.

[@ronwagner9493]

My 76 Ford elite was fully loaded it even had a hood lock that was on the handle on the inside to use the trunk key to open

[@davidallen5776]

This would serve as the basis for an upcoming T-Bird.