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1973gts
Senior Member Joined: 05-March-2018 Location: Grand Rapids Mi Status: Online Points: 614 |
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Posted: 05-March-2018 at 1:59PM |
Hello, everyone, my name is Dave and I have a 1973 Gran Torino Sport that I am in the process of restoring. I'm afraid that I have owned this car for 20 years and have not done much work on it until the last year and a half. In the spring of 1973 I bought my first new car, a 1973 white Gran Torino Sport with the blue laser stripe, 351 auto, and competition suspension. My present car is blue with the laser stripe, 429 auto, and competition suspension. The body is presently off the frame getting some final metal work done by a friend and I have the rest of it at home getting ready to tear it apart and sending the engine out for refreshing. Color choice at this time is my quandry not being sure if I want it white like my first one or the original blue. Hopefully I will have it back on the road by mid to late summer barring any major unforseen problems. Looking forward to gaining information from this forum and advice from its members. Thanks in advance - Dave
Edited by 1973gts - 05-March-2018 at 3:32PM |
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Dave - 1973 GTS N code
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californiajohnny
Moderator Group Joined: 05-October-2013 Location: winlock, wa Status: Offline Points: 14609 |
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welcome dave!
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JOHN
74 GRAN TORINO S&H CLONE 74 VETTE CUSTOM 90 S10 BLAZER 4X4 LIFTED 77 CELICA CUSTOM 75 V8 MONZA SUPERCHARGED 79 COURIER VERT. SLAMMED 75 VEGA V6 5 SPD 70 CHEV C10 P/U 68 MUSTANG FB CONVERSION |
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72GTS351CJ
Senior Member Joined: 30-November-2010 Location: NY Status: Offline Points: 1481 |
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You've come to the right place. Welcome
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72GTS Clint Eastwood Special
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bdaugette
Senior Member Joined: 02-December-2013 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 259 |
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Welcome to the group!! We love pics!!!
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Bill Daugette
72 GTS 351C 4V |
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7T9_Tbird
Senior Member Joined: 04-December-2017 Location: Athens, Alabama Status: Offline Points: 495 |
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Welcome! As far as the paint choice goes, If you decide to go white, Ford in the 90's had a incredible pearl white they used on the Thunderbirds. REALLY pops in the sun.
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John
79 Thunderbird Heritage 79 Thunderbird Town Landau 02 Ram 1500 Sport Quad Cab |
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72FordGTS
Admin Group GTS.org Admin Joined: 06-September-2005 Location: Ontario, Canada Status: Online Points: 5844 |
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Welcome to the forum! Great story and looks like a great car. We all love to follow projects, so feel free to start a project thread to update us on the progress of your restoration.
N-code cars are very rare and I think that blue was one of the nicest colours for the '73s. My vote is to put it back to the original colour.
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Vince
1972 Ford GTS Sportsroof - Survivor, One Family car GTS.org Admin |
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gpd294
Senior Member Joined: 18-September-2008 Location: Dallas, Texas Status: Offline Points: 2180 |
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Welcome and nice car! Looking forward to seeing the progress. I kinda like the blue myself, but I'm biased...
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Carlos....1975 Gran Torino Squire Station Wagon restored to look like a 1973 Torino Station
Wagon my Dad bought new from McAnary Ford on June 6, 1973 in Gary,Indiana |
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chuxster
Member Joined: 04-July-2017 Location: Tennessee Status: Offline Points: 89 |
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Welcome Dave! I also have a 73' GTS, looks like your are making good progress on your car. Keep the photos coming!!
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jversch
Senior Member Joined: 25-March-2013 Location: Canandaigua NY Status: Offline Points: 324 |
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Welcome , car looks good . I have seen a lot worse cars getting rebuilt .
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Jerry VerSchneider
1972 Gran torino formal roof H Code 1973 Gran torino fast back H code. |
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sj_mr2
Member Joined: 22-October-2016 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 72 |
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Nice. going to be a beautiful car when it's done. Where did you source the inner wheel tubs?
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Clayton
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1973gts
Senior Member Joined: 05-March-2018 Location: Grand Rapids Mi Status: Online Points: 614 |
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Desert Valley Auto Parts, needed a little work but they were in pretty nice shape. Price was reasonable and since they are so uncommon it was cheaper than having my existing ones reworked.
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Dave - 1973 GTS N code
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unlovedford
Senior Member Joined: 17-December-2010 Location: Tennessee Status: Offline Points: 10142 |
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Nice GTS and welcome to the site!
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Joe
1972 Mom's Squire Wagon 1972 Torino Wagon 1976 Torino 1968 Cougar XR7-First batch 1972 Torino 460 1989 BroncoII/Jeeps/Titanimous Popeye and Brutus (Rams) |
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Eliteman76
Admin Group Joined: 20-March-2006 Location: Nebraska, USA Status: Offline Points: 5044 |
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Welcome to the site. Love seeing another GTS coming back.
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Andrew:GTS.ORG admin, '72 Q code 5 speed Restomod
Pondering: #99Problems |
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handsofstone
Senior Member Joined: 13-April-2018 Location: Northeast Status: Offline Points: 3946 |
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I agree that the Pearl White is a great choice. If I am lucky enough to find one in white, that needs a new coat, that would be my choice. I saw a white 72 online in PA. that had my heart beating extra hard but it is gone. |
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legend onirot
Senior Member METAL GOD Joined: 18-January-2009 Location: hattiesburg ms Status: Offline Points: 3038 |
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nice car... welcome
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malcolm 1973 gran torino sport (formal)... "Stacy Lynn" 1972 gran torino (formal)... "Mackenzie" 1973 gran torino sport (sportroof)... "Leela" |
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1973gts
Senior Member Joined: 05-March-2018 Location: Grand Rapids Mi Status: Online Points: 614 |
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Well, I can't believe it's been this long since I started this project but I will admit it was a lot more involved than I originally thought it would be. Anyway I would say I have reached the 95% stage and have finally started to go to a Tuesday night local weekly old car gathering at a place called Fricanos Pizza. The owner usually has a band or DJ playing and the first turn out last week had about 80 cars. Tonight the weather was pretty hot (92) and turnout was affected but still a nice gathering. I am working out some carb/fuel pump issues but it runs good enough that I feel safe going to local gatherings. Here are some photos of the car as she is today.
And of course once you mention pizza everyone wants to go.. Anyway, I have finally gotten to the point where I can enjoy the car. What I have left to do are minor things and I truly want to thank the members of this forum for the guidance, advice, and also the help with locating parts. I have joined a few forums and I have to say that this one is a real pleasure to belong to due to the friendliness of the members, the willingness to offer help and guidance without criticism for at times simple questions, and also that those responsible for this forum do such a great job overseeing the day to day operation of it. It is greatly appreciated - Dave |
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Dave - 1973 GTS N code
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72FordGTS
Admin Group GTS.org Admin Joined: 06-September-2005 Location: Ontario, Canada Status: Online Points: 5844 |
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That car turned out great Dave! I like the blacked out grille, you don't see many others doing that on the '73s. It works really well with the blue paint. Do you want me to move your thread to the project section instead of the Welcome mat?
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Vince
1972 Ford GTS Sportsroof - Survivor, One Family car GTS.org Admin |
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1973gts
Senior Member Joined: 05-March-2018 Location: Grand Rapids Mi Status: Online Points: 614 |
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Thanks, Vince, It's nice to finally be driving it on a fairly regular basis. Concerning the grill being black I saw that on Sabatonas car and really liked the contrast with the blue on his car and went with it. As to moving this to the project section I was planning on compiling a somewhat timeline on my build and do an after the fact thread on it in the project heading. I have to get the pics and info organized and will hopefully do it in the near future.
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Dave - 1973 GTS N code
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handsofstone
Senior Member Joined: 13-April-2018 Location: Northeast Status: Offline Points: 3946 |
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Well done. And black grilles always look good. Better actually than argent but admit I am somewhat biased.
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AUS GTS
Senior Member Joined: 26-July-2021 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 383 |
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Good job fella, enjoy!
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Al
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72 RS 351
Senior Member Joined: 04-September-2014 Location: Knoxville TN Status: Offline Points: 2766 |
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That's awesome Dave, well done. I'm glad you are starting to enjoy it now, keep driving it and it should be easy to keep up with things.
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Don
73 Ranchero "Sport 72 front end", floor shift/console, planning EFI 7000+ rpm 351-4V &4R70W 73 Ranchero GT 351C-4V &4R70W for sale later. 92 Lincoln Mark VII SE GTC, OBDII 347/4R70W |
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