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73 Ranchero 500 |
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svENzoN 
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Joined: 08-May-2025 Location: Bavaria/Germany Status: Offline Points: 69 |
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 Topic: 73 Ranchero 500Posted: 09-May-2025 at 6:18AM |
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As new member I'd like to show ya'all the truck which we enjoy as one hobby in our free-time.
Cruisin' that stuff is, especially over here in Germoney, a very special an rare thing. I can tell you...  More about introduction of myself I did here: Shortest story? According to our information, the Ford was in California 'til 2020. The american dudes did the conversion from 3-speed (manual) to AOD-tranny. Then it came to the Netherlands, NL. There it was painted in medium-copper, kinda like OEM. Before that, originally it was metallic-green, 4P. AOD supposedly was overhauled, too. Interior restored, new covers on seats and door-covers. For any reason absolutely ugly boat-GPS-gauges were installed and some other little things. We bought it there at the end of 2023 and in March 2024 the import and german classic-car-registration were completed. Since then, we've been driving and restoring it on the side. We're now finished with it and all that's missing are the gauges...what way ever. We did a new steering-box, master-cylinder, differential-overhaul, steering column repair and restore, new steering-rods, a wooden steering-wheel, chassis was measured and adjusted, carb-banks perfectly adjusted according to exhaust-gases and a contactless ignition was retrofitted. Plus the car was delivered wet inside, grrrrrrr...(!!!) The window was half opened in winter during transport from NL to D. Wtf? So we immediately cleared out the entire interior, sanded the floor two days and went through with Owatrol and Brantho Korrux. The loading-area was also refinished with Owatrol plus I organized that old wooden army-box which is painted fresh an screwed to the back now. I waxed and sealed all the cavities, tidied up the engine-compartment, covered and sorted all the cable-stuff, etc., etc., etc., ... ...aaaaand this is what it looks right now.      Updated with the new master-cylinder...    We love it and get a lot of thumbs-up while cruisin' the little german streets...    So far, so good... Edited by svENzoN - 09-May-2025 at 7:38PM |
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Greetz,
svENzoN '73 Ranchero 500, 302cui, AOD-Conversion, etc.! |
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spriegel
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Joined: 28-September-2021 Location: Fairview, PA Status: Offline Points: 992 |
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Posted: 09-May-2025 at 12:03PM |
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Welcome to the forum! Great looking Ranchero!
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Chris
Fairview, PA '1973 Ford Gran Torino |
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svENzoN
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Joined: 08-May-2025 Location: Bavaria/Germany Status: Offline Points: 69 |
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Posted: 09-May-2025 at 7:24PM |
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Thank you, Chris...
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Greetz,
svENzoN '73 Ranchero 500, 302cui, AOD-Conversion, etc.! |
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peter.jenerette
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Joined: 08-February-2023 Location: Nevada, TX Status: Offline Points: 1054 |
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Posted: 10-May-2025 at 12:47AM |
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Welcome! Nice ride!
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Pete Jenerette
1972 Gran Torino (H-Code - 4R70W) 2022 F250 XLT 7.3 2003 Thunderbird |
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svENzoN
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Joined: 08-May-2025 Location: Bavaria/Germany Status: Offline Points: 69 |
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Posted: 10-May-2025 at 1:03AM |
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Thx, Pete...
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Greetz,
svENzoN '73 Ranchero 500, 302cui, AOD-Conversion, etc.! |
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72FordGTS
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GTS.org Admin Joined: 06-September-2005 Location: Ontario, Canada Status: Offline Points: 6780 |
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Posted: 10-May-2025 at 1:49AM |
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Great looking Ranchero! I like the army box in the back. It looks to be a solid car from the photos.
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Vince
1972 Ford GTS Sportsroof - Survivor, One Family car GTS.org Admin |
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Steve M.
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Joined: 08-June-2019 Location: Florida Status: Offline Points: 2034 |
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Posted: 11-May-2025 at 10:43AM |
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Very nice.
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Steve M.
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svENzoN
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Posted: 11-May-2025 at 3:20PM |
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Thank you both. Yes, it is solid. We've done a lot up to this point and are pretty happy now.
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Greetz,
svENzoN '73 Ranchero 500, 302cui, AOD-Conversion, etc.! |
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svENzoN
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Joined: 08-May-2025 Location: Bavaria/Germany Status: Offline Points: 69 |
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Posted: 07-August-2025 at 7:20AM |
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Hey folks, for a change or to complement our trip, here are a few roadside photos. Yesterday we had such a fantastic day with our 500 that I thought it was worth a blog post today. (...be sure to use the translator in the top right corner of the blog!) Aside from that I'll leave you some of the best pictures here. That was in the middle of Germany and it's called: UNESCO World Heritage, Middle Rhine Valley         By the way, the new rubber-boot for the shifter is ordered and on it's way from USA to us. The brandnew and darkbrown mass backed carpet is already here and tons of other stuff for the great upgrade in there... ;-) I'll show ya... Have a good time and take care. Greetings from (good?) ol' Germany... Edited by svENzoN - 07-August-2025 at 7:26AM |
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Greetz,
svENzoN '73 Ranchero 500, 302cui, AOD-Conversion, etc.! |
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72 RS 351
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Joined: 04-September-2014 Location: Knoxville TN Status: Online Points: 3444 |
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Posted: 07-August-2025 at 8:55AM |
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Great pictures. I recall some of the buildings in Germany and Europe from the early 70's, they have lots of well designed, thought out styling, windows etc. Boy that was a long time ago, my memory isn't that good.
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Don
73 Ranchero "Sport 72 front end", floor shift/console, planning EFI 7000 rpm 351 stroker 73 Ranchero GT 351C-4V &4R70W for sale later. 92 Lincoln Mark VII SE GTC, OBDII 347/4R70W |
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svENzoN
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Posted: 08-August-2025 at 6:35AM |
Thank you and... ...I'm happy if I've brought back some (hopefully) good memories. Did you travel or were you in the army over here? |
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Greetz,
svENzoN '73 Ranchero 500, 302cui, AOD-Conversion, etc.! |
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72 RS 351
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Posted: 08-August-2025 at 10:36AM |
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My dad was in the Army and we were there from 1972-75. We lived in Mannheim, near Heidelberg. I enjoyed every field trip in school and the few trips we took to see friends, or go to Italy and France. I was young but I remember many of the best things for me, real gummy bears, and the original Puma and Addida's shoes($20 a pair). Plus a good friend we visited twice had huge cherry trees in their back yard. They let us take home a bucket of cherries one time, and they had countless left(the ground was covered). Those were sweet cherries, I don't like any that I've had here in the US.
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Don
73 Ranchero "Sport 72 front end", floor shift/console, planning EFI 7000 rpm 351 stroker 73 Ranchero GT 351C-4V &4R70W for sale later. 92 Lincoln Mark VII SE GTC, OBDII 347/4R70W |
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svENzoN
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Joined: 08-May-2025 Location: Bavaria/Germany Status: Offline Points: 69 |
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Posted: 08-August-2025 at 6:50PM |
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Oh, we love Heidelberg.
Such a beautiful old city. Full of architectural culture and set in a picturesque landscape. It's just 50 miles away from us, on the other side of the Odenwald. And I remember that Mannheim and Heidelberg was full of US people because there were a lot of army facilities there. Unfortunately, you're all long gone by now. It was a thousand times cooler back then than it is today, I can tell you.
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Greetz,
svENzoN '73 Ranchero 500, 302cui, AOD-Conversion, etc.! |
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72FordGTS
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Posted: 08-August-2025 at 6:54PM |
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Cool pics! Germany is on my bucket list to visit someday.
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Vince
1972 Ford GTS Sportsroof - Survivor, One Family car GTS.org Admin |
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svENzoN
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Posted: 08-August-2025 at 7:17PM |
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Thank you, Vince.
And I think you will love it...
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Greetz,
svENzoN '73 Ranchero 500, 302cui, AOD-Conversion, etc.! |
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spriegel
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Joined: 28-September-2021 Location: Fairview, PA Status: Offline Points: 992 |
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Posted: 09-August-2025 at 5:59AM |
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Thanks for sharing your photos!
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Chris
Fairview, PA '1973 Ford Gran Torino |
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svENzoN
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Joined: 08-May-2025 Location: Bavaria/Germany Status: Offline Points: 69 |
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Posted: 22-September-2025 at 2:23AM |
Ur welcome... And I try to continue? I know some of you like seein' pics from Germany, am I right? Yes. But since I have too many questions for a purely image-sharing forum and would rather just chat sometimes, too, I think it's best to move that discussion-part to the projects forum and keep it mostly to images here. Does that sound okay? Thanks...  Edit: Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany. Edited by svENzoN - 22-September-2025 at 10:13PM |
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Greetz,
svENzoN '73 Ranchero 500, 302cui, AOD-Conversion, etc.! |
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72 RS 351 wrote: