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73 Ranchero 500

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Category: General Discussion
Forum Name: Photo Gallery
Forum Description: Post pictures of your car(s) or projects
URL: https://forum.grantorinosport.org/forum_posts.asp?TID=21697
Printed Date: 26-March-2026 at 3:24PM
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Topic: 73 Ranchero 500
Posted By: svENzoN
Subject: 73 Ranchero 500
Date Posted: 09-May-2025 at 6:18AM
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...Cool

More about introduction of myself I did here:
https://forum.grantorinosport.org/svenzon_topic21696.html" rel="nofollow - https://forum.grantorinosport.org/svenzon_topic21696.html

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...Wink





So far, so good...Cool







-------------
Greetz,
svENzoN

'73 Ranchero 500, 302cui, AOD-Conversion, etc.!



Replies:
Posted By: spriegel
Date Posted: 09-May-2025 at 12:03PM
Welcome to the forum!  Great looking Ranchero!

-------------
Chris
Fairview, PA
'1973 Ford Gran Torino


Posted By: svENzoN
Date Posted: 09-May-2025 at 7:24PM
Thank you, Chris...Wink

-------------
Greetz,
svENzoN

'73 Ranchero 500, 302cui, AOD-Conversion, etc.!


Posted By: peter.jenerette
Date Posted: 10-May-2025 at 12:47AM
Welcome! Nice ride!

-------------
Pete Jenerette
1972 Gran Torino (H-Code - 4R70W)
2022 F250 XLT 7.3
2003 Thunderbird


Posted By: svENzoN
Date Posted: 10-May-2025 at 1:03AM
Thx, Pete...Wink

-------------
Greetz,
svENzoN

'73 Ranchero 500, 302cui, AOD-Conversion, etc.!


Posted By: 72FordGTS
Date Posted: 10-May-2025 at 1:49AM
Great looking Ranchero!  I like the army box in the back. It looks to be a solid car from the photos.

-------------
Vince

1972 Ford GTS Sportsroof - Survivor, One Family car

GTS.org Admin


Posted By: Steve M.
Date Posted: 11-May-2025 at 10:43AM
Very nice. 

-------------
Steve M.


Posted By: svENzoN
Date Posted: 11-May-2025 at 3:20PM
Thank you both.
Yes, it is solid. We've done a lot up to this point and are pretty happy now.


-------------
Greetz,
svENzoN

'73 Ranchero 500, 302cui, AOD-Conversion, etc.!


Posted By: svENzoN
Date Posted: 07-August-2025 at 7:20AM
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.

https://stoneagecyclez.blogspot.com/2025/08/bohemian-rhapsody.html" rel="nofollow - Bohemian Rhapsody
(...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...





-------------
Greetz,
svENzoN

'73 Ranchero 500, 302cui, AOD-Conversion, etc.!


Posted By: 72 RS 351
Date Posted: 07-August-2025 at 8:55AM
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.

-------------
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


Posted By: svENzoN
Date Posted: 08-August-2025 at 6:35AM
Originally posted by 72 RS 351 72 RS 351 wrote:

I recall some of the buildings in Germany and Europe...

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?


-------------
Greetz,
svENzoN

'73 Ranchero 500, 302cui, AOD-Conversion, etc.!


Posted By: 72 RS 351
Date Posted: 08-August-2025 at 10:36AM
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.


-------------
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


Posted By: svENzoN
Date Posted: 08-August-2025 at 6:50PM
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.


-------------
Greetz,
svENzoN

'73 Ranchero 500, 302cui, AOD-Conversion, etc.!


Posted By: 72FordGTS
Date Posted: 08-August-2025 at 6:54PM
Cool pics!  Germany is on my bucket list to visit someday.

-------------
Vince

1972 Ford GTS Sportsroof - Survivor, One Family car

GTS.org Admin


Posted By: svENzoN
Date Posted: 08-August-2025 at 7:17PM
Thank you, Vince.
And I think you will love it...


-------------
Greetz,
svENzoN

'73 Ranchero 500, 302cui, AOD-Conversion, etc.!


Posted By: spriegel
Date Posted: 09-August-2025 at 5:59AM
Thanks for sharing your photos!

-------------
Chris
Fairview, PA
'1973 Ford Gran Torino


Posted By: svENzoN
Date Posted: 22-September-2025 at 2:23AM
Originally posted by spriegel spriegel wrote:

Thanks for sharing your photos!
 
Ur welcome...Wink

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.



-------------
Greetz,
svENzoN

'73 Ranchero 500, 302cui, AOD-Conversion, etc.!



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