We recently saw a really nice 1973 Ford Thunderbird and someone has already snapped it up. That didn’t last too long. This 1976 Ford Gran Torino Brougham is somewhat similar in being a top-trim two-door Ford and the seller has it posted here on craigslist in Roseville, California. They’re asking $14,000 for this one-owner jewel box, let’s check it out before it’s gone. Just in case, here’s the ad.
As with the Thunderbird with its wide white side trim and white vinyl top, this car has a bit of 1970s style going on, which it should have since it’s from the 1970s. Rear fender skirts are in the same category as vinyl tops for a lot of people, as in good riddance, it’s good that they went away decades ago, etc. It’s no surprise that I like both of those things. The battering-ram-bumpers, not so much.
Ford offered several levels and models, even separate cars that were based on the Torino. The Torino was the base level car and it was nice but it was the least expensive Torino model. Then came the Gran Torino and the Gran Torino Brougham as seen here. The Ranchero was also based on the Torino from 1968 through 1976 and there was also a Gran Torino Elite in 1974 which went on for two more years as the Elite. They may be even more like the ’73 T-Bird that we recently saw, the one with the white belt and white shoes-wearing owner.
I don’t know if leather seats were an option in any Torino, even an Elite, but these sure look perfect no matter what material they’re made of. I didn’t see leather in any vintage brochures as far as options go – it was either cloth or vinyl or both – but one of you will know. I don’t see a flaw anywhere inside this beautiful Gran Torino Brougham and you know how much I like to see power windows on vintage vehicles. The back seat looks perfect and the seller says that an “old lady” bought it new and spent the next 58,000 miles using it as a grocery-getter.
As almost always, an hour spent detailing the engine would have made a world of difference but it looks good despite 45 years of dust. It’s a Ford 351 cubic-inch V8 with just over 150-hp and this car has just had a full service, new tires, and it’s ready to go. Any thoughts on this beautiful Gran Torino Brougham? Fender skirts: yea or nay? Yea for me on a top-trim-level car.
I know a clean engine bay looks nice but as a technician I see it as honesty. Makes oil leaks easier to spot and nothing is being hidden. My high school friend had a 73 Gran Torino with the 351 but it wasn’t the bro ham edition. Makes me laugh looking back because whenever we rode with him gas money was coughed up to ride along. His gauge was perpetually on “E” and he would always say that stood for enough.
I always dislike the engine bay cleanup and gloss spray crap on used car lots. Like you said. Hides a lot of potential service issues. One thing I always do is pull the oil fill cap. Especially ones in valve covers, and spin a finger around for sludge depth.
Lose the fender skirts. Probably good advice for anything made after 1960, in my humble opinion
I agree,with a few exceptions,like a ’64 Cadillac.
Or my dad’s 1970 Olds 98 that he had 45 years ago, when he was still alive. Exactly like this one:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.hotrodhotline.com/ui/2/81/T7XzXruT5u.jpg.
I thought that was a great look and any car that was specifically designed to have fender skirts looks weird without them, in my opinion.
I say keep the skirts on the broughams’. This car was designed to option for the skirts. There were many cars in the 70’s that were designed to have fender skirts and they look good. Many of the 60’s cars were not designed to have fender skirts and looked silly with them i.e. the ’66 Caprice or Ford LTD. ’61 through ’64 Impalas also looked silly with skirts as did the Galaxie or Galaxie 500.
The early Torinos were nice cars, but starting in this year they were becoming overweight pigs, especially in the Gran Torino and Elite guises. Still, I’d take a nice one like this but I wouldn’t want to drive it at today’s gas prices as these things guzzled gas.
I can just hear this Ford now, that sound is burned in my memory
Ford fell into a the trap of too many cars chasing too few owners, the LTD, T-bird, and the Torino were chasing the same customer. I liked the Torino more than the other 2, but they were basically chasing each others market share. They all had become big boats that still looked nice, but performance was a distant memory. I have had enough brown though, it’s still an attractive car.
The LTD and Tbird were full size cars, while the Torino was classed as mid size. I dont know about chasing too few owners ; it seemed like there was an LTD or Torino in every other driveway back then !
The skirts would be gone before I turned the key.
Wow. A Model T has straighter and tighter panel gaps than this. Was it built on a Friday? What were the designers thinking with this car. And then that coffin-like interior…wow
Comes with a long barrel. 22 pistolà in the glove box.
When a guy says hey lets go for a drive, and you walk to the parking lot and see this Torino…, well its goodnite Charlie.
Yeah, but my name isn’t Charlie. lol
Peak Brougham?
One year later, Ford turned the Elite into the Thunderbird and the Torino into the LTD II. Though merely a cosmetic change, sales exploded.
Sales may have increased in ’77 from ’76 but that was just a last gasp for this dinosaur and others like it. By ’77 -’78, we had a lot of major advancements, with lighter, downsized designs. You had more interior space, better fuel economy with the new Impala, Caprice, LTD, Fairmont, etc.
Like it as is…skirts, vinyl top, two tone interior!
This car makes me think of Barnaby Jones which is a great showcase of everything Ford in mid 1970s. I think Barnaby (Jed Clampett) drove a loaded 2 dr LTD, vinyl top, skirts, sunroof.
These were beautiful cars looking very much like the Thunderbird. So I bought one new. Worse handling cars ever made so I sold it after six months. Did I mention it had three dashes broken out after going over railroad tracks. Dealer kept replacing under warranty but I got tired of dealer having car more than me.
Had a raised railroad bed on a gravel road by my place. Before dukes of hazard. Big air. Lots of busted motor mounts and broken exhaust manifolds.
Other auto makers did a much better job with the 5mph bumpers. Ford didn’t seem to care if they were hideous and spoiled the looks of the car.
Remember – someone got paid to design that,
& someone higher up approved it.
Too late for design jail I guess.
Astute observation. AngliaGT.
For some laughs:
https://afdc.energy.gov/files/pdfs/1976_feg.pdf
EPA #s for 1976 pdf
Thumbs up on the fender skirts. I definitely miss them.
One of my uncle’s bought one like it new, but it was a lighter gold color with the same top and interior. I remember it as a nice car but not a tire smoker.
I’d park it in my driveway.
Odd i never noticed the small “beak” on the front bumper/upper nose on Starsky’s Torino, but i do notice it on this Brougham …
http://barnfinds.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/112321-1976-Ford-Gran-Torino-2-630×390.jpg
Starsky drove a 1975 Gran Torino. Perhaps they tweaked the (beak) styling for 1976?
https://blog.tirebuyer.com/the-starsky-hutch-gran-torino/
Seeing the ’59 Cadillac underneath this Torino in the home page thumbnails, I immediately thought: Damn… all these years I thought the 59 was the most grotesque [well it and the 58 Lincoln] abuse of sheet metal in Post War history.
And then I get a [another] load of a Gran Torino.
Hideous. Remarkable example of ’70s excess, like the 59 Cadillac was of the ’50s.
Still, brings back memories when these were in every driveway, everywhere.
Tasteless, overweight, overwrought, gas sucking pig.
I love it.
PS: Leave the fender skirts. Why take away any of that tacky goodness?
I love the cheesy 1970’s vibe that oozes from this car. I want it!