Made for three model years, 1974, 1975, and 1976 – technically, only two model years, as the 1974 Elite was under the Gran Torino halo and was called Gran Torino Elite – these are interesting cars. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen one in person, even at a car show. The seller has this 1975 Ford Elite posted here on craigslist in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada, and they’re asking $5,900. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Curvette for the tip!
Dark Yellow Green Poly is an unusual color, or I think that’s what color this Elite is. While I don’t hate the wheels and tires, this car really deserves white walls and one of the factory wheel covers or the aluminum wheels. As always, though, that’s just a personal preference. It’s hard to tell if this car has been repainted or not, but I’m assuming it has been. I’m not sure if the $5,900 asking price is in Canadian dollars or U.S. dollars. If it’s U.S. sawbucks, that’s only $4,265.50, a heck of a deal.
The Elite was the top trim level for the Gran Torino in its first year and then became its own model for the following two years. It’s closely related to the Cougar and even the LTD II and Thunderbird, as you can tell from looking at one. The driver’s side rocker panel area looks a little sus, as they say in 2025. This car is 50 years old now, so it would be more unusual than not to have it looking showroom fresh. Speaking of fresh, or not, how about this funky Ford Elite Sedan? Maybe it’s a good thing they only made a two-door of this one.
The interior looks beautiful. Other than some general and normal grime and needing a thorough cleaning, I don’t see anything inside that makes me cringe. The back seat looks even nicer than the front seats do, or what we can see of the front seats. There are only two interior photos, but the seller provided a nice range of photos, including an engine photo!
This engine compartment would clean up nicely in less than an hour. I would have done that before taking photos, but that’s just me. This is Ford’s 351-cu.in. OHV V8 with around 154 horsepower and 268 lb-ft of torque when new. It’s backed by a three-speed automatic sending power to the rear wheels, and they don’t say how it runs, only that this car is in good overall condition and was in heated indoor storage for years. Have any of you owned an Elite?
Where have we seen those wheels before ? They look familiar.. T-Birds ?
Stan, I think theyre off of a Mercury Grand Marquis. It does dress it up a bit.
Thanks Scotty. I haven’t seen one of these in ages either. Another 70’s car that begs for whitewalls and the original wheels or wheel covers. The dark green/white theme looks good.
To me the most interesting thing about the Elite is not what it was, but rather what it became. Restyle it, retrim it, and call it a Thunderbird, and it sold like hotcakes.
rdw
I think the shade is a bit off from factory specs. I would call this “Raw Sewage Green.”
It looks pretty good for the asking price. I like light colored interiors and with the dark green it pops.
The wheels look fine the way they are. I remember the doors on these thibgs, they were heavy and huge.
A buddy of mine had one of these back in the early 90’s. He said it had a 460 in it, I never really checked under the hood to see if that was true. I wanted the car because it had the 15 inch wheels that looked like the chrysler road wheels. I told him that I would buy the car from him if he ever got tired of it but he must of forgot and sold it to someone else while I was working out of town
What happened to the side trim? This thing looks like a cop car.
Looks like base trim. No AC either.
I’ve never seen an Elite without side trim. This wasn’t a strippo car. That’s what the basic Torino was for. I think Maaco forgot to put it back on.
Trim could have been removed. A friend of mine had one back in the early 1990’s. It had the 351 and he removed most all of the trim. It was a black car and i think it had a black roof!!!
I bought a 75 Elite with the a $1000 down payment that my parents gave me for high school graduation in 76. It came out of Hertz rental fleet back when you could actually get a good deal buying rental cars. I was preparing for college and put my hot rod days behind. Beautiful white over red with 12000 miles on it. In fact I have not had a car since.
Nothing but 4×4 pickups and a few Broncos here and there.
I can’t imagine an Elite with no AC, someone has removed also removed the side molding and hood ornament as well.
I bought a 75 Elite years ago for $500 it was really clean baby blue with dark blue interior, I don’t care for baby blue but other than replacing the water pump it was a great car ran great and rode very comfortably. I like the body style over the Torino. I wouldn’t mind getting another but it would need a/c power windows and preferably bucket seats with console shift .
Kinda wonder what would happen if the automakers built cars like this today but with the addition of airbags. This car has the 5 mph impact bumpers where cars today have a 2.5mph impact bumper. For this I would contact a salvage yard like D&H classics and get a MPH speedometer for cruising around otherwise nice car.
I had a 74 , brown with shag carpeting.
I didn’t like vinyl tops, so I removed it. Ouch top is unfinished under the sail panels. So that was dumb.
my brother had a 460 in his and when I started driving, and drove that….we would do massive burnouts and we called them chicken hops and I swear the front wheels would pull off the pavement!!! That car was crazy!!! Bulletproof!! No American company should have ever caved to the smaller or front wheel drive 80’s. That is where US cars failed.
My brother had two, a ’74 and ’76, beautiful cars with the 460. Took my drivers test in the ’76. It was like driving an aircraft carrier!
What is really interesting is if you want to bring that car across the border into the USA you now have to document what country EACH peice if metal came from, so you can pay the appropriate tariff!
No documentation–no come across border!
Not to dis your ‘chop Scotty but a real 4-door Elite would be slightly less awkward since the wheelbase would’ve been 4″ longer (118″ vs 114″) as it was on all the 1972 Torino derivatives. That would probably lead to an unchanged Torino sedan DLO around the doors with plenty of space on the sail panel to cut in the double opera windows. Great visualization aid though!
All these offerings with a column shift automatic , seems like that alone would kill a sale .
It didn’t in 1975…
Did anyone do 5MPH bumpers worse than Ford?