1972 Ford Ranchero

GT

351 Cobra Jet

Manual

2A48Q189530

Clear

Gasoline

Thank you for looking at my auction. What I have is a “barn find”, numbers matching, 63k original mile, 351 Cobra-Jet, factory Hurst 4 speed, 3.25 Traction-Lok rear differential, 1972 Ranchero GT. Actually, a barn “find” that was never really “lost”. It was my cousin's car that he ordered new in late 1971. He tragically passed away in the mid-1980's and the car sat in my Uncle's garage until 2012. Since then, I have owned it. Please take your time to thoroughly read the entire description. Also, carefully view the pictures and the videos. I strongly recommend that you ask as many questions as you would like. Please review my feedback from others that have purchased items from me in the past. You will see that I try to be very thorough in my descriptions as well as being very accurate in them, too. To show my seriousness in regards wanting to sell the Ranchero at this auctions end, I am placing the auction with NO RESERVE!! Please, I ask that only serious buyers with the funds available to complete the transaction actually participate in the bidding. I am sure that someone will give this awesome Ranchero a great new home at this auctions end! Now, a description of the car. As I mentioned before, it is a somewhat rare, numbers matching 1972 Ford Ranchero GT with the “Q” code 351 Cobra-Jet engine, factory Hurst 4-speed transmission and a 3.25 Traction-Lok rear differential. My cousin ordered the car new with the following options: Dark Blue Metallic Paint, Black Vinyl Roof, 4-Speed Hurst Shifter, 3.25 Traction-Lok Axle, G70 Belted Raised White Letter Tires, Power Steering, Power Front Disc Brakes, Front and Rear Bumper Guards, AM Radio, Tinted Glass Complete, Competition Suspension, Instrumentation Group, and the functional 1972 Ram Air Assembly (which is no longer with the car, I had sold that on Ebay a few years ago). The Marti Report breaks the production numbers down this way for the 12,620 Ford Ranchero GT's made in 1972. There were 782 with the 351 Cobra Jet and 4 speed. 72 of them were painted Dark Blue Metallic. Of those, 27 had Black Vinyl Bench Seats. 12 of them were equipped with a 3.25 Traction-Lok Axle. Of those, 2 had Black Vinyl Roofs. Only 1 had Tinted Glass. This is that Ranchero. What that simply means is this is the only 1972 Ranchero GT with these particulars. It has been in storage since the mid-1980's, over 30 years. It was last registered in 1983. I am the second owner. My cousin ordered it in late 1971 and took delivery in early 1972. I remember thinking how cool this car was when I had first seen the car in his driveway in 1972. The Dark Blue Metallic paint, the silver stripes, the 4 speed! I remember my first ride in it. He had taken myself and his brother for a ride around the block. I sat in the middle of the bench seat. Three people on the bench seat made shifting the Hurst shifter a real challenge! I remember him catching all the gears (which may not mean much today, but in the day that was cool!)! Often times, he would let me shift the gears! This car was his baby, his pride and joy. He had taken very good care of it. Inside and out. Even with his care, by the 1980's the Ranchero's paint and upholstery were starting to show a little age. So, into the best paint and body shop in the area it went in 1983. Tragically, a construction accident had taken the life of my cousin before he had a chance to see his Ranchero completed. After a couple of years, my Uncle was able to finally get the car out of the body shop where re-assembly was started but not finished. My Uncle then parked the Ranchero in the back of his shop where it sat for the next nearly 30 years. Over the years I frequently asked my Uncle about the Ranchero and what he had planned to do with it. Always hinting that I would love to purchase it, restore it, and get it back on the road. Unfortunately, my Uncle passed away a few years back. One of his other sons received the car and had known my desire to restore the car and asked if I was still interested. Obviously, I was very interested and extremely grateful to have the opportunity. I had moved it to my shop in Vermont. Life happened and I was never able to get to the restoration as I had planned. Now, life is throwing more change our way and I am left with selling this close family friend! “My loss is some other person's gain” is putting it mildly. I apologize for the length of the history of this Ranchero, but it is a story worth telling. On to the Ranchero's current condition. Sitting in a garage for so long, I realized the task at hand with getting this incredible car back on the road. I looked the car over top to bottom. It was covered with 30 years of dust and grime. I decided to begin with getting the 351 CJ running again. With the engine not being turned over in the last thirty years, I drained all engine, cooling system, and drivetrain fluids, pulled the spark plugs, and placed a little Lucas Oil Stabilizer in each cylinder and let the engine sit for a day or two. In fresh oil went. I wanted to make sure that the top end of the engine was getting proper lubrication so I decided to remove the distributor and prime the oil pump. I removed the valve covers and primed away! The rockers, springs, push rods, and overall condition under the valve covers was amazing, absolutely no build-up and it looked nearly new! Soon, the new oil was flowing throughout the valvetrain like black gold! After placing the distributor back in, I turned the engine over by hand for a while and let it sit another day. I turned it over once again by hand just to be safe. Well then, what else does an internal combustion engine need to start? Spark, fuel, and compression. Well, after putting in new spark plugs and trying to turn the engine over again, I turned my attention to the the fuel and spark. After 30+ years of gas sitting in the tank, lines, and carburetor, I decided to remove it all. The turpentine smell was intense. The gumming was severe. I am sure I would have been able to clean the tank. But, I decided to purchase a new fuel tank and sending unit. I thoroughly cleaned the fuel lines leading to the carburetor. I replaced the fuel pump. And, I rebuilt the carburetor (Holley 600, I am not sure where the original carburetor went?). Now, the fuel system was new and ready to deliver! Spark was next. I put in new plugs, wires, rotor, and cap. I obviously also needed a new battery after 30 years! The original wiring of the electrical system all looked excellent. A few mice decided to call the mufflers home at some point so I decided to replace the mufflers and new pipe up to the exhaust manifolds, just because. It is aluminized pipe with 2-chamber mufflers (much like the FlowMaster 40 series). It has no “H” pipe and is not finished to the rear of the car (it still needs a little tweaking with a few bends, I had the pipe made from the original pipe without the shop having the car, it works fine and sounds even better (IMO)). It just dumps in front of the rear axle. So, it seemed like all was ready to make this 351CJ rumble again! And ready it was! I primed the carburetor with a little fuel and turned the key. Nothing! The starter did not even engage! The one thing I did not check was the one thing it needed, a starter solenoid! I replaced the solenoid and within a few turns the 351CJ was alive again! Oil pressure was great. I then adjusted the carburetor and set the timing. With the drivetrain all working very well, my attention turned to the braking system. As you might expect, some attention was needed here also. Everything looked to be in good working order with the exception of the rubber hose going from the frame cross rail to the rear axle. It was dry rotted and leaking when I had attempted to bleed the rear brakes. I soaked the connections with penetrating fluid in hopes that the fittings would loosen without sticking to the lines. No, that would be too easy! As I was taking the rubber hose and tee off, every line going into it had twisted around the fitting. So, I ended up replacing all the rear lines from the proportioning valve back. There is a union in the brake line just about half-way to the rear of the car. With that job done, I set out to bleed the brakes. At which point I found no fluid getting to front brakes. Working my way back toward the master cylinder, I found that there was no fluid leaving the front brake reservoir in the master cylinder. There was obviously an obstruction. I decided to replace the master cylinder. After more bleeding of my wallet, the bleeding of the brakes went very well! One more job complete! Now the Ranchero is running and stopping well! My attention then turned to the aesthetics. I did not detail the engine bay due to the originality. I wanted to preserve the factory markings until I was ready to restore it. I was planning on doing a frame-off so I would have an excellent reference with the original engine bay. From sitting indoors for over 30 years, you could imagine the dust/dirt that had accumulated on it. I began by thoroughly washing the car top to bottom, front to back. After removing the grime, I noticed the car body was very, very straight (with the exception of a couple of dings, literally 2). It should be, it was put in storage immediately after in came from the body shop. However, the 30 year old paint was neglected and needed a polishing, desperately! And being stored in an area where people passed by, there where some scratches where people brushed against the car while passing it. I am sure that is how the couple of dings happened too. Having wet-sanded and polished a great many vehicles over the years, I spent numerous hours over several days in getting to know every square inch of the Ranchero's body. Starting with 1000 grit, I worked my way up through 2500 grit. What I found was that it polished up very nicely with excellent DOI, as you can see from the pictures with no orange peel. It does have some chips, nicks and scratches that did not come out with the wetsand/buff which are not noticeable unless your are literally within inches of the car. There are a couple of very minor dings (one on the lower front passenger fender the size of a nickel and one on the lower passenger door which is more like a wave and not a ding). There is also a minor ding in the lower front valance. I show them as well as possible in the pictures and the video. I think I may be making them sound worse then they are. Please take a close look at the videos and pictures. The Ranchero shows very nice! I then began thoroughly cleaning the interior. As the pictures show, a cleaning that turned into an actual gutting of the entire interior and much of the dash! I did this because I am very picky and firmly believe in doing things once and doing them right! I noticed that the clear lens over the gauges had some “haze”, so I removed them and polished them up. I had a few wiring issues that were made very easy when it was all apart. The wiring issues turned out to be a fuse or two and two ground wires. The interior is in excellent shape! The headliner is excellent, dash pad is excellent, sun visors are excellent, seat upholstery is excellent (though not original), glass is excellent (the windshield was replaced at some point), the carpet is in very good shape (it does show a wear, but perfectly acceptable), and the drivers armrest is good but has some cracks, the passenger armrest is excellent. The various rubber seals and belt-line weatherstrip is showing its age and would need to be replaced if you were doing a frame-off. It does need roof rail weatherstrip. As you can see, the interior recondition nicely to show excellent! When I was replacing the brake lines, I noticed an very small area of the floor that looked like it may have a soft spot (by small, I mean literally 3 1/2” long x 1 1/2” wide, that's it). I also noticed that a section of the floor was repaired at the body shop some 30 years ago. It was done very well and professonal. It was done with a factory Ranchero panel. I freshened up the underside with Eastwood Chassis Black to make it uniform. As the pictures show, the underside is very solid and very nice. That is where my attention focused next. I patched the very small soft spot by removing the seat and carpet cutting out the areas and welding in new 16 ga. sheetmetal as the pictures show. The underside is in great shape! I did polish all the brite work on the car. It looks very nice. The aluminum anodization was removed on most of the car (with the exception of the trim around the side windows) and polished to a brilliant shine! It looks amazing! If you have ever done this before, you know how time consuming this task is, but you also know how great it looks when buffed! As is similar with sanding and buffing paint, I went through a similar staged process with the aluminum. Sanding and working imperfections out as much as possible, graduating through 2500 grit sandpaper. Then I polished it with professional buffing materials and polishes. The chrome shines nicely but there is some pitting on the front and rear bumpers. The headlight bezels shine nicely but the passenger side does have a few pits. The rear tailight bezels where removed, disassembled, and I polished both the bezels and the lenses. I show this in the pictures. Once again, I believe it is absolutely fine for a very nice driver but would need re-chroming for a frame-off. But, most of the aluminum (one windshield trim piece has some minor pits that you can not see unless you are very close) would not have to be redone at all, unless you were looking to re-anodize it or clear it. This will save the new owner some expense and/or extensive elbow grease if you were to DIY! It looks great! The wheels are the old 14” Ansen Sprints that my cousin had on since the 1970's. I cleaned them up a bit. I sanded them down to get many imperfections out. I then polished them up with buffing materials. They polished up very nicely as you can see in the pictures and video. As you know, 14” tires are increasingly difficult to find. I had planned on going with some 15” Magnum 500's, staggered, with the backs being 15x8 or 15x10 and 15x7 up front. I like the look the Ranchero has with a little bigger tire on the rear with a larger negative offset or “deep dish”. The rear tires that are on there now are from 30 years ago. They still hold air, so I left them on the back. The rear tires need to be replaced. The front tires are very nice. I have two other tires that match the fronts that will go with the car. I did not install them because they are the same size as the front tires and I like the larger rear tire look and stance. Since I have gotten the car to this point, I have only put about 15 miles on it. I have only driven the car “around the block” numerous times (WOW, is it a blast to drive!). I can not guarantee you could drive this across the country. I recommend transporting it. Or, you can arrange shipping. I realize how difficult it can be to purchase a car site unseen. That is one reason why I am so detailed in the description with plenty of pictures and videos. If you would like, feel free to contact me in order to arrange a time to look at the car before bidding. In conclusion, the Ranchero runs and drives very nicely (it is still a 43 year old car, not a 3 year old car, I did notice today that the clutch will need to be replaced eventually, it still works fine but is catching a bit high). It is a blast to drive! As you can see, it shows very well. It is not perfect, but it is very, very nice. It is very original with a few exceptions. It was repainted in the mid-1980's. It polished up nice, has excellent DOI, and is very straight. It is 30+ years though. It does does have some nicks, a couple of small dings, and some scratches (no large or 2 foot long scratches, just small scratches you can only see looking for them in the right light at a certain angle). It looks very nice from 20 ft., even 10 feet, but upon very close inspection you can see it's flaws. I believe it is very fine for a very nice driver quality and local car show participant, but to be competitive at large shows, I would repaint it. A repaint would be very easy with the excellent condition of the very solid body. The vinyl top is in great shape but it is not original. The interior is in excellent shape. The bench seat upholstery is excellent but not original. The engine bay is completely original with the exception of carb and air cleaner and provides an excellent reference should you choose to do a frame-off. The Holley 600cfm carburetor was rebuilt and works great but it is not original. It originally had the Ram Air assembly so I put on this aftermarket air cleaner after I had sold the Ram Air. The front and rear bumpers polished up very nice but do have minor pitting. The exhaust is new with 40 Series mufflers. The master cylinder and some brake lines have been replaced. The starter solenoid has been replaced. The plugs, wires, cap, and rotor have been replaced. The fuel tank and sending unit have been replaced. The shocks have been replaced. The alternator and power steering belts have been replaced. It does come with some extra parts. It needs rear tires or the two loose tires put on. As is typical with a 40+ year old vehicle, the door seal, window felt, and roof rail weatherstrip will need to be replaced if you were going to restore the car. Please note: it does not currently have roof rail weatherstrip. The new exhaust needs a few tweaks to the bends for proper clearance. The exhaust shop was going by the old pipes, they did not have the car. Somewhere along the way, my cousin had a bed light installed. That is all that I am aware of. As you could tell from my description and the pictures, everything that I have done to the car was detailed nicely before reassembling. Please take a look at all the pictures and the videos. Feel free to ask as many questions as you would like! I want the new owner to be very happy with their purchase! I would also like to ask that the new owner send me some pictures if they choose to fully restore this classic! Or, just enioy owning this awesome Ranchero and have a blast driving it now! PLEASE NOTE: THE RANCHERO IS SOLD WITH A BILL OF SALE ONLY. VERMONT DOES NOT REQUIRE A TITLE AND WILL NOT GIVE A TITLE ON VEHICLES THIS OLD. I HAVE NOT HAD IT REGISTERED SO IT DOES NOT HAVE CURRENT REGISTRATION (this last sentence was put in bold simply to catch everyone's attention). In order to register the Ranchero in Vermont, I have to pay taxes on what they say the value of the car is based on NADA Classic Car Values Average Retail. That is why I was holding off on registering it. The Ranchero is sold AS-IS, with no warranty expressed or implied. I have attempted to describe the Ranchero as accurately as possible. But, it is a 43 year old vehicle, it is not brand new. It is a relatively low mileage, mostly original vehicle. I reserve the right to end the auction early. A $500 deposit is required within the first 48 hours with full payment paid within 5 days. Bidders with a feedback rating of less than 10 must contact me prior to bidding or I will cancel your bid. For some reason Ebay will not allow me to link with my Photobucket account to show my numerous pictures on what I have done to the Ranchero. So, please copy and paste this into your web browser s804.photobucket.com/user/twosfamily/library/1972%20Ranchero%20GT_Q%20code_351%20Cobra-Jet_Hurst%204%20Spd?sort=6&page=1 Thank you all for looking and happy bidding! On Dec-02-15 at 03:41:58 PST, seller added the following information: Thank you all for your interest in this awesome car. I have had several inquiries regarding the fact I do not have a title for the Ranchero and their state requires more then a Bill of Sale. Many states will except a current registration in addition to a Bill of Sale. I will register the Ranchero in Vermont if the new owner needs a copy of the current registration. So please check with your state to see if that meets your states requirements. I hope this will help some that thought they would not be able to bid due to the registration aspect. Kind regards.On Dec-03-15 at 06:11:57 PST, seller added the following information: Hello Folks! Please note: I now have the Ranchero currently registered in my name. So, the new owner will get a Bill of Sale AND a copy of the current registration. I apologize, I should have registered it before placing the auction. Kind regards. On Dec-04-15 at 04:40:32 PST, seller added the following information: Just another note. I do not have the spare or jack. Kind regards. On Dec-04-15 at 11:57:37 PST, seller added the following information: Hello Folks, me again! I have had another excellent question regarding the working condition of the gauges. In regards to the gauges, they all work flawlessly with one exception. The fuel gauge works sporadically. Since I have replaced the fuel sending unit along with the fuel tank, I am rather certain it is the wiring. I checked the ohms on the sending unit before installation in the tank and it was working fine. I have not had a chance to troubleshoot it but I will have it repaired before auctions end. Tach, speedometer, radio, wipers, lights, hazards, heater blower motor, oil pressure, amps, temp, they all work excellent. Even the clock works as it should! Kind regards.On Dec-04-15 at 13:27:02 PST, seller added the following information: I would like to ask the new owner to let me keep the front license plate. My cousin had it custom airbrushed at "The Big "E"" (Eastern States Exposition) back in the '70's. Thanks! On Dec-05-15 at 05:01:51 PST, seller added the following information: One more note to cover overseas interest: I will ship overseas but all arrangements must be made by the buyer. I will be more then happy to coordinate with the shipping company. All costs associated with shipping will be the buyers responsibility. I would also like to ask that you please contact me before bidding to review arrangements. As is the case with all purchases, the Ranchero will not be shipped until payment is made and cleared in full. Thank you again for your interest. Kind regards!