1974 · Ford · United States
1974 Ford Ranchero GT: the Cobra Jet 351's last documented year
The Ranchero GT continued on the 1972-76 Ranchero; 11,328 GTs were built, per reference-site counts in the Standard Catalog lineage.
United States · researched through 2026-09-23
Wikipedia records that the 1972-1976 Ranchero was offered as the 500, the woodgrain-sided Squire and the sporty GT, and that the 351 Cleveland could be had in four-barrel Cobra Jet form through 1974, making this record's own final documented year for that specific engine and induction combination. Ford-Torino.de's production overview gives 11,328 Ranchero GTs for 1974, a figure this record's own dek describes as resting on reference-site counts within the Standard Catalog lineage rather than on a directly read factory production document.1,2
This record's own paint section carries the same documented methodological note used in the two prior years: the thirty-one colors listed come from hdpaintcode.com's 1974 Ford Passenger Cars chart rather than its separate Ford Trucks list, since the Ranchero is not itself named by model on that page and the same split pattern was used for 1972 and 1973. This record states plainly that the choice rests on the Ranchero sharing the Torino passenger platform's two-character color codes rather than the F-Series truck platform's single-letter or single-digit codes, and that it is not independently confirmed against a Ranchero-specific order form.3
Two further context rows, not GTs themselves, give 18,447 Ranchero 500s and 3,150 Squires for the same model year, both drawn from the same Ford-Torino.de production overview as the GT figure and kept separately scoped rather than summed into a combined total. This record's own production notes describe the GT count specifically as coming from an unsourced enthusiast reference within the Standard Catalog lineage, with the Standard Catalog of American Light-Duty Trucks itself, or an actual Ford production report, named as what would be needed to verify it independently.2
This record's engines, transmissions and options sections are all empty for 1974 despite Wikipedia's own overview text describing the 351 Cleveland Cobra Jet's final documented year of availability, a specific engine claim this record has not yet been able to attach a rating, displacement entry, or production count to. The price section carries the same editorial note found elsewhere in this record: a J.D. Power-sourced figure was removed as of September 24, 2026, since those live valuation pages cannot be independently verified, and no replacement source this record can stand behind has yet been found.1
Specification detail is limited to a single 118.0-inch wheelbase for the 1974 Ranchero across all trims, drawn from Wikipedia rather than a factory specification sheet, with no length, width or weight found in an accessible source. This record's interiors, performance and identification sections are all empty as well, a documented gap rather than an assumption that none of that detail exists for the car.1
Only a single unpublished lead is recorded for 1974: a ranchero.us forum post gives the identical 11,328 GT, 18,447 Ranchero 500 and 3,150 Squire figures already carried in this record's own production section, naming no source beyond the usual attribution to the Standard Catalog of American Light-Duty Trucks, which this record's research could not read directly to confirm. No separate French-language photo site lead was found repeating or disputing these figures for the year, leaving the forum post as the only secondary corroboration recorded here.2
Fact sheet · 1974 · United States
The numbers
1974 Ford Ranchero GT — The Ranchero GT continued on the 1972-76 Ranchero; 11,328 GTs were built, per reference-site counts in the Standard Catalog lineage.
Coverage: Partial — researched sections are shown; missing ones are not yet sourced. Researched through 2026-09-23.
Every figure is labeled with how sure we are. Reported means a manufacturer, registry, or reference figure we cite but have not reconciled against factory records ourselves. Disputed means credible sources disagree and both are shown. Rows are separately scoped; don't add them together unless the note says they make up a total.
Production
| What was counted | Count | Basis | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ranchero GT2,4 GT · sedan pickup · as published | 11,328 | built, model-year | Reported |
| What was counted | Count | Basis | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ranchero 5002,4 Ranchero 500 · sedan pickup · as published Not a GT; context for the GT share. | 18,447 | built, model-year | Reported |
| Ranchero Squire2,4 Squire · sedan pickup · as published Not a GT; context for the GT share. | 3,150 | built, model-year | Reported |
The GT, 500 and Squire counts each match a second, named lineage: The Production Figure Book for U.S. Cars (Jerry Heasley, 1977), read via search-inside snippets, gives the identical 11,328 / 18,447 / 3,150 figures. This does not confirm either compilation against a Ford record, but it is no longer a single-source figure.
The GT count comes from Ford-Torino.de, an unsourced enthusiast reference in the Standard Catalog lineage; the Standard Catalog of American Light-Duty Trucks or a Ford production report would allow verification.
Ranchero counts above come from Ford-Torino.de's production overview, an enthusiast reference site in the Standard Catalog lineage; the forum list in the unpublished leads gives the same figures.
No whole-year 1974 Ranchero total was found: Heasley shows no total line after the three rows, and the conceptcarz 1974 page (s1925) carries only a single Custom 500 row of 12,104 that matches none of these. The three rows are not added, because whether they exhaust the year is not stated. Searched 2026-09-29: Heasley's Production Figure Book (search-inside snippets), conceptcarz year pages (series modelID 1550), Wikipedia, the forum and photo-site lists already in the leads. A Ford production report or the Standard Catalog of American Light-Duty Trucks would close it.
Prices when new *
No price is shown here. One was, until 2026-09-24: a figure from J.D. Power's live valuation pages, pulled from every page on this site because those pages can change without our knowing and we have no way to check them independently. We haven't found a source we can stand behind to put in its place yet. A price for this car elsewhere that looks suspiciously exact may be quoting that same J.D. Power figure rather than confirming it — several sites we checked turned out to be doing exactly that, without saying so.
Paint
| Code | Color | Built |
|---|---|---|
9A |
White3 | Not yet sourced |
2E |
Candyapple Red3 | Not yet sourced |
2M |
Dark Red3 | Not yet sourced |
3B |
Light Blue3 | Not yet sourced |
6C |
Medium Yellow Gold3 | Not yet sourced |
4Q |
Dark Green Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
2B |
Bright Red3 | Not yet sourced |
5H |
Medium Brown3 | Not yet sourced |
4A |
Pastel Lime3 | Not yet sourced |
4B |
Bright Green Gold3 | Not yet sourced |
48 |
Bright Green Gold3 | Not yet sourced |
6N |
Medium Ivy Yellow3 | Not yet sourced |
5J |
Ginger Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
6F |
Bright Yellow Gold Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
3D |
Medium Blue Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
3G |
Dark Blue Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
3E |
Medium Bright Blue3 | Not yet sourced |
1D |
Silver Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
5M |
Medium Chestnut Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
5T |
Saddle Bronze Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
4W |
Medium Lime Yellow3 | Not yet sourced |
4T |
Green Glow Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
3M |
Silver Blue Glow3 | Not yet sourced |
3N |
Bright Blue3 | Not yet sourced |
4V |
Dark Yellow Green3 | Not yet sourced |
6M |
Dark Olive Gold3 | Not yet sourced |
9C |
Pearl White3 | Not yet sourced |
5W |
Orange3 | Not yet sourced |
5U |
Tan Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
1G |
Silver Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
3Q |
Medium Pastel Blue3 | Not yet sourced |
9D |
White3 | Not yet sourced |
Color names are the factory's. We don't show color swatches, because a screen color is no guide for a restoration.
Specifications
| Measure | Value | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Wheelbase1 | 118 in | 1974 Ranchero, all trims |
Identification
Read a 1974 Ford VIN
The VIN decoder runs in your browser and never sends the VIN anywhere. How the factory numbered this year's cars:
Same model year
Also in 1974
- AMC AMX The final Javelin AMX: 4,980 built, with the Go Package's cowl induction dropped and a production run that stretched into November 1974.
- AMC Gremlin X and Spirit AMX The Gremlin X gained a 'hockey stick' stripe. The 304 V8 remained available, but no X or V8 counts for the year were found.
- AMC Javelin The Javelin's final year: 22,556 non-AMX cars on a production run extended into November 1974.
- Buick Riviera Colonnade pillared roof; 20,129 built, 1,698 with Stage One and 4,119 with the GS handling option.
- Buick Skylark Gran Sport, GS and GSX The last year a 455 Stage 1 could be had in a Buick intermediate Gran Sport; 3,355 were built, 478 of them Stage 1.
- Chevrolet Chevelle and Malibu SS The SS was gone; the new Laguna Type S-3 coupe carried the Chevelle's performance image, with a 235 net hp 454 still on the engine list.
- Chevrolet Chevy II and Nova Spirit of America Nova (RPO Z51) offered on the Custom hatchback per the source. Enthusiast-compiled production: 390,537 cars; Super Sport 21,419.
- Chevrolet El Camino SS Colonnade-era El Camino; Chevrolet's 1974 data pages define the RPO Z15 SS option for the El Camino Classic. Team Chevelle's production totals give 51,223 El Caminos built, 4,543 of them with SS equipment.
- Dodge Challenger The last original-era Challenger shared a catalog with the Dart; the 360 replaced the 340 as the optional engine and production ended in April 1974.
- Dodge Charger The last B-body Charger before the 1975 personal-luxury redesign, with 5-mph bumpers, carried-over powertrains and an SE that accounted for 30,957 V-8 cars.
- Dodge Dart GTS, Swinger and Demon The 360 replaced the 340 in the Dart Sport, and Flory's production table counts 3,951 Dart Sport 360s at a $3,244 base price.
- Ford Maverick Grabber Grabber production fell to 23,502 by Classic Industries count.
- Ford Thunderbird Sixth-generation personal-luxury Thunderbird; the record holds the production total and the luxury-group option prices only.
- Ford Torino The 1974 Torino grew again and added the Gran Torino Elite; the Gran Torino Sport survived only as a formal-roof hardtop, with 23,142 built.
- Mercury Cougar Outside the muscle focus: 91,670 Cougars for 1974 per Wikipedia's table.
- Oldsmobile Cutlass, 4-4-2 and Hurst/Olds The Hurst/Olds paced the Indianapolis 500 again and offered a 350 for the first time: 1,800 coupes, 380 of them with the 455 W-30.
- Plymouth Barracuda and 'Cuda The final year: Barracuda and 'Cuda hardtops with a standard 318 and a new optional 360, and 11,734 built before the line ended.
- Plymouth Duster 340 and 360 The 245 net hp 360 replaced the 340 in the Duster's best sales year: 3,969 Duster 360s among 281,378 Dusters, with Twister, Gold Duster and Space Duster packages priced separately.
- Plymouth GTX, Belvedere and Satellite In 1974 a GTX nameplate came with the Road Runner's optional 440 four-barrel, TorqueFlite required; Mueller's Muscle Car Source Book counts 386 of them.
- Plymouth Road Runner The last Satellite-based Road Runner; production roughly halved from 1973.
- Pontiac Firebird and Trans Am A new nose and the last Super Duty: 10,255 Trans Ams, 943 with the SD-455.
- Pontiac GTO The last original GTO: a package on the compact Ventura with a 200 hp 350; 7,058 built.
- Pontiac Grand Am A revised nose and 17,083 built, only 342 with a four-speed.
- Pontiac Grand Prix The 455 remains the SJ engine as Grand Prix volume falls to under 100,000.
- Pontiac Tempest and LeMans With the GTO moved to the Ventura, the LeMans GT package became the intermediate performance choice, backed by 350, 400 and 455 V8 options.