1976 · Ford · United States
1976 Ford Ranchero GT: the smallest GT share of the trio
The Ranchero GT continued on the 1972-76 Ranchero; 4,942 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. Ford-Torino.de's production overview gives 4,942 Ranchero GTs for 1976, 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 a documented methodological note: the twenty colors listed come from hdpaintcode.com's 1976 Ford Passenger Cars chart rather than its separate Ford Trucks list, following the same split pattern used from 1972 through 1975, with this record noting that the 1976 Ford Trucks codes themselves are described as mostly dual-coded, a truck-specific code paired with a shared passenger-car code. The choice itself remains unconfirmed against a Ranchero-specific order form.3
Two further context rows, not GTs themselves, give 9,958 Ranchero 500s and 1,172 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. Across the three body-style rows, the GT accounts for a little over 30 percent of total Ranchero output for the year, the smallest GT share of the three trims by unit count and well behind the plain 500's 9,958 cars. 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 1976, a documented absence of sourced material rather than an assumption that the GT shipped without a drivetrain or factory options that year, and its 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. Specification detail is limited to a single 118.0-inch wheelbase across all trims, drawn from Wikipedia rather than a factory specification sheet, with no length, width or weight found in an accessible source, and this record's interiors, performance and identification sections are all empty as well, leaving production, paint and that single dimension as the whole of this record's coverage for the year.1
Two unpublished leads repeat the production figures already given above. A ranchero.us forum post gives the identical 4,942 GT, 9,958 Ranchero 500 and 1,172 Squire lineage, naming no source beyond the usual attribution to the Standard Catalog. A French photo site, trombinoscar.com, gives the same three figures with its own prices attached, $3,980 for the GT, $3,915 for the Ranchero 500 and $4,668 for the Squire, prices this record does not adopt into its own price section since the site cites no source of its own and its Ranchero pages carry labelling errors across several other model years.2
Fact sheet · 1976 · United States
The numbers
1976 Ford Ranchero GT — The Ranchero GT continued on the 1972-76 Ranchero; 4,942 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 GT · sedan pickup · as published | 4,942 | built, model-year | Reported |
| What was counted | Count | Basis | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ranchero 5002 Ranchero 500 · sedan pickup · as published Not a GT; context for the GT share. | 9,958 | built, model-year | Reported |
| Ranchero Squire2 Squire · sedan pickup · as published Not a GT; context for the GT share. | 1,172 | built, model-year | Reported |
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 1976 Ranchero total was found. The three rows are not added, because no source seen states that they exhaust the year. 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 |
|---|---|---|
1G |
Silver Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
1H |
Medium Slate Blue Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
2B |
Bright Red3 | Not yet sourced |
2M |
Dark Red3 | Not yet sourced |
2R |
Vermilion3 | Not yet sourced |
3E |
Bright Blue Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
3G |
Dark Blue Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
3M |
Silver Blue Glow3 | Not yet sourced |
3S |
Light Blue3 | Not yet sourced |
4T |
Green Glow Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
4V |
Dark Yellow Green Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
5M |
Medium Copper Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
5Q |
Dark Brown Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
5T |
Saddle Bronze Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
5U |
Tan Glow Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
6E |
Bright Yellow3 | Not yet sourced |
6P |
Cream3 | Not yet sourced |
6U |
Tan3 | Not yet sourced |
6V |
Golden Glow Metallic3 | Not yet sourced |
6W |
Light Gold3 | 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 | 1976 Ranchero, all trims |
Identification
Read a 1976 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 1976
- AMC AMX No AMX was sold in the United States for 1976. The Javelin ended after 1974, and the badge returned on the 1977 Hornet.
- AMC Gremlin X and Spirit AMX The last year of the V8 Gremlin. The 304 was cancelled at midyear after 826 installations, and the X package moved to Custom models only.
- Buick Riviera The GS name gave way to an S/R package, fitted to 1,619 of 20,082 Rivieras.
- Chevrolet Chevelle and Malibu SS The final Laguna Type S-3 year; the 454 no longer appears on the compiled engine list.
- Chevrolet Chevy II and Nova Last Nova SS year in the source production table. Enthusiast-compiled production: 334,728 cars; Super Sport 7,416.
- Chevrolet El Camino SS Colonnade-era El Camino; Chevrolet's 1976 data pages define the RPO Z15 SS option for the El Camino Classic. Team Chevelle's production totals give 44,890 El Caminos built, 5,163 of them with SS equipment.
- Dodge Dart GTS, Swinger and Demon The final year of the approved Dart chronology; MuscleCarClub reports 13,642 Dart Sports of all engines, and Flory says the Dart Sport 360 was dropped.
- Ford Maverick Grabber The Grabber was dropped and a Stallion paint-and-trim package took its place; no Stallion count was found.
- Ford Thunderbird Sixth-generation personal-luxury Thunderbird; the record holds the production total and the luxury-group option prices only.
- Ford Torino The last Torino year: 193,096 built with no Sport model left, and Ford's 1,000 white-striped red 'Starsky and Hutch' Gran Torino replicas were the only performance-styled edition.
- Mercury Cougar Outside the muscle focus: 83,765 Cougars for 1976 per Wikipedia's table.
- Oldsmobile Cutlass, 4-4-2 and Hurst/Olds An appearance and handling option in this period; no Hurst/Olds was offered and no production figure was found.
- Plymouth Duster 340 and 360 The Duster's last year offered the 360 only with TorqueFlite and not in California, beside the new Feather Duster economy and Silver Duster decor packages; reference books disagree on production (26,688 or 34,681).
- Plymouth Road Runner The Road Runner became a Volare option package.
- Pontiac Firebird and Trans Am The first black-and-gold Trans Am, the last Trans Am 455, and a Firebird line past 110,000.
- Pontiac Grand Prix Quad headlamps and a 50th-anniversary year for Pontiac; the last Grand Prix 455.
- Pontiac Tempest and LeMans The 455 returns to the LeMans options list, a 260 V8 with a five-speed arrives for the Sport Coupe, and a Rally RTS Handling Package replaces the GT.