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Ford built 24,946 Rancheros for 1971 and only 3,632 of them wore the GT badge. Fewer still left the factory with the 429 Super Cobra Jet, an engine that made this car-based pickup quick enough to run with a Chevelle SS 454. It was also the last year that combination existed, which is why finding a correct one takes years rather than weekends. Here is what made the 1971 Ranchero GT worth the search.
A stock Shelby GT350 already revs to 8,250 rpm on a flat-plane crank and sounds like nothing else Ford has ever built. Add a ProCharger and push it past 1,000 horsepower, and it becomes a very different weapon, aimed squarely at the Corvette Z06 that Chevrolet engineered to beat it. Traction, not horsepower, usually decides this one. Read on for what separates these two approaches and what boosting a Voodoo V8 actually costs.