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The 1974 Torino tried to be two cars at once: a muscle car still carrying a Cobra Jet option, and a brand-new luxury model, the Gran Torino Elite, built for buyers who’d rather have a power sunroof than a four-speed. Federal bumper mandates added inches and pounds, a one-year seatbelt interlock law came and went, and the fastback body style vanished for good. Read on to find out how one model year captured the entire identity crisis facing American performance cars in 1974.
This 1976 Ford Gran Torino carries one of television’s most recognizable paint jobs, a red-and-white coupe that fans nicknamed Zebra 3 during its run on the original Starsky & Hutch series. Decades later, the 2004 feature film revived the look for a new audience, building fresh stunt cars for jumps the original TV budget could never have attempted. The video traces both eras side by side. Watch to see which version fans think got the tribute right.
A 1972 Ford Torino Sport fastback shares the screen with Clint Eastwood in the film that would later borrow its name for the title — decades after Ford built it as one of six engine options ranging from a modest inline-six to a genuinely quick Cobra Jet 351. Consumer Guide named it a best buy the same year. Read on to find out how one mid-size Ford ended up in a Hollywood movie title.