If you know these trucks, you can call the year from across a parking lot — and nine times out of ten, you’re reading the grille to do it.
The Ford Highboy ran from 1967 to early 1977, which means it lived across two different truck generations: the bumpside years (1967–1972) and the early dentside years (1973–1977). Ford reworked the front end almost every single year in that stretch, so the grille is the single fastest way to pin down exactly what you’re looking at.
This guide walks the grille year by year across the entire highboy run — 1967 through 1977, start to finish. (The dentside body kept going through 1978–79, but by then the highboy was gone, so those years sit outside a highboy grille guide.)
The Bumpside Years: 1967–1972
The bumpside gets its name from the raised body-line crease that runs the length of the truck. Under that shared body, though, Ford treated the grille like a yearly signature — no two years in a row wore the same one. Here’s how to tell them apart.
1967
1967 is where it all starts — the first year of the bumpside generation, wearing a grille unique to this one year. It’s a squared-off, horizontal-bar design with the parking lamps tucked below the headlights. The quickest way to confirm a true ’67: it’s the only bumpside year without side marker reflectors on the hood and bed — those became federal law the following year. No side markers plus that squared-off face, and you’ve got a ’67.
1968
The 1968 wears a horizontal-bar grille with a bright anodized center bar and, on top-trim trucks, a Ranger emblem dead center — a detail Ford only used for 1968 and 1969. The easiest way to separate a ’68 from the near-identical ’67, though, isn’t the grille at all: 1968 is the first year of the federally mandated side marker reflectors, mounted on the sides of the hood and the rear of the bed. Spot those reflectors and you’ve got a ’68 or later.
1969
Ford revised the grille again for 1969 — as they did nearly every year of this run. It’s its own design: the center detailing and bar treatment change from the ’68, with a red accent running across the face. 1969 is also the year the range-topping Ranger XLT trim arrived and the 302 V8 joined the option sheet.
1970
1970 is the big one. This is the most dramatic single-year change of the bumpside run — a completely redesigned grille and reworked front-end trim. If a bumpside’s face suddenly looks wider and more modern than the ’68–’69 trucks, you’re looking at 1970 or later.
1971
The 1971 wears the squared-headlight, twin-opening front end — and here’s the tell that ends the ’71-versus-’72 argument for good: the 1971 grille has two vertical pillars on each side. Count the pillars per side. Two? It’s a ’71.
1972
1972 closed out the bumpside generation with the same overall face as the ’71 — but with one vertical pillar per side instead of two. That single pillar is the cleanest, fastest way to separate a ’72 from a ’71 at a glance, and it’s the last of the bumpside grilles.
The Dentside Years: 1973–1977
For 1973 Ford launched an all-new truck — the dentside, named for the sharp crease pressed into the body sides. The cab got bigger, the ride got smoother (Ford literally marketed it as riding “like a car”), and the grille got a clean new look that, for once, Ford actually left alone for a while.
1973
The 1973 kicks off the dentside with FORD lettering back up above the grille, marker lights on either side, and a two-piece grille split down the middle by a single vertical bar over a fine grid. Clean and simple — so much so that Ford didn’t touch it for two more years.
1974 and 1975
Here’s the one that trips people up: 1973, 1974, and 1975 all wear the exact same grille. Ford ran that grid design three model years straight — the first time in more than two decades they’d kept a truck grille unchanged that long. So the grille alone won’t separate these three; you go to the details instead. 1974 brought the SuperCab, and 1975 is when the F-150 arrived.
1976
For 1976 Ford revamped the grille — they thinned out the horizontal bars, which turned the grid into more of an egg-crate look, and squared up the frames around the headlights. The FORD lettering and marker lights stayed put, and it kept the two-piece layout.
1977
The 1977 carries over the ’76 egg-crate grille (there was also a 77-only insert variant), with the identifying badges moved up near the A-pillar and a fuel-filler door replacing the old exposed cap. It’s also the end of the road for the highboy — Ford wrapped up highboy production in early 1977. If you’ve got a ’77 highboy, you own one of the very last ones built.
Quick Reference: Grille at a Glance
- 1967 — squared-off horizontal-bar grille, parking lamps below the headlights; no side marker reflectors (the only bumpside year without them)
- 1968 — horizontal bars, bright center bar, center emblem on top trim; first year of side marker reflectors
- 1969 — revised grille and center detailing; Ranger XLT debuts
- 1970 — the big redesign; wider, bolder full-width front end
- 1971 — squared headlight surrounds, twin openings, two pillars per side
- 1972 — last bumpside; same face as ’71 but one pillar per side
- 1973 = 1974 = 1975 — the same grid grille three years running
- 1976 = 1977 — egg-crate revision with squared headlight frames (the last highboy year is ’77)
The pairs to remember: 1973–75 are identical and 1976–77 are the same — every other year from 1967 to 1972 is one-of-one. And when you’re stuck on 1971 versus 1972, count the pillars: two per side is a ’71, one per side is a ’72.
Know Your Truck, Gear It Right
Reading the grille is step one. If you want the rest of the story on what actually makes these trucks special, start with what makes a truck a Ford Highboy, then dig into the difference between a bumpside and a dentside.
And once you know what you’re driving, wear it: shop the Bumpside collection for the ’67–’72 trucks or the Dentside collection for the ’73–’77s — gear built for trucks exactly like yours.
Partial to one year’s front end in particular? The Grille Series puts these exact grilles on tees, hoodies, hats, and mugs — find your year and wear it.
Related: Learn what makes a truck a Ford Highboy, or compare bumpside vs. dentside — then shop the Bumpside, Dentside, and Grille Series collections.
