Did any of these 1980 Ford products truly make your heart race? Perhaps they do if you have a keen sense of nostalgia, but professional photographers had to sell them for real in the sales catalogs of 1980, and they presented the lineup in its best light.
The 1980 Ford catalogs have long been some of my “modern” favorites, because I have a huge selection of them, ostensibly brought home when I was three years old and beginning my lifetime of literature hoarding. The brochures are worth collecting because of the photography; clearly, some serious filtering was used to create the dusky, moody atmospheres seen in so many of the pictures. Professional automotive photography is a trade where the artist gets little credit; indeed, Ford’s archives simply list the ad agency, J. Walter Thompson, as the creator of sales images. It’s easy to tell, however, that different artists did the work for different brochures.
For instance, even a man with little technical knowledge of photography like myself can tell that the Ford Courier cover has a completely different style from the Pinto cover, which is similar in theme to most of Ford’s car line catalogs in 1980.
But back to the Pinto. Since my parents drove a dissolving 1974 Pinto when I was little, the Pinto brochure was and is one of my favorites. As gorgeous as the photography is, the theme is preposterous: some kind of a family reunion where everybody drives 1980 Pintos.
And honestly, this family reunion is one of my worst nightmares, as it continues long into the evening. (My family’s always wrapped things up in a couple hours.) Still, you can almost feel the dew gathering on the grass as Grandma says good night to her freshly-permed grandson. Everyone’s laughing and having a good time, and there are no mosquitoes to be found: All is right with the world.
The Pinto entered its final year in 1980, and sales stayed fairly strong, averaging just under 200,000 units for the final three years of production (but down from a crushing 544,209 in 1974, its peak year). And I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Pinto Rallye in the flesh, especially one as bright and cheerful as this “Bright Bittersweet” example with white 13-inch wheels. And look at the “Bright Caramel” Runabout with “Cruising Package” in the upper-right corner. Glorious.
Nostalgia aside, the Pinto wasn’t many people’s idea of a “great” car in 1980, as the basic platform was nearly a decade old, and the trend was toward economical front-drivers. However, Ford’s color palette was excellent in 1980, mixing some fashionable browns with those happy yellows, oranges, and reds. There was something for everyone, and many examples can be seen on the back covers of Ford’s catalogs.
Ford abandoned the sense of family camaraderie for the Fairmont Futura brochure, instead jumping on the Star Wars bandwagon, a punchline given the car’s name: “Futura.” Has there ever been a model name more at odds with itself? Fairmont sounds like a golf course, Futura like the dream car of the 1950s that eventually became the Batmobile.
The Futura-in-space was actually a bit of an outlier, as most of the Fairmont and LTD photographs had none of the trick filtering of their Pinto compatriots. The wagons shown above, however, must have been shot by the same team as the Pintos: It’s dark, the rain has just stopped, and everyone’s smiling at each other. That strange glow lights the car.
And look at these Granadas, lit from above from some supernatural, ethereal source. What could be more inviting, and what could be more of a letdown when you got your Granada home and it gave you none of those feelings at all. Even so, this “Candyapple Red” Granada ESS (the “sporty Granada”) looked pretty good in terms of being a 1980 Ford. The 1980 model was the last of the “first-generation” Granadas, and sales plummeted from a high of 548,784 in 1976 to just 90,429 in 1980. Even more bleak was the fact that the 1979 Granada sold over 180,000 units, making 1980 a catastrophe for the aging platform.
Even the Fiesta, “Ford’s gutsy little import,” got into the act. It looks like we’re doing some nighttime trail riding on motorcycles here, so what are we doing with the Fiesta? Those bikes surely didn’t fit in the hatch, but it doesn’t matter; advertising is always about suspending one’s disbelief.
Of course, being a Mustang kid, my favorite brochure was for the recently updated pony car. This hatchback appears to be on the surface of the moon, with four headlights blazing and the driver cranking at the wheel as if he were running from the law, or maybe Martians. Ford proclaims the Mustang “a sports car for the 80s.” In a test of a turbocharged 2.3-powered Cobra, Car & Driver basically agreed, but they didn’t like the engine very much; however, it was the only option if you wanted a sporting Mustang with a manual transmission.
Here’s another “Bright Bittersweet” Ford that you’ll probably never see in real life: a coupe with the “Sport Option” TRX wheels, and a vinyl top. Climbing a hill with snow-capped mountains in the distance, why wouldn’t you want a Mustang like this? Art is too often more satisfying than reality.
Or maybe you’d prefer this luxurious “Ghia” hatchback, bathed in an otherworldly light on a foggy evening. There are no family members around this time, just a car that’s meant for you, the viewer, the driver. Painted a gleaming “White,” the Ghia does look like a sports car for the ’80s, as the cover of the brochure brags.
But my choice was always the menacing Cobra, which was, by today’s standards, gaudy, underpowered, and unrefined. Heck, it probably was all three of those things in 1980, but in the brochure, none of that matters. As a very young child, none of that mattered to me, either; I saw a world that didn’t really exist, a world that was filtered by an unrecognized artist who certainly understood the assignment: Make these cars look like something you’d want to own. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, as Ford’s model year production plummeted from 1979: 1,835,937 to 1,167,581.
Oh well, artists aren’t always appreciated in their time, are they?
These great catalog scans are all posted on “Dezo’s Garage” website.
Related Reading
CC Capsule: 1980 Ford Mustang Ghia – Vintage Vinyl (by Carey Haubrick)
Curbside Classic: 1980 Ford Fairmont Futura – Back to the Futura (by JP Cavanaugh)
Vintage Ad/Brochure Capsule: 1980 Ford Fairmont Turbo/Mercury Zephyr Turbo – Sasquatch. Nessie. Fairmont Turbo. (by William Stopford)
Curbside Classic: 1980 Ford Granada – The Falcon’s Final Spin Off (by Carey Haubrick)
i agree that anything one can do to make the mundane seem sublime is an asset to the sale. I submit this photo of what could have been a great add for the 2CV to increase sales, if Citroen needed to push the product. Even I might have bought one! Yours in mirth (and my girth), Tom
The thing I could remember from Fords of that era were the seats that were bolstered behind your shoulder blades but not further down, forcing you to slouch whether you liked it or not. So it’d have to be a Mustang with the optional Recaro seats or a Fiesta whose seats were also German for me.
Clearly the trucks needed less help so they were photographed in broad daylight – the full-size pickup line was all-new for 1980, the Courier and Econoline were relatively fresh and the Ranchero gone.
That was a thing in the 1980s.
I detested Rover Group & VW seats too, for that reason.
Opel put Recaro sports seats in most of their sporty variants and it was a genius move.
I remember our Ford brochures having the same fantastic style – they made pretty boring cars look desirable.
It’s precisely why I think internet configurator things make all modern cars look hatefully bland and uninteresting – do they all use the same IT platform?
Nice images of not very exciting vehicles .
-Nate
None too compelling here except the Fiesta, I’ve heard they were a hoot to drive. Never got the chance though.
The 1980 Thunderbird (not included?) was also available with the Recaro seats and, even more rarely specified, a console.
I don’t think the T-Bird images were done by the same team; they didn’t have quite the same look.
Ah, the red Ford Fiesta. Was there any other color? haha. My buddy had a red one. I would see red ones all over the place. I think the factory paint shop must have had a problem where the red got stuck and so they just kept pumping out the red ones.
Great little cars!
A guy I worked with at the time had a green one. It sported the license plate “3M TA3”, which he had until a Maryland State Trooper saw that in his rear view mirror and promptly pulled him over.
Seeing that his vanity plate was a legitimate Maryland issue license plate, he let him go, but my coworker received a letter in the mail a couple of weeks later telling him he needed to turn the tags in.
It seems that offensive vanity plates are a big no-no, and this one was not caught by the MVA when originally issued.
He got the idea from our drafting teacher in the high school we both attended.
It was the only Fiesta non-metallic that wasn’t a horrible shade. Even white made them look like a washing machine.
Mine was metallic gold, with the tan interior shown. There was a lime green one on the lot, heavily discounted, but I could not stand that color, especially with the black and white houndstooth seats.
As gorgeous as the photography is, the theme is preposterous: some kind of a family reunion where everybody drives 1980 Pintos.
Aww, come on now Aaron, don’t be so cynical.
As for mosquitos, from the looks of the hills, trees, and sunset, I’d say that has a strong California look.
That’s a fair assessment; I can say for certain that it’s not in Michigan!
We do have mosquitos in California. And back in 1980, we had a LOT of Pinto’s.
Hi Aaron65,
I have a large collection of car brochures (12 boxes) mostly from the 1960’s to the early 2000’s in very good condition and have run out of space to store them. Do you know of an organization or individual that may be interested? I can share my email or phone number offline if interested. Thanks.
Stephen Walton
Good question, Stephen. The only place I can think of that you might want to call is the AACA Library and Research Center in Hershey, PA. I’m sure there are others, but I think that finding homes for our old paper products is going to get harder and harder.
https://aacalibrary.org/
I donated 60 years of car books, magazines, brochures, and other memorabilia (76 USPS medium boxes) to the San Diego Automobile Museum. They use them for research in their library.
I needed to drastically downsized when we moved to senior housing.
Try a local museum or such and see if they want them.
Also try a vocation school with an auto department.
Sell it online. It’s amazing what people want for their collections. Both of our kids are into buying and selling online and they move a variety of things out quickly.
Wow! I’d take that black and silver Futura coupe. I think that they had an optional 302 V8 at some time, that would be the one to get. The motorcycles with the Fiesta are big BMW road bikes with small headlight fairings. It looks like there is a tent set up in a campground. I guess the message was that the Fiesta could take a young couple on an adventure tour, just like a motorcycle. One of the riders seems very interested in that Fiesta, or maybe he’s just too polite not to listen to the owner.
You beat me to it! The BMW on the left is an R90S or R100S, the other one is the fully faired RS version. The R90S was purportedly the brainchild of Bob Lutz when he was at BMW.
“Fairmont sounds like a golf course” – that’s going to stick and it’s not really a compliment
I confess that I find many US model names sound ridiculous without geographical context.
Durango is what you call someone who has just made an especially retarded comment, for example.
Even a Chevy Bel Air seems sarcastic, resulting in the CA smog legislation..
Mind you, the Vauxhall Carlton was our best riposte to the Oldsmobile Holiday Inn and the IH Travelodge, so I oughtn’t mock.
I liked the way the two-tone Futuras looked back then, and remember that 1980 brochure fondly, having bought a late 1979 model in September right around when the 1980 models were coming out. Sadly, mine was not two-tone, but looked nice in Midnight Blue.
But that picture hawked the Turbo-Futura, yet I do not ever recall seeing one in the metal.
The only problem I’ve ever had with that picture is the use of the imagery of the Full Moon and the Eclipsed Sun. These two things cannot be in the sky at the same time. Of course that’s the amateur astronomer in me being pedantic.
Enjoyed this! I do recall having seen the Pinto Rallye (the spelling) back in the day, and I remember liking that the aging Pinto had been given a sporty-looking package so late in the game.
That white Mustang Ghia hatch is such a pretty car. That red Fiesta is also great looking. Both cars are outliers, at least aesthetically, from the rest of the lineup.
I can also appreciate all of the photographic tricks, angles, lighting, etc. employed by the different artists for each subject car.
I was expecting to see something that had the optional Rally Fun Pack.
My middle brother had a 1980 Ford Mustang Cobra with the 2.3L Turbo in the 1979 Indy 500 Pace Car silver over black (sans 1979 Indy 500 stripes and graphics) paint scheme. Got it as a leftover in 1981. Traded off for a Volkswagen GTI (I suspect the low power and troublesome 2.3L along with the squeaks and rattles got to him.) Full air dam, hood bulge, and trunk lid spoiler fit out.
The black Mustang Cobra with the green snake 🐍 and stripe graphics in the last brochure was replicated in scale with a 1/24 USAirfix snap together model. I have one in the stash and plan to build it to look like the car in the brochure. It’s pretty funny as it has rocker panel side pipes for a turbo I4. I’ll be cutting those off.
I don’t think anything short of some heavy drugs could make me think that those cars were anything but really ugly. Ford had ugly down for many years, and the only bright spot were the trucks, somewhat. When I see a Courier, all I can think of was a coworker’s Courier hit by a ’79 Cutlass. She nearly lost her foot when the front end of that POS folded up and pinched her ankle between the brake pedal and the floor. All her foot was held on with was the Achille’s tendon and the veins/arteries. She had to have a bunch of surgeries to just walk without grunting in pain. I used to work with a guy who restored a Chevy LUV, another POS tin box. Those old little imported trucks rotted like an old shoebox here in NW Ohio, and after seeing what a 30 MPH hit from a Cutlass could do, I would never drive one, even if they were fantastic in every other way.
The body-color window louvers on the Mustang Ghia make it look like someone’s been at it with a rattle-can — I’m much more used to the later Fox Mustangs having black louvers in any color.
“Everyone’s laughing and having a good time, and there are no mosquitoes to be found: All is right with the world.” ROFL.
Amen. I will say we had a family reunion 22 years ago and it was wonderful to see the extended family. In the years since, so many have passed on…what I wouldn’t give for one last extended family holiday celebration at Grandma’s with everyone there, including my parents…..you wish you knew some events would be ‘last times’ to savor the moment as life marches on.
Around 1980 I was shopping for my first new vehicle ever, and I was trying hard to snag a Fiesta before they closed out. Alas I missed the moment, and when I picked up again the following year I did test drive an Escort, but it couldn’t hold a candle to the Accord I desired or the Corolla SR-5 I soon bought….
1980 was about the time my old Ford flame was just about burned out. It seems you had a choice. There was old stuff from the mid (if not early) 70s that had gone well beyond their sell-by dates and which attempted to claim some continuing relevance with “Euro” touches like flat black trim or such. Then there was the new stuff that seemed thin and cheap and came with uncomfortable seats and made you blow the horn from a stupid stalk. And then there were the fender gills in so many models. I would rather have the brochure than any of the cars.
And you have to love a color called “light medium blue” like on the Pinto page. Was it light or was it medium? You didn’t have to choose, but got both in one! 🙂
Guess the author is not familiar with the Ford FALCON FUTURA as he seems to imply that a FAIRMONT FUTURA is a ludicrous name.
I am QUITE sure that Aaron knows of the older Futura, as he REALLY knows his cars. His fleet is like a mini-Jay-Leno kind of thing, including an old Buick!
That said, I OWNED a 1979 Fairmont Futura when I was 19 years old (first new car), and at the time, I did not know that this was a reused name until I spotted an old Falcon sporting that name.
Later learning that this name dates back to the Batmobile’s original Lincoln concept car really blew my mind at the time.
Ha ha, yes, I’m definitely aware of the Falcon; in fact, I’ve looked at one or two or three with the intention of buying them, just never worked out. I’d love a ’65 hardtop.
With that being said, although my comment about the Fairmont seems a touch derogatory, there’s no malice behind it. That’s not really how I think; I can spot things that seem a little silly without hating them. A good rule is to assume that I’m not taking any of this stuff all that seriously. 🙂