(first posted 10/29/2015) I’ve been on business travel this week, visiting with clients in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines, Iowa, and also in Omaha, Nebraska. It was incredible fun after my workday was over to hang out in downtown Des Moines for the first time in two years. I hit some of my favorite spots (Fong’s Pizza, Django’s) and tried out a few new ones (The Continental), having great conversations with locals along the way and documenting my adventures in pictures with my trusty Canon. And then this happened.
Following an evening that ended with a nightcap, a bag of Cornuts and watching Adult Swim on Cartoon Network (you have to make business travel work for you), I awoke to resume the serious life of an insurance underwriter. While waiting outside the hotel for my colleague, the marketing guy, to arrive in his Ecoboosted Ford Fusion, I spotted a different, white Ford sedan from another era in the morning rush hour traffic. This Granada came from seemingly out of nowhere to a spot of prominence (much like Granadas did in the U.S. market) in front of the hotel.
It dawned on me that perhaps thirty-five years ago, it might have been a fleet-issue Granada similar to this one in which I might have been riding, and also its abstract potato-peeler hood ornament I might have been staring at with the Eagles playing in the background. (I do like the Eagles, for the record.) The dealership sticker on the trunk read “Mason City Ford”, which is still in business about two hours north of Des Moines in the great state of Iowa. Wouldn’t it be something if the gentleman behind the wheel was the original owner?
CC Contributor Tom Klockau had written a piece late last year about a brown, ’77 Granada Ghia sedan for sale that had me convinced I had reversed my dislike of both brown cars and Granadas. The decadent broughaminess of his example made it look like a tasty triple-chocolate cake on wheels, even with its minor cosmetic damage. This week’s example, however, had me questioning much of my newfound Granada-love. While its condition (for a driver) was remarkable, this one’s particular trim level and color combo left me cold, as did the square-headlight ’78 restyle of these cars, in general.
Contrasted against Klockau’s brown Ghia, which was more like a delicious, fattening, hotel-lobby breakfast pastry (I regret nothing), this white one seemed more like yogurt with blueberries and granola sprinkles – a sensible choice, but no fun. I suppose its blue, vinyl roof treatment does help keep it from looking quite as much like an appliance as it could. That said, I’m just glad Ford’s mainstream, volume sedan offerings have come as far as they have in the time I went from being a toddler to a working adult.
As photographed by the author in downtown Des Moines, Iowa.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015.
Also related:
- Carey Haubrick: Curbside Classic: 1980 Ford Granada – The Falcon’s Final Spin Off; and
- Dave Skinner: Curbside Classic- 1977 Mercury Monarch Ghia.
When these were new , I thought them to be designed for the sensible buyer…
Not a bad thing IMO .
-Nate
I think Ford did a good job with the first gen Granada. They were well timed for the market, Development costs had to be less than Volare since the “guts” were worked out in the late 1950s. The sold a gillion of them and I’ll bet 98% of the first buyers had no idea that they were high zoot Falcons. I’d call that a win.
My MIL had a Granada six with a three speed column shift. Did not hold that against the car. I am not a Ford guy but sure got a grudging respect for the car after watching her beat on it for several years.
That’s a ’79. You can tell by the more robust, but less stylish, gas cap door. I’ve waited 35 years for that bit of knowledge to be useful. Thank you.
The idle mind…….
This is one of the best comments I’ve read lately. 🙂
Found this out of the blue one day, I think it’s a 75′ but not sure:
Another photo from the back:
Yes, it’s a 1975 much like one I had once. Here’s the lightly-redone ’76-77 grille:
All these years and I never noticed that! I thought the ’75-’77 grills were all the same.
I think the FORD lettering was also moved from the top of the grille to above the grille (or vice versa) one of these years, though I have no idea which one
That is a really basic base model! The low-line cars did have the advantage of not having the plastic door over the gas filler that always broke off. Are you in Israel? I have to wonder if you have just seen the only Granada in the entire country.
Ah yes, the gas-cap lid that broke at the first gas fill after a freeze. Some finance geek (hey I used to be one for Ford) probably got a promotion for saving 50 cants/unit by using a plastic hinge instead of a metal one.
One of many reasons that, had I not started working for Ford, my ’75 Monarch would have been my last Ford product ever, and I would never even have considered buying anything built by Ford. I’ve ranted many times here about my numerous beefs with this car (maybe downthread in 2015 – I don’t remember), so I won’t repeat myself now. Suffice to say in terms of usability for its intended purpose and general drivability, this represented a low point for the Ford Motor Company.
What was the last car to have the gas cap in the rear?
I know the ’95 Caprice did, I’ll assume the ’96 too. Can’t imagine anything newer.
Correct. The 1996 Chevy Caprice, Buick Roadmaster, and Cadillac Fleetwood tie for that honor.
It makes fueling my ’94 Fleetwood much easier since you don’t have to worry about which side of the pump you pull up to.
Having had several Buick Electras and Cadillac Broughams M.Y.s ’77-’89, I got used to not giving a thought as to where the filler was. Even when you finally remember where it is, Your next car almost always reverses it. (My karma, I guess..)
1992 Cadillac Brougham (and maybe ’93-’96 replacements)?
The door over the gas cap actually makes it an ’80.
I have no recollection of non-Ghias ever having a gas door instead of a round cap. I would have thought given how easily broken the doors were, Ford would use the round cap wherever possible.
We are sad bunch..
Seems I learn something new from CC every day! I wonder sometimes if there should be a car knowledge-based game show… (Paul could host.)
I thought it was Mercedes……………………what a rare sight cant remember the last time I saw one. I always thought it was decent looking car.
Ford wanted people to think that the Granada looked like a Mercedes.
I always liked the Granada/Monarch twins. They were what they were, simple and sturdy and aimed at value-conscious buyers. A friend had a ’77 Granada sedan that actually looked downright luscious in dark green with matching vinyl upholstery. A six cylinder with automatic, it did everything he asked of it for many years.
Sturdy? Uh, no. Mine blew up the front u-joint at three years old, the alternator also at three, and the transmission at four.
Those Mercedes ads were a serious mistake, forcing people to make an invidious comparison.
The car itself WASN’T pretentious; it didn’t seem to be posing. Just a good enough car for a good enough price.
Ford had advertised the Maverick as unpretentious; they should have used the same pitch for Granada, which was a better car all around.
Not the first automaker to man comparisons like that. I believe AMC ran ads comparing their Ambassador to a Rolls Royce.
Ford also ran ads in ’65 saying the LTD was quieter than a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud, except in that case it was actually true.
Like the GM A/G body cars of similar vintage these cars varied quite a bit depending on the options, trim levels, color choice, body style and suspension etc. Those items could quickly make or break what one thought of these cars. The most desirable ones IMO came in coupe form with V8 engines, no vinyl tops, bucket seats with floor shifter, optional handling suspension and of course operational gauges. And lets not forget the wheels. leave the cover and wires fro granny. Make mine rally or alloy with RWL tires in a larger size please.
The only gauges that were offered on the Granada were a speedo and fuel gauge. No other gauges – not even as a listed option.
Yup. GM and Ford never understood one of the things that Benz and BMW buyers wanted was a dash with round dials that provided actual information. The Seville had the same problem. Ford could have used the Mustang II gauge cluster, or something like it.
GM offered operational gauges clusters across the board on the A/G body cars. Buick didn’t include a tachometer unless it was a T-type or GM of 84-87 vintage and Chevy charged extra in addition to the regular gauges. Pontiac and Olds had two version available. Rally or rally with tach. The Granada/Monarch as stated didn’t have this option which made them less desirable to me.
Should have been more descriptive. It was actually the GM’s I was referring to regarding the optional gauge package setups.
Yeah, looking back that dash sucked big time. I thought the same thing, surely they could adapt the Mustang II cluster to it. Even the Mopar F-bodies had a nicer dash, at least a temp gauge, although things like a trip meter had to wait until the M-body.
My mother almost bought a new Granada in ’75 (sedan, silver w/red vinyl roof and interior). I always thought they were good-looking cars for their time.
Sweet looking car. I’ve always liked the Ford Granada. I had a neighbour who had one when I was a boy.
I’ve never been a fan of these but I seem to warming to them. That’s probably because you never see them anymore though.
I can vouch for the robustness of these machines, back in high school in the late 90’s a like-minded student had a Monarch 2 door he inherited from a elderly relative. He was the kind of guy who’d do a one-legged burnout anywhere there was a crowd. The poor 302 would struggle against the forces of friction but he could always get it spinning, although it wasn’t very impressive. I suspect that poor car met a bad ending.
The Granada/Monarch were originally intended to be replacements for the Maverick/Comet rather than to complement them in the lineup. At some point, Ford decided to move them “upscale” and sell them alongside.
The Maverick was initially “The Simple Machine”. The Granada was that Simple Machine dressed in knock off Mercedes designer clothing. In Mom Jeans size.
There are a couple of reasons that the Maverick hung around for a few more years than originally planned. #1 its sales had picked back up after the first energy crisis. #2 a lot of people were moving to Broughams rather than spartan vehicles as witnessed by the take rate of the LDO on the Maverick.
It allowed them to sell the Maverick on price and the Granada as a premium compact w/o the stigma of also being sold on price.
The Maverick in “Mom Jeans” reference – priceless. 🙂
I should have added a qualifier to this article acknowledging I knew the Granada was supposed to be upscale from the Maverick which shared its Falcon roots. Mea culpa. But for some reason I remember seeing way more first-gen Granadas than Mavericks *or* Fairmonts when I was growing up, hence my perception that they were the Ford for everyman versus “upscale”.
The ones with the exposed, round, chrome gas cap looked pretty low-rent to me.
But you couldn’t rubber floor mats and an almost complete lack of sound deadening in the Granada, you had to go to the Maverick or Fairmont if you wanted that from Ford. Yes by today’s standards the Granada seems pretty low rent but for the time it was pretty upscale for a car from the low priced three. Also this is the time that buyers tastes were starting to shift away from the basic no frills car to something a little nicer. Manual transmissions were starting to, or had disappeared on all but sub compacts, power steering, brakes and AC were on the upswing.
I remember a older farmer from up the road buying an early Granada. It was a very shiny mint green with dark green vinyl top and interior. It was of a high trim level and looked quite upscale. He had bought that car after having second and third generation Dodge Darts. The first time I saw him with that Granada, I could tell that he was proud of his purchase decision and felt that he’d moved up.
Any Granada I have driven is quieter riding than the Fairmont series cars. My 1979 Fairmont sedan was by far the noisiest car I have driven to date. My grandfather’s 1980 squire wagon was only slightly better with the sound insulation upgrade.
Such unhealthy-food based responses to these Fordean visions of 70s malaise!
Was it the after-effects of a dinner of alcohol and corn-nuts, or the mere presence of being in Iowa? Your food-references to the cars seem to be as firmly rooted to a particular place and long-forgotten time as the cars!
LOL!! I wonder what the automotive equivalent of BBQ Cornuts would be…
I really like Des Moines, by the way. As in most cities, there are aspects of it that seem frozen in time a little bit, but no moreso than many places I’ve been. And for the record, the Cornuts and booze was not my actual dinner. 🙂
Des Moines continues to change for the better in the six years since you have been here. No Granada sightings of late, but I did see an early 60’s Falcon convertible pulling away at a freeway off ramp this past summer. Couldn’t believe how miniature it appeared in comparison to all vehicles around it.
I didn’t like these at all as a child. The older round-lamp versions in higher trim levels are starting to appeal to me, but this one is still only noteworthy due to its rarity and condition–still not fond of the square-lamp redesign. And other than the blue vinyl top and perhaps upgraded wheel covers this is one basic machine.
Due to its rarity and condition, though, it’s nice to see it and I’m glad you got these photos of this time warp car!
I also never liked the models with the squared headlights either, they just didn’t look right on these cars, I’ve thought the rounded headlights looked better, I agree the 1st generation Granada’s/Monarch’s are a rare sight nowadays, I remember these cars were everywhere back in the 80’s/early 90’s and then they all the sudden vanished.
If the rust didn’t get them, the suspension would break apart, front and rear. I once saw one where the rear leaf springs were so busted up that the axle had come adrift and shifted sideways, the tire hitting the wheelwell lip.
There were alot of horrific square-headlight facelifts in the late ’70s when it was deemed that round headlights made anything look like an old car. The worst was probably the Cordoba, but the Granada was certainly up there.
Stacked rectangular headlights on the ’76 Buick Century sedan and wagon.
Take a look at a ’78 Concord… Ick. IMHO the worst rectangular headlight conversion.
Very nice catch. I was in high school when these came out and I knew quite a few people who bought Granadas/Monarch. In my experience, the rate of conquest sales was amazing. My father traded a 4 year old Continental Mark IV. A friend’s dad traded a 72 Newport. A friend of my mother traded a Mustang II and a relative traded a Chevy Impala. This car hit all the right styling notes for 1975-76.
Like some others, I never cared for the square headlight versions much. By then, the car was starting to become a victim of its success, and there were so many around that they became ordinary. Also, as gas prices went down in 1977-78, people started gravitating back to bigger cars (at least temporarily). finally, I never thought the later cars were as well built as the earlier ones. But that is just anecdotal.
And that hood ornament? I still say that it is two people nearly touching each other butt to butt. 🙂
Haha!! JPC, your interpretation of the hood ornament is so perfectly 70’s-appropriate!
My childhood best friends parents brought a brand new 1977 Granada Ghia 4 door sedan. It was a beautiful jade green with matching green interior with a white vinyl top, white pinstripes, white wheel covers, and white body side molding. The car was sharp looking, plus his parents checked off every option box. It was fully loaded.
I always enjoyed riding in the Ghia..and for it’s time and price, the interior was very luxurious. I believe theirs had the luxury décor package cause it was the only one I ever saw with that type of interior trim. It was very fancy indeed. Seats were like corduroy and the door panels were very nice with full length armrests.
The Ghia served the family well for a very long time and they never had any major problems with it.
Like this?
That is a proper Granada interior.
I believe the Granada/Monarch was the last car to be built at the Ford plant in Mahwah, New Jersey. This plant was always among the worst for poor assembly quality.There was rampant absenteeism and drug and alcohol problems. I guess the workers had a blast while it lasted, but Ford shut down the plant around 1980. The area was depressed for years, as all those high paid blue collar jobs vanished-never to return.
I liked the 78 and 79s. To my 11 yr old eyes they looked fresh and modern and made the earlier round headlight cars seem from a much earlier time. Time hasn’t changed that view either.
I’m with you, I prefer the rectangular headlamp cars. Still, I wouldn’t pass up a round headlight Granada for the right price.
Funny how the subject car’s paint scheme deflates the brougham factor, yet if you reverse it to blue with a white vinyl roof, it becomes broughamtastic!
My father rented a 1976 Granada Ghia for 3 weeks while his 1970 Fairlane 500 wagon was in the shop after being smashed in the front. Having a fairly upscale car was a nice change of pace from the stripped down, three on the tree Fairlane. However, the 1978 Fairmont was much more efficient, and the Granada’s heyday was over. I wish Ford still made a car with the name though
I don’t won’t this to turn into a political free-for-all but Ford Granadas always remind me of an ironic story. Going on memory, I’d say that this story takes place around 1981-2. My brother in law worked for a Boston area Ford dealer. Knowing that I was a young teen who collected auto emblems, (do kids do that anymore?) he would often pull emblems off of trade ins for me that were to be wholesaled. One day he tossed me a Ghia emblem off of a Granada and said “Guess whose car this came off of.” I didn’t know so he informed me it was off of George Bush’s car! “Wow, the vice president?” I asked. He responded, “No it’s George Bush Jr, as he put it. So the emblem goes into a box with many more and one day around 2004 I come across that box and start to go through it and I find that same Ghia emblem and I think of the story of who it belonged to and much to my sudden surprise, it dawns on me that George Bush Jr is now known as W, the 43rd president. He must have been going to or from the family estate in Maine and needed to buy a car. It still isn’t worth anything but the story is true. Would you make up such a story and expect anyone to believe it?
Hey, that’s neat no matter which way you lean. I have a badge from an ’80s or ’90s LeSabre, but actively collecting them is a little harder nowadays because not only is every letter separate on most cars, the badges themselves are glued to the car much more securely than back in the “good old days.”
my 78 showroom lowball special—6/3speed no air—-went to look at a fairmont and came home with this puppy
I had wheel time in exactly 3 of these, the first was my Drivers Ed car, a ’75 2-door Monarch in the classic Brown of the time. The 302 in it couldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding, and would stumble and stutter along with momentary strange engine cutouts in certain part throttle conditions. Fast forward to the fall of ’76, we were given a bare-bones ’76 Granada 2-door with a 351 as a loaner, while Ford Leasing decided what to do with my dad’s near-totaled ’76 Elite. That one actually had a bit of balls and would lay rubber, to my surprise. I hooned that thing every chance I got, and it played a large role in the great Halloween night ’76 caper.
Then , the dealer called and we had to turn it back because it had been sold (ha ha!),
sight unseen. Likely to a wholesaler, as it WAS a rental.
The third was a turd, a brand new Dove Grey ’77 4-door with red interior, 302 and AC, and little else. This one definitely could not lay rubber, however I did catch air over my favorite railroad crossing a couple of times, the thing took it very well, stood up just fine. We gave it back after the Elite was returned, poorly repaired.
My father’s 76 Monarch had the 351, and I remember it to be as fast as the loaner that you recall. Dad’s would lay rubber too. And easily hit 100 (or what I estimated to be 100 on the 85 mph speedometer). We had no drivability problems with it. The only issue was a shift linkage that liked to bind up in park. He had to get a tow once when he ignored the advice he always gave me: “Don’t force it, you’ll break it.”
You lucky people. We looked at what was probably hundreds of these cars back in the day and never ever found any factory 351 equipped Granada/Monarchs. In fact my grandparents in 1979 were looking for a replacement for there 1963 Chevy Nova. The older generations kept cars for what seemed like forever. Grandpa and I combed many a dealer before we came across a clean low mileage 302 white 1976 Tudor with bucket seats and A/C. Most of them seemed to be 250 L6 and even a few 200’s were seen.
IINM, the 200 (which was only available on base models, not Ghias) and 351 were both dropped after 1977. Not sure about the 200, but there can’t have been many of the 351s built.
In Canada, we never got the 200.
The 351 was only offered in 1975-76… and the 200 was dropped after 1977… leaving just the 250 & the 302 to carry on for 1978-80. Malaise-y goodness.
Ford had a knack for introducing cars that were just right when introduced, and through bad management or bad luck, the cars became irrelevant within five years or less.
The Granada was a perfect example. In 1975 it was a fresh compact and arguably the first to offer big car styling (think mini-me LTD) and big car interior attributes, options, and features. Gas mileage wasn’t terrific, but meaningfully better than a Ford Torino or LTD, and most any other domestic mid / large car.
1976: Chrysler offers the fully updated Volare and Aspen compacts – credible competition across the price spectrum. Yes, these cars fell apart, but nobody knew that in 1976.
1977: Chrysler offers new luxury compacts. The Diplomat and LeBaron aggressively take on the most luxurious Granadas.
1977: GM offers new full-size cars that provide fuel efficiency comparable to Ford’s rather inefficient powertrains as installed in Ford compacts. They also offer fresher styling, much better interior and trunk room and cross over with Granada’s upper price points. The economy is also robust and people are willing to spring a few more bucks for a nicer car.
1978: GM’s new mid-size cars take on what had been a compact footprint outside, but are much more space efficient inside. Outside of rear windows that don’t roll down in four door sedans, there is essentially no logical case to choose a Granada over several other cars available on the market.
1979: GM’s new compacts redefine the segment. The 1st generation Granada is on life support.
1980: Another oil price shock kills the auto market and the cramped, inefficient Granada is completely irrelevant in the marketplace.
1981: A second generation Granada is introduced – a gussied up Ford Fairmont. It looks dated and the relatively cheap bones of the budget minded Fairmont show through. Saddled with Ford’s inefficient powertrains, the car is irrelevant the day it hits showroom floors.
1982: While nobody is looking, the second generation is allowed to die.
The LTD for ’83 was another reskin of the same platform, but managed to come across as more modern due to the somewhat sleek, angular shape. I wonder if they thought the Granada name was so sullied by the 2nd-gen cars that it was no longer usable? Because Ford’s LTD confusion between the late 70’s and early 80’s was nearly as bad, if on a smaller scale, than Olds’s Cutlass Everything of the 80’s.
I would concur with that, they had about an 18 month time window of being leading edge, becoming also-ran very quickly. I can’t imagine what they were thinking when they did the ’81-’82 version. They couldn’t have made it uglier on purpose! Compared to that, the Fairmont Futura could have been done by Pininfarina! BTW, I knew of several early Diplomat and LeBarons that fell apart just as quickly as the F-Body, my parents being one.
Great summary. To varying degrees, the Falcon, Maverick and Fairmont all went through a similar process.
These cars were EVERYWHERE back in the day. Everyone I knew that had one seemed to like theirs. They were decent transportation for not a lot of money. They did have their issues, mainly body rot and suspension failures. Probably why they came and went so fast.
I was out with a friend who was driving her parent’s dark brown ’76 Granada sedan – it must have been around 1984 when the inevitable occurred. She hit a pothole and we heard a huge bang. I thought we had a blowout, but it was something totally unexpected. The car slanted to the right and made a horrific noise so she pulled over. The back of the car was sagging so much that we could hardly see the back tire on the passenger side. We opened the trunk and were shocked at what we saw. The leaf spring from the suspension had busted right through the rotted trunk and was staring us in the face. It was very bizarre to see that, to say the least! That was the end of her parent’s Granada. It had about 90,000 miles on it when it was junked. I’m thinking a lot of them suffered the same fate which led to their eventual demise.
Before reading this post, I hadn’t thought about these cars in years. Nor had I seen one. But yesterday afternoon, I went to Tractor Supply to buy a hand cart. When I left the store, I had to stop for cars turning onto the interstate on ramp. The car at the front, about six cars ahead of me, was a dark green 4 door Granada with a white roof. It turned onto the ramp, but as I passed the intersection, I saw that it had pulled off to the right side and stopped. As I considered turning around, thinking the driver might need assistance, he, or she pulled back onto the ramp and drove away. What an unexpected coincidence.
If the dealer sticker said Mason City Ford, that car’s changed hands since 2008. In ’79 the Ford dealership in Mason City was either Pritchard Ford or, more likely, Don Lafrenz Ford. Can’t remember which. But it wasn’t Mason City Ford until 2008.
My parents had a ’80 with the 302 and it was a very reliable car for something like 150,000 miles.
I guess they were lucky.
I think most Granadas were reliable cars. I honestly don’t remember reading anything negative about their durability, outside of their tendency to rust (which was not Granada-specific for Ford products of that era). I’m glad your parents got good use out of theirs. Not as many buyers liked the new, Fairmont-based ’81s.
I concur. It was just a Falcon/Maverick with Rube Goldberg emission controls, so how bad could a Granada be? It was, after all, the mid-seventies and it wasn’t like any domestic from the Malaise Era was a ‘good’ car.
This must be the last Granada left with a fuel filler door that hasn’t snapped off.
If you ever watch the movie “All the President’s Men”, which depicts the Washington Post newsroom just after the Watergate break-in, watch for a Granada driving by as Bob Woodward calls Deep Throat from a phone booth in what’s supposed to be 1972. Also some big GM sedans with rectangular headlamps.
The Grenada was from the future, calling out “Hey, it’s Mark Felt!” but sadly no one heard it through all the Ford sound deadening material.
lol!
I don’t know who foresaw a need for a Granada, but talk about timing. It hits the market just as the gas crisis hits. It was a horrible drive, but it was ideal for 1974-1975. Then Ford began from scratch with what ended up being Fox bodies. Everything that stunk about the Granada was fixed with the Fairmont and Mustang, Zephyr and Capri. Someone lit a fire under Ford’s butt, didn’t they?
Half-baked crap cars were the norm then. The Granada was just a bit better than the rest.
No way would I want one now. I remember them. They were about as much fun to drive as a kitchen chair mounted on a Tupperware lazy susan powered by a 9 volt battery.
> I don’t know who foresaw a need for a Granada
Lido, of course
> Everything that stunk about the Granada was fixed with the Fairmont and Mustang, Zephyr and Capri. Someone lit a fire under Ford’s butt, didn’t they?
Except the engines, which were still pretty lame until 1982.
Like the ChryCo K-Cars, the Granada was the right car at that time .
I didn’t like them either but they weren’t made for enthusiasts, they were cheap bread and butter cars that sold well and didn’t break down a lot apart from that incredibly stupid fuel filler door .
I have no idea how they stood up to teenagers and angry druns but for Mom & Pop they did Yeoman Duty just fine .
-Nate
I had a 250 $ 76 I used as a taxi. The 250 inline 6 was slow and inefficient and got about 12 miles to the gallon which was less than the 400 cid 78 ltd Landau coupe I drove as a regular car.
It had that horrible dash with the fakest fake wood ever and a speedometer and gas gauge only. It rode rather poorly and took alot of road to turn around for such a little car. It did last me 330000 miles before i junked it. I never put much money into it all the time i had it. only repair i remember was screwing on wide rocker trim off and Olds delta 88 to hide the rust holes behind the back wheels and putting a Used leaf spring on one side after the original snapped under the weight of a 400 lb woman I was driving. it burned 3 quarts of oil per day and after it busted a coolant line when left idling unattended it started using 10 quarts a day and putting oil in the cooling system. it would over heat and i would drain the radiator and fill it with water and drive on. I got free preowned oil from an oil change place. Like 2 milk jugs a day. you had to pull plugs 3 and 4 every day and scrape them even with anti foulers installed unless you used amoco gas then it was every 4 or 5 days before it misfired and needed a scrap. i drove it for 6 months like this and finally it had next to no compression. I junked it. and before let friend salvage the good tires and wheels and the front grill for his granada. Then on way to junk yard oil light came on and it started knocking. I floored it and got it up to 80 before it cut off and was able to coast the rest of the way to the yard. Interestingly that was not the end. I shortly moved away and 3 years later came back and went to cab stand to see a friend and lo and behold the Grenada was back. someone replaced the 6 and missing grill. but it was definitly same car with a new paint job. still had the aftermarket plastic cow hood ornament and 0lds rocker trim. I bet who ever got that car spent 2 decent crown vics worth of money. I did not like it as a car. it was slow and thirsty and a piece of junk. it held up well though. it wasted me 330k miles and had 380k on it when new owner got hit by a bread truck and totaled it. It was a survivor of 2 junkyards and third time was the end. I still don”t get why people didn”t spring for the better full sized ltd over this any day. I only got mine due to it was cheap and the right colors for the cab co.
First time I saw a Grenada was at a wedding, late ’74 I think. My parents had their 2nd full sized Ford Wagon, a ’73 Country Sedan, at that time. With the 400, it didn’t get good gas mileage, it was bought right before the 1st gas crisis, but our family appreciated the space. There was no Granada wagon, which we were into (last wagon in our family was a ’78 Chevy).
I worked for Hertz a few years later (’77 and ’78) and especially in ’77, these were very common rentals at our location, judging by the numbers we picked up. I think LTD II and Thunderbirds were still more common rentals despite the likely worse fuel mileage. In ’78 the Fairmont displaced a fair number of Granadas in our location, even though I think Granada was considered a bit nicer (not sure which class it was). For some reason our location had no Mavericks nor Pintos. I think the Maverick still had front drums standard (maybe discs on some models?) but otherwise all the Fords had front discs by that time.
The Granada was an OK driver, nothing too special that I could tell, it really wasn’t like a downsized LTD in my opinion. I’m sure the transition to smaller cars was in its 1st stage, basically just smaller cars made “fancy” to look like smaller versions of larger mainline models, even if the fuel economy differences were mostly minor. My own car at the time was an import, a ’74 Datsun 710, which was a pretty light RWD car, as I was living up north at the time, I was pretty interested in FWD, but the transition hadn’t quite happened, most of them were pretty expensive still. I finally made the switch in 1981 when I bought a ’78 Scirocco, and though I eventually moved south, by then the transition to FWD was almost universal, even though by then RWD would have been just fine to me as I no longer had the traction concerns where I now lived.
The 78 Granada was the first new car that my parents purchased when I was young, and I was 8 at the time. My mother said it was the biggest mistake they had ever made when buying a car. The steel that Ford was sourcing for many of their cars around this time was notorious for rusting before it even got off the lot, and I have heard it had to do with having a high scrap content. A few of their friends bought one as well and all of them, as well as my parents, had issues with the trunk springs breaking rather quickly, and a lot of issues with body rust as well.
The one thing I remember most was that the hub caps produced a rather unique sound that we described as a UFO coming in for a landing. I’m not sure what others remember about this car but I can say that this was the last Ford my parents ever bought for good reason. We live in a northern climate and these cars were known for being rust buckets, and many said they saw them rust on some of them even while on the lot. I really have no good memories of this car.