There were Chevy Monte Carlos aplenty on the streets of Flint, Michigan when I was a kid. Our neighbors next door to the first house I had lived in had a beautiful ’74 in factory Bright Green that was a thing of beauty. I loved those neighbors, and the pristine condition in which they kept their Monte, Ford LTD Country Squire, and homestead seemed to reinforce my image of them as a really nice, well-to-do, all-American family. The sight of any ’74 Monte Carlo will probably always remind me of those neighbors, whether the car is on the road, at a show, or featured on a rerun of a seventies show like CHiPs or The Rockford Files. The Monte Carlo had established itself in my young mind as the archetype of its ilk, which I would later come to identify as the personal luxury coupe.
In this same neighborhood from which I had moved when I was still young but old enough to ride a bike without training wheels, there was at least one Ford Elite running around. In fact, I seem to recall there being quite a few of these on the streets, but this faded memory could be skewed by the possibility that one might have been garaged only a stone’s throw away from our house. Regardless, and long before I knew what it was called, I thought the Elite looked sharp. I can see one in my mind’s eye through a sepia filter… with shiny, chrome, deep-dish wheels, sun glinting off the paint, lightning strips trailing from the rear bumper, rolling past our driveway with the slow, steady thump of smooth, late-’70s R&B emanating out of the open windows.
Reading and writing in cursive didn’t come until I was in the second grade, so I’d ask my mom or dad what the Elite was called as I strained to make out the nameplate on the rear fuel-filler door. First came the identification of the car itself by sight, then learning its name, and at long last, learning the definition of that word. This was a car for the fancy people. Flint was still very much a GM-centric town in the late ’70s and would remain that way (though in steadily decreasing force as the years went on) fairly strongly through the early ’90s, I’d argue. Products from Ford and Chrysler were simply not as common in Flint as they were in other parts of the country. Maybe this is why it hadn’t quite registered in my young mind that the Elite was Ford’s stab at making a car that was similar to the Monte Carlo.
Don’t get me wrong. I think the Elite (born as the Gran Torino Elite for ’74) is one of the more interesting Ford products from its era, and there is certainly a lot of Thunderbird in its execution, down to the shape of its hood, protruding grille, thick A-pillars and roof area, and opera windows, just to name some of the commonalities that jump out at me. Where the comparison with the Monte Carlo was lost with me was that the Chevy had its own, unique, unmistakable styling that was shared with zero other vehicles. The Pontiac Grand Prix was a similar type of car in concept and execution, but there was no way any exterior body panels from the MC or GP were interchangeable with those of their lesser, mid-sized stablemates. Full stop.
The Elite, on the other hand, looked like a mere trim level of what could be termed “Midsize Ford Corporate Two-Door”. There was the standard-issue Ford Torino and Gran Torino and the Mercury Montego and Cougar XR-7, not to mention the Ford Ranchero coupe utility that shared the Torino’s front clip and basic superstructure. These cars all had different styling, but for my money, it was not nearly as differentiated as, say, the Chevelle Malibu and the Monte Carlo. The Elite didn’t look like a semi-custom job that came from the factory, as did the Grand Prix.
It looked like a very, very nice Cougar XR-7 with a different front clip and few other, not-altogether-significant details changes, like the bezels surrounding the taillamps and an altered opera window treatment. (I am a fan of the “twindows”, for the record.) I thought the Elite’s smoother rear quarter panels were an improvement over the oddly scalloped sculpturing on the rear fenders of the garden variety Torinos, so basing it on the Cougar was a good aesthetic choice.
1978 Ford Thunderbird. Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois. Sunday, October 27, 2019.
I have read that the Elite was Ford’s test run at offering a downsized Thunderbird. We all know how the results of that experiment turned out, with the smaller seventh-generation T-Bird which was produced between 1977 and ’79 (and based on the same platform as the Elite) holding the all-time sales records for that storied model. So, what to make of the Elite as taken on its own merits? It sold well enough. The first-year ’74 models racked up sales of over 96,600 out of the gate, becoming the single, most popular individual model in the Torino line. This was a mere 31% of the 312,200 Monte Carlos sold for ’74, but this number was right in there with the Grand Prix’s 99,800 units. Elite sales steadily rose, to 123,400 cars for ’75, to 146,500 for ’76. After it was refashioned as the crisper-looking ’77 Thunderbird, sales more than doubled to 318,100.
One could get a large 460 V8 in one of these Elites for all three model years, with power ratings just over 200 horsepower in each year. A curb weight of about 4,200 pounds was substantial for a mid-’70s car, and from what I’ve read, this generation was thirsty. Big, heavy, soft, luxurious cruising was where these cars were at. The picture above illustrates how much buyer tastes in midsized cars had changed from sport to luxury within a short time. There are just four or five model years separating the sporty, blue ’71 Cutlass fastback and our featured car. (I admit that I cannot tell if the Elite is a ’75 or a ’76 model, but I went with the former year for this article since it was the first year for it as a stand-alone model.)
I have just one last observation about this car, which is its model name. “Elite” certainly has upper-class connotations, but they aren’t uniformly positive to me. The idea of elitism doesn’t seem like something that all consumers would want to be associated with. I’m sure many buyers of luxury vehicles want to project the image of affluence and apparent success to those they hope will notice, but that whole idea seems to lose something if one must explicitly make an announcement: “I’m part of the elite.” If I was bourgie, I would probably just hope that people would recognize my superior tastes and elevated status without me having to say it, including in the model name of the car I drive.
It has already been eleven summers (!) since that inescapable hit song “Fancy” by Australian rap artist and musician Iggy Azalea had saturated airwaves back in the summer of 2014. That song ended up winning me over by its sheer ubiquity probably as much as anything else. The “I’m so fan-sayyy… You already know…” chorus, as sung by guest artist Charli XCX, helped turn that song into a lasting earworm. Ford seems to have had a similar intent with using the “Elite” name on its midsized personal luxury coupe of the mid-’70s, with idea that by mere association, people would come to associate their slightly rebodied, Ford-branded Cougar XR-7 as the chariot of choice for the fancy people. A Monte Carlo it wasn’t, but I do like the disco-dressed Elite. I only wish it had been called something a little more aspirationally modest.
Otisville, Michigan.
Saturday, May 24, 2025.
The brochure pages were sourced from www.oldcarbrochures.org.
These came out in my formative high school years and I loved them. Of course, we were a Ford family, so it makes sense that I was excited by decent competition to the formidable Monte Carlo. Good catch!
Thanks, Dave. I like the idea that families could have (or had) brand loyalty like what you described.
Joseph, family brand loyalty was very much a thing back then.
Ours was a Ford family—an uncle with a 1934 Ford three-window coupe with rumble seat (bought new), another with a 1956 Ford F-100 pickup, yet another with 1955, 1959 and 1963 Thunderbird Convertibles (that last one a Sports Roadster) and a 1969 Mercury Cougar XR-7 Convertible.
My parents—a 1954 Ford Crestline two-door, a 1956 Mercury Montclair, a 1960 Ford Falcon sedan, a 1964 Ford Falcon station wagon and a 1970 Mercury Monterey.
I fell right in line, spending $650 in 1972 on my first car, a 1966 Falcon four-door, trading it a year later with cash for my first new car, a 1973 Pinto two-door, followed by a 1974 Capri V6 and then a 1975 Mustang II V6 two-door.
That Mustang II broke the spell. After three years, I moved on to Toyota and Honda, and after 18 years, mom dumped the Mercury for an ’88 Honda Accord, which she drove for the 17 years left in her life.
A family friend told us the story of how the husband told his wife he was going to go out and buy a new Torino. He came home with one of these. For quite some time, she thought it was that promised Torino, until she finally came to the realization it was an Elite. She did not stop needling him about that for quite some years to come.
If this happened for model year ’74, he technically didn’t lie!
Remember a fair # of these in that navy,chamois, color combo. The blue “Olds” posing in the one pic is nice, looking.
When I think of these Elites, the color I most associate with them is red, but not like the tomato red like on this car. More like a “lipstick” red I also remember seeing on Granadas and Thunderbirds of this era.
Count me as a fan, and more so with each passing year. Yes, they are just reworked Torinos, but they just look right — long hood, good taillights and proper proportions. They came well-equipped, offered many color choices, and most had the 351 V8 that I liked so much. Also fairly reliable as 1970s cars went. They are a pleasant reminder of what typical cars in the era I grew up (i.e., personal luxury coupes) looked like!
I also liked the taillamp design on these Elites. I don’t know anything about their reliability, but most cars like this from that era seemed fairly robust until perhaps the introduction of Lean Burn in ’77 (or so) for Chrysler Cordobas (which I also like).
I mean…for 1975, Ford invented…the 1971 Pontiac Grand Prix.
That’s hilarious (and true)!
I don’t think the cars look anything alike from any other angle, but from straight on in the front, the resemblance is absolutely undeniable. Even the way the headlamps seem elevated a couple of inches from the bumper. Wow
Despite being a car-crazy kid who tried to learn details of every model built within my (young) lifetime, I never realized that the Ford Elite was a separate model until pretty recently. I guess to me, the Elite just fell through the cracks among Ford’s lineup of Tornios, LTDs, Thunderbirds, etc. I find these more interesting now then I did at the time.
Eric, I’m with you in that I find the Elite much more interesting now than for a large chunk of time between when they were new-ish and not that long ago. I’m pretty sure my jaw dropped when I saw this one this past May. We just never see these at shows.
That head on battering ram front end look doesn’t do anything for me unless I needed to take down a castle gate.
I’m now going to be on the lookout for an Elite going through a fence, wall, or window in one of the many ’70s detective or police shows I love to watch.
Yikes 4200 pounds for a mid-size car! Today Camry is mid size and weighs 3500 pounds. The oil embargo of 1973 had shocked us with huge increase in the cost of oil.
I can’t even imagine what an Elite would have weighed if saddled with today’s mandatory safety equipment. Even a basic Ecoboost-equipped Mustang seems to weight much more than I would have guessed (starting around 3,600 pounds).
A late model Dodge challenger “ponycar” weighs just about 4200lbs. Your average EV? About that or (much)more as well. It’s been amusing to me as I have a 94 Cougar and to magazine writers in the 90s testing this generation of midsized Ford PLCs and coming in at a portly 3700lbs! “What a boat!” They said! I’m pretty sure my car’s now lighter than the current gen V8 Mustang, but I don’t have 18 airbags and a flatscreen television for instrumentation… the horror!!!
Never, that I recall, knew “Elite” was a “stand alone, moniker”. Always thought they were “GT Elite’s”.
I was the reverse. Learning that the ’74 was the “Gran Torino Elite” had been a surprise for me back when I had made that discovery.
These really are corporate bodies in essence, other than the front clip the Elite and Cougar use the 72 Mercury Montego steetmetal, just varied in trim and trim placement. Ironically for being the lowest cost lowest prestige of all these intermediate coupes, the Torino was actually the only one with unique door skins, quarter skins and taillight panel from the rest.
I have a soft spot for these cars, my first car to-be was a 74 Cougar and though it had a lot of gingerbread the once plain bodystyle did lend itself well to the PLC look. Chrysler had to go to much greater effort restyling their B bodies to become the PLC Cordoba/Charger to look convincing against the standard bearer GM models that defined the segment. These weren’t perfect but I actually find them better looking than the straightedged 77-79 successors
I flip-flop between whether I prefer the Elite or the 1977 – ’79 Thunderbird from an aesthetic perspective. I think color has a lot to do with it.
I give the thunderbird a nod in originality, as even though it was clearly related to the LTD II, Cougar(and pretty obviously related to these 72-76 cars, as they all have the same basic dashboards) the basket handle roofline was a nice touch and I agree it also depends on color.
I also absolutely like the Thunderbird name better, I too don’t find Elite to be particularly endearing as a name, I wonder how the Elite would have done had Ford moved the Thunderbird nameplate to it then and there for 74
I had a ’75 for a while when in a bucks down frame of wallet. 400, C6. Bought from a horse barrel racer, this car toured the country. So clapped out all the rubber in the left upper control arm was gone, rode metal to metal. No muffler, but with 240K miles on the original engine, the cat alone kept the noise level acceptable. After you started it, had to whack the top of the dash to get the tach to work. Drove it 3 years like that, never changed the oil because it changed itself, when low just add more. But it started. Always started. And never broke down, even though it had every right to. It met it’s end one frozen winter day when the plain water in the block and froze, cracking said block. Off to Blue Oval heaven it went. This was ’85, so after a mere 10 years of abuse, it probably became a GE refrigerator.
Your Elite sounds like it would have given Uncle Buck’s Grand Marquis a run for it’s money. And I love that.
“Disco-dressed Elite” is perfect. It totally brings to mind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWu7-56qZ50
Ford might have named it the “Chic” and it would have just as evocative of its time.
Jeff, I love Chic and “Good Times”, but to me, they represent the late ’70s. In my mind, the mid-70s Elite was all about “More, More, More” – just like Andrea True. 🎶
I bet the ’77 to ’79 Thunderbird used the front and rear bumpers of the Elite.
Wouldn’t be surprised if they were also used on the ’77 to ’79 Cougar.
Another Lido trick to hold down tooling costs.
I would be curious to know how the development budgets for the 1970s PLCs from the Big Three stacked up against each other. GM probably spent the most, with the deepest pockets and the most apparent sheetmetal differentiation. Chrysler did a beautiful job with the Cordoba, but the poor Charger looks like it got the leftovers. I’d bet that FoMoCo has spent the least.
The LTD II reused most of the Elite’s front clip other than the header panel, lights and grille
Elite seems a strange name for a car like this.
When I hear the name Elite, I think of these. I wish I could block them out, but there were way too many around back in the day to forget them.
Was just going to post one of these, Jonco! I mean seriously, what’s not to like about a restyled LWB Morris Minor packing a mighty B-series under the bonnet?/s
I never knew that the Elite’s model name has previously been used. Thank you for this!
Late to the party here Joe, but great post as usual. I wish that I had seen this earlier so that I could’ve commented in a timelier manner.
Anyway, I may’ve shared these here before, but I have two brief stories, both involving silver Elites with red vinyl landau tops and red interiors, which was a very popular color combination for these cars.
The Brand-New Elite:
A kid in my drafting class, let’s call him Charlie (because that was his name) came from a family that owned a Ford dealership. His father bought him (maybe it was a demo? Who knows?) a new Elite to use during our sophomore year (’75 – ’76). While many of us were driving a hand-me-down LTD, this guy had a brand-new car to drive. For his senior year (we graduated in ’78) he was granted a new ’78 Ford F-150 with 4WD, of course.
The Old Survivor Daily Driver:
About nine or ten years ago, right around the time I discovered Curbside Classic, on my commute, every day for about 2 to 3 years, I would see this late middle-aged lady driving down I-95 between Baltimore and Washington in one of these. It could very well have been Charlie’s old car for all I know, but there it was. Every day. Without fail. It probably had the venerable 351-2V like I had in my LTD. You couldn’t kill that thing. Although one day, I no longer saw that car on my commute. Either it went to the smasher, or she got a different job and the thing is still serving her well.
Anyway, always happy to see here you on a Tuesday!
Thank you, Rick, and I love your anecdote here. I can just picture the old Elite on the expressway and could only hope that a.) it actually was Charlie’s old car; and b.) it is still kicking on a different commute elsewhere.
We had one for 2 years. Nothing special to report, other than one thing. An Elite with a Canadian emissions spec no cat dual exhaust 460 will burn rubber VERY well.
I’m sure! 🏁
I’m sorry, but to me these cars are pathetically ridiculous. While I think I get the place of a personal luxury coupe in US society in this period, this one just seems all kinds of wrong. The front end is ugly, the level of the headlights relative to the parking lights makes it look cross-eyed or stunned, the taillights are comically overdecorated, and the styling in between is best described as nondescript, or a Mercury with extra added murk.
Speaking of Mercury, I wonder how they felt about Ford pinching their bodyshell and muscling in on ‘their’ territory?
Peter, I appreciate your perspective – a different one than mine, and from a different part of the world. I suppose there’s zero chance of a built model kit of a Ford Elite in your collection! Haha
Your last sentence poses a great question. Mercury’s identity had become increasingly muddled by the mid-’70s, so for Ford to basically get a more-or-less Cougar XR7 equivalent must have rubbed some Lincoln-Mercury dealers the wrong way.
Lower res front shot
Overall I agree, and though most criticisms could be equally directed at the 74-76 Mercury Cougar they at least had precedent with the front end design being an almost seamless transition from the 71-73s and the equally overdecorated taillights being a play on the electric razor taillights of early Cougars. Elites didn’t have much precedent other than mimicking the Grand Prix/ Monte Carlo.
I can’t muster up hatred towards them though, i kind of think the Elite front end was the only big bumper front end that truly worked on this bodystyle after the 72 Gran Torino front end was regulated out of existence, and shed of other trim and vinyl I think they kind of look good, like this one
I like this one without the vinyl top. That must have been some work put in to finish the metalwork underneath.
I love your take on this car, but must admit that I can’t work up as much enthusiasm. My problem was that the exaggerated curvaceousness that had been so cool in 1972 was so over in 1975-76. If I had to pick a favorite of these mid-late 70s Ford oversized midsized models, it would be the LTD II hardtop without the opera windows. The 77-79 Cougar would probably be my 2nd choice, if I’m in a mood for more 70s gingerbread.
I still remember watching a network news story about the slowdown in the auto industry and the video was one of these coming down a Ford assembly line – this would have been in early 1974 before the Gran Torino Elite was being advertised. I saw that unique front end and wondered what it was.
I do think the LTD II coupe with that sport appearance package can look pretty sharp. If “Starsky & Hutch” had continued into a fifth season, I could see one of these replacing the Striped Tomato.