In 1975, a somewhat curious convergence happened: all of the Big Three came out with broughamized luxury variants of their compact cars. Ford and Chevrolet had new compacts on tap that year; the Granada and the Nova. The Granada conformed to the LTD formula and was quite nicely trimmed even in the base version, as there was also the Maverick for cheapskates; the Nova had to cover the full compact spectrum, but there was a new top-trim LN, which became the Concours in 1976.
And although they both were targeting the same segment of the market, the two cars couldn’t be more different. And their respective success in the sales charts couldn’t be more different.
A while back we bestowed the 1975 Ford Granada with “The Most Malaise Car Ever” award, with the subtitle “A Triumph of (Imitative) Style Over Substance”. It won that distinction thanks to some remarkable stats (with the optional 250 CID six):
- lowest hp per cubic inch: 0.28 hp per cubic inch. 70hp total.
- lowest rpm at max. power: 2800rpm
- worst power-to weight ratio 48.46 lbs per hp
- slowest 0-60 time: 23.15 seconds
The Granada sat on an enlarged 1960 Falcon platform/chassis; it’s handling, in a PS comparison test evoked these words: “The Granada..has excessive freedom to roll, pitch and bounce”. In other words, dynamic qualities took a major back seat to the sizzle, which is something Ford and its President Lee Iacocca was well versed in.
But Iacocca’s genius was in marketing, and it really shone here. The energy crisis of 1974-1974 had sent a lot of big car buyers scurrying to smaller cars. In 1974, peak year of that freak-out, the Pinto was the best selling name plate in the land. By 1975, buyers were willing to move up a notch into compacts, but wanted the amenities (and looks) they had been used to in their LTD.
The Granada was originally developed to be the replacement for the Maverick, but when Lee read the tea leaves, he decided to push the Granada upmarket, and keep the Maverick around as the bottom feeder.
Meanwhile, things over at GM were quite different. The Brougham Era had essentially been a Ford invention, and GM was still a bit ambivalent. The styling on the ’75 Nova makes it clear that they had BMW much more in their visors than a Ford LTD, or Ford’s bastardized idea of Mercedes styling.
The 1975 Nova had to cover all the bases, from cheap to sporty to luxury, although there’s little doubt that the LN was a fairly last minute addition in reaction to the coming of the Granada.
Just looking at its long-hood proportions makes its Camaro DNA all too obvious. The ’68 Chevy II/Nova shared its platform and undoubtedly many of its key hard points with the ’67 Camaro.
The ’75 redo involved some changes to the body from the cowl back, especially in opening up the greenhouse, but not really as deep as might be assumed. But from the cowl forward, the Nova now shared the subframe, suspension and steering from the ’71-up Camaro, generally regarded as the best handling sporty car at the time.
The difference in their respective stylistic missions is really acute in comparing the two coupe versions. One could see these two different roof styles reflect styling traditions at the two respective makers going back all the way to 1959.
That’s the year that Chevy’s bubble-top roof and the Ford’s formal roof tradition began, and although they were a bit modified for the Nova and Granada coupes, the traditions cannot be denied.
The Camaro genes explain the Nova’s long front end; it really was a Camaro under the skin with three inches more wheelbase at the rear to better accommodate a rear seat. As it was, that rear seat was not as roomy as the one in the Granada’s boxy body; the one advantage the Granada had over the Nova.
The driver’s seat was the place to be in one of these. This was flat out the best domestic driver’s sedan in 1975-1977. Well, the new ’77 Impala/Caprice gave it some competition in that regard, but the Nova was smaller and nimbler. And equipped with a 350 V8, faster too.
I speak from experience. At Iowa City Transit in 1976-1976, a new white Nova sedan was used by the drivers to shuttle ourselves back and forth from the bus depot to the main transit hub downtown. It also had the tell-tale of a rear sway bar, so it had the HD of F-41 suspension, along with rather meaty tires. It also had the 250 six, but that wasn’t all that much of a penalty as it ran pretty well (110 hp compared to the Granada’s 70) and it was all city driving. That didn’t stop me from probing its abilities in plenty of corners and such. And in 1975, I had never driven anything quite like this: its steering was very quick (2.3 turns), and it corner flat, and fast. The difference compared to the American cars I had driven (I’m looking at the 1971 Ford family of Total Performance sedans) was almost astounding. And in a stupid six cylinder four door sedan!
The 305 and 350 V8s were optional, and with the latter, the Nova was about as quick as it got at the time, for a sedan. And a four speed manual was available. Properly-equipped, a Nova was a…four door Camaro. It’s the easiest (and laziest) way to describe it.
Of course the leaf-sprung solid rear axle would have gotten the shakes on uneven surfaces, especially while cornering briskly. That’s where the BMW facade really fell apart. That and its weight and poor space utilization, fuel economy, etc. But then this was the traditional big compact’s last hurrah; in 1980 the Nova would be replaced by the Citation, which was a drastically more sophisticated and modern car, albeit hampered by its rather severe birthing pangs.
I made up this chart to graphically illustrate the sales of these 1975-1979 luxury compacts. The Granada includes all versions; the Nova just the LN/Concours, which was priced right around the same as the Granada. I also included the Mopar competitors, which in 1975 were the Dart SE and Valiant Brougham, and the 1976-1977 Aspen and Volare SE.
The Nova Concours’ last year was 1977; there was a 1978-1979 Nova Custom that kept some of its external affectations like the grille, but was not as well trimmed and priced accordingly. The Aspen was replaced by the Diplomat, but that was a fair bit more expensive. Plymouth just threw in the towel on the segment. And even the Granada showed a strong downward trend; by 1980 sales had sunk in half again. This really was a short-lived phenomenon.
Of course I didn’t include comparable cars, like the X-Body clones from B-O-P, and the Mercury Monarch. It gets a bit complicated, but the story is pretty obvious: by 1977, buyers had a wide range of new down-sized GM B-Bodies to savor, and in 1978, the new A/G Bodies only added to the allure of something a bit more modern and spacious without the penalty at the pump. Of course that would all be turned on its head again in 1980-1981, and cars like the Buick Skylark were suddenly hot sellers in this field.
But the pendulum swung seriously away from Ford, as its boxy 1980-1982 Fox-body alternatives (Granada, Cougar, T-Bird) were all rather quite ungainly, and contributed to Ford’s near-bankruptcy in 1980.
It’s all word play, of course, but by 1977 Chevrolet was so eager to try to give its languishing Concours a bit of cachet, they even went as far as changing its name to “Concours by Chevrolet”.
That included its own brochure.
But buyers weren’t…buying it. And she looks like she belongs in a genuine BMW Bavaria, not a cheap imitation, even with its optional fine cloth upholstery.
Not even its stand-up hood ornament was doing the trick. Not very BMW-like at all; mixed messages.
This Concours is sporting dual exhausts, so we can safely surmise it’s not a six. Which raises the question: how many times have you seen a Granada with dual exhausts? Ok, I’m sure they exist, but you get my drift. These two cars couldn’t have been more different, considering they were fighting for the same slice of the pie. One is the crust; the other is the cream filling.
Great post – of the three, I always thought the Dart SE/Valiant Brougham were the best looking, even given this was their last year. Liked them even better than the follow-on Aspen/Volare.
As for proof the Nova had good handling and acceleration, I believe there was also a police package available, which I don’t think the Granada ever offered.
That plain white Iowa Transit Nova he wrote about could well have been an add-on to a police order. Not all police cars had the high performance engines. If it had the police package, its suspension was a bit better than the F41 sport suspension. F41 had some softer bushings for a quieter less harsh ride.
I’m pretty sure that last Nova is running aftermarket exhaust. The factory set up terminated behind the rear wheels. Somewhere some truck is missing it’s fancy chrome wheels.
You are definitely right, I remember seeing Nova exhausts always coming out the side right behind the rear wheels. I was always wondering how Nova’s got dual exhaust, in the cat early converter era when hardly anything had duals. I’m sure it’s split behind a single cat, the way everything with duals was, but still oddly cool for a compact, cheap car!
I didn’t mean to imply that it was stock. My point is that Novas are much more likely to end up in the hands of performance enthusiasts who see more potential in it than a comparable Granada.
The Nova suffered in the market because everyone recognized it for what it was – a fairly heavily refreshed 1968 model. A compact that had never led the market the way that a Chevrolet typically did in those days.
It did not exhibit what buyers wanted in the mid 1970s. It was undoubtedly the better “drivers car” but Americans were not yet into “sports sedans” then. If you wanted something sporty, get a Camaro. For that matter, even the Colonnade sedans were excellent handlers with the right option boxes checked. GM has to be given props for the advances they made in suspension design, particularly in comparison with where they had been a decade earlier.
The Granada was clearly new (as in not a reworked Maverick) even if it was an update on an existing platform. Ford was the master of the quiet, boulevard ride and the car gave a credible impression of an expensive car, at least until it had spent some time out on the road. Iacocca clearly knew the market. It’s just too bad that the Granada was not a better car.
If only Chrysler had done what Chevy did – heavily rework the old car. It is possible that Chrysler of the mid 70s could have screwed up the Valiant, but the odds of a decent car might have been higher than what we got with the Volare.
The GM compacts in their base versions had VERY cheap interiors.
There was a mint-condition Buick Skylark four-door sedan for sale at one of the Carlisle car shows a few years ago. Not only was the back seat cramped – with a truncated lower cushion, too – but the vinyl was low-grade. The door panels looked like cheap, featuring thin vinyl stretched over cardboard.
The interior wasn’t competitive with a base Ford Maverick, never mind the Granada. We’re talking fit-and-finish levels maybe one step above an AMC Hornet.
And I write this as someone who liked the upscale versions of the Oldsmobile Omega from this generation.
I agree, the base Novas had cheap looking vinyl seats.
Also, I think armrests were an option in the base Nova.
But even the cheapest one drove well.
But, that said, for probably around $100-150 MSRP of options, you go armrests and a better seat and chrome trim–and many Novas on LI on the roads were like that.
Popular ‘mom car’ it seemed….one had Nova Concours 305 (she liked to entertain us by flooring it–fun!), and another had a base six with the cheap bench (but it did have armrests–I’ve only see the pull straps in pictures)
If you look at sales volume, I don’t think the Nova suffered at all. It sold quite well up until the short 1979 year.
What you said was so true. My father-in-law had a 78 nova and like you described the door panel’s had cheep vinyl stretched over cardboard . His didn’t even have arm rests in the back seats only straps
Purchasing a step up model in any of these X body cars was a must from what I can remember, even at Buick. I remember looking at numerous 75-79 Nova’s in base sedan trim and being turned right off with a bench seat that looked like someone took a tan plastic garbage bag and pulled it over a seat cushion with zero stitching or contour.
I did see an Omega Brougham from around 1977 vintage with the Olds 260 and that car’s interior impressed me a lot more. I also vaguely remember a Pontiac Phoenix LJ with bucket seats that seemed really nice in blue. So if I were going to buy one of these cars and the year was 1975-79 it would be an Olds or Pontiac version with the uplevel Brougham or LJ moniker and the bucket seat option and F-41 or rally suspension upgrade and some kind of V8 under the hood.
This of course brings back vivid memories of my high school years and the 1977 light blue Olds Omega base coupe a friend had with slightly better seats than the Nova in solid bench of course. It was a hand me down from the folks and featured the Olds painted rally wheels, had a rear sway bar so must have had the rally suspension upgrade, a 260 Olds V8 that ran really well for it’s time and a dual exhaust that he put on in shop class. I’m sure it was a joke by today’s standards but it would outrun all of our straight sixes including my 79 Fairmont 200 and another friends 80 Granada 250. Well that car outlasted my Fairmont by 5 years before he sold it and served him really well. It was a cool looking car with a nice sounding exhaust that had that nice Olds burble in a sea of boring 4 and 6 cylinder engine notes so was considered cool at the time.
I always wanted to investigate under the hood to see what if anything was done to make that 260 run so good but he was a ball buster that kept that a secret but can confirm it was the original engine as the car only has 60K original miles when he got it and never had a lick of engine or transmission issues with it during ownership. Good times!
Step inside the Nova and it was even more obviously 1968 than the outside view (from the B pillar forward, the looks of the Nova never changed much from ’69 to ’79). The dashboard was refreshed in 1977, but (to my 11 year old eyes at the time) even the new dash on the Concours looked far less upscale than than the Granada dash which didn’t look all that different than that on the new Lincoln Mark V.
My family shopped the Concours, Granada, and Aspen/Volare in 1976. My favorite was the Granada which, especially in Ghia trim, and especially especially in Ghia trim with Luxury Decor Option, looked and felt like an expensive luxury car to me (the LDO interior was similar to what was later used on the Lincoln Versailles). 11 year old me liked Ford’s smooth, quiet ride and didn’t care about things like handling or HP per cubic inch. My mom preferred the Mopar twins, mainly because the outward visibility was distinctly better than the Granada’s. The Concours just felt old, with its “luxury” upgrades tacked on rather than baked in. Also, I hated the scratchy cloth seats. My dad, though, thought it handled the best. Our car shopping stretched into 1977, and Dad was intrigued by the new downsized GM B bodies which were one size bigger but with the roominess and presence of a car two sizes bigger. We test drove a Caprice and were hugely impressed – here was comfort, plushness, handling, maneuverability, quietness, smooth ride, good outward visibility, and a crazy tight turning circle, all in the same car. We quickly forgot about the “luxury compacts” and instead decided amongst the four GM B body brands, picking a custom-ordered Bonneville Brougham. It proved a much more satisfactory car than either of the original three contenders would have been.
Refreshed. That is spot on. I was all of 10 when it was refreshed, and I didn’t realize until the 1980s there were effectively two generations of Novas for 1968-1979.
Both generations are decent looking, but gads, the details were cheap, especially with the ’75-’79. That damn plastic fake C pillar vent on the four doors was atrocious, and infected all but a few of some vinyl topped versions of the entire X Body family. The ’75 and up two door was kind of spoiled, the massive B pillar and some of the greenhouse detailing on various trims was a downgrade compared to the 1968 design.
My one Nova experience was dismal. Start with a worn base model with no options, almost monotone dark green. Strangely cramped, the short seat cushions were ridiculous under my long legs. The windshield was quite upright with a very shallow dash top, and very close. I just hoped for no sudden stops! All this in a car with a 111″ wheelbase! That fits within reasonable criteria for a full-size car. No wonder the 1977 Chevy Caprice / Impala cut into the potential sales of luxury versions of this.
I drove a refreshed Plymouth Duster, A.K.A. the Volare coupe, for a week as rental. I liked it much more than the Nova.
What it took to get the cheaper details omitted and that awful C pillar vent removed…..
Proof of the period overwhelming American tackiness: When given the choice between one of the few American cars of the time that could begin to run with Europe’s best, and an overstyled, tacky, under-engineered piece of crap that could fake it was higher class then it was (to someone with no understanding of the concept of class), the latter would always win out.
Broughams were/are disgusting, and the Granada was among the worst. So, of course it sold. I still remember the print ad of the obviously stereotypical NYC Jewish woman excited that her parking ticket said “Mercedes” on it. This is a selling point?
Always liked the LN/Concours. Only thing that stopped me from owning one back then is that I liked the Monza 2+2 more. And good luck finding any higher end Nova with a manual transmission, especially a four on the floor.
“Mercedes” on the parking ticket?
Was there another version of this ad, besides the one with Elaine Finkelstein and “Cadillac” on her parking ticket?
The funny thing about that is that the design cues and how they come together on the Granada just scream Ford to me, while the Seville is just as archetypally GM..
I may be getting old and senile, as that’s the ad I was thinking of but my memory turned it into Mercedes. Probably confusing the memory of that add with the ESS.
I have a problem with what you wrote.
It is one thing to expose a car as a piece of junk, but it is another thing entirely to insult millions of Americans for choosing it. People didn’t buy this car because they thought it was junk or disgusting. People are not attracted to either. It is wrong to believe that you can determine a person’s qualities, education or standard by what they choose to drive.
The Granada wasn’t a good car, but it was a hit. We should judge a car by its objectives and sales success, but we should never insult the people who bought them.
Agreed. Hell, my great Aunt and future wife both drove Gen 1 NA Granadas. And, they liked them.
My Aunt picked hers to replace a ’65 Ford Custom 500 two-door sedan, fitting the Granada’s narrative of taking a share of the full-size market. A base model coupe, no vinyl top, with a decent option list in an innocuous cream color. It was a none too broughamy replacement for her ’65 Ford. My aunt was a loaded (and you couldn’t tell it) lifelong single with an enormous personality, loved by the extended family. The Granada was her last car, and lasted almost 20 years in West Covina and later Long Beach, CA.
My wife was a college student, and her used white over red base coupe with AC was a luxury car to her, with a reasonable price. Cheap Ford parts with a dealer in every small town in Nebraska didn’t hurt matters.
A great car? No. A great place holder until more space efficient and not much larger cars came along? Absolutely. Ford’s Fox and Panther platforms finally made the Falcon platform obsolete, fulfilling the Falcon’s significant displacement to the standard Ford almost 20 years earlier.
Central castings call for a brougham? Not so much…
Suitable brougham located and casted….
I wonder how the combined LN/Concours and B-O-P sales worked out compared to the Granada/Monarch. Another case of Ford Division having more space to move upscale than Chevy, maybe?
I always liked these, since my kindergarten teacher in 1979 had a four-door base model in light metallic blue with the blue plaid interior. It’s too bad GM didn’t figure out a way to revert to the 1962-67 hard points with the newer Camaro suspension and a more thorough reskin, transferring some of that wasted hood length to the rear seat.
It gets a bit difficult knowing just what to compare, since the B-O-P compacts came in fairly modest base versions too. FWIW, 198K of the B-O-P X compacts were sold in 1974, and 162k in ’75. Oddly, all the X compacts suffered a fairly significant sales decline in 1975, despite the major refresh. Undoubtedly, it was because of the Granada/Monarch.
Back in this period, my family was looking for a second car to replace our rusty VW bus. Carpool duty was going to be involved. We looked at a Nova (or maybe it was the Olds equivalent) and the silly rear seat was an obvious dealbreaker. We ended up with a VW Rabbit, which was actually more comfortable for rear seat passengers.
This may not be directly relevant to a comparison between brougham-y compacts, but I do wonder how many potential downsizing full-size car buyers were put off from the GM compacts by that very thing. If you were going to use the back seat at all, the Granada or Volare were more practical.
I don’t really think this is a valid comparison, as reflected in the sales graph.
Base Granadas had full wheel covers and chrome window moldings. As with the original Mustang, never did a base Granada come with hub caps (unlike GM and Chrysler compacts, and Maverick/Comet). And the base Granada interior seats were not as cheap looking as base Maverick
Base Granadas cost a tad more (I estimate around $100 to $200) than a base Nova.
In 1976, I’d say 98% of the GM compacts, like the Granada, came with the “optional” automatic, as did 94% of the Dodge/Plymouth and Mavericks. Over 90% of all them had both power steering and brakes.
And there were MANY Granadas that came just like that….auto, ps, pb, AM radio, and NO A/C, and the horrible anemic 200 cid six.
So basically, if you bought $100-200 in options on a Nova, you had the same trim level as a Granada.
An LN/Concours was arguably a nicer place to be than the best “Grand Monarch”. The Grand Monarch listed for $5500. Power 4-wheel discs standard. Woo-hoo! Automatic…optional, lol.
Anyway, it’s not really a valid comparison, IMO.
Also, I don’t have the data, but anecdotally, Long Island was full of Colonnades in the mid/late 1970s. Torinos? MUCH fewer. About the same as Monaco/Fury. So the cheaper, marginally more efficient Granada/Monarch siphoned sales from Ford’s midsize.
The higher-end Granada/Monarch, with wire wheel covers and more exterior trim, and nice interiors, those were plausible “luxury compacts”. But most Granadas I saw on the streets back in the day were not like that–they were ‘base’.
Thank goodness for the Fairmont!
It’s impossible to know just what exactly drove shoppers, and how they optioned their cars. This post is a comparison of similar-priced upscale versions, and the Granada only came that way.
FWIW, all Nova sales took a big tumble in 1975, from 392 to 273k, despite the major refresh. That was undoubtedly the Granada’s doing. Meanwhile, Ford was selling a combined total of 465 Granada/mavericks in ’75, and almost 600k of them in ’76.
Ford’s strategy was clearly very successful in covering that segment with two different cars.
The 200 wasn’t available with the automatic.
Hmm. I think a fair sales comparison chart includes the Buick and Olds Omega versions, as well as the Mercury, as all are upscale striver versions of the same proposition. Pontiac was in the midst of their brougham vs excitement identity crisis, and so the Phoenix also qualifies as the more brougham example, over the Ventura. I’ve rarely, if never seen GM in 3rd place in the 60’s and 70’s and I do not think it is the case here. I’ll agree with leaving out the Versailles and Seville, although an argument could be made for their inclusion too.
The combined total of the LN and the BOP X cars in 1975 was…217k. The Granada/Monarch combined sold…407k. Dos that help?
And some of those base trim BOP compacts were barely competitive with a base Granada/Monarch.
In the 70s crisis days Americans liked the sizzle.
Even after the compact car boom faltered in 1979, the Granada was one of the least-depreciating American cars.
‘Firebird LeMans’? That’s a new one on me, and I have been around for a long time.
The LeSabre and Eldorado were both heavily restyled between ’75 & ’79. That contributed to the heavy depreciation. The Vega crashed because of it’s poor reliability record, and the Granada was a flash in the pan.
The foreign marks, possibly with the exception of the B-210 (I don’t recall and don’t have time to research), had the same body style between ’75 and ’79.
So, in my opinion that table is rather selective.
Actually 1979 was the year of the redesigned 210 which lasted until the first half of the 1982 model year.
The Datsun B210, Merc 240D and Porsche 914 all received replacements in that time period.
So a Nova was a cheap imitation of a BMW? and the BMW was a cheap imitation of a Corvair? I dont see anywhere where the Nova was trying to be a BMW. It just so happened that it was a great handling compact car.
Why is there so much insistence over the Nova’s greenhouse coming from BMW when GM’s own Opel Rekord since 1972 had a very similar design?
Because the Opel imitated the 1968 BMW 2500/2800’s greenhouse?
And because the Opel wasn’t sold in the US, so folks naturally compared the Nova’s greenhouse to the BMW’s?
And because Chevy itself made marketing inferences to the BMW?
And….
Touché X 3, LOL
Never had a Nova, but I did for a short time own a 76 Oldsmobile Omega brougham sedan, which was pretty much the Olds equivalent of the Concours. Had the 260 V8, which was essentially power-free. Hard to believe a V8 could be so slow, though my car was hardly in its prime. Reliable, not bad in beater form and I imagine it was a pretty nice car when new.
The 75-79 NOVA (Nova/Omega/Ventura/Apollos) had small back seats and were not gas misers, but otherwise were excellent cars, and arguably the best inexpensive domestics you could buy. With a 350, they were quick too!
I learned to drive on a 1975 Ventura 260 in the 80s. As a teen, I used to joke, “the power of a six with the mileage of V8”.
However, during it’s 10 year stay with my family, the Ventura (bought used BTW) was pretty troublefree until the trans started acting up in 1987, at which point my father gave it to an acquaintance. It had also started rusting behind the wheel openings.
I’d say 15mpg is not a bad price to pay for one breakdown over 10 years (electronic ignition conked out one Saturday morning…) in an honest car that looked good and drove well.
Unlike other cars I read about in Consumer Reports (and the 4-cyl Fairmont that later joined the family), the engine always started, idled, and ran flawlessly, the trans shifted IMPERCEPTIBLY smoothly. It was not a quick car, but on par with most cars during the malaise era.
The 2-door interior didn’t have the most rear leg room, but it was nicely trimmed, fabric-weave bench seats, great visibility, light and airy, quiet. It certainly did not feel cheap during my teen years.
Decades later, I came across a road test of a 75 Nova LN vs the Europeans–and Audi Fox or 100, Volvo, Saab, Peugeot. Really different cars—but in terms of handling and cornering on smooth roads, even with leaf springs in the rear, the Nova had them beat.
Also, while thirstier, it would cost a lot less to maintain and repair. It was a much heavier car, but a viable alternative to the European sedans. Back in 1975…
Sounds like a great car, much like mine but I only had mine a few months. I’d love to see that road test!
My family bought a ’77 Ventura when we moved here in ’81, not sure why that was chosen but for my 11year old self and my 9year old brother the back seat was fine, perhaps the cushion was a bit low? The rear windows not rolling all the way down was a bit of an annoyance but otherwise from what I recall we drove around the American West a LOT in that thing, both on road and off, and I can’t really recall too much going wrong with it. As far as I know ours had a V6 and we had it for around two or three years. It was replaced with a ’79 Mazda 626 Coupe which became my first car.
I have a picture of the Ventura but it also features me in full Boy Scout garb and a shockingly bad haircut and while I’m not particularly vain it’s going to take more beers than I currently have in the fridge for me to break that out and post it here.
Quick, somebody get Jim some more beer!
A rear 3/4 view of a similar car
I have fond memories of ours. It was a very nice car that my Dad referred to as “a little Caprice” having had Impalas, but never the top of the line model. Although a compact, this was his first of his many times going upscale with a car purchase.
In 1977, I had just gotten my license (in the fall of 1976) and was about to start working after graduation from high school in 1978. The plan was to give me the LTD, and get a newer smaller car for Mom to use, and then Dad would eventually get another big car (it would be 1980 Bonnie, but that was years off)…
He had cross shopped the Grenade, sorry Granada, since we had an LTD and he thought of staying with Ford rather than going back to Chevy. After a VERY annoying time at a Ford dealership with a high pressure sales guy trying to push us into a Granada that looked almost exactly like the one Lido is posing with above, we went to see Star Wars….
The following Saturday we went to Luby Chevrolet in Baltimore and there it was on the showroom floor, a Firethorn Red 1977 Concours 2-Door Coupe with a red velour interior, 305-V8 and NO vinyl top… That car was SHARP… it was love at first sight.
While still the Malaise Era, this car performed so much better than our LTD or that Granada that he test drove (in the Granada’s defense it had a 250-I6, see Paul’s stats above).
It went on to serve our family for a long time until my sister got a hold of it… Such a sad end to a really nice car.
I really wish I had a picture of it to share. That was a great looking little car.
Mom bought a ’77 Concours in the fall of ’76, as a “special order” car. I don’t know why it needed to be “special ordered”; as the option package seemed fairly ordinary.
I was peeved that she didn’t get the F-41 suspension. Aside from that, there’s little she could have gotten that would have made a difference to me. The upgraded suspension parts are purchased, and some are installed.
As manufactured, there’s not a “Nova” badge anywhere on the car. Concours was a separate model at least in ’77.
She drove about 3K miles a year until she got old and drove 300 miles a year. The car is now in my possession, with about 53K miles total. The Turbo-Hydramatic 200 failed right on schedule at 50K miles. Replaced with a TH350.
The rear leaf springs on both the F and the X bodies from ’70 until the “new generation” of X in ’80 and F in 83 were breakage-prone. There are no original leaf springs on these cars that aren’t broken. Most of them cracked the main leaf at the axle decades ago; the only thing holding them together is the U-bolts at the axle and the rubber cushions.
Front springs on 6-cylinder cars also seemed weak. The front would be so low that it’d scrape the single-post, in-ground car hoists when I’d drive ’em in for service. Never noticed that problem with the V-8 equipped cars.
The 305 had camshaft problems. Mom’s seems OK, but GM offered “policy repairs” (i.e., 5 year, 50K mile “Secret Warranties”) for those that wiped-out a lobe or five.
The 305-Two Barrel is so gutless that at 60 mph, there’s a noticeable bump every time the AC compressor (the big, old, reliable A6) clutch engages. The car will lose enough speed that the cruise control has to yank the throttle cable to return to the set speed. The “fix” for this is to add more refrigerant so the clutch doesn’t cycle (as often.)
I had a ’75 and a ’76 Nova, one with 305 and one with 350. Both purchased used in the 1990s. The 305 car got totaled about a week after I bought it. The front disc brakes went on to live under my El Camino. The 350 car got a 700-R4 transmission, and was my work-commuter car for a couple years before a Pizza Delivery guy nailed it when it was parked in front of my home.
Wonderful cars. It was a crying shame that GM released the Citation-style X-body four years shy of being properly-developed. The Citation and it’s siblings were a disaster: Gutless turds (especially with the Iron Duke) with faulty transaxles, faulty steering, and faulty rear brakes. GM was rightfully sued on each account. Of course the response was “More Secret Warranties”.
It’s interesting to me that your Novas had weak springs.
I haven’t heard of that before. Not an issue with our family Ventura.
I’m surprised the 305 felt so weak. They had a lot more power than the Olds 260.
For 1975 ONLY, GM offered a Chevy 262 V8 in the new Monza and Nova (and perhaps Chevelle?). There was no 305.
In 1976, GM dropped the 262 and offered the 305.
I always questioned why GM offered these REALLY emasculated 260-something V8s.
In real life, if there was any mpg gain, it was minimal and only in urban driving.
In the suburbs and on the highway, the 300-something V8s got the same, if not better mileage. They also were A LOT quicker, the extra 30 hp and torque was desperately needed.
Ford did the same with their 302. They replaced it with a 255 variant in 1980 that was much weaker and no better in real world fuel consumption (but it got 1 mpg)
I think of the customers GM lost with anemic V8s who went to Japanese cars and never came back…
GM wasn’t just offering weak V-8s in its compacts during these years.
In 1977, Consumer Reports tested an Oldsmobile Cutlass sedan equipped with the 260 V-8 and recorded a 0-60 time of 21 seconds. That isn’t much faster than the 1975 Granada equipped with the straight six.
LOL well it was Consumer Reports so I wouldn’t put any stock into that crazy figure as gospel. Consumer Guide also tested both a 1970’s Colonnade Cutlass sedan and the new downsized 78 version with the 260 V8’s and recorded much better times than that. The 78 was 14.6 seconds and they said the 77 was about 1.5 seconds slower which is 16.1 and that sounds about right for a stock Colonnade sedan with that engine judging from experience.
Anyway the 305 equipped X body cars were much quicker than that, especially the ones that got there worn cams replaced. I remember one such 305 Nova coupe that was brought into a car career center during one of it’s classes and it barely would run off idle popping like mad. Well that cam was so badly worn that all the lobes were rounded! We ordered a cam for a 350 small block and stuck it into the 305 and watched as that car would burn rubber by the pound thereafter! The 305 in any of these cars was a big upgrade over the 260 Olds 260 or 262 Chevy engines of the time though as in my prior post a high school friend somehow managed to get his low 60K mile 77 Omega coupe to run pretty strong with a stock 260 engine and it made enough power to peel it’s one tire out easy enough.
Back in 1977 my Buddies Dad bought him a new Concours sedan. We were just 21 yrs. old and it was his choice. Much nicer than the VW Dasher that he had been driving. It was black outside, no vinyl top and red velour inside. It did look a lot like a Seville, which was appealing to us. I believe that it had the 305 V8. Was I jealous!
Somewhere around here I have a 1977 Motor Trend(?) with a comparison of a ’77 Nova and a ’77 Impala—possibly both cop-spec units. They were very enthusiastic about the variable-ratio steering in the Nova, which I recall because it wasn’t clear from the article text whether the Impala also got the variable-ratio box.
I couldn’t find any references in the 1977 or 1978 sales brochures, but the 1976 brochure specifically mentions that the Impala and Caprice were equipped with variable-ratio power steering as standard equipment.
I doubt that Chevrolet would have reverted to “regular” power steering for the all-new 1977 models.
That would seem a reasonable guess, except we’re talking about GM here. They made apparently irrational decisions all the time. TH200 “transmission” in a fully loaded Caprice Estate with a 350 engine, much stouter TH350 in a same-year Impala sedan with a 305 is one that comes to mind.
That’s why I’d like to know, not guess.
For 1977, the B-Bodies had a fixed ratio steering box, Novas were variable ratio. The variable ratio Saginaw boxes were good, but I prefer a fixed ratio. Keep in mind Saginaw steering boxes came in lots of variations. Different ratios and different amounts of road feel – 31 flavors. They can be custom built to almost any spec. Most consider the best Saginaw boxes to be the fixed ratio 12.7:1 boxes used in the 80s performance cars and police cars.
Thanks, Vince.
One of my favorite cars. I owned three of these over the years, a silver with black vinyl roof 305 concours, a sort of light blue 3-speed base version, and a beautiful triple red Concours with a 350, still a bit sorry I sold that one.
In 1976 I ordered up a Skylark with the HD suspension and 350-4v V8. That car was an absolute blast to drive, but its performance came at a price–specifically 12-15 mpg. Still have fond memories of that car nevertheless.
Where I used to live, at the neighborhood supermarket at the front edge of the parking lot, people would park their cars they were trying to sell privately with for sale signs. One I distinctly remember from around 91 or 92 was a 77 Nova Concours hatchback. This was in Arizona, so it was totally rust free, and also low mileage (don’t remember exactly but probably 50-60k) and really mint. White with burgandy bucket interior and I’m pretty sure 305, but maybe 350.
I really liked it and wished I was in a position to buy it. It was reasonably priced, but I just didn’t have the money and didn’t really need a car. Maybe I should have anyway!
Well, Learn something today, that this generation of Nova and siblings was based on the ’67 Camaro platform. That explains the unusually long front axle-to-dash proportions, which stood out on these, made them seem less like compact cars. This also explains why they continue to have a muscle car following, at least to a degree.
That the LN (Luxury Nova?)/Concours was trounce by the all-sizzle but little steak Granada isn’t surprising. Lido knew his audience better than any other marketing man of the era: make it look expensive, feel luxurious, get their money and move the metal.
To paraphrase H.L.Mencken: “No one ever went broke underestimating the taste (or intelligence) of the American public” Iacocca lived by this creed!
I’m betting that one of the reasons the better trimmed GM compacts didn’t do so well is that a comparably equipped Colonnade probably cost the same or very close to. Would you REALLY want a $5000 Nova/Omega/Skylark if you can get a Colonnade for only a little more? Ford’s midsizers weren’t as impressive, and the Granada was much nicer inside than the Nova.
The Novas lasted longer than the Granadas, I remember the Granadas disappearing in Atlanta around the mid-late 80’s whereas the GM compacts lasted well into the mid ’90’s.
I really don’t think I could say that the Granada was all sizzle and no steak. It wasn’t at all the BEST car it could be, and the Nova drove better, but it was about the same size inside as a midsize Ford and very nicely trimmed, even in base form. Yes, the engines should have been more powerful, and they should have been better assembled out of better materials, but they were comfortable cars that gave plenty of rational people what they wanted.
My second car was a 76 Nova Concours, bought in 1986 for $850 and financed through the bank of grandma. It was dark blue like the brochure picture above. Best of all for a 17 year old, it had the 350 V8 with a four barrel carb. It was reasonably quick for the time.
It had a very nice interior with black velour bucket seats and a center console floor mounted shifter for the automatic. I never saw another one with bucket seats.
As some others stated above the rear seat cushion was ridiculously short. Also the rear leaf springs broke on mine as well.
I took my first solo cross country trip in that car to visit my girlfriend (now wife) in Georgia. 18 years old on a thousand mile journey alone in an 11 year old car. I can’t believe my parents let me go.
Oh, and although all the automakers were subject to inflicting some really vile colours on their customers in the ’70s, GM seemed less likely to do so than Ford, Chrysler, or the Japanese. The Japanese came up with some really horrible avocado greens, harvest golds, and putrid oranges and tans on their already ugly and misshapen little boxes. Ford was also a fan of those colours so whereas I remember quite a few baby blue or burgundy metallic Novas, yon Granada always seemed to be seen in some sort of dirt- puke colour. Aspens and Volares were subject to a horrible mannequin flesh beige.
The Nova was on my list of potential first cars to consider back in the mid 80’s. The Granada was not. I always liked the looks of the 75-79 Nova as much as I hated EVERYTHING about the Granada!
My grandfather’s white 1976 Granada coupe turned me off totally to these cars during his not long 5 year ownership with one. He bought it in 1978 at a local Chevy dealer (traded in for a new Caprice sedan) with very low miles and it had a 302 V8 which ran pretty well.
The problem is it fell apart before our eyes after about 4 Winters, handled poorly and was terrible in the Winter months. The rear end started sagging. The white vinyl seats were ripping apart. Rust was everywhere by 1980. The A/C quit and gave him loads of issues. It also seemed to have trouble keeping a belt on the power steering and electrical issues were the norm. The back seat as I remember was pretty cramped and a pain in the butt to get in and out even as a young kid. Grandpa was pretty tall so that may have accounted for the cramped rear quarters on his side. I seem to remember sitting on grandma’s side more often as a result.
That 302 smoked oil out the tail despite only having 60k miles and the final nail in the coffin was when the car left us stranded at the mall which was 30 minutes away and required a tow. Something failed in the ignition system he told me and it cost him a bit to get it running again. Grandma made him sell it and the 1980 Fairmont wagon they got for free from there son as a replacement was it’s own separate story.
Third photo – I wonder why the children are tucked under the trees in the background?
Even though the Chevrolet Nova and the rest of its RWD X-Bodied Cousins were thoroughly restyled for 1975 and it inherited the “best of both worlds” genetics from the 1970 1/2-81 RWD F-Bodied Camaro with its similar Front Subframe which it also shared with the 1975 1/2-79 RWD K-Bodied Cadillac Seville. Front Suspensions which were also similar to those of the 1970 1/2-81 RWD F-Bodies along with the 1975 1/2-79 RWD K-Bodied Cadillac Seville, 1973-77 RWD A-Bodied Chevelle Malibu/El Camino/Monte Carlo and later on the 1977-96 RWD B-Bodied Chevrolet Impala/Caprice Classic, RWD C-Bodied Oldsmobile Ninety Eight/Cadillac Coupe’ and Sedan De Ville & RWD D-Bodied Fleetwood Brougham. Of course unlike the RWD X/K/F-Bodies which were based from a unitized bodies with front subframes attached, the RWD A/B/C/D-Bodies utilized a completely different Body on Frame Construction. The RWD X-Bodied 1968-74 Chevrolet Novas used different subframes and suspension components compared to the 1975-79 versions. The only carryover from the 1968-74 and 1975-79 were the floorpans and interior design school.
In 1977 when the RWD B-Bodied 1977 Chevrolet Impala/Caprice Classic were downsized to being only a couple inches longer than the RWD A-Bodied Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu 4 Door Colonnade Hardtop Sedan, the new size of the Impala/Caprice Classic was still at 212.1″ vs. the 1977 RWD X-Bodied Chevrolet Nova Concours at 197.7″ which made both cars only a little over a foot difference in exterior size or TBE 14.1″ so the developing intramural competitions between the Three Chevrolets were more for the 1977 Impala/Caprice Classic and the 1977 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu Classic vs. 1977 Chevrolet Nova Concours. Once Chevrolet downsized the RWD A (later G) Bodied Malibu and Monte Carlo in 1978, their resulting exterior sizes were more closer to one another: The Nova Custom (which replaced the Concours name in U.S. and Canada, but still available in Mexico as the Concours though for 1978 though) measured in at 196.7″, the Malibu Classic at 192.7″ and the Monte Carlo at 200.4″ so this necessitated the discontinuation of the Concours as a stand alone model even though technically it was still a Nova because the three way intramural competition between a Nova Concours, Malibu Classic and the Monte Carlo would become so intense that a fear that the Nova Concours might still take sales away from the Malibu Classic and Monte Carlo especially the two being new models for 1978 while the Nova in general was already a three year old model and as a result would be a discount option instead. So the luxuriousness of the Nova Concours was de-emphasized for 1978 and then becoming a “watered down” version of its former self and then the Nova Custom name was revived for 1978 which lasted through 1979 until the Nova series was replaced by an all new FWD X-Bodied but otherwise much different model than the model it replaced so it was now called the Chevrolet Citation which was barely shorter than the RWD H-Bodied Vega based Chevrolet Monza. The photos I posted here are the RWD X-Bodied 1977 Chevrolet Nova Concours and the RWD A-Bodied 1980 Chevrolet Malibu Classic coupes which shows how both cars otherwise different from one another do have some resemblance in size 197.7″ for the Nova Concours vs. 192.7″ for the 1980 Malibu Classic. Only 5″ in exterior size were the minor differences between these two Chevrolet cars.
That’s my car parked outside the local high school !!
I’m glad you used it in the article. Sure beats me walking up and finding a bunch of punk kids sitting on my car pretending it was theirs. It happened more than once. Thanks Eugene.