Seeing an operable Granada in the wild should have been a cause for celebration. It’s not a frequent event. Instead, my opinions about things associated with the Granada overruled all else that moment.
I am old enough to remember these when new yet young enough to have been highly impressionable during their time on the market. It has taken a bit to articulate my thoughts about this less than ideal colored example of Ford’s North American Granada. These things happen.
The Granada, introduced two years after the 1973 oil embargo, did entice people into smaller, yet not austere, transportation.
There was a considerable dreariness quotient in Ford showrooms in 1974. Pinto, Mustang II, Maverick, Torino, and Galaxie/LTD…there wasn’t much to compel one to pony up and stride away in something aspirational because aspirational was something Ford wasn’t selling that year.
Except the Thunderbird, although that was more of a specialty vehicle.
Enter Granada, spawned by the incomparable Lee Iacocca.
The Granada was a frequently seen car in my childhood orbit. A cousin owned a nicely trimmed two-door example and a great-uncle owned a Monarch, the badge-engineered Mercury equivalent.
Both had small kids and their Granada / Monarch suited their situation in life. When compared to the brown, porky 1973 Ford Torino sedan my parents owned at the time, the Granada appeared more modern and desirable. The Granada seemed like a car purchased from want, unlike the Torino, purchased with expediency and apathy as my parents just needed a car.
Since forever, old ideas are recycled into new ideas; identical concept, different execution. The entertainment industry is an endless well of recycled ideas, so let’s peek at the music industry to illustrate this.
The year our Granada was introduced, country singer Ray Stevens covered Johnny Mathis in a much more compelling way. Making a few key revisions (and recording it in only two takes) utterly transformed Misty from something slow and monotonous into something much more upbeat and enjoyable. The idea obviously worked as Misty did well, even reaching Number 2 in the United Kingdom.
It was a good enough transformation to win Stevens a Grammy Award.
Crooner Paul Anka revised Van Halen’s Jump into something that might also appeal to those who would have shunned the original version.
Both are new takes on an old idea.
Which leads us back to Lee Iacocca. None of the critiques I have read of him ever refuted his craftiness. Iacocca has come the closest of anyone in Detroit to, as the old adage goes, making a silk purse from a sow’s ear. The Granada is proof of concept.
Nobody but Lee Iacocca could take their magic wand, tap the hood of a Falcon, and make a Granada appear.
One characteristic of an Iacocca created car is the amount of recycled content. The Granada has the basic suspension of a Falcon, numerous bits cabbaged from the corporate parts bin, and drivetrains recycled from other Ford lines. Power output, particularly the monumentally pathetic 72 horsepower from the 250 straight six in 1975, was recycling from the days of Ford’s Model A.
More powerful engines were available, but “powerful” was a relative term. Even the 351 cubic inch V8 available some years churned out less than 150 horsepower.
However, one option available on the Granada was a refreshing departure, although recycled from the full-size cars. One could obtain a Granada with rear disc brakes. For some makes, that was very heady stuff in the mid-1970s.
Another Iacocca trademark was sales. Sales of the Granada, like some of Iacocca’s other offerings at Ford, met with great initial success but quickly tapered off. Obviously Iacocca was able to realize momentum by this rinse and repeat method of car manufacturing, but the inevitable sales slide of his creations seems to encourage potential repeat customers to go shopping elsewhere.
The Fairmont undoubtedly helped hasten the demise of the Granada. Maybe this should have been the second generation Granada?
Oh wait. It kinda, sorta was. Doing so in 1978 would have eliminated yet another redundancy at Ford as a lightly revised Fairmont was the second generation Granada that came about in 1981 and sold alongside the Fairmont.
I digress.
None of these are the greatest sin associated with the Granada. The sin was thrust upon it, with the stigma of this sin perpetually tainting the Granada.
What was the sin? An obnoxious slurry of greed, stupidity, and whoring yourself. There is a lot of overlap among those three.
Here it is, in print.
That wasn’t a singular ad.
It was an entire ad campaign. For years.
Let’s not forget these ads were also on television.
All were cringeworthy and devoid of self-respect.
Ford, what were you thinking? Or, rather, were you thinking?
AMC initiated such comparison ads in the 1960s. It was solidly tongue-in-cheek with the premise being content comparison. The schtick was obvious. Nobody was cross shopping these two, yet it works to make a point. AMC even says it’s an unfair comparison.
The Granada ads? Let’s be honest…
In any job interview you must set yourself apart from the competition. Ford, these ads are your job interview – remember? Instead, you have the Granada proudly and loudly exclaiming “I look just like them!”. I somewhat see what you were trying to say, but there was too much earnestness. Any sarcasm, which should have been there, was lost. Instead, you painted a perception of the Granada as being a low cost clone of a car from a different price class. Did you really want customers having that takeaway?
The Granada ad campaign’s premise would be like saying author Elmore Leonard’s character of Raylan Givens is like Baron Munchausen because they both have a way with words. Both are terrific on their own merits, but any comparison is painfully forced. Ford, all you succeeded in doing was flushing your self-respect down the toilet.
Throwing away your self-respect wasn’t a good look in the 1970s and it has aged like fine, artisanal milk. Your ads have forever tainted the first generation Granada. The Granada may have been admirable for the time and intent, but that taint lingers like the stench of squandered opportunities and ambitions of covetousness.
The taint is so bad when I stumbled upon this Granada, my thoughts went straight to those asinine ads. You should have touted the fact you built a more attractive car than your Chrysler and GM competition and that your Granada met with immediate success. You were already outselling the dickens out of Mercedes, so why do you want to stoop to say your car looks like theirs?
Your customer base isn’t stupid; nobody was fooled.
Might these ridiculous ads have contributed to the steady drop in Granada sales? The phrase “screwing the pooch” comes to mind, Ford. You should have been telling us what makes your Granada unique, extolling its virtues, and how it is better than the competition, not how you cribbed the design of an upmarket competitor.
Rant over.
Seeing this Granada was a wonderful indication spring was imminent. Let’s hope this spring and summer continue to bring about more automotive findings, tainted or not.
Found March 2025 at the St. Louis Zoo’s north parking lot
The car Lee Iacocca is standing near has front vent windows that never made production.
The gas filler flap on ’78 to ’80 Granadas were all the charcoal color seen on this car, rather than a color that matched the vinyl roof and body side molding. This was significant, because these usually broke off within a few years, and Ford wouldn’t have to stock 7 different colors for spare parts.
The Granada looked nothing at all like a Mercedes or Cadillac. It did look like a reasonably handsome big Ford scaled down to a more manageable size, and was nicely proportioned. The interiors were considerably plusher than the competition – leather was optional, carpets were thick, and the door panels looked like they were from a luxury car. The LDO package interior was similar to what was later used for the Lincoln Versailles.
The only thing that felt “old” to me when we shopped these in 1976 was the inside door handles which looked more like window cranks. You pulled them toward you as if they were some sort of ejector-seat handle, which made the doors open with force. Chrysler ditched these in 1966.
The refreshed front on ’78 and later cars was unfortunate.
“It did look like a reasonably handsome big Ford scaled down…”
Exactly. What bugs me so much about how Ford handled Granada marketing was their inability/unwillingness/reluctance to claim the car as being unique, which it was. What Ford did just wasn’t a good look. As a child seeing these ads, I knew Ford did not have a better idea with their marketing of the Granada.
Not only that but they kept doubling down and doubling down on “it looks like a Mercedes” for the entire production run even as YoY sales were on the downward curve.
Marketers respond to a market, if a market is still there.
Some buyers, circa 1978-1979, may have still associated the Granada with Mercedes. Ford added the tape stripe and blackout trim ESS version in 1978. So yes, they did double-down, getting whatever they could out of this faux-European angle.
It did offer a more substantial traditional luxury car feel, than the Fairmont. That would appeal to many, who may not have wanted a big car. This applied to the Aspen/Volare as well.
(when making a comment here, always make a copy of it before reaching for the Reply button, because you never know what will happen. With a copy, you can simply send it later when the system is working)
I think comparisons in ads used to be illegal in USA, also. Or, at least, might draw a lawsuit and the courts keep getting more unpredictable as to outcomes.
I get confused about Fords in those years. When at first glance I saw the ponderous front end of the Granada in the first picture, I started wondering what the nicer looking car was that my Ford car salesman friend drove as a demonstrator back in those days, Then you mentioned Fairmont and I started wondering what the difference was between the heavy metal Granada and lighten up Fairmont. The Fairmont my friend demo’d was sharp looking in like a candy apple red, white interior, V8, 4 speed manual. Although I wasn’t in the market for either because I had what I considered my fabulous ’77 Pontiac Grand Prix.
Automobile advertising warped me in my youth like it was supposed to. I thought newer or higher priced had to be better. Back when I was driving the ’62 Jetfire I didn’t fully appreciate its looks and size, when I saw the one year newer, restyled, bigger, longer, squarer ’63 Jetfire, looking more like a ’63 Impala in styling, I wanted it. Didn’t appreciate what I had. Wanted to be on the other side of the fence. Now I’d love to have that cute little ’62 Jetfire coupe back. Even more so in a convertible version.
As to the $22,000 Mercedes Benz in the ad above, you were paying mostly for shipping, importer markup, and dealer markup. It was likely about $11K in Spain and $8K in Germany with some hard bargaining.
Imagine what GM could build for $22K in those days!
The song Misty by Johnny Mathis evokes strong emotions. As did the movie, but in a different way, also the movie had that super cute Jessica Walter. Misty by Ray Stevens has me wondering if I have any popcorn in the house.
That Granada by Sinatra doesn’t sound anything like the one I remember.
Speaking of Spain, I still have my ’79 Seville, pewter, red leather. I was always going to repaint it that gray they call silver. Maybe, now, I’ll leave it pewter, it’s grown on me, brings back memories. Just replace the Olds 350 with a 403 built for better efficiency. Make it perform like the highest priced Cadillac should perform.
Ah Aaron, loved the “This was truly the “The beatings will continue until morale improves” era of automotive design.”
Per Daniel M: “Say what you will about the Granada. It was one of the first high volume domestic cars, to push American buyers from oversized mid-sized and full-sized cars, into cars of a more rationale less wasteful scale.” … I think it was the fabulous ’64 Chevelle and it’s cousins that did that. Although the earlier GM Y-bodies started some of that.
The ridiculous thing is that the whole ad campaign was predicated on the notion that what makes a Mercedes so valued is the way it looks, not its high-quality feel or driving dynamics. What I took from the whole “I thought it was a Mercedes!” shtick was that the Granada was a car for poseurs, and that will never sell me on anything.
I actually liked the looks of the Granada (at least before it hopped on the square-headlight bandwagon), especially the interior. It really did have a big-car feel, with a dash that looked right out of an LTD or even a Mark IV or V, if that’s what you wanted (and many people did). If only the mechanicals were not so underwhelming.
@ Rando
I always back up my comments. The Editors at this site, are consistently fantastic at monitoring the ‘Trash’ folder, and retrieving posts. I only ask, if I think a post might have been missed. Also saves double posts appearing.
Widespread mid-sized and full-sized downsizing (somewhat permanent) began in the mid-1970’s. Mid-sized and full-sized cars continued to grow after your 1964 Malibu.
– Daniel,
The midsize GMs dropped from 115″ wheelbase to 112″ in ’68…
In 1970s, Camaros/Firebirds went from 3400 lbs. up to pushing 4,000 lbs…
Sorry for the trouble Paul (or one of the editors). I made a post here, it went to the ‘Trash’ folder. I tried to edit it. And that will send it back to the ‘Trash’.
If it could be retrieved a second time. I won’t touch it. Thanks!
I always found this kind of comparative advertising refreshingly cheeky when browsing through US car magazines. Unfortunately, in my part of the world, it is illegal as so-called “unfair competition” – then and now.
Wow, you even found one with bucket seats and a console/floor shift! I saw a lot of Granadas back in the day, but I am not sure I ever saw one with this interior configuration.
The 1975-76 Granada was a true phenomenon. I knew so many people who bought one of them, and they were not a group of people who would typically own the same model. But these cars suffered from another common trait of Iacocca-mobiles – although they presented beautifully in showrooms, they did not age gracefully.
I have never heard either of the musical selections you featured. I actually like the Paul Anka version of Jump.
The buckets and console really surprised me, in a good way. I just wish my pictures of the interior had turned out better. Despite my railing on Ford with this piece, seeing this Granada was enjoyable. It really stood out in the crowd.
I also remember seeing Granadas (and Monarchs) all over the place back in the day. They are attractive cars but, like la673 said, they were obviously a Ford.
Mrs. Jason Jr put me onto the Paul Anka song. It really made me pause and breathe it in more than I do with most songs. Last fall we stopped while driving through Nashville to see Stevens perform at his Cab-A-Ray theatre. He told the story of Misty (it was an impulse to record it during a session for something else) and had his Grammy award in a display case in the lobby.
It just now occurs to me that if Chrysler had built this car, they probably would have gone with this song as the theme for the advertising.
It would have been ideal!
JP, that’s great! There was this whole period in the mid-’70s when the U.S. auto industry seemed obsessed with Spain. There was the Cordoba, Seville, and Granada. Ford might have played up Spanish connotations in their marketing of this car instead of looking to Germany.
This is one of my favorite “transformations” of an old song (1932 by Cole Porter) into something currently in style. I never cease to be amazed at how pervasive disco was in 1977-78; so much so that everyone from Wayne Newton to the Grateful Dead to Barry Manilow to the Beach Boys to Kiss felt compelled to take a crack at it. But I wasn’t aware until recently that even Frank Sinatra, who famously refused to pander to rock and roll when it became popular, made a disco record. I expected it to be an embarrassment, but it’s actually pretty awesome.
La673, this just blew my mind. So Las Vegas! Somehow, I doubt this remake was included on the cassettes that came with the FS Edition of the reborn Chrysler Imperial!
It wasn’t, unfortunately; here are the 16 cassettes that were included, plus a multi-artist Chrysler stereo demonstration tape: https://www.web.imperialclub.info/Yr/1982/SinatraTapes.htm
The Sinatra cassettes were just standard albums you could buy at a record store, all on the Reprise label from the mid-’60s and later (but sadly missing both of his excellent collaborations with Tom Jobim, as well as the wonderfully offbeat album Watertown which was co-written by Jake Holmes, who managed the impressive feat of having his songs recorded by both Frank Sinatra and Led Zeppelin).
The only disco included with the Imperial FS was on that demo tape which included “I Will Survive”, not by Gloria Gaynor but rather an act called Living Disco (can’t find it online anywhere, although I see Ford also included it on their demo tape), and that Living Disco also covered “Le Freak” and “Boogie Oogie Oogie”. They apparently also recorded as (or with) Living Rock, Living Brass, Living Strings, and Living Voices – the latter which covered Ray Stevens’ “Everything is Beautiful” thus completing the loop. (more “life” here: https://www.discogs.com/release/26719067-Various-Reflections )
If you like the Sinatra disco track, here it is set to lots of archival Studio 54 pics: youtube.com/watch?v=8VSkEoW-yig
Wow that Sinatra disco tune sounds like the soundtrack to the show CHIPs! The music that played in the background was just this type of generic disco.
Sorry to insert this here I didn’t see a reply box after the video.
Comments can only be nested about 5 levels deep; however you can still still add to the thread by responding to the last post that does have a Reply box.
@Jose, I just received in the mail a CD copy of Alan Silvestri’s TV soundtrack to the second season of “CHiPs”, the first season for which he was responsible for the music. It is everything.
This was truly the “The beatings will continue until morale improves” era of automotive design. Appalling styling, appalling performance, appalling accomodations, appalling marketing, and even the colors are bilous. The Fairmont was still dreary, but it was at least a step up in basic competence.
Long ago I came across a stash of Motor Trend or Car & Driver magazines from the mid- to late-1970s. What they reported on was dreary and even the presentation within the magazine was dreary. There were some bright spots in the auto world back then, but not enough.
It was the appeal of traditional American luxury and appointments, that made the Granada more marketable to the masses, as a compact car.
If Ford built an AUDI 100LS type car, at that point in history with low key almost austere styling and appointments, it would not have appealed to all those LTD, Caprice, Torino, Colonnade, Monaco, etc, buyers, it attracted.
It was an important car, in transitioning traditional US buyers, to what *they* considered fashionable, and European. It made what was a traditional American car, more palatable, as a small car.
Of course, car enthusiasts would clearly see, that it was not a European car.
Where in that did you get that I’m judging this car for not being a European car? I neither said nor implied anything of the sort.
American automakers had previously and would later come up with reasonably attractive designs, and with cars that performed reasonably well (not necessarily at the same time, granted); some were even marketed in ways that weren’t spine-curlingly embarrassing. They even periodically managed to pull off the Junior Brougham thing in ways that were not completely egregious affronts to good taste. The U.S. Granada manages zero of those things, and as with the awful GM Aeroback cars, looking at it just brings unpleasant flashbacks to an era that other CC contributors have aptly described as “Peak Malaise.”
I find the 26M fascinating because it’s a car that would have made perfect sense in the U.S. If the price were right, Ford could probably have sold a lot of them here in the 1970s, especially after the OPEC embargo.
Audi 100LS, Ford 26M. Pretty confident, the Granada would have significantly outsold either of them. Certainly a bigger risk marketing these cars, over the Granada. Circa 1972 through 1977. European low key, austerity or design discretion was not mainstream high volume popular yet, among the American mass market for luxury cars. I’m not a big Granada fan, but I do think it was the right car, at the right time. Old school American luxury, remained a hot seller. In a Mercedes-sized package! Bonus. 1975 Seville for supporting proof.
American luxury in a smaller package, still had a large market. Even if it looked like a mini-LTD. As the Granada proved for a couple years, as it approached, when the Fairmont would take over. Passing the baton, to a new generation of more basic European-looks. Mainstreet America was not clamouring (yet) for a true American-made genuinely European-in-nature sport sedan.
Not yet, large scale circa 1975.
The 26M was not remotely a “genuine European-in-nature sport sedan.” Did you not read the AMS text at all? It was a softly suspended American-style quasi-luxury car with a lazy torquey engine, automatic transmission, and power steering, “sporty” only in the sense that it had bucket seats, which at the time of launch you could also still get on many of the American models it emulated. (Until about 1965, Ford-Werke had used front bench seats and column shift, but that got to be a tough sell in European markets.)
Also, I’m perfectly capable of having two distinct ideas at once. You’re entitled to disagree with me, but I take exception to your trying to argue with me about things I didn’t say.
RE: “American-made genuinely European-in-nature sport sedan.”
Aaron, I wasn’t suggesting you made this statement about the 26M. I was responding generally to other comments I addressed with this article that suggested the UK Granada be sold in the US, rather than the Falcon-based Granada. See further below. Between the 26M and UK Granada, the UK Granada would have been more likely of the two to come here.
Why I referred to ‘American-made genuinely European-in-nature sport sedan’ I had the UK Granada in mind. I know you didn’t suggest the 26M, had that to offer.
I do think the 26M was too generic and dumpy-looking as was, to succeed here. As I commented with that article. Yes, I read your whole article about its performance deficiencies.
So, why are you bringing it up as if it’s some kind of gotcha for the comment I made here, which had nothing to do with the 26M, and nothing to do with the U.S. Granada not being a “genuinely European-in-nature sport sedan,” which I neither said nor implied either here or in the (unrelated) 26M post? Like I said, you’re entitled to disagree with me, but I’m both confused and frustrated that you’re arguing with something I didn’t say.
My sentiments about the awfulness of mid-’70s automotive design are not limited to U.S. cars. A lot of European and Japanese cars of this period are equally appalling, not least in the shudder-inducing color choices. (This ghastly flesh beige was also a Toyota color at this time, and it didn’t look any better there.)
You mean me pulling your statement from the 25M article? Because based upon its size, it appears the 26M would have been a logical replacement for the Maverick. Perhaps instead of the US Granada. A a compact luxury offering.
When the US Granada would have been cheaper to make, with existing parts, and still serviced the existing traditional American luxury market for those Caprice/Monaco buyers that would have been downsizing. With looks that appealed more to the US market. The Granada may not be attractive, but it would have been better received in the US, than the 26M.
If not replacing the Maverick, and making the US Granada redundant, I’m not sure where you felt the 26M would go in Ford’s US lineup. I thought you had it in mind as a better fit than the US Granada as a compact offering. Why I pulled that statement. So you could clarify. Where else in Ford’s US lineup would it go?
The 26M was out of production by the end of 1971; it was the last iteration of the 1967 P7 platform, a ’60s design, replaced in 1972 by the European Consul/Granada.
My original point in that post — which I reiterate, with growing annoyance, is not pertinent to either this post or my comment about the awfulness of mid-70s automotive design — was that the 26M represented more or less what the U.S. Falcon could have been if Ford hadn’t essentially abandoned it by 1966 and instead had applied its customary LTD formula of added plushness on top of a functional but mechanically unexceptional platform, wrapped in a forgettable amalgamation of contemporary Ford design themes. It was not a car sold in the U.S., but it made sense in a U.S. context that it did not in Germany. That’s it.
If you disagree, that’s fine, but I’m mystified that you apparently took such offense at it that you feel compelled to continue trying to pick a fight over it on completely different posts that have nothing to do with it. You’re trying to argue with me about something I didn’t say, and I’m asking you to give it a rest.
Interesting car the Granada.
Still, I liked the european Granada’s design much better.
I have to agree that the European Ford Granda was a much nicer car both visually and interior wise, it still looks good today.
The unit chassis with independent suspension all round is much more advanced and I can vouch for the ride and the handling.
Cannot see any merits in the US Granada style wise at all, utterly forgettable
Just brilliant, and written in that inimitable Jason Shafer style. For years and years those Granada print ads were the source of jokes between me and my car-aware friends. When YouTube arrived, seeing the TV spots only added fuel to this.
Not with the thickest of cataracts might I have ever confused the two.
With that said, I have come around to appreciate the styling of the first-generation Granada four-door, particularly in Ghia form with those stunning road wheels.
And thank you also for the musical reference. I had known Ray Stevens from “Everything Is Beautiful” and “The Streak” (and those early ’90s TV ads for his compilation album from that time), but this is my first time hearing his take on “Misty” – and I like it!
I’m previewing the Anka album in it’s entirety – I may need to make that purchase. Thank you!
Those wheels you mention do indeed elevate a Granada.
I’m glad to have introduced you to those two songs.
Stevens and Anka are 2.5 years apart in age, Stevens being the elder. Both deserve credit for continuing to do their thing well into their 80s. While I can’t speak to Anka, I was within 2′ of Stevens when we saw him, and he looks great at 86.
Yes, the adverting was cringe worthy, but Lido did pull a rabbit out of his hat again and again and again.
As also noted in CC, other manufactures jumped into the luxury bandwagon:
– AMC with the Concord
– GM with the Nova LN/Concours
– Chrysler with the Aspen/Volare
As a counter point, below are the corresponding Mercury Monarch numbers:
1975. 103,936
1976. 145,823
1977. 127,697
1978. 91,714
1979. 75,879
1980. 21, 746
Total Monarch= 556,795
Lets not forget that Lido also pumped thru 50,156 Lincoln Versailles.
A great source of Granada, Monarch, & Versailles info is:
http://gmv-registry.com
Tune in tomorrow. This piece inspired a little something further about Ford, Mercury, and Lee.
Unfortunately for FoMoCo, this final, sharp-looking “rabbit” that Lido pulled from his hat before finally getting on The Deuce’s bad side was a sickly one.
A diseased rabbit that, when combined with abysmal build quality and Ford’s miserable, finicky and underpowered engines, permanently tarnished the brand in the eyes of loyal customers and turned them off once and for all.
Just before his retirement, my grandfather bought a new 1979 Monarch coupe (brown, of course). He’d purchased several new Mercury vehicles before that (including two Capris that were great to drive but rusted in real-time). He was neither a well-to-do (Lincoln) nor basic (Ford) man, so middle-class Mercury was right up his alley.
That Monarch was falling apart within months and needed constant service to keep running correctly. Truly a piece of junk. Shortly after retiring, he traded it on a 1981 Toyota Corona (T130) with a 2.2 liter 4 cylinder having nearly as much power, much better mileage, and far more drive-ability than any available Granada/Monarch powerplant. No wonder Toyotas in that era sold for well over sticker and right off the truck.
After that first indestructible Toyota (which was handed off to my three older cousins who drove it in turn until the Corona reached ~250k miles without issue), Grandpa never bought another American car. He bought two Camrys, and then an Altima as his final vehicle. My other grandfather had a similar experience (except he trade his last poorly-built GM on the first of three Honda Accords that spanned the next 25 years). Both were WWII vets, one-time union members, and had been buy-American-types all the way up until their final Big-3 experiences. I imagine they were among many in the Greatest Generation who just couldn’t stomach any more of the poorly-built machines coming out of Detroit in that era.
The last time I came across a Granada was in 2017. It was a rather tired-looking ’78 model (below) – I took photos of it, but I just couldn’t muster the energy to write an article about it. I’m glad you did with this one.
Funny that you mentioned that you were young enough to have been highly impressionable by the Granada when it was new. I felt the same way. My first (perhaps only?) direct experience with one was when my mom rented one though Rent-a-Wreck sometime in the early 1980s. I thought it was the most awesome thing in the world, with all that fake wood, fancy-looking interior stuff, and vinyl that looked like leather. Eventually, I wised up (a bit).
In other news, it appears that the couple in the 1979 ad with the Mercedes (George and Eve Nazarian) were real people. George was a lawyer, and Eve worked as a realtor – they lived in Southern California. I wonder if the other people in these Granada ads used their real names as well?
Lawyer and realtor. I wonder if rather than being “his car/her car” it was horses for courses? She’d use the Benz with sellers and the Ford with buyers, he’d switch off based on whether it was more important to look Successful-with-a-capital-S or unpretentious?
You and I are scary close in age, so I can see how you were also impressionable with the Granada. In fact, the two-door belonging to a cousin was a darker blue with a white top and I was rather smitten with it.
However, you are way ahead of me – I have never ridden in any Granada or Monarch.
The Benz vs Grenada ads had to be the same ad agency that lifted a Lincoln Versailles to the Windows of the World Restaurant on top of the NYC Twin Towers.
Both just as ridiculous. Look, it has four wheels just like a Mercedes! Drive up to the top floor of a hi rise!
Lifted, or pasted in?
“Lifted, or pasted in?”
Both would be legitimate. Anyone with even a spark of intelligence knows that advertising has nothing to do with reality. It’s all about the effect.
Ford (and any of their advertising agencies) of course knew, the Granada was not a European car.
Promoting the Granada as a modern, European-style car, worked getting traditional buyers out of over-sized mid-sized and full-sized cars.
It sold well, until Ford developed a more genuine European-like car in the Fairmont. And it helped set up the less flashy Fairmont, to be more palatable for the US market. In an era, when many buyers expected chrome and flash.
The Granada played a key role, in making small car luxury appealing, to traditional American big car buyers.
Reminds me I was at the top of one of those towers just before they came down.
So glad it didn’t happen the day I was up there. I was in NYCity for a wedding. I drove the friend’s ’89 Mazda MX6 there that I’ve mentioned in other comments. Her stepdaughter was getting married. The groom worked in the Twin Towers. Fortunately, he was deer hunting in upstate NY on 9/11/2001.
Only time I was ever in NYCity, although my ancestors came with Peter Stuyvesant in 1620 to set up New Amsterdam/NYCity. I’ve read there are seven single women for each single man in NYCity. The single women there did seem awfully friendly.
Say what you will about the Granada. It was one of the first high volume domestic cars, to push American buyers from oversized mid-sized and full-sized cars, into cars of a more rationale less wasteful scale.
By offering all the big car features and looks, Americans had come to expect in a car that appealed to them, in a more sensible and practical scale.
If they had made the styling and interiors more austere and less like familiar American luxury, it would not have sold nearly so well. And been so transformational in acceptance by Americans.
For all its faults, I do credit the Granada for playing this important role. Largely what I remember it for.
There’s an irony in the Granada that relates way back to George Mason and Romney’s Rambler days. Before Roy Abernethy took over AMC and embarked on his ill-fated attempt at going model-to-model with the Big 3, the prior guys concentrated on selling well-built and appointed small cars. Abernethy went another way and many have wondered what might have been if he’d, instead, continued to spend AMC’s meager funds on developing small cars to at least stay on par with the Big 3 compacts.
The Granada seemed to harken back to those Mason/Romney days, at least in appearance. Here was a compact car that at least looked like a much nicer big car with interior appointments to match. It’s no wonder it was a sales success in the mid-seventies, at least for the first couple years. Iacocca worked his magic with just the right car at just the right time, once again, no matter how craptacular it might have otherwise been.
For one brief and terrifying moment I thought it was the Osmonds in the ad for the ’78 Ford Fairmont. “Crazy Horses” indeed !
The ad that highlights the independent front suspension and Hotchkiss drive, not to mention choice of cloth or vinyl had me laughing; uhh, just like pretty much any American car for the last 25 years.
In 1975 I had a summer job in rural Virginia. My boss, a retired military guy, had a Saab 99 and a Capri. Both 4 cylinder, stick shift. I didn’t like him but at least he had OK taste in cars. One day near the end of the summer he showed up in a new Granada. He loved it and was happy to have gotten rid of “that POS Saab”. I forever associate Granada’s with him.
It might be an urban legend, but I heard through the years they disassembled and put back together at least the shell of a the Versailles up the freight elevators. With three Martini lunches and deep pockets it could have happened.
Ford was know for putting vehicles on top of tall buildings.
IIRC, Ford put the shell of a ’66 Mustang on top of the Empire State. Much later, William Clay Ford appeared on the Empire State with a 2015 Mustang Convertible for some type of promo.
GM was no slouch, A ’64 Chevy Impala was also put on top of a mountain.
Just Google, you’ll find the commercials and pictures of the car shells.
While my Dad doesn’t obsess over cars of this era like I do, he did buy a 1971 Torino Wagon and a 1978 Delta 88 new and I’d be curious as to if he remembers the Mercedes-comparison advertising strategy and if was as laughable at the time as most of us find it 40+ years down the road.
Cadillac and Lincoln’s global prestige erosion seemed to coincide with the consumer realizing that size, price and status were not locked together. There absolutely were reasons why a Merc cost 5x the price of a Granada and they were not skin deep. Just as there were reasons not to buy a new Cimarron even though it was roughly the same size, shape and price as the 3-Series BMW.
One wonders if the Euro Granada as pictured below would have had more staying power over the years. The production run largely overlapped, questionable 70s fashion was just as in in Europe as in the U.S., yet the Euro Granada is a crisp, clean shape devoid of dime-store makeup and plastic baubles from Claire’s boutique and frankly looks the contemporary of if not actually more modern than the offerings from BMW, Audi, and yes, Mercedes at introduction. Even the Aussies got the same style (if pulled out at the edges a little) as their Falcon XD which supplanted the far more “american”-looking XC predecessor.
Looking further back at the Mk1 Euro Granada but even the Mk2, in wagon form from the rear 3/4 it even strongly channels the Mercedes W123/W124 wagon forms, i.e making for more legitimate competitive claims.
Add in the Capri MkII (the more chiseled Euro shape as opposed to the facelifted Gen 1 we got here), and a lot of Mustang II and Granada embarrassment could have been spared with a solid launch forward in the 1980s with the Sierra’s shape just taking the place of the Tempo and the Fairmont being avoided altogether if the slightly smaller ’76-’82 Cortina/Taunus was also brought over with the Granada. If Lido was trying to convince people that the Granada was somehow analogous to a Mercedes, then perhaps he should have just realized that a better option might be to actually sell the vehicles that actually did sell in the Mercedes’ home market. After all, nobody in Europe beyond US Servicepersons was importing a US Granada.
Looking hard at the Euro Granada and the Falcon XD you can even see influences that made their way into the Fox Mustang as Ford Europe was already starting to angle away from that design language, yet Ford US insisted on persisting with a very muddled overall design theme.
“Dreary” does in fact describe this car quite well, there should have been a Granada DR trim version, then Lido could have used that in yet another avenue of weirdly earnest get highly cringy marketing.
An excellent find this surely is, but an even better find is the motivation you somehow unearthed to write about this at length.
“An excellent find this surely is, but an even better find is the motivation you somehow unearthed to write about this at length.”
Thank you. You had me laughing.
Anger and annoyance can be good motivators. For all the years that have passed, those craptacular ads are what sticks with me about the Granada and Ford squandering a good opportunity in having presented something unique.
Years ago, I saw a cartoon of two cavemen, one with a beautiful woman on his arm. The lone caveman, whose loin cloth was rather modest, asked the woman, whose man had a loincloth that came nearly to his knees, what her man possessed that he didn’t. The Granada is rather like the modest loincloth guy.
Despite some having interpreted my harpooning an ad campaign as harpooning the car itself, I’m rather ambivalent about the Granada. However, if I had to drive a Granada, I would rather have one from the second, Fairmont based, generation.
I presented counter arguments above. Circa 1974-1975, the US Granada bridged that significant gap between traditional American luxury cars, and a car many Americans could *relate to*, in a smaller-scale. Remember, Opera windows and half vinyl roofs peaked in popularity at this time.
People say GM took a big risk downsizing their 1977 B-Bodies. I say the massive success of the Granada, made that risk much more palatable. Of course, Ford needed a better, more genuinely European car. They had the Fairmont.
Going from a 1973 LTD Broughham, to a genuine Ford of Europe product, was too big a leap. And too big a risk. US Granada was a relatively low cost way of safely transitioning that huge market of traditional US buyers into small cars. For two to three years.
1977 and 1978 Mission accomplished. Millions of Americans now into small cars. Then they are better ready to accept a Ford of Europe car, or the Fairmont.
The American Granada was a *reflection* of the then US mass market. The Coasts and enthusiasts were buying more Japanese and European cars. While traditional US luxury sold well in many other parts of the country.
And yet, four+ decades hence, neither Ford nor Lincoln has any passenger cars and Mercury simply ceased to exist.
There’s another way to look at mainly the “coasts” buying Japanese and European cars back then – Not necessarily a mindset of different parts of the population wanting one “look and feel” over another but perhaps that the availability of the imports was FAR greater on the coasts, eventually working their way inward over decades; if you live in small town middle America, a local Ford or Chevy or Dodge dealer was often (and often still is) the only realistically local or semi-local option. Many consider California to be one huge coastal enclave of Los Angeles butting into San Francisco and their suburbs reaching to the Nevada and Oregon borders, however once you get about 50-75 miles inland or 75 miles north of S.F., it’s often far more analagous to Ohio or Kansas, plenty of pickups, flat land, and agriculture along with vast distances to traverse, often without curves.
However, who’s to say that the inland US population en masse would have been unreceptive to those styles of offerings, since they didn’t realistically have easy access to them. The ’79 Mustang sold for Ford. As did the hugely different ’83 T-bird and Tempo along with before that, as you noted, the Fairmont. Which then made just as big a leap to the Taurus. Chevy had the Caprice/Impala as early as Sept ’76! (only two years after this Granada debuted). The US Granada was unnecessary, moreso (or mainly) as by comparing to the Europeans instead of Chevy or Dodge it showed a remarkable insecurity in its own identity and directly admits (or insists) that its target market really DID want the Euro option; compare the inside of a Mercedes to that of a Granada, it’s luxurious in quality but not “Lido-Luxurious” in tacky look. And the Euro Granada interior is a simpler, cleaner (and less expensive) version of the same. Ford did in fact consider importing the Euro Granada but it wasn’t considered cost effective to import. Then again, tooling is tooling, assembly is assembly, there was nothing stopping them from simply building their own instead of what they did build, a la Escort a decade later (which they then also somehow dumbed down while visually an almost perfect clone). Or better yet, kind of what Ford Australia did with the Falcon.
Note I’m not disputing that the Granada sold well or that people were necessarily unhappy with their choice, but my question really is would all those buyers have chosen it if they had more of a choice at their time of purchase?
A number of the points I have made, already answer points you are making.
The US Granada was a low cost means of transitioning many traditional full-sized car buyers to a more rational-sized car, without giving up what appealed to them most. American-style comfort, convenience, and luxury.
Traditional US luxury was still drawing massive sales. Why walk away from that just yet, in a high volume segment? When the segment was not yet clamouring for a fully European product. The Fairmont was soon to be ready, to address any void.
Obviously, Ford knew it was not the answer. But until they (and the market) was ready for a fully-modern car like the Fairmont, the Granada gave Ford great sales. And the knowledge, US buyers were now in much smaller cars by 1977 and 1978. Better accepting of small cars replacing their now out-of-date non-downsied cars.
Lower risk, great sales and profit, on lower investment. Allows more money and time to develop the Fairmont. While still achieving excellent sales. Bring traditional buyers to smaller cars more seamlessly. Ford obviously knew the Granada would not be competitive after 2 to 4 years. Why risk alienating traditional luxury buyers, with a more austere European-style car.
How would 1970’s era unionized designers/auto workers react to building an imported design in a high volume mass market segment, over a wholly domestic car with 500,000+ sales in the US/Canada. No brainer.
The Granada earned its keep. Until the massive selling Fairmont was ready. The Granada, GM B-Body downsizing, GM A-Bodies, all made the Fairmont that much more palatable.
Ford needed to still cater to their legacy clients, with no market pressure to jump farther than they needed to yet. Granada was a big success, until the Fairmont was ready. They bridged that gap.
Thunderbird and Taurus are VERY different. Ford *had* to take those risks, to stay competitive. Granada was much better than Maverick, at reaching the Fairmont. Huge sales, until becoming obsolete.
“No man ever went broke overestimating the ignorance of the American public.”
— P.T. Barnum
I’m assuming Lee had that quote in his office.
As stupid as the Mercedes comparisons were, I suspect they were quite effective. People like to imagine they’re getting some aspect/benefit of an unaffordable thing for cheap. This seems to have been especially the case in the 1970s. There was no shame in pretension and fakery. Think of all the pimpmobiles and such. And all the VWs running around with RR grilles. Lee was always in touch with the animal spirits of the times.
My recollection is that Torino sales plunged when Granada debuted, then Granada sales plunged when Fairmont debuted, then Fairmont sales plunged when GM introduced the X cars. I suspect high inflation and high interest rates forced many in the Fairmont demographic down to the Escort. The Fox Granada was a flop, but the Fox LTD was moderately successful.
If you like brougham type cars you would have liked the Granada. It seems that a lot of folks did. My neighbor back in the early 80’s had a light blue coupe, and I thought that it was a nice looking car, but I never confused it with my ’77 Coupe de Ville. Even though it was not sufficiently differentiated from the Granada, I thought that the Versailles was pretty nice. This was a bad era for driveability, fuel economy, and performance at Ford. Though they did a good job putting together attractive interiors. My brother had a two year old Mustang II Ghia that was as plush as a Thunderbird.
Those comparison ads with Mercedes were ridiculous, but they were like “click bait” you had to read them to see what wild claims that Ford was making for their car. I don’t think that anyone was fooled, or convinced of the similarities besides both having four wheels.
P.S. The Paul Anka version of Jump is indeed good, however if interested in something bridging the gap between it and the VH version, new wave/indie Aztek Camera covered it as well back in late ’84 ago brilliantly. It’s a remarkable versatile song:
https://youtu.be/COtZZmWKcRI
I was under 10 years old, when I saw the earliest Granada to Mercedes comparison TV commercials. Of course what really piqued my attention (and that of millions of others), was this conventional-seeming American car, being compared to any Mercedes.
So I payed quite close attention, to the first few ads I saw. Perhaps l’m wrong, but didn’t virtually all the ads exclusively compare their looks, their prices, and their dimensions? I never recall seeing comparisons of what I knew at 10 years old, were the genuinely important differences. Like quality, reputation, or durability!
So I just took the ads as typical marketing BS. As a kid.
The only comparison I ever took away, as being important, was Ford’s regular comparison of dimensions. I knew as a boy, Ford was trying to portray the small size of the Granada, in a positive light. If people thought the Granada was as well-built, reliable, as durable, as a Mercedes, that was a reflection of their ignorance. Ford may have wanted to visually strongly imply this, as many ads do. But I never recall them openly and blatantly saying their Granada was as good a car, as a Mercedes. I knew it was devious, but as a kid I knew it would never impact me buying a Granada for Mercedes quality. That’s ignorance on the buyer.
Looking back, in terms of hard facts content, I felt promoting the smaller scale was very influential.
I felt the mid ’80’s ads that more directly compared the performance of Iacocca’s Chrysler LeBaron GTS, to pricey European competitors, was more reason to be suspicious.
I didn’t remember that the Falcon-based Granada went on for so long after the Fairmont was introduced.
While the Granada was nothing at all like a Mercedes, the Fairmont did a reasonable job of matching the up-and-coming trend of near-luxury European cars, cars like the BMW, Audi, SAAB, and Volvo.
My dad went wagon shopping in June 1978. He tested a Fairmont, Aspen, and Malibu. He said he liked the better handling and mileage of the Fairmont. But he also like the more substantial, traditional feel of the Aspen and Malibu. He ended up buying the Aspen.
The Chrysler LeBaron and Dodge Diplomat were introduced in mid-1977. Some buyers in that segment, still liked more substantial traditional luxury.
No “Fairmont” I experienced was a match up to any “Bimmer”, Saab, “Volvo”.
Not in performance or handling, no. But in simplicity of design, i.e. not being overwrought with Brougham-era design, yes.
And if you ordered a Fairmont with the handling package and small V-8, you could come close to the overall performance of the Euro cars.
Also, the Fairmont was 1/2-2/3 of the price of any of those cars.
I remember seeing the print ads but the Benz and Ford both have four wheels from there the similarity ends, it was many years later in New Zealand that I actually saw one of the cars but in well beaten very rusty condition a mushroom on someones lawn weirdly it was the same colour as the posted car, how did they manage to strangle a 250 Ford six down to 72hp, I owned several 250 Aussie Falcon sixes they went ok for what they were, torquey and thirsty but usually durable.
I remember feeling embarrassed, when I first saw this episode of the TV series CHiPs.
Well-respected Canadian actor Stephen Young, playing a speeding drunken Granada-owner. Young starred in the 1960’s CBC series ‘Seaway’. And was well-known to Canadians.
Why on Earth was he doing this cheezy acting, on CHiPs!?
I realize now, actors sometimes have to take work, that largely pays the bills.
His Granada certainly looks, much like the featured one, in this article. As he does some serious evasive driving. lol
I have never had a negative attitude toward Granadas and Monarchs. My sister had a beautiful 1975 Granada Ghia coupe, navy blue with a white full vinyl top and silver blue velour interior. It had the 351. My sister loved it and it was a good reliable car.
I had a neighbor that bought a new 1976 Grand Monarch, white with white vinyl top and brown and white leather. That was an absolutely gorgeous automobile with every option possible. I was only ever a passenger in the neighbor’s car, but it was a smooth, quiet luxurious ride.
My wife was supposed to get her grandparents 78 Monarch for her first car. She refused to drive it!
White with a red flight bench seat and no options, she told her dad she’d ride the bus! He traded it in on a 79 Mustang but made her pay the payments!
I wanted a Grand Monarch one time and looked everywhere. The one I finally found had all the options, and a nasty tick. No thanks.
“That taint lingers like the stench of squandered opportunities and ambitions of covetousness.” That’s good stuff.
I don’t understand the love given here to the Fairmount. I actually bought a new one in ’78. For three long years I suffered the indignities that only a truly crappy car can impose (I only kept it for that long because my young daughter loved, loved, loved the light blue color). Want to make a new friend? Find another Fairmount owner and start trading horror stories.
It truly was the last FOMOCO car I ever owned.
The infamous Ford “tilt wheel” – versus everyone else’s tilt steering column – anyone may know the backstory behind that?
Not a car I would normally comment on, but I can’t help wondering why the large vinyl rub strip forward of the front wheel ends so far back behind the bumper.
Did they run out of material in the extruding process?
It just look wrong, you wouldn’t confuse that with what Mercedes would do.
Late to the party here – I share Jason’s mixed emotions about the Granada. As a mini-LTD, the Granada made a lot of sense, offering a well-trimmed alternative to the penury of the Maverick and other compacts and was the ideal vehicle for demonstrating that there was indeed a market for premium small cars. On the other hand, the reprehensible marketing campaign comparing the Granada to a Mercedes-Benz is beyond cynical. I had a friend from a very modest background whose father’s first-ever new car was an early base version of the Granada, which he bought because of that ad. I liked my friend, so I suppressed my smirk when riding in that car, but even at 14 years old, I found it hard to believe that anyone actually bought that line.