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(first posted 5/27/2016) A Ford Granada coming towards you on a Sunday afternoon, whist waiting at a bus stop. Noteworthy – any Granada on the road now deserves the CC wave of honour . But, hold on, what’s behind? Another Granada, a 1977-1986 Mark 2 version. Truly, a nice bit of CC action.
I have long considered the 1972-1977 Ford Granada Ghia as being Europe’s Brougham. The Ghia version, as in the US, was Ford’s top luxury label, with all the trimmings Henry could find. Vinyl roof, velour, sunroof, tinted glass, stereo cassette system, wood trim interior, a three speed automatic transmission (usually), specially shaped grille and bonnet, more chrome strips than truly necessary and Ghia only alloy wheels.
In the UK, the usual engine for the Ghia was the Ford UK Essex 3.0 litre V6 with around 130bhp, though nominally a 2.5 litre was also available. Base Granadas started with a four cylinder 2.0 litre, with around 100 bhp. There was an estate version as well, and two door saloons and coupes also, but only in mainland Europe. The wheelbase was 107 inches, overall length 180 inches and weight around 3000ib for a fully trimmed V6.
Truly, it was Lee Iacocca’s Granada.
The 3.0 Ghia was a classic example of a larger, well equipped car planned to compete with a smaller but premium badged car, in this case cars like the Rover 2200, Triumph 2500, BMW 1800/5 series and Audi 100. The style was, to many, perhaps a bit flash and unsubtle, but the value and solid ability of the car won it many fans, and being a Ford, it fitted well with the company car culture and pecking order of the 1970s.
In 1977, the Granada went to a Mark 2 version, with a visually very different and contemporary chiseled straight line style, over the same floorpan. Ford repeated most of the previous car’s features, though the V6 engines were now exclusively the German Ford Cologne V6, at 2.3 and 2.8 litre, with no loss of performance. Assembly was now all German as well.
That square style matched well with the 1976 Cortina IV/Taunus TC2 twins. The running gear was carried over, with the same wishbone front suspension and an independent coil sprung rear. Keeping it all even more obvious, the estate version of the Mark 2 was common to the Mark 1 from the B pillar back, including the flick up of the rear door window line.
The Mark 2 lasted until spring 1985, when the Granada Mark 3 (in the UK, Scorpio in Europe) was launched, the car that was the base for the Merkur Scorpio. (The blue car above was registered on 1 August 1986, a date which suggests the original owner would have had a good deal).
And how well did Ford manage the transition to the Mark 2? The car looked very different, much calmer and some subtlety was regained, and it had a much nicer interior, with Ford of Europe’s first electric windows and central locking. But it used the same windscreen as the Mark 1.
And the bus we were waiting for? A 1952 AEC RTL with a Leyland engine, in London County colours. More on that another day.
This is before our American Ford Granada was released. I find this more attractive than the American version.
They had nothing to do with each other except the name. The US Grenada was first on a descendant of the original Falcon platform, then the gen 2 ones were on the wider and newer Fox platform and clearly had a lot in common with Ford Fairmonts. All RWD with live rear axles.
These are interesting to an American who has never seen one in person. The interior shot is quite exotic – except for that shifter, which looks like U.S. Ford all the way.
I guess I’m missing something, “the blue car pictured above” looks like that black car….both 1st generation Granadas. In the picture that features a blue coupe (?), next to it is what COULD be a silver 2nd generation wagon.
I prefer the Euro Granada over the American version, but wonder how much the Euro Granada influenced the design of the Mercury Monarch.
I think the difference shows up best in the C pillar/rear quarter panel area.
“the blue car” is a reference to the Mark 2 in the first photo.
If you ever see a Mk.2 Granada with the plastic rubbing strips on the doors removed it’s obvious that the skins are exactly the same as the Mk.1 doors. Hiding that concave curve made a big visual difference, even to the estates. Ford made extensive use of this kind of heavy facelifting throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s; in the UK this must have been one of their most profitable times as they continued to soak up BLs market share while benefiting from the cost reductions of integrating the British and European model range. Even the all-new Fiesta was given the facelift treatment in 1983 and lasted over a decade before an all-new body came out.
The Mk.2 saloon was always particularly handsome in pre-1981 form. The estates/station wagons of both were great load carriers too, even better than Volvos in cubic capacity and 81″ of length with the rear seats folded.
Little query on the figures – my 1983 Ford ‘Cars’ brochure gives the wheelbase as 109″ and overall length as 184.2″ (estate 188.9″) while the weights go from 3861 lbs for a 2 litre L saloon to 4464 lbs for a Ghia X estate.
4464? For a Granada? That can’t be right. That’s almost as heavy as a 90’s Buick Roadmaster Estate (one of the largest and heaviest passenger cars sold since the late 70’s downsizing wave).
For a similar-era comparison, I own a ’79 Chevy Malibu, which is a little bigger dimensionally (108″ wb, 193″ overall length) but weights in at 3252 lbs. No way an ’83 Granada with a 2.0 can outweight a V8 Malibu by 600 lbs…
That 4464 lbs number is completely off base. The Mk1 weighed from from 1190 kg (2624 lbs) to 1430kg (3153 lbs). The Mk2 weighed about the same.
I can’t even think of a European sedan that weighed that much, except the Mercedes 600.
The figure came from ‘Gross Vehicle Weight’ column (given in kg, so x 2.20462 for pounds), 1750 to 2025 kg. Perhaps this is the wrong figure to use, but that’s all that’s given.
Ah, yep. That’s the problem. The Gross Vehicle Weight (Rating) is the maximum allowable weight of the vehicle taking into account the vehicle itself, plus fluids, plus max allowable passengers plus cargo. That rating is set by the manufacturer for safety/liability reasons. So if your book is a manufacturer/sales reference, that makes sense as information of interest to the prospective buyer.
I had a feeling it might be something like that, though without knowing the ‘normal’ weight it means you’d have to find a weighbridge to check! Odd that that was the only weight they gave.
Thanks for helping clear that up.
Wow, that must have been a thrilling sight! Haven’t seen a 1st generation Granada on the road for many years. Always loved both of those cars, particularly the second generation 2.8 Ghia X.
Great find !
Whenever I see a mk1 granada I can’t help thinking of Regan & Carter in ‘The Sweeney’, and the inevitable fisticuffs followed by the “You’re nicked sunshine”. I’m sure many in the UK feel the same. RIP John Thaw, a great actor and an even nicer guy in person…
We got The Sweeney in Canada back when it was first run. Great show.
The bad guys always drove Jag MK-IIs and Rover TCs.
One of the British automobile magazines recently ran an article about cars favored by criminals in the 1960s and 1970s.
They actually preferred Fords – particularly the Granada – because they blended in better than the Jaguars, were easier to quickly enter and exit, and were more reliable.
I remember reading an interview with Bruce Reynolds who was the driver for the great train robbery in the 1960s. IIRC both the Jag Mk2 and Lotus Cortina were considered for the job, with the Cortina winning out on the basis of greater anonymity.
In 2009 their police-impounded ‘low mileage’ Cortina sold for a lot of money.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6078204/Car-used-in-Great-Train-Robbery-sells-for-six-figure-sum.html
‘The Sweeney’ ftw! All episodes (well, most of them) are up for viewing on YouTube.
The European Ford Granada was the first car that really gave me, as a budding enthusiast, an inkling that our home team was keeping the good stuff away from us. Actual experience with my grandfather’s Taunus during a visit to Germany in 1979 effectively confirmed this suspicion.
In a similar situation, I first encountered photos of a Euro Granada (one of the ’72-’77 models) in a book about world cars when I was a kid. This was in the mid 80’s so that model was long superseded, but I immediately wondered why the Granadas we got in this country didn’t look anything like that car.
I believe Popular Science described the forthcoming US Granada as a “baby LTD.” Little wonder there was so little resemblance to the Euro one, given that design brief.
I rather like the looks of the coupe but, if I was in the UK and wanted something with a Ford V-6… I wonder what the upcharge would be for a Reliant Scimitar GTE?
A Granada sedan was £3490 in 1976, the coupe would have been more expensive I assume. A Scimitar started at £4440 to which you still had to add things like a laminated windshield, automatic trans or power steering
http://www.sporting-reliants.com/images/Price%20Lists/GTE_18.10.76.jpg
The 1977 Granada Ghia sedan was £5 000 or twice the price of a.Capri 1600L. Dad had the prices on a brochure. He went for the Cortina Mk4.
So were the Granadas en route to a classic meet? The chances of seeing two of them line astern in 2016 must be infinitesimal. I was never hugely keen on the original Granada, but its thuggish charm has grown on me over the years. The Mk 2 is very handsome, but always felt a little slight, particularly alongside an SD1.
Always a treat to see an RT bus, as almost featured on the cover of Abbey Road!
There’s a John Wayne movie, McQ….I think it was, that had several 1st generation Granadas, some Escorts, and I think Cortinas. Not to mention the chase between a Jaguar and The Duke in a Capri.
That would be ‘Brannigan’.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072732/
didnt he get a ride in a MK4 Zephyr in that movie?
Two Granadas in a row! Nicely captured, Roger. Like others have commented here, and despite Tom Klockau helping reverse my U.S. Granada dislike (https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1977-ford-granada-ghia-ltd-lite/), I prefer the Granadas on your continent.
When my family had visited London when I was 8 (and I couldn’t get enough of the cars on the street – the Ford Sierra was the wildest, coolest sedan I had ever seen at that point), my mind was blown by the Granada. I wondered how two cars (U.S. and European) so opposite each other on the attractiveness scale could share the same model name. It’s the same idea as assuming the sibling of an attractive person, sight unseen, must just as attractive. (It ain’t always true.)
Great shot! I always thought it was a big miss that Ford did not bring the ’72 Granada over to the U.S. to sell as a Mercury. After all, Mercury had enjoyed great success with the Capri, so there was a good market developing for European Ford products stateside. Imagine if the Comet had been this Granada rather than a rebadged Maverick. It would have been differentiated and appropriately upscale for Lincoln Mercury dealers, and could have satisfied many customers longing for something with a European size and feel combined with period-appropriate Brougham features.
Let me change that slightly for you: “…to sell as a Merkur” 🙂
Hahaha… nooooo 🙂
Splendid catch there ! The seventies, Ford’s Golden Years in Europe. In the late seventies quite literally, I must say. Example below.
Fiesta, Escort, Taunus, Granada, Capri, Transit, D-series, Transcontinental. And then I’m not even mentioning their farm- and construction machinery…
Interior of a Granada Mk2 Ghia. Ford’s European Brougham interpretation.
I found this neat picture of Ford’s Euro-cars lineup in the seventies. From left to right: Granada, Capri, Taunus, Escort and Fiesta.
Spring 1977 I reckon.
Possibly. Just a few months before the Granada Mk2 was introduced.
From the time that silver colour was considered something special and upmarket! And somehow it looks great on 70s cars…(Not so much today)
I’ll echo others and say I would’ve liked to see the Granada come over, particularly the second gen model as that’s my favorite of the two, but I’m sure import factors and restrictions may have been a factor in keeping them out.
The Mk1 Euro Granada would have been a compact by US standard back in the days. But it may be too up scale spec wise for a US compact? It had IRS, wood panels, tachometer, all sounded too foreign for HQ Ford.
Tweak the sheetmetal a bit*, make leather standard, and sell it as a Lincoln where those features might be appreciated by the right kind of buyer. If offered early enough, it could have made them seem more credible as BMW, Mercedes, and Volvo started making inroads.
*And I don’t mean “give it a faux Rolls grille and a continental hump”. We’re not trying to create a proto-Versailles.
Sure would have given Bimmer and Volvo a run for their $$. Back in ’70s, Bimmer and Volvo hadn’t found their footing in the US, the brand “Lincoln” meant something positive.
One problem: Lee Iaccoca. He obviously didn’t get it.
If Ford’s 80s management had been around, ti would have likely been a different story.
A Mk1 with Ford small block would have excellent performance, 3200lbs powered by 250hp or so, and an advanced chassis with IRS. Bimmer and Mercedes had no answer for such a monster.
My father had a 3.0GL for a short while. Purple metallic with a black vinyl roof. First car we had with a sunroof. I never understood why my father wouldn’t let me stand on the console with my head sticking out of the roof as we drove… From my time sitting on the driveway pretending to drive it I remember some odd ergonomics. The wipers were switched on from a push switch on the end of the indicator stalk and the speed changed by a rocker switch in its face. The washers were a push button the other side of the steering wheel. The sidelights and headlights were two separate buttons with a strange ritual to switch them off. My father disliked the dim headlights, and my 5’2″ mother couldn’t reach the pedals or see over the steering wheel so it was soon changed for a Rover SD1 which he loved.
Very few of these came to NZ the bad taste left in Ford dealers mouths by the Essex V6 Zephyrs caused Falcons to rule the showrooms from 71 onwards Cortinas ans Escorts sold by the trainload but the Granada was left out of the equation.
I am surprised that no mention was made about the V8 version of first generation Granada. The South African Granada Perana was equipped with optional Windsor 302 V8, putting out 252 hp and 299 lb-ft.
Seems that there’s lot of automotive equivalent of ‘unicorns’ in South Africa, namely the Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV 6 with turbocharged V6 mill, Ford Sierra XR8 with Windsor 302, BMW 745i SA with M88/3 Motorsport engine found in M5, etc.
We’ve had some Peranas land in Australia. I vaguely recall some Capris being sold in our trader magazines but with 302s aplenty here they’re relatively easy to ‘tribute’. Alfetta GTV 3.0 litre… mmmmm.
The Perana was an aftermarket conversion (factory recognised/approved?) that was sold only in South Africa, and in quite small numbers I understand.
Another South African ‘unicorn’ is the Chevrolet Can Am, which was a small car with a small block in it!
I love the shape of the Mk1 Granada. Love it. A lot.
This was the European version of the big american Fords. Like Capri was the European Mustang, this was the LTD. It was comfortable, relatively quiet and in some markeds well equipped. Keep in mind that Power steering was noted as “luxury” in many European countries.
The engines was pretty big for our marked, the MK2 had 1.6 , 1.7, 2.0 , 2.3 , 2.8 and 2.8 i. Regarded as lazy and thirsty in Norway, but the bigger engines was pretty smooth. 114 hp in the 2,3 and 140 hp in the 2,8, 160hp in the injection engine that was quite expensive.
In South Africa you could get a “Perana” named version with the 302 cid Ford V8 with 255 hp and 405 nm.
Here’s a Ford Granada owned by my uncle since it was new in 1983. It is MINT. Often used for special occasions like weddings, etc. As the flags would suggest, this is indeed in Norway.
Dumb image didn’t attach. http://i.imgur.com/Na72xBj.jpg
I’m looking at the windows in the houses in the first 2 pics, and how small the opening panes are…you’d ROAST in the summer in this climate if that’s all the more your windows opened…you’d be running the A/C from April till October.
Maybe I need to move somewhere cooler and less humid…
I think the side panes open too, possibly hinged at the side (note the thicker frames compared to the lower part of the central window pane).
They are unlikely to have AC either. Temperatures don’t often go much above 80-85°F and average lower than that.
Air conditioning was also typically a VERY expensive option on many British cars of the ’70s and ’80s, although it was standard on British Mk3s Granada Scorpios. I’m always astonished by that looking at old price lists — A/C was sometimes a £1,500+ option even on models for which it was standard in the U.S. at the time.
“But it used the same windscreen as the Mark 1”
Hmm. Photo of the blue 2-door Mark 1 with the Mark 2 wagon next to it shows rounded bottom corners of the Mark 1 windscreen but square corners for the Mark 2 one.