Forgotten cars: The 1981/82 Ford Granada.

Conversation 8 comments

1. The Ford Durango , another forgotten Fox platform vehicle.

2. PAnd then there was the LTD II

3. Merkur Scorpio, XR4ti, Plymouth Arrow

4. Plymouth Sapporo

5. Just a gussied up Fairmont, also the LTD was a fancier Granada

6. Hi Vince. Thanks for sharing. My Dad almost bought a granada for my mother in 1976. I remember the test drive. We ended up getting a silver 1976 lesabre with a red vinyl interior. On Thanksgiving night 1976 we ended up getting hit head on by a drunk driver in that car on the freeway…fortunately we all lived….man the time flies….the granada we almost bought was a garish orange color….I still remember the experience every time I pass the Ford dealership (same familt owners 40+ years later)

7. Thanks for sharing!! These old cars do bring up lots of memories, don't they…

8. If it matters, I do remember these, though less common on the roads. An elderly priest had a two-tone model that I passed each day going to and from school. Maybe you had to be there, but I preferred this contemporary look vastly moreso than the original Granada / Monarch / Versailles. Ford took cues from the smart-looking ’77 Caprice (and other downsized GM B-Body cars), and it shows in the much less fussy lines, along with the two tones paint jobs available. I always loved Patrick Macnee, and he always was the epitome of what one might (perhaps even sterotypically) associate with “English Gentlemanliness”. But his suits were amazing, his grace and elegance of movement, his unflappable manner, and his seemingly velvet-lined larynx. Mr MacNee would have been a great spokesman then as he would have been in his 50s then, and appeal to a middle aged and older buyer familiar with his 60’s “The Avengers”, plus his sophistication that Ford was looking for when marketing this car. After all, it was trying to appeal to a more contemporary crowd as well. Mr. MacNee had no problem doing commercials, unlike the actors who feel it is shameful to shill, and only do commercials for the Japanese market stipulating that their work not be shown outside that country. And I had no problem with Mr. Macnee doing commercials because I think he only chose products that he himself would use, or was basically using his role as an actor to present a product, not as himself, but in character. He did commercials for Vauxhall (Ford’s UK GM-owned competition!), Timex (yes, but it was actually a decent Made in Great Britain (Scotland more specifically) called ‘Viscount’), Laurent-Perrier Champagne in France, and ‘Sterling’ Cars (US-branded Rovers) over the years. But I think in every one he is dressed as John Steed, so he comes across more as being in character of what viewers envision as Patrick Macnee. This Granada commercial amuses me because he doesn’t do the driving whatsoever. One interview I read from around 1968 said he hates driving, hated the Jaguar he owned, and let it out to friends. Wow, with friends like that, who needs other friends?! Back to the Granada, it would have been replaced by the downsized mid-size LTD with the LTD morphing into the LTD Crown Victoria with Crown Victoria eventually superceding the LTD name. The Fox-based LTD had the aero-look / jellybean / Jack Telnac design that was also taking a strong foothold at Ford along with the ’83 Thunderbird, and first pioneered by the ’79 Mustang.