My mom was a brand new driver and she saw a 1981 Granada drive by and said wow that was pretty! When she got the settlement from my father’s death, she went right out to buy one, her first brand new car. I remember it well, my sister took it over later on, VERY reliable car. Sadly my sister wrecked it one day… had 200k miles on it
My grandmother bought an '81 silver Granada GL 4-door in '82 after we'd rented one on a trip to California from Hertz. She even bought the damn thing from Hertz back in Denver with like 23k miles on it. It was a good looking car to my 16 year old mind, at least the front end. I liked the grill and quad headlamps. Once I started driving it, I discovered how incredibly gutless that 3.3 liter I-6 really was, especially at Denver's high altitude. The front lounge type seats were amazingly comfortable and the A/C could freeze your hands to the steering wheel. That's about it for my complements on it. It handled about as well as a portable dishwasher, basically leaning like the QE2 through shallow corners. The front end would nose dive under moderate braking and acceleration was timed with a calendar. The idea was to just plant your foot to the floorboards and wait for something interesting to happen, though it rarely did. I had the speedo pegged once at 85 and it was kind of like a sofa on a bouncy house at the same speed; read scary. I talked her into a Volvo 240 after 2 years of that.
Grandma's car? Geez I'm old. My first new car was a 1980 Fairmont and it had the 4.2L V8. It was at the end of the model year and the dealer couldn't unload it because it had the V8, the gas lines were still a problem, and we were still in a brutal recession. It was a good car for me and never gave me any problems. You'd hardly know it had a V8 if you were still accustomed to the older pre-smog cars that were still plentiful at the time. But, the 255 was adequate and not one hp too much. If the 255 V8 was just enough, I can imagine how the 3.3L six and the hopeless 2.3L four would've been.
@@blisterbrain Mine had the 255 and AOD transmission. It wasn't a 302 but, the 255 was lighter in weight. I had no problem with merging into traffic or going up a long incline with it. It wasn't a performance car but a comfortable 4-dr sedan with enough gumption to get me from point A to point B safely.
Our wedding gift from my in laws in 1986 was a 1977 Grenada Ghia 2 door 41,000 miles with a blown 302 engine. My father in law was a ex stock car racer so we installed a 1969 302 engine from the junkyard with 1969 351W cylinder heads. That car was a total sleeper and would roast the poor stock size tires. Later on in 1989 we purchased a 1982 Grenada with the 200 straight six engine with 40,000 miles. That car was absolutely bulletproof but not very good looking. I have good memories of the Grenada.
Fun fact: the 1982 Granada was the first Ford vehicle since the 1930s to use the blue Ford oval badge on the exterior of the car. In the 82 Granada's case, the blue oval was on the grill and trunk lid. Before that, the "FORD" badge was simply spelled out without the blue oval.
Beat me to it! I thought using the oval enhanced the look of the vehicle and just made sense. Plus I loved the mid-80s ads which used the oval as an aerodynamic shape with an airstream flowing over it to further define the new generation of aero-cars (T-Bird, Taurus, etc).
The blue oval logo was revived to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the original 1932 Ford V-8 engine. The 1949 Ford did away with the blue oval as part of the way to distance the 1949 models, with all their new engineering features, from the older models with buggy springs front and rear
Mom bought a yr old '81 Granada L sedan with the 3.3 L6. I thought it was a good looking, nice handling car. 40 + yrs on, I still think so and currently own an '81 GLX coupe and an '82 L wagon, both with a 3.3, love them both.
I used to chuckle watching the commercials where parking lot attendants mistakenly thought a Granada was a Mercedes when bringing it to the Ford owners. 😂
When I parked cars the Fords would slip into Reverse from Park when customers would leave their car running and go into the Restaurant amazingly they always crashed into a Brand New Car with their Old Fords.
@@thom-mark6443 I called it the Ford Grandma, because it looked like the kind of car one would drive. The only car more Granny-looking was the Dodge Dart.
My dad bought a 1981 Granada GLX 4-door new back in the day. It had 2-tone paint, performance gauge package, 200 CID straight-6. It was torquey off the line, but no top end with the 1-barrel carb. Gas mileage was in the teens. It was a reliable car for the most part. My dad bought the GLX assuming it was well equipped, but there were a few odd omissions even at this trim. There was no rear defroster, windows were manual, and the front bucket seats did not recline. He daily drove it for about 3 years. Then I drove it for a couple of years after that in high school. It was a pretty reliable car even then with well over 100K miles. Thanks for making this video. I thought these cars were pretty much forgotten altogether 😂.
I had an 82 that I did some work on, including getting rid of the 255. It definitely had some cheap build and material quality, but it was unique, and I didn't feel bad beating on it. I finally got rid of it to make room for the new 5.0 Thunderbird in 91. People can look down on cars like this now, but at least we had some weird variety back then.
I drove the LTD II version of this car as a Taxi and it was Indestructible, the 3.8 was perfectly matched to the rear end gear and 20 MPG in the City was so much better than the 14 MPG in the 305 Caprices which were Death Traps in wet Weather you had to put 100 LBS. in the Trunk to avoid Spinouts.
The LTD 2 was a body on frame full size car from 1977 to 1979 based off a torino chassis. There was a fox chassis LTD. But there never was a 2 Number put next to LTD name on a fox platform...ever. When they restyled the fairmont in 1983 and called it the LTD, They should of stuck with the fairmont name. It's easier to remember. And you wouldn't have people getting there names (LTD) mixed up as the decades have gone by with other fords like the LTD crown Victoria (panther frame on body chassis) and the LTD 2 from the late 1970's.
@@coletrickle-km7cl You are Correct, the Fourth Generation LTD 1983 through 1986 was the one I drove as a Taxi and it was well built and trouble free for over 200 K Miles !
The second-generation Granada (and to a lesser extent the comparable Mercury Cougar) were indeed "dressed-up Fairmonts." The first-generation models, while based on the Falcon/Maverick platform, were distinctly different than their "parents," while the second-generation models were not distinctive enough from the Fairmonts and Zephyrs that also sprang from the Fox platform (I notice they shared some of the same wheel-trim options of the earlier models). And interesting, too, that the Fairmont and Zephyr model lines were cannibalized for the 1982 model year by moving the wagons to Granada and Cougar lines...it was the second and last time a Mercury Cougar wagon was offered for one model year only. And for all this, the cars were rebodied yet again as the 1983 LTD and Marquis! Seems like Ford was going nowhere fast in the early 1980s...
One hot day in 1982 I was taking a break from the heat of the kitchen and seen my neighbor who could afford any car/truck they wanted. (They had really deep pockets) She pulls up next to me in her brand new Ford Granada to talk and I am looking at the dressed up Fairmont not impressed at all when she powers down the windows I will say the A/C was so cold I leaned way in the car and was cooled off in a matter of minutes. That was my impression. I had just bought a 1981 Bonneville Brougham Coupe with the honey comb wheels and thick padded landau roof in a beautiful candy apple red to burgundy with the Super Button tuft cloth interior. I paid $12,600 a year before she paid over $10K for that Granada…
There was a contest at a local Ford dealership with one of these as the top prize. Somehow, I didn't win, and over 40 years later, I still don't miss it...
Great video again! In all honesty though, the sales numbers were respectable, considering how bad the economy and unprecedented double-digit interest rates were at the time. When their 1983 LTD/Marquis replacements came out, the economy was finally showing signs of heating up again….interest rates were relaxing, gas was cheaper - and sales inherently increased from the Granada/Cougar. Plus the magic of the LTD/Marquis name undoubtedly played its part in this sales gain at the time. In reality, if the Cougar was just going to be a stopgap ( until the 83 mid-size LTD/Marquis arrived ), Mercury should have just hung on to the Monarch name for those two short years, then let the Granada/Monarch nameplates die together at the end of the 82 model year. Since Mercury didn’t break out production between these and the faltering 80-82 XR7 coupe, having the “Cougar” name attached to the 2-dr, 4-dr sedans and wagon - Mercury could claim higher sales numbers for the hallowed legendary Cougar name as a whole. Oldsmobile would be guilty of this also, by overusing the “Cutlass” name… Cutlass, Cutlass Supreme, Cutlass Calais, Cutlass Cierra… I think this may have been an early signal of the beginning of the end for that brand, by putting their eggs in one basket with their naming convention. Imagine a world with ‘Cutlass 88’ - ‘Cutlass Ninety-Eight’ - Cutlass Toronado’ - lol.
People seem to forget how new car sales are always way down when the economy is bad. The area I lived in did well in comparison to most, but those were still tough times where most people were glad to have a job at all.
An uncle of mine had a first gen Granada. One of his brothers (another uncle of mine) would get an LTD later in the 80s (or was it for his wife ? - my aunt … since she drove one of those ford land yachts with the hidden headlamps when I was little). The Ganada uncle would have a variety of cars including a first gen Aurora when it came out. But 2nd aunt&uncle with the LTD seemed to be mostly blue oval drivers. I totally did not know (at the time) that the Granada had a 2nd gen. It just looks and feels so different. I think of how the first decade of Taurus was mostly the same (if you consider that being split into two 5 year generations then fine) BUT then came the “everything oval (EVERYTHING!!)” model of 1996 ..not even recognizable (at least the toned down 2001 was keeping with general look of the ‘96). At least the 1996 Taurus was bold and tried to stand out. Perhaps too much so. This 1981 Granada… yawn! No wonder people thought it was a Fairmont. It lost the budget luxury vibe (ads for gen 1 would compare it vs Benz). What was the point? How did it fit in the market? The answer is obvious. The buyers decided it didn’t fit. Nothing against the car per se. Ford just went too far with platform sharing especially its own Ford brand. OR maybe not far enough and should have differentiated it more. Keep up the good work!
Interesting review. In 1979 my 2nd cousin - - an attorney - - gave me a 1976 Mercury Monarch 2-door that had been his wife's. She was basically going to divorce him if he didn't buy her a Mercedes-Benz 450SL. The Monarch was black with a red vinyl interior. Handled like crap and I changed the suspension. Made all the difference. I drove that car for over 200,000 miles. Never had issues. I finally got rid of it in 1987, when I bought a 1987 SAAB 900 Turbo. I sold it to a friend who put on another 130,000 miles. The Monarch drove well and was very comfortable.
As a young man in 1981 I bought a 1976 Granada 2dr with a power sunroof with the 250-6 blown motor. At the time I worked in a junkyard and fixed it up the way I wanted it. Mercury Monarch front header with "waterfall" grill. 4 speed on the floor with the help from a 1974 Maverick and a 351W 2V from a 1971 Ford Torino (wrecked) I could chirp the tires in 3rd!
They didn't even hide that the "new" Granada was a fancier Fairmont! The wheel openings were practically the same! Chrysler did the same with its K-Cars and their derivatives for years, including John Voight's La Baron convertible that George Costanza bought! 😁
I wasn’t around until ‘85 and the first time I saw a Cougar was when my dad picked me and my brother up at a Greyhound station in Evansville, Ky He had an ‘89 Cougar with the digital gauges. That car has been living rent free in my head for over 20 years…even now as I currently own a ‘95 Cougar XR7 with the 4.6 V8
Man, those were some wheezy engine choices. A V8 just to break into triple-digit HP? That aside, I’m not surprised these vehicles didn’t make a splash. I remember when they were introduced, and it was clear that they were derived from the very pedestrian Fairmont
Carbureted, smog engines. It’s hard to remember, but those power ratings were typical of the era. I remember the excitement when Ford managed to squeeze 175 hp from the 1983 5.0 HO for the Mustang!
My Grandparents owned both Cougar wagon and 4 door. They were purchased from a Hurtz Rent a Car sales lot . I believe Alot of those cars were pushed on the Rent a car lots because people weren't going to pay for a Fancy Fairmont . Anyway. They were both 4 doors and 6 cylinder auto cars . They both rode Very Nice and were good for them . I do remember my grandfather saying that he sometimes missed the extra power that her had in his old Galaxy. But nice cars .
The X body derived first four year First Generation was just a Maverick underneath, with some serious powerplant options from 3.3, 4.1, 5.0 to 5.8 liter engined in year one. The Fox based Granada and it's non XR7, Cougar stablemate were just Fairmont and Zephyrs underneath. Today, no one is able to remember the permutations of this very competent car. 88 hp 2.3, 87 hp 3.3, 119 hp 4.2 or 112 hp 3.8 Essex V6. It's sales tanked in comparison to the First Gen Ford Granada's and Mercury Monarch and the Lincoln Versailles. Like the Fox 80-82 Thunderbird and 80-82 XR7 Cougar, the American Public were smart enough to know when they were being conned. IMHO, what Ford needed to do was have a long 108.4 inch wheelbase on a Granada 4dr and Cougar Sedan, Wagon and two door , and keep the stylistics gapped between the Thunderbird and XR-7. When people slang off the cars as just being Fairmonts, that's because, in essence, they were. Ford had access to ways to making the Fairmont based Granada look different. Just like they should have done with the 80-82 Fox T-bird and 80-82 XR-7 Cougar. Great work on your summary. You continue to dig deep and yet cover off details with Considerable ease. 🥝✔️
The early 80's were bad sales years for almost all brands, due to recession and high interest rates. The Granada and Cougar were nice cars, but with the same power options as the Fairmont and somewhat bland styling. I have to agree that they were essentially somewhat dressed up Fairmonts or Zephyrs. they were pretty good cars, but the powerplants worked better in the lighter Fairmonts.
I was a big fan of the original Granada. I really liked this Fox platformed replacement too...as well as the Cougar version. 86, 94 119 horse power was never a good thing!!! It needed a beefier engine. My sister bought a brand new 1981 Cougar four door. It was very elegant looking and I loved it. Love your vid...gave it a thumbs up!!
These cars were very uninspiring to say the least. The light of the Blue Oval was getting dim. The Fairmont was a better value. But it’s fun to look back at the undervalued Ford’s.
Sadly Ford should have discontinued the Fairmont / Zephyr with the generation 2 Granada / Monarch. The car would have had a better chance of decent sales figures. The next generation LTD that replaced this version of the Granada was again another reworked Fox body Fairmont with a angled front and rear end. However no one was fooled. Thanks for producing another video for history!
I had just bought an I-6, manual transmission-equipped Fairmont Futura in 1980 (for fuel economy in a time of expensive gas), so I was not really in the market to replace that yet. But I liked the Granada 2nd Gen, except for the black rubber bumper end caps, and I did look at sales literature at the time. A 2-door Mercury version would have suited me very well. If I'd bought one, it would have been necessary to dig deep into the optional equipment packages and special order it to get the appearance things I wanted that were not on dealer lots, like sports instrumentation. I had access to a wagon on my job, and drove it many miles. Really liked the car. I swear the dealers were the reason the 2nd Gen didn't sell well. They only put the plainest looking cars on lots, and customers walked right past them. And advertising showing that "Euro" version like the silver one you used up front in this video was the worst looking version of the car. Big mistake by the Ford Dealer Advertising Association. I drove the Futura for 202K miles over a 10-year period. It was a great car IMO, and if I could have gotten a manual transmission in an upper-level trim package of the Cougar/Granada, I would have been just as happy.
These cars look good for that time, I wonder whether Ford/Mercury really got a "fancier" vehicle for a moderate expenditure? A similar thing happened with the Lincoln Versailles - basically a gussied up Fairmont, but that saved $$$ and years that devoping a new smaller Lincoln would have cost. To be fair, sometimes dealer pressure and maybe threats of legal action for not offering a smaller car resulted in a less than optimal outcome - Cadillac Cimarron comes to mind. Deslers wanted a smaller car "now," so, using what they had, designer John Manoogian was given 10 months and allowed to alter the front and rear only, so, dealers got their small car, just not a "good" car that would have appeared in a year or two. Another great video, Tony. Grazie Mille.
You say as magazine reviews of the day also say that the second-generation Granada was a gussied-up Fairmont. It can also be said that the second-generation Fairmont was a stretched version of a Fox Mustang underskin and elsewhere. The brakes, steering, and basic suspension were the same as the Mustang. Even the dashpads were identical to those on a Mustang. I bought an '81 Granada for My Mom's fifty-fifth birthday. It was a two-door GL, brown metallic, brown vinyl roof, and beige cloth interior. The worst part about it was the anemic 255 c.i.d. V-8. It was her last car. She drove it into her early 80s and then I drove it as a second car. The car proved very reliable as we racked up tens of thousands of miles with it over the decades. My only complaint is that Ford should have stuck with the 302 V-8. Mom didn't really seem to mind though. She passed about five years ago and I've kept the car in homage to her.
Aye, but the Fairmont came first - 1978! The Fox Mustang began in 1979. Same underneath, though, and a lot of performance and handling bits intended for a Fox Mustang can be fitted to a Fairmont to make something of a sleeper ...
After successful sales numbers with many vehicles in the mid to late 70s, FoMoCo really fell apart during the second oil crisis and the early 80s recession. This was also a time when FoMoCo, GM, and Chrysler Corp were going too far with rebadging.
Those cars were so beautiful! Owned a 1977 (10-years) and a 1981 two-door coupe. Later a 1986 Ford LTD (20-years). Still drive a 1985 Ford LTD (10 years). Just love those old Fox-Body cars. Great visibility and very roomy for such a small car!
Tony, I guess we could say this new Granada was forgettable. So forgettable that I completely forgot all about it!🤣😂🤣😂 You're doing such a great job. You really do your research! We have been a Ford family since the '60s, so I am enjoying your channel a lot. So many great memories and great cars!
My dad had a 1st generation Granada when I was a kid in the late 70s and 80s. I think his was a 77. I have a lot of stereotypical Gen X childhood memories of being in that car. In the years where dad had the Granada, mom had an AMC Gremlin and then a base 81 4 cylinder Mustang with that 2.3 liter Lima dog of an engine. I got that car in 1988, No AC. AM Radio.
This video is dead accurate. It was a forgettable car (which I had actually forgotten about) that the public rightly saw as a more expensive Fairmont derivative with little or no added value. The subsequent LTD looked better and was much more popular, despite also being Fairmont-based.
That whole early 80s period, all Ford products were lame and forgettable. Nothing stood out. It was as if they were begging to follow Chrysler to bankruptcy.
My dad bought a brand new Granada in the 80's right around the time I got my license so I got to drive it as well. It was really a very boring and slow car although it was tough enough to handle my teenage driving antics. The last generation Granada was nothing like the previous gen. I bought one of those (used) in the mid 80s. It was emerald green with a tan interior and in pristine condition. To this day and out of the 30 cars I've owned, feel it was one of the nicer cars. That previous gen rode well and took a serious beating and never let me down
Although the 1981-82 Granada was a dressed up Fairmont, it's chassis design much improved driveability over the previous Falcon/Maverick platform of the 1975-80 models. If they had offered a pillarless hardtop and a convertible I bet it would have sold better.. We owned a 1978 Mercury Zephyr Z7 which was Fox bodied. It was a very nice car to drive, it rode and handled beautifully. The only drawback (and it was an AWFUL drawback!) was putting the horn control on the end of the turn signal instead of in the steering wheel hub. Sadly we only had the Zephyr for a month or so, it was stolen right out of the parking lot of our building.
I've gotten used to cars with the horn in the wrong place, including the end of a stalk (Ford, Open), a ring (almost anything from the '50s or '60s), fiddly little buttons on the spokes (various '70s and '80s models) and, eh, "Rimblow", a squishy vinyl pad on the inner surface of the rim. But I don't know how anyone could justify building cars that way; the center of the wheel is where instinct directs most people and I wonder how many people broke their hands or parts of their cars punching a horn button that wasn't there.
We had an 82 gl,v6. The alternator went out and I jumped off the battery to get it home. I was following my dad who was driving and noticed a glow from under the car. The catalytic converter overheated and we had to leave the car in drive because you couldn't move the lever until the car cooled down.
Thank you for this video. I enjoy watching the videos and footage. I like the fact you share catalog/brochure images as well. It was clear Car and Driver was right. You could see Ford Fairmont and Mercury Zephyr all of these cars. The interesting thing is it was a nice update of the 1970's Granada and Monarch. What was Mercury's deal putting the Cougar name on everything? That was like Oldsmobile with Cutlass and Chrysler with LeBaron. Ford indeed got a lot of use out of the Fox platform.
I remember that 2nd Gen Granada, though barely. I don’t remember the two door coupe. Didn’t even pay attention to the Cougar version. Now ironically, if Ford dusted off the Fox platform, complete with live rear axle, dropped a 2.3 Exhoboost under the hood and offered at least a wagon for under $20k with auto, A/C, windows, locks, cruise, it would sell remarkably well ( with wood grain side-delete, of course).
Nope, never had one, my MoM had the T-Bird for 81 which she traded away quickly. I had the 79 or 80 Fairmont with a 6 cylinder, 4-speed, 2-door, that's one of the those "should have kept that one" cars we all had in our youth.🤔😔
I feel like the 81 Granada was an attempt to capitalize on GMs extremely trendy Rolls Royce inspired “vertical” back window. To me all the early Fox bodies are basically the same car, even the LTD was a slightly modified Granada to me. I remember the Fairmont and LTD well, the 80-82 TBird Cougar Granada seemed to disappear early on from the roads. Perhaps if the Granada was just marketed as an updated Fairmont not a Granada it would have done better overall.
Here in Venezuela my mother had a GLX with the V6 engine. Yes, it wasn't flashy, but it was comfortable, spacious, cheap to run, and very dependable. BTW, these Granada had almost the same dimensions as the Maserati Quattroporte. The only differences were the all leather interior, real wood trim, 340 hp V8 engine, and the independent suspension. Just small details.
The second generation Granada looked exactly like a fussy Fairmont. I had a 1986 LTD just like the one you showed; I got it after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 in Miami and drove it across the country when I moved to Arizona. Not an exciting car but reliable and comfortable. I don't know why it did so well, but there were a lot of them on the road. It didn't look like a Fairmont, so maybe that's what sold it. The used LTD I got was cheap to buy, cheap to run, and cheap to fix. Perfect for me at the time.
My parents bought an 81 Granada back in the day. It was a lemon. Had carburator issues constantly. Had a bad rear axle design. It was constantly at the mechanic when we were kids. It caught fire a few times
Lol, Shaggy as the voice of the Granada. (I know it's Casey 😊) Hey Scoooob, like, let's split a double chocolate chip beef burrito cherry topped caramel stuffed crust pizza in our....... Granada 😅
In 85 I bought a used 82 Sentra, but within the warranty period I had to have the transmission rebuilt. I got a Taurus as a rental, but it was a rolling disaster. The rental company took it back because they needed to get it emissions inspected. They subbed in an older Fairmont. To this day I've never driven a smoother driving car. If I hadn't just bought the Sentra, I think I'd have made an offer on that Ford.
My parents bought me a new ‘80 Mustang when I was 17. I took it to the dealer for service and while I was there I saw an ‘81 Granada on the showroom floor. I fell I love with it, though I could tell it was just a stretched four door Mustang. The dash panel was identical. I’m weird because I still like three box square cars. I know aerodynamics come into play, but egg shaped cars are just boring to me.
My friend's dad had a 81 two-door coupe I think it was a GLX trim level remember riding back from Mount Hood after skiing I started to sleep and my friend seen I was falling asleep so he cracked his head back closed his right eye and started to snore which woke me up quite fast needless to say I did not sleep at all for the rest of the ride back to Portland
My dad was an auto body man for 55 years. A pretty good one. Up until 1978 or so he was a Ford guy. Generally purchased and drove Ford products. Then came 1978, and the introduction of the Fairmont. He told me that after he saw how badly that car was made, he pretty much quit with the Fords. The Granada was no better than Fairmont, just more expensive. Fairmonts and Granadas were dismal by anyone's standards and represented some of the worst from FoMoCo in decades. Trash.
My 1st car was a 81 Mercury Cougar with the 4.2 V8. It leaked oil everywhere and I had to replace the starter, exhaust, and water pump and ball joints. Regardless, I loved it! It was peppy and fun to drive.
i had a 82 granada L given to me..@ the 2'13 mark in the video you can see the exact car and color i had in the L series..had the 200/6 banger in it and it was SLLOOOOWWWW as hell , had a deal to buy a running 85 mustang gt and was going to swap over all the mustang running gear in it..but the deal fell through....then looked into dropping a 429 i had in it,,and after looking up a kit to swap the 429 in it,,was to costly ..sold the car to a friend and end up buying a 1990 grand marquis LS..and never looked back
When I started dating her my Wife had a 1981 Granada sedan, 200 I-6 and C4. It was pretty quiet and smooth, and was better to drive and more durable than the early X-body GM's that were the other cheap 5-year old cars in 1986. We'd take her car when more than 2 of us went somewhere because its backseat was more comfortable than the bed of my '83 S-10 pickup. The little six that could outlasted the wee 6 in the S-10 by more than 2:1 in miles, it still ran fine when it was traded for a Plymouth Sundance.
I really totally forgot about this car. I do remember not liking the Ford Ltd based on the Fox platform. The Panther models aged so much better and I bet they'd still sell Town Cars if they still made them!
I remember going car shopping with my dad in 81. The salesman was trying to sell him on hte Granada, but my dad said, for the price he'd take the Fairmont and get AC for less money. The fairmont was not nearly as nice looking, but we got AC.
BITD, this dude owned an '81 Granada L two door, 2.3L with the 4 speed manual. This car was basically a Volvo 242 competitor. It wasn't slow, which for 86 horsepower it should have been. Drove the piss out of it. The thing regularly hit 40mpg. Good memories.
The first generation Granada I think was the best one's when they came out with the 81 it had the appearance of the Fairmont what a let down these were.
Too many cars in the same size range, plus badge engineering reaching it's peak really didn't help this car. They are cool when you see one now because they're so rare. The interior is really plush compared to the Fairmont. You could get cool interior colors like green too.
A lot of these had to be sold as fleet cars. They just scream rental car! A friend at church has a 4-door Cougar when I was a kid. I just remember thinking it was the most boring car I had ever seen.
In retrospect, the Ford lineup from 1980 to 1982 was so strange. You had the Fairmont, the weirdly shrunk Thunderbird which looked like a fancied-up Fairmont Futura, the Granada which was a fancied up Fairmont, and the LTD which was a less fancy Granada.
I was in and around the Mahwah Granada, Fairmont, and LTD 2. The Fairmont was my favorite of them all. Better? A Hornet or Gremlin. We'd be really lucky to buy a Fairmont today. The Tempo? The first ones were cute.
I like that car I wanted to get a Mercury wagon version because of the Country Squire version has Chrome instead of the brownies looking tan looking wood also metal but I wanted a 1982 because it was the first Ford that came with the new oval it wouldn't be till 83 that all of the Fords started sporting the blue Ford oval on all the Ford cars except for the Fairmont
Another good video, Tony. BTW, if you need more detailed production numbers, I'd suggest picking up a copy of the Standard Catalog of Ford 1903-1990 by Bob Lichty. It has the information you were missing regarding the distinct Cougar variants of this car. I find it to be a great, but not bullet proof, source of information.
I was thinking that when it popped up, including that the were displaying a decade old technology. Their ads from this period get a D-. I mean, who from the country club and equestrian set would even be seen in a Grenada? In reality, if you were in that bracket and showed up in a Grenada, your peers would have thought you lost your trust fund.
It's also funny how the Granada was panned by the automotive press as a gussied up Fairmont when the first generation Granada was a gussied up. Maverick.
@@TonysFordsandMustangs in 1985, I had an '82 Ford escort that I wrecked. The insurance company paid me four grand for it and to save money I found a '75 Granada that I bought for 700 bucks. I actually liked that Granada a lot more than I ever liked that Escort. I think Ford did a great job with the first gen as it did wear different sheet metal than the Maverick and you could literally infinitely customize the car, even to the same level as a Marquis in a smaller package at a reasonable price. However, Ford jumped the shark on this by trying to turn the 1st gen Granada into the Versailles.
This design was dressed up Fairmont with extremely poor power. I had a 78 Granada, which I loved and that style was nicer. Several years later, I discovered Toyota Lexus reliability, driven Lexus vehicles ever since.
First Granada : Dressed up Maverick Second Granada: Dressed up Fairmount. So it seems they were in the same spirit. However, The first Granada actually seemed to be a different car at first glance. But the second generation Granada looked EXACTLY like what they were. Slightly dressed up Fairmounts. In fact, they could have simply been a trim level for the Fairmount (Fairmount GX? 😅) . The New LTD was what the 2nd generation Granada SHOULD have been. It was still an upscale Fairmount. (A fox body) . But it was more in the spirit of the original Granada. Because it didn’t simply seem like a Fairmount with a different grille and taillights
One of the better cars from Ford. It reminded me of a mini Crown Victoria and I truly wish that Ford had something like it today and yes it was a Fairmount that is dressed up. I think that the Granada became the LTD which sold better.
In hindsight you can see what Ford was trying to do in these years: move away from the frumpy baroque broughams of the Iacocca & HF2 era to the aero era, exemplified by the Taurus. But that car was just starting development, and in the meantime all they had to work with was the Fox platform, and a thin development budget. The Granada was a holdover, but poorly aped the GM A-bodies. The LTD styling was more cohesive, and better expressed where they were going product wise.
It’s sad that Ford missed the mark with this car. It was really a solid, dependable vehicle (for its day) . But it seems as if Ford forgot that sheet metal matters. People are more likely to buy a cheap car that looks like its more upscale stable mate than the other way around. Example: people said the Thunderbird was the cheaper Mark IV.- the Chevy Vega reminded them of the Camaro. The 1975-1979 Grand Marquis reminded them of a cheaper Lincoln. When people say the upscale looks like it’s lower level cousin, you’re in trouble . The Versailles comes to mind. Then they did it again by making the Granada look like the Fairmount.😂.
In the 80's when I first got my license I owned a 76 Two door beautiful Red with painted Cream split top Granada and a Gray 78 Mercury Monarch Ghia and it was so close to a Lincoln Versailles I still wish I would have kept never have found anything that rode as smooth as it did sounded great with the breather lid flipped on the 302 V8😂 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Thanks for your comment. I almost forgot the flip lid trick from back in the day. I know several people that sucked hood lining into the air filter doing that trick completely defeating the purpose. :)
My mom was a brand new driver and she saw a 1981 Granada drive by and said wow that was pretty! When she got the settlement from my father’s death, she went right out to buy one, her first brand new car. I remember it well, my sister took it over later on, VERY reliable car. Sadly my sister wrecked it one day… had 200k miles on it
Thanks for watching and sharing your experience!
My grandmother bought an '81 silver Granada GL 4-door in '82 after we'd rented one on a trip to California from Hertz. She even bought the damn thing from Hertz back in Denver with like 23k miles on it. It was a good looking car to my 16 year old mind, at least the front end. I liked the grill and quad headlamps. Once I started driving it, I discovered how incredibly gutless that 3.3 liter I-6 really was, especially at Denver's high altitude. The front lounge type seats were amazingly comfortable and the A/C could freeze your hands to the steering wheel. That's about it for my complements on it. It handled about as well as a portable dishwasher, basically leaning like the QE2 through shallow corners. The front end would nose dive under moderate braking and acceleration was timed with a calendar. The idea was to just plant your foot to the floorboards and wait for something interesting to happen, though it rarely did. I had the speedo pegged once at 85 and it was kind of like a sofa on a bouncy house at the same speed; read scary. I talked her into a Volvo 240 after 2 years of that.
Grandma's car? Geez I'm old. My first new car was a 1980 Fairmont and it had the 4.2L V8. It was at the end of the model year and the dealer couldn't unload it because it had the V8, the gas lines were still a problem, and we were still in a brutal recession.
It was a good car for me and never gave me any problems. You'd hardly know it had a V8 if you were still accustomed to the older pre-smog cars that were still plentiful at the time. But, the 255 was adequate and not one hp too much. If the 255 V8 was just enough, I can imagine how the 3.3L six and the hopeless 2.3L four would've been.
@@BlackPill-pu4vi I don't know, with less weight and a 4-speed manual, it may have actually been the performance choice!
@@blisterbrain Mine had the 255 and AOD transmission. It wasn't a 302 but, the 255 was lighter in weight. I had no problem with merging into traffic or going up a long incline with it. It wasn't a performance car but a comfortable 4-dr sedan with enough gumption to get me from point A to point B safely.
Our wedding gift from my in laws in 1986 was a 1977 Grenada Ghia 2 door 41,000 miles with a blown 302 engine. My father in law was a ex stock car racer so we installed a 1969 302 engine from the junkyard with 1969 351W cylinder heads. That car was a total sleeper and would roast the poor stock size tires. Later on in 1989 we purchased a 1982 Grenada with the 200 straight six engine with 40,000 miles. That car was absolutely bulletproof but not very good looking. I have good memories of the Grenada.
Bulletproof is a great thing! Thank you for sharing and for watching!
Fun fact: the 1982 Granada was the first Ford vehicle since the 1930s to use the blue Ford oval badge on the exterior of the car. In the 82 Granada's case, the blue oval was on the grill and trunk lid. Before that, the "FORD" badge was simply spelled out without the blue oval.
Actually the first modern Ford to use the Ford oval was the EXP.
I came here just to say that. lol
Beat me to it! I thought using the oval enhanced the look of the vehicle and just made sense. Plus I loved the mid-80s ads which used the oval as an aerodynamic shape with an airstream flowing over it to further define the new generation of aero-cars (T-Bird, Taurus, etc).
@hdrangers I should've said, was one of the 1st modern Fords to bring back the blue oval.
The blue oval logo was revived to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the original 1932 Ford V-8 engine. The 1949 Ford did away with the blue oval as part of the way to distance the 1949 models, with all their new engineering features, from the older models with buggy springs front and rear
Mom bought a yr old '81 Granada L sedan with the 3.3 L6. I thought it was a good looking, nice handling car. 40 + yrs on, I still think so and currently own an '81 GLX coupe and an '82 L wagon, both with a 3.3, love them both.
Thanks for sharing and that is very awesome! Your collection is certainly a rare one and I am glad to hear that you treasure them.
When I was a kid my dad bought a used '79 2 door with the 250-6 and replacing a Pinto yes definitely luxury to us at the time
That would be a step up from a Pinto for sure.
I used to chuckle watching the commercials where parking lot attendants mistakenly thought a Granada was a Mercedes when bringing it to the Ford owners. 😂
When I parked cars the Fords would slip into Reverse from Park when customers would leave their car running and go into the Restaurant amazingly they always crashed into a Brand New Car with their Old Fords.
yep, I always thought "The valet's must be blind"
@@thom-mark6443 I called it the Ford Grandma, because it looked like the kind of car one would drive. The only car more Granny-looking was the Dodge Dart.
My dad bought a 1981 Granada GLX 4-door new back in the day. It had 2-tone paint, performance gauge package, 200 CID straight-6. It was torquey off the line, but no top end with the 1-barrel carb. Gas mileage was in the teens. It was a reliable car for the most part.
My dad bought the GLX assuming it was well equipped, but there were a few odd omissions even at this trim. There was no rear defroster, windows were manual, and the front bucket seats did not recline.
He daily drove it for about 3 years. Then I drove it for a couple of years after that in high school. It was a pretty reliable car even then with well over 100K miles.
Thanks for making this video. I thought these cars were pretty much forgotten altogether 😂.
Thank you for sharing your experience and for watching. It is appreciated.
I had an 82 that I did some work on, including getting rid of the 255. It definitely had some cheap build and material quality, but it was unique, and I didn't feel bad beating on it. I finally got rid of it to make room for the new 5.0 Thunderbird in 91. People can look down on cars like this now, but at least we had some weird variety back then.
Thanks for sharing
I drove the LTD II version of this car as a Taxi and it was Indestructible, the 3.8 was perfectly matched to the rear end gear and 20 MPG in the City was so much better than the 14 MPG in the 305 Caprices which were Death Traps in wet Weather you had to put 100 LBS. in the Trunk to avoid Spinouts.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
You mean LTD (not to be confused with LTD Crown Vic). The LTD II (77-79) was a totally different vehicle
The LTD 2 was a body on frame full size car from 1977 to 1979 based off a torino chassis. There was a fox chassis LTD. But there never was a 2 Number put next to LTD name on a fox platform...ever.
When they restyled the fairmont in 1983 and called it the LTD, They should of stuck with the fairmont name. It's easier to remember. And you wouldn't have people getting there names (LTD) mixed up as the decades have gone by with other fords like the LTD crown Victoria (panther frame on body chassis) and the LTD 2 from the late 1970's.
@@coletrickle-km7cl You are Correct, the Fourth Generation LTD 1983 through 1986 was the one I drove as a Taxi and it was well built and trouble free for over 200 K Miles !
@@Paul1958R You are correct the 83-86 model was the one I drove for many years as a Taxi and it was Trouble Free for over 200K Miles !
In 1981 I learned to drive. I looked at this model. I went to Renault LeCar , sold by AMC. $5500. I still have it..67K in miles.
WOW you still have a LeCar! That is impressive. I haven't seen one of those in years.
The second-generation Granada (and to a lesser extent the comparable Mercury Cougar) were indeed "dressed-up Fairmonts." The first-generation models, while based on the Falcon/Maverick platform, were distinctly different than their "parents," while the second-generation models were not distinctive enough from the Fairmonts and Zephyrs that also sprang from the Fox platform (I notice they shared some of the same wheel-trim options of the earlier models). And interesting, too, that the Fairmont and Zephyr model lines were cannibalized for the 1982 model year by moving the wagons to Granada and Cougar lines...it was the second and last time a Mercury Cougar wagon was offered for one model year only. And for all this, the cars were rebodied yet again as the 1983 LTD and Marquis! Seems like Ford was going nowhere fast in the early 1980s...
One hot day in 1982 I was taking a break from the heat of the kitchen and seen my neighbor who could afford any car/truck they wanted. (They had really deep pockets) She pulls up next to me in her brand new Ford Granada to talk and I am looking at the dressed up Fairmont not impressed at all when she powers down the windows I will say the A/C was so cold I leaned way in the car and was cooled off in a matter of minutes. That was my impression. I had just bought a 1981 Bonneville Brougham Coupe with the honey comb wheels and thick padded landau roof in a beautiful candy apple red to burgundy with the Super Button tuft cloth interior. I paid $12,600 a year before she paid over $10K for that Granada…
There was a contest at a local Ford dealership with one of these as the top prize. Somehow, I didn't win, and over 40 years later, I still don't miss it...
Great video again!
In all honesty though, the sales numbers were respectable, considering how bad the economy and unprecedented double-digit interest rates were at the time. When their 1983 LTD/Marquis replacements came out, the economy was finally showing signs of heating up again….interest rates were relaxing, gas was cheaper - and sales inherently increased from the Granada/Cougar. Plus the magic of the LTD/Marquis name undoubtedly played its part in this sales gain at the time.
In reality, if the Cougar was just going to be a stopgap ( until the 83 mid-size LTD/Marquis arrived ), Mercury should have just hung on to the Monarch name for those two short years, then let the Granada/Monarch nameplates die together at the end of the 82 model year. Since Mercury didn’t break out production between these and the faltering 80-82 XR7 coupe, having the “Cougar” name attached to the 2-dr, 4-dr sedans and wagon - Mercury could claim higher sales numbers for the hallowed legendary Cougar name as a whole.
Oldsmobile would be guilty of this also, by overusing the “Cutlass” name… Cutlass, Cutlass Supreme, Cutlass Calais, Cutlass Cierra… I think this may have been an early signal of the beginning of the end for that brand, by putting their eggs in one basket with their naming convention. Imagine a world with ‘Cutlass 88’ - ‘Cutlass Ninety-Eight’ - Cutlass Toronado’ - lol.
People seem to forget how new car sales are always way down when the economy is bad. The area I lived in did well in comparison to most, but those were still tough times where most people were glad to have a job at all.
An uncle of mine had a first gen Granada. One of his brothers (another uncle of mine) would get an LTD later in the 80s (or was it for his wife ? - my aunt … since she drove one of those ford land yachts with the hidden headlamps when I was little). The Ganada uncle would have a variety of cars including a first gen Aurora when it came out. But 2nd aunt&uncle with the LTD seemed to be mostly blue oval drivers.
I totally did not know (at the time) that the Granada had a 2nd gen. It just looks and feels so different. I think of how the first decade of Taurus was mostly the same (if you consider that being split into two 5 year generations then fine) BUT then came the “everything oval (EVERYTHING!!)” model of 1996 ..not even recognizable (at least the toned down 2001 was keeping with general look of the ‘96).
At least the 1996 Taurus was bold and tried to stand out. Perhaps too much so. This 1981 Granada… yawn! No wonder people thought it was a Fairmont. It lost the budget luxury vibe (ads for gen 1 would compare it vs Benz). What was the point? How did it fit in the market? The answer is obvious. The buyers decided it didn’t fit. Nothing against the car per se. Ford just went too far with platform sharing especially its own Ford brand. OR maybe not far enough and should have differentiated it more.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you for your comment and for the kind words
The family had one, back in the day. It was a good functional car. Not too flashy, but it got the job done.
4:32 Casey Kasem
Can’t miss his voice 😊
at 5:32. . And now back to the countdown!
He also did fantastic commercials for Chevrolet ( Building a better way to see the USA )
Owned a 1981 mercury zephyr, was a good reliable car, parts for upgrade were very available, ( had cougar turbine style aluminum wheels )
Interesting review. In 1979 my 2nd cousin - - an attorney - - gave me a 1976 Mercury Monarch 2-door that had been his wife's. She was basically going to divorce him if he didn't buy her a Mercedes-Benz 450SL.
The Monarch was black with a red vinyl interior. Handled like crap and I changed the suspension. Made all the difference.
I drove that car for over 200,000 miles. Never had issues. I finally got rid of it in 1987, when I bought a 1987 SAAB 900 Turbo. I sold it to a friend who put on another 130,000 miles.
The Monarch drove well and was very comfortable.
Thanks for sharing your experience
As a young man in 1981 I bought a 1976 Granada 2dr with a power sunroof with the 250-6 blown motor. At the time I worked in a junkyard and fixed it up the way I wanted it. Mercury Monarch front header with "waterfall" grill. 4 speed on the floor with the help from a 1974 Maverick and a 351W 2V from a 1971 Ford Torino (wrecked) I could chirp the tires in 3rd!
Thanks for sharing
They didn't even hide that the "new" Granada was a fancier Fairmont! The wheel openings were practically the same! Chrysler did the same with its K-Cars and their derivatives for years, including John Voight's La Baron convertible that George Costanza bought! 😁
those Granadas have the exact same doors as a Fairmont
I wasn’t around until ‘85 and the first time I saw a Cougar was when my dad picked me and my brother up at a Greyhound station in Evansville, Ky
He had an ‘89 Cougar with the digital gauges. That car has been living rent free in my head for over 20 years…even now as I currently own a ‘95 Cougar XR7 with the 4.6 V8
thanks for watching and for your comment. You might enjoy this video. ua-cam.com/video/2yfWgGQ3Kag/v-deo.html
Evansville is in Indiana. You are getting old haha. It is close to Ky though.
@@RobertBoston-n4d
Louisville, Ky
Or one of them…
We were roughly about two hours from Owensboro,Ky
Man, those were some wheezy engine choices. A V8 just to break into triple-digit HP?
That aside, I’m not surprised these vehicles didn’t make a splash. I remember when they were introduced, and it was clear that they were derived from the very pedestrian Fairmont
Carbureted, smog engines. It’s hard to remember, but those power ratings were typical of the era. I remember the excitement when Ford managed to squeeze 175 hp from the 1983 5.0 HO for the Mustang!
My Grandparents owned both Cougar wagon and 4 door. They were purchased from a Hurtz Rent a Car sales lot . I believe Alot of those cars were pushed on the Rent a car lots because people weren't going to pay for a Fancy Fairmont . Anyway. They were both 4 doors and 6 cylinder auto cars . They both rode Very Nice and were good for them . I do remember my grandfather saying that he sometimes missed the extra power that her had in his old Galaxy. But nice cars .
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I wonder how much extra it was to rent a Cougar 4 door over a Fairmont.
The X body derived first four year First Generation was just a Maverick underneath, with some serious powerplant options from 3.3, 4.1, 5.0 to 5.8 liter engined in year one. The Fox based Granada and it's non XR7, Cougar stablemate were just Fairmont and Zephyrs underneath. Today, no one is able to remember the permutations of this very competent car. 88 hp 2.3, 87 hp 3.3, 119 hp 4.2 or 112 hp 3.8 Essex V6. It's sales tanked in comparison to the First Gen Ford Granada's and Mercury Monarch and the Lincoln Versailles. Like the Fox 80-82 Thunderbird and 80-82 XR7 Cougar, the American Public were smart enough to know when they were being conned.
IMHO, what Ford needed to do was have a long 108.4 inch wheelbase on a Granada 4dr and Cougar Sedan, Wagon and two door , and keep the stylistics gapped between the Thunderbird and XR-7. When people slang off the cars as just being Fairmonts, that's because, in essence, they were. Ford had access to ways to making the Fairmont based Granada look different. Just like they should have done with the 80-82 Fox T-bird and 80-82 XR-7 Cougar.
Great work on your summary. You continue to dig deep and yet cover off details with Considerable ease. 🥝✔️
Thank you for your comment and for your kind words
I've seen pictures of a proposed 4 door Thunderbird for 1980 that would have been just what you propose.
The wagons look nice.
The early 80's were bad sales years for almost all brands, due to recession and high interest rates. The Granada and Cougar were nice cars, but with the same power options as the Fairmont and somewhat bland styling. I have to agree that they were essentially somewhat dressed up Fairmonts or Zephyrs. they were pretty good cars, but the powerplants worked better in the lighter Fairmonts.
I was a big fan of the original Granada. I really liked this Fox platformed replacement too...as well as the Cougar version. 86, 94 119 horse power was never a good thing!!! It needed a beefier engine. My sister bought a brand new 1981 Cougar four door. It was very elegant looking and I loved it. Love your vid...gave it a thumbs up!!
Thank you for watching and for the kind words and the thumbs up. I'm glad to hear these cars have their fans.
These cars were very uninspiring to say the least. The light of the Blue Oval was getting dim. The Fairmont was a better value. But it’s fun to look back at the undervalued Ford’s.
Sadly Ford should have discontinued the Fairmont / Zephyr with the generation 2 Granada / Monarch. The car would have had a better chance of decent sales figures. The next generation LTD that replaced this version of the Granada was again another reworked Fox body Fairmont with a angled front and rear end. However no one was fooled. Thanks for producing another video for history!
Thank you for the kind words and for watching!
I had just bought an I-6, manual transmission-equipped Fairmont Futura in 1980 (for fuel economy in a time of expensive gas), so I was not really in the market to replace that yet. But I liked the Granada 2nd Gen, except for the black rubber bumper end caps, and I did look at sales literature at the time. A 2-door Mercury version would have suited me very well. If I'd bought one, it would have been necessary to dig deep into the optional equipment packages and special order it to get the appearance things I wanted that were not on dealer lots, like sports instrumentation. I had access to a wagon on my job, and drove it many miles. Really liked the car. I swear the dealers were the reason the 2nd Gen didn't sell well. They only put the plainest looking cars on lots, and customers walked right past them. And advertising showing that "Euro" version like the silver one you used up front in this video was the worst looking version of the car. Big mistake by the Ford Dealer Advertising Association.
I drove the Futura for 202K miles over a 10-year period. It was a great car IMO, and if I could have gotten a manual transmission in an upper-level trim package of the Cougar/Granada, I would have been just as happy.
Thanks for sharing your experience
What a nightmare of a vehicle. These were still floating about in the late 80s when i was a kid.
These cars look good for that time, I wonder whether Ford/Mercury really got a "fancier" vehicle for a moderate expenditure? A similar thing happened with the Lincoln Versailles - basically a gussied up Fairmont, but that saved $$$ and years that devoping a new smaller Lincoln would have cost.
To be fair, sometimes dealer pressure and maybe threats of legal action for not offering a smaller car resulted in a less than optimal outcome - Cadillac Cimarron comes to mind. Deslers wanted a smaller car "now," so, using what they had, designer John Manoogian was given 10 months and allowed to alter the front and rear only, so, dealers got their small car, just not a "good" car that would have appeared in a year or two. Another great video, Tony. Grazie Mille.
Thank you for the continued support. It is appreciated.
You say as magazine reviews of the day also say that the second-generation Granada was a gussied-up Fairmont. It can also be said that the second-generation Fairmont was a stretched version of a Fox Mustang underskin and elsewhere. The brakes, steering, and basic suspension were the same as the Mustang. Even the dashpads were identical to those on a Mustang. I bought an '81 Granada for My Mom's fifty-fifth birthday. It was a two-door GL, brown metallic, brown vinyl roof, and beige cloth interior. The worst part about it was the anemic 255 c.i.d. V-8. It was her last car. She drove it into her early 80s and then I drove it as a second car. The car proved very reliable as we racked up tens of thousands of miles with it over the decades. My only complaint is that Ford should have stuck with the 302 V-8. Mom didn't really seem to mind though. She passed about five years ago and I've kept the car in homage to her.
Aye, but the Fairmont came first - 1978! The Fox Mustang began in 1979. Same underneath, though, and a lot of performance and handling bits intended for a Fox Mustang can be fitted to a Fairmont to make something of a sleeper ...
Except the Fairmont arrived a year before the Mustang.
After successful sales numbers with many vehicles in the mid to late 70s, FoMoCo really fell apart during the second oil crisis and the early 80s recession. This was also a time when FoMoCo, GM, and Chrysler Corp were going too far with rebadging.
Those cars were so beautiful! Owned a 1977 (10-years) and a 1981 two-door coupe. Later a 1986 Ford LTD (20-years). Still drive a 1985 Ford LTD (10 years). Just love those old Fox-Body cars. Great visibility and very roomy for such a small car!
Thanks for sharing!
Tony, I guess we could say this new Granada was forgettable. So forgettable that I completely forgot all about it!🤣😂🤣😂 You're doing such a great job. You really do your research! We have been a Ford family since the '60s, so I am enjoying your channel a lot. So many great memories and great cars!
Thank you very much for the kind words. It is appreciated!
My dad had a 1st generation Granada when I was a kid in the late 70s and 80s. I think his was a 77. I have a lot of stereotypical Gen X childhood memories of being in that car. In the years where dad had the Granada, mom had an AMC Gremlin and then a base 81 4 cylinder Mustang with that 2.3 liter Lima dog of an engine. I got that car in 1988, No AC. AM Radio.
My folks bought a 1981 Granada GLX with the 4.2 V8, and a lot of people thought it was a baby Lincoln. It had a very good ride.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
This video is dead accurate. It was a forgettable car (which I had actually forgotten about) that the public rightly saw as a more expensive Fairmont derivative with little or no added value. The subsequent LTD looked better and was much more popular, despite also being Fairmont-based.
That whole early 80s period, all Ford products were lame and forgettable. Nothing stood out. It was as if they were begging to follow Chrysler to bankruptcy.
@@ms8596I think they were spending so much on the Tempo and Taurus development there was little left to spend on these cars.
My dad bought a brand new Granada in the 80's right around the time I got my license so I got to drive it as well. It was really a very boring and slow car although it was tough enough to handle my teenage driving antics.
The last generation Granada was nothing like the previous gen. I bought one of those (used) in the mid 80s. It was emerald green with a tan interior and in pristine condition. To this day and out of the 30 cars I've owned, feel it was one of the nicer cars. That previous gen rode well and took a serious beating and never let me down
Although the 1981-82 Granada was a dressed up Fairmont, it's chassis design much improved driveability over the previous Falcon/Maverick platform of the 1975-80 models.
If they had offered a pillarless hardtop and a convertible I bet it would have sold better..
We owned a 1978 Mercury Zephyr Z7 which was Fox bodied. It was a very nice car to drive, it rode and handled beautifully. The only drawback (and it was an AWFUL drawback!) was putting the horn control on the end of the turn signal instead of in the steering wheel hub.
Sadly we only had the Zephyr for a month or so, it was stolen right out of the parking lot of our building.
Sorry to hear about the loss of Zephyr. Thank you for your comment.
I've gotten used to cars with the horn in the wrong place, including the end of a stalk (Ford, Open), a ring (almost anything from the '50s or '60s), fiddly little buttons on the spokes (various '70s and '80s models) and, eh, "Rimblow", a squishy vinyl pad on the inner surface of the rim. But I don't know how anyone could justify building cars that way; the center of the wheel is where instinct directs most people and I wonder how many people broke their hands or parts of their cars punching a horn button that wasn't there.
@@pcno2832 Many of us installed an aftermarket horn button somewhere on the dash when the horn' switches stopped working
We had an 82 gl,v6. The alternator went out and I jumped off the battery to get it home. I was following my dad who was driving and noticed a glow from under the car. The catalytic converter overheated and we had to leave the car in drive because you couldn't move the lever until the car cooled down.
Thank you for this video. I enjoy watching the videos and footage. I like the fact you share catalog/brochure images as well. It was clear Car and Driver was right. You could see Ford Fairmont and Mercury Zephyr all of these cars. The interesting thing is it was a nice update of the 1970's Granada and Monarch. What was Mercury's deal putting the Cougar name on everything? That was like Oldsmobile with Cutlass and Chrysler with LeBaron. Ford indeed got a lot of use out of the Fox platform.
Thank you for your comment and for watching!
I remember that 2nd Gen Granada, though barely. I don’t remember the two door coupe. Didn’t even pay attention to the Cougar version. Now ironically, if Ford dusted off the Fox platform, complete with live rear axle, dropped a 2.3 Exhoboost under the hood and offered at least a wagon for under $20k with auto, A/C, windows, locks, cruise, it would sell remarkably well ( with wood grain side-delete, of course).
Nope, never had one, my MoM had the T-Bird for 81 which she traded away quickly. I had the 79 or 80 Fairmont with a 6 cylinder, 4-speed, 2-door, that's one of the those "should have kept that one" cars we all had in our youth.🤔😔
I feel like the 81 Granada was an attempt to capitalize on GMs extremely trendy Rolls Royce inspired “vertical” back window. To me all the early Fox bodies are basically the same car, even the LTD was a slightly modified Granada to me. I remember the Fairmont and LTD well, the 80-82 TBird Cougar Granada seemed to disappear early on from the roads. Perhaps if the Granada was just marketed as an updated Fairmont not a Granada it would have done better overall.
Here in Venezuela my mother had a GLX with the V6 engine. Yes, it wasn't flashy, but it was comfortable, spacious, cheap to run, and very dependable.
BTW, these Granada had almost the same dimensions as the Maserati Quattroporte. The only differences were the all leather interior, real wood trim, 340 hp V8 engine, and the independent suspension. Just small details.
Thanks for sharing your experience and the sarcasm is appreciated.😉
The second generation Granada looked exactly like a fussy Fairmont. I had a 1986 LTD just like the one you showed; I got it after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 in Miami and drove it across the country when I moved to Arizona. Not an exciting car but reliable and comfortable. I don't know why it did so well, but there were a lot of them on the road. It didn't look like a Fairmont, so maybe that's what sold it. The used LTD I got was cheap to buy, cheap to run, and cheap to fix. Perfect for me at the time.
That was a perfect car for a lot of people. Thank u for sharing your experience
I bought the 1982 Granada GL 2 door coupe and traded it for a 1986 Taurus sedan and both were great cars.
My parents bought an 81 Granada back in the day. It was a lemon. Had carburator issues constantly. Had a bad rear axle design. It was constantly at the mechanic when we were kids. It caught fire a few times
Lol, Shaggy as the voice of the Granada. (I know it's Casey 😊) Hey Scoooob, like, let's split a double chocolate chip beef burrito cherry topped caramel stuffed crust pizza in our.......
Granada 😅
I did not know he was Shaggy!
I actually liked the styling of most ford models during this era, including the granada.
Thanks for sharing your opinion
We bought several Fords in the 80's and also liked the styling.
In 85 I bought a used 82 Sentra, but within the warranty period I had to have the transmission rebuilt. I got a Taurus as a rental, but it was a rolling disaster. The rental company took it back because they needed to get it emissions inspected. They subbed in an older Fairmont. To this day I've never driven a smoother driving car. If I hadn't just bought the Sentra, I think I'd have made an offer on that Ford.
My parents bought me a new ‘80 Mustang when I was 17. I took it to the dealer for service and while I was there I saw an ‘81 Granada on the showroom floor. I fell I love with it, though I could tell it was just a stretched four door Mustang. The dash panel was identical. I’m weird because I still like three box square cars. I know aerodynamics come into play, but egg shaped cars are just boring to me.
Thanks for sharing your opinion. The cars do have their fans. 😉
My friend's dad had a 81 two-door coupe I think it was a GLX trim level remember riding back from Mount Hood after skiing I started to sleep and my friend seen I was falling asleep so he cracked his head back closed his right eye and started to snore which woke me up quite fast needless to say I did not sleep at all for the rest of the ride back to Portland
My dad was an auto body man for 55 years. A pretty good one. Up until 1978 or so he was a Ford guy. Generally purchased and drove Ford products. Then came 1978, and the introduction of the Fairmont. He told me that after he saw how badly that car was made, he pretty much quit with the Fords. The Granada was no better than Fairmont, just more expensive. Fairmonts and Granadas were dismal by anyone's standards and represented some of the worst from FoMoCo in decades. Trash.
Not true. The 6 or 8 cyl cars were good. Especially if you did an emmissions delete. Lots lasted very well as taxi cabs.
The 3.8 was horrible though
My 1st car was a 81 Mercury Cougar with the 4.2 V8. It leaked oil everywhere and I had to replace the starter, exhaust, and water pump and ball joints. Regardless, I loved it! It was peppy and fun to drive.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
i had a 82 granada L given to me..@ the 2'13 mark in the video you can see the exact car and color i had in the L series..had the 200/6 banger in it and it was SLLOOOOWWWW as hell , had a deal to buy a running 85 mustang gt and was going to swap over all the mustang running gear in it..but the deal fell through....then looked into dropping a 429 i had in it,,and after looking up a kit to swap the 429 in it,,was to costly ..sold the car to a friend and end up buying a 1990 grand marquis LS..and never looked back
I had a 2 door with the 255 V8 and wing vents. One of the best cars that I have ever owned!
Awesome thank you for sharing your expereince!
I bout a set of tires from the junkyard back in the day it was a wagon dressed up like the general lee😂
I recently got a 82 just a little over 30k miles. Inline 6 , nice ride and great gas mileage.
Very nice! I'm glad to hear that they are still out there providing transportation.
I would buy one tomorrow if I could. We loved ours. John.
When I started dating her my Wife had a 1981 Granada sedan, 200 I-6 and C4. It was pretty quiet and smooth, and was better to drive and more durable than the early X-body GM's that were the other cheap 5-year old cars in 1986. We'd take her car when more than 2 of us went somewhere because its backseat was more comfortable than the bed of my '83 S-10 pickup. The little six that could outlasted the wee 6 in the S-10 by more than 2:1 in miles, it still ran fine when it was traded for a Plymouth Sundance.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
I really totally forgot about this car. I do remember not liking the Ford Ltd based on the Fox platform. The Panther models aged so much better and I bet they'd still sell Town Cars if they still made them!
I'm working on a Panther platform video ;)
I remember going car shopping with my dad in 81. The salesman was trying to sell him on hte Granada, but my dad said, for the price he'd take the Fairmont and get AC for less money. The fairmont was not nearly as nice looking, but we got AC.
I didn't care much for the looks of the 2nd generation. Also the car did look much bigger than the early ones.
My Mother bought a 1976 Granada Ghia two door with the 302. It was a mini Lux car at the time.
The 75 to 78 Granada and same era Nova and it's sisters should have been left alone. Perfect size.
BITD, this dude owned an '81 Granada L two door, 2.3L with the 4 speed manual. This car was basically a Volvo 242 competitor. It wasn't slow, which for 86 horsepower it should have been. Drove the piss out of it. The thing regularly hit 40mpg.
Good memories.
The first generation Granada I think was the best one's when they came out with the 81 it had the appearance of the Fairmont what a let down these were.
My sister had a Fully loaded 82 Granada it had power everything Even memory Seat.
I just can't imagine anyone driving one of these home excited about their "new car".
Too many cars in the same size range, plus badge engineering reaching it's peak really didn't help this car. They are cool when you see one now because they're so rare. The interior is really plush compared to the Fairmont. You could get cool interior colors like green too.
A lot of these had to be sold as fleet cars. They just scream rental car! A friend at church has a 4-door Cougar when I was a kid. I just remember thinking it was the most boring car I had ever seen.
ANY Granada brought new meaning to the word "blah".
In retrospect, the Ford lineup from 1980 to 1982 was so strange. You had the Fairmont, the weirdly shrunk Thunderbird which looked like a fancied-up Fairmont Futura, the Granada which was a fancied up Fairmont, and the LTD which was a less fancy Granada.
We owned a 2nd hand Mercury V6 wagon. It was a decent car, dull yes, But served us well with no issues until the late 1990's when EFI went out. Thx
Thank you for sharing your story!
I was in and around the Mahwah Granada, Fairmont, and LTD 2. The Fairmont was my favorite of them all. Better? A Hornet or Gremlin. We'd be really lucky to buy a Fairmont today. The Tempo? The first ones were cute.
Neighbour yrs ago had a two-tone Grey fox body Mercury Marquis..they also had an A-team van.
I currently have a 1982 Cougar wagon with the straight six. It rides like an overly cushy, heavy Fox Mustang.
There are a lot of people in the comments section that would like to own a Cougar wagon. ;)
I like that car I wanted to get a Mercury wagon version because of the Country Squire version has Chrome instead of the brownies looking tan looking wood also metal but I wanted a 1982 because it was the first Ford that came with the new oval it wouldn't be till 83 that all of the Fords started sporting the blue Ford oval on all the Ford cars except for the Fairmont
That silver Granada ESS in the thumbnail and commercial likely became the LTD LX for 1984-85.
Another good video, Tony. BTW, if you need more detailed production numbers, I'd suggest picking up a copy of the Standard Catalog of Ford 1903-1990 by Bob Lichty. It has the information you were missing regarding the distinct Cougar variants of this car. I find it to be a great, but not bullet proof, source of information.
Thank you and thanks for the tip
Fun fact: Ford pruduces a TV ad which shows the moon rover which was developed by General Motors...
I was thinking that when it popped up, including that the were displaying a decade old technology. Their ads from this period get a D-. I mean, who from the country club and equestrian set would even be seen in a Grenada? In reality, if you were in that bracket and showed up in a Grenada, your peers would have thought you lost your trust fund.
It's also funny how the Granada was panned by the automotive press as a gussied up Fairmont when the first generation Granada was a gussied up. Maverick.
The 1st gen Granada was a Very gussied up Maverick. This gen used the exact same doors as the Fairmont.
@@TonysFordsandMustangs in 1985, I had an '82 Ford escort that I wrecked. The insurance company paid me four grand for it and to save money I found a '75 Granada that I bought for 700 bucks. I actually liked that Granada a lot more than I ever liked that Escort.
I think Ford did a great job with the first gen as it did wear different sheet metal than the Maverick and you could literally infinitely customize the car, even to the same level as a Marquis in a smaller package at a reasonable price.
However, Ford jumped the shark on this by trying to turn the 1st gen Granada into the Versailles.
@@kennethsouthard6042 One of these days I'm going to cover the Versailles. I hear about that Granada constantly. :)
Looks like a fancy fairmont. Don’t remember these.
This design was dressed up Fairmont with extremely poor power. I had a 78 Granada, which I loved and that style was nicer. Several years later, I discovered Toyota Lexus reliability, driven Lexus vehicles ever since.
First Granada : Dressed up Maverick
Second Granada: Dressed up Fairmount. So it seems they were in the same spirit. However, The first Granada actually seemed to be a different car at first glance. But the second generation Granada looked EXACTLY like what they were. Slightly dressed up Fairmounts. In fact, they could have simply been a trim level for the Fairmount (Fairmount GX? 😅) . The New LTD was what the 2nd generation Granada SHOULD have been. It was still an upscale Fairmount. (A fox body) . But it was more in the spirit of the original Granada. Because it didn’t simply seem like a Fairmount with a different grille and taillights
Very much agree! Thank you for your comments.
A friend had a 4 door and we never got pulled over.
One of the better cars from Ford. It reminded me of a mini Crown Victoria and I truly wish that Ford had something like it today and yes it was a Fairmount that is dressed up. I think that the Granada became the LTD which sold better.
In hindsight you can see what Ford was trying to do in these years: move away from the frumpy baroque broughams of the Iacocca & HF2 era to the aero era, exemplified by the Taurus. But that car was just starting development, and in the meantime all they had to work with was the Fox platform, and a thin development budget. The Granada was a holdover, but poorly aped the GM A-bodies. The LTD styling was more cohesive, and better expressed where they were going product wise.
It’s sad that Ford missed the mark with this car. It was really a solid, dependable vehicle (for its day) . But it seems as if Ford forgot that sheet metal matters. People are more likely to buy a cheap car that looks like its more upscale stable mate than the other way around. Example: people said the Thunderbird was the cheaper Mark IV.- the Chevy Vega reminded them of the Camaro. The 1975-1979 Grand Marquis reminded them of a cheaper Lincoln. When people say the upscale looks like it’s lower level cousin, you’re in trouble . The Versailles comes to mind. Then they did it again by making the Granada look like the Fairmount.😂.
The first generation was a flashy Maverick or Falcon. Pick one. I never owned the second generation, but I did rent them on occasion.
In the 80's when I first got my license I owned a 76 Two door beautiful Red with painted Cream split top Granada and a Gray 78 Mercury Monarch Ghia and it was so close to a Lincoln Versailles I still wish I would have kept never have found anything that rode as smooth as it did sounded great with the breather lid flipped on the 302 V8😂 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Thanks for your comment. I almost forgot the flip lid trick from back in the day. I know several people that sucked hood lining into the air filter doing that trick completely defeating the purpose. :)
@@TonysFordsandMustangs lol 😅 yes I remember
My parents owned an eighty two granada wagon.I learned to drive on it
The door shells and glass are identical 78-83 Fairmont/Zephyr, 81-82 Granada/Cougar, 83-86 LTD/Marquis 4 door sedans
Maybe Ford should have kept the original Granada platform for a new styled T-Bird and used the Fairmont based T-Bird styling for the new Granada.
The late great Casey Kasem's voice.