Ford Granada (North America)

Infobox Automobile
name=Ford Granada


manufacturer=Ford Motor Company
production=1975-1982
predecessor=Ford Maverick
successor=Ford Taurus
class=Mid-size
body_style=2-door coupe
2-door sedan
4-door sedan
4-door Station Wagon (1981-82)
platform=FR Fox
engine=200 CID six-cylinder
232 CID Essex V-6
250 CID six-cylinder
302 CID V-8
351 CID V-8
transmission=3-speed manual
4-speed manual
4-speed manual w/ OD
3-speed auto
4-speed auto
related=Ford Mustang
Ford Thunderbird
Lincoln Continental
Mercury Capri
Mercury Cougar
Mercury Monarch
Mercury Zephyr
similar=AMC Concord
Chevrolet Citation
Dodge Aries

The Ford Granada was an intermediate sized car built and marketed by Ford Motor Company in North America from 1975 to 1982, along with a twin model, the Mercury Monarch. The Granada was touted by Ford as a rival to the similarly sized Mercedes-Benz 280 of the time. The Granada and Monarch were available as a 2-door coupe or a 4-door sedan.

The Granada and Monarch were originally intended to replace the Ford Maverick and the Mercury Comet, but ended up being sold alongside them for three seasons, when the new models were repositioned as more upscale models intended to lure buyers moving from fully-equipped full-size models. They were assembled in Wayne, Michigan and Mahwah, New Jersey. They also overlapped with the Maverick/Comet's ultimate successors, the Ford Fairmont and the Mercury Zephyr, which were released in 1978. The first-generation Granada and Monarch were based on the platform of the Maverick/Comet four-door. It shared much of its design with earlier Ford compacts and intermediates, dating back to the 1960 Ford Falcon. Powertrain options included the base 200 CID six-cylinder, a 250 CID six, a 302 CID V8, and a 351 CID "Windsor" V8. Available transmissions included a standard three-speed manual, a four-speed manual with overdrive, and a three-speed automatic(standard on 351-powered cars). The 1980 model year added a 49-state optional 255 CID V8, which was the only V8 offered in California-spec cars that year.

Ghia versions of both the Granada and Monarch included higher-level interior and exterior trim and added sound insulation. The 1975-76 Grand Monarch Ghia [http://gmv-registry.com/generic483.html] was a top-of-the line, feature-rich version. The Granada Sports Coupe [http://gmv-registry.com/generic488.html] was produced from 1976 to 1977; Mercury offered a similar treatment with its 1976-77 Monarch S [http://gmv-registry.com/generic481.html] . A 1977–1/2 [http://gmv-registry.com/generic489.html] variation on the Granada Sports Coupe, produced from May '77 through the end of the model year, featured blacked-out molding, modified trim, taillights, and color selections. Documentation of this half-year model exists in Ford advertising from spring 1977. This car is perhaps the "rarest" of Granada production.

The 1976–77 Sports Coupe and S packages included standard heavy-duty suspension, styled steel wheels, striping unique to this option and unique interior trim with standard bucket seats. The 1978-80 ESS [http://gmv-registry.com/generic553.html] (European Sport Sedan) replaced the Sports Coupe and S models. Sports Coupes, and ESS models equipped with bucket seats, can be identified by trim codes beginning with "P" on the car's data sticker on the edge of the driver's door. The Granada and Monarch ESS models featured "blacked-out" chrome, and a standard-equipment bucket seat interior with a floor-mounted shifter, although a bench seat was optional. Ford Motor Company's design chief at the time, Stephen Estrada, mentioned later mentioned that "The Grenada was my favorite design and the one that I'm the most proud of". The ESS option included standard color-keyed wheelcovers (styled-steel wheels were optional) and unique opera-window louvres.

The 1978 model year brought a minor restyling including rectangular headlamps and revised taillights, features which continued through the end of first-generation Granada/Monarch production in 1980.

1981–82

The range was moved to Ford's newer Fox platform (introduced as the 1978 Ford Fairmont and Mercury Zephyr) for the 1981 model year and was sold through the 1982 model year. The Granada name was retained, but the Monarch name was replaced by Cougar in Mercury's lineup. Styling of these cars resembled a slightly bigger and more formal version of the Fairmont, with upgraded interior trim. Base power for the Fox-body Granada was a 2.3 L I4, with an optional 200 cid straight six and 255 CID V8.

A wagon joined the line-up for the 1982 model year, replacing the Fairmont and Zephyr wagons, available in "L" and "GL" forms. The 1982 model also saw the return of the Blue Oval logo on a Ford vehicle for the first time since the Great Depression. Although most other Ford models saw the logo arrive in 1983 (Except for the Fairmont, which was about to be replaced with the Ford Tempo for 1984, and the Ford Thunderbird, which rarely had any mention of Ford on the vehicle itself for most of its existence.), the Granada saw it arrive a year early, largely as a test. While Ford had quit using the logo on its vehicles during the Depression, it had remained over the years as its logo in all other uses (corporate logo, sales literature, advertisements, owner manuals, dealership signs, etc...) and decided to use it again on its vehicles.

For 1983, the Granada name was retired in the North American market, replaced by a Fox-platform-derived downsized model of the LTD. Mercury offered this car as the Marquis.