Disclosure: This site may receive compensation when you click on some links and make purchases.

51k Original Miles: 1975 Ford Granada

This 1975 Ford Granada is said to be an original survivor with a mere 51,000 original miles on its odometer. It certainly presents extremely nicely and would appear to be a car that is in need of nothing but a new owner to drive and appreciate it. The Granada is located in Lehi, Utah, and is listed for sale here on Facebook. The owner is asking $7,500 for the Ford.

Finished in Dark Brown Metallic with a matching vinyl top, the Granada appears to be in very good condition. There are no signs of any rust issues, while the paint has a nice shine to it. The addition of a few touches of gold pinstripe adds a touch of class to the vehicle, as does the inclusion of chrome wheel-arch moldings and full wheel trims. Dings and dents appear to be non-existent, while the trim and chrome are close to faultless. The tinted glass also appears to be in good condition, and it looks like there will be no work required on the Granada’s external appearance.

The interior presentation of the Granada also looks to be quite good, although there are a couple of flaws visible. The top of the wheel appears to have a crack in it, while it looks like there might also be a crack in the center of the dash pad. The rest of the interior presents extremely well, with no signs of rips, tears, or staining anywhere. The seats look like they would be extremely comfortable, while the inclusion of air conditioning would also add to this level of comfort. The wood-grain inserts on the dash have survived extremely well, and there have been no aftermarket additions made to the car. Apart from the A/C, it appears that the only other creature comfort present is an AM radio. It’s basic, but it still should be a pretty pleasant place to spend some time.

The 1975 Granada offered potential owners a few choices when it came to engines, and the original owner chose to equip this car with the 302ci V8. Shifting duties are handled by a 3-speed automatic transmission, while the Granada also comes with power steering and 11″ power front disc brakes. Performance figures were not startling for a Granada equipped as this one is, as manufacturers were still grappling with emissions regulations. A 0-60mph time of 13.6 seconds and a ¼ mile time of 19.5 seconds was nothing to write home about. Cars of this era also copped the double whammy, because achieving any meaningful level of performance whilst still meeting emission laws meant that fuel consumption suffered in the process. In the case of the 302-equipped Granada, that meant living with average fuel consumption of around 13.7 mpg. The mechanical health of this Granada is apparently quite good, with it recently receiving a new water pump, new hoses, new belts, a new thermostat, and a new alternator. The owner states that he would have no hesitation in driving the car right across the country.

Let’s be honest here. If we wound back the clock around 30-years, a brown 1975 Granada would not be high on the wish-list of anyone searching for a classic car. Even today, it wouldn’t be on that list for a lot of people. However, this one is an extremely clean and tidy example that would appear to be ready to be driven and enjoyed immediately. Whether or not it could be classed as a classic will be open to each person’s interpretation and opinion. If you look at it in isolation, it is in very clean condition for what is essentially a 44-year-old survivor from one of the most unloved periods in American motoring history. Before you write it off as a car that is not a classic, try to remember the last time that you saw one as nice as this in your daily travels. If you can’t remember that time, then maybe that alone would be enough reason to consider it as an affordable and practical option for someone looking to dip their toe in the classic car scene.

Comments

  1. Avatar DayDreamBeliever

    Zzzzzzzzzzzz…

    Clean, and if it would be reliable, a decent DD. But gee, the excitement value is near coma level. Yep, 40+ years old, and that makes the condition unusual. But it still can’t raise the pulse beyond resting rate. Sorry, that’s just the way it is. *yawn*

    Like 13
  2. Avatar Bob_in_TN Member

    Adam’s points are spot-on. This is an example of a regular car from a low point in American automotive history. Car is in nice shape. But not many people are interested. After all, it’s not a muscle car.

    But for others, this vehicle has appeal: Rarely seen today. At a show it would solicit the “my neighbor had one” comments, which makes for pleasant conversations. One wouldn’t worry if it gets a rock chip. No point in bench racing discussion. It’s cheap to buy. And, some people even like it (me…. though my ultimate Granada has a manual transmission).

    And to think, this is a 1960 Falcon underneath.

    Like 11
    • Avatar Jamie

      Make it a muscle car. Doll up the exhaust. Change the carb. Make it a sleeper on a low budget

      Like 6
      • Avatar Chris

        Sometimes the best sleepers are the cars you don’t expect . Every car has a potential , YOU ARE RIGHT ON !!!!

        Like 0
  3. Avatar TimS

    No, it isn’t five years older with a big block, 4 speed and Respray Red over black, like they’re all supposed to be, but I like it, even if it’s only because “real car guys” are supposed to hate it.

    Like 19
  4. Avatar FordGuy1972 Member

    I always thought the Granada was a good-looking car. While a brown exterior is a bit of a yawn, the tan interior seems quite nice. This would be a great car to resto-mod. Keep it looking stock but work that 302 over. There are plenty of speed parts for a 302, you can get a lot of horsepower out of them. Then put in a 5-speed and you’d have a really cool sleeper!

    Like 21
    • Avatar chris hanson

      mine was very similar to this only dark green with gold metallic. 351 with floor shift auto. it was actually a very quick little car. plush interior. still have the engine and trans in the shop waiting for a project.

      Like 0
  5. Avatar David Mika Member

    Indeed. I would, if I had the time, that is, yank that 302 and rebuild it to more punishing specs and go from there…in the meantime, we have a customer’s 302-powered ’73 Bronco that is requiring our full attention at this time…

    Like 3
  6. Avatar Deacon

    What I see here is a two door,rear wheel drive,clean survivor that needs to jerk the engine and build it correctly,then pull those bumpers in,ditch the auto and put a 4 or 5 speed,put some gear in the rear,and off you go street racing for cheap…..

    Like 4
  7. Avatar Bob C.

    I had a 1975 blue 4 door with a 302. I thought it seemed quicker than that 0 to 60 time you gave. I do have to agree on the gas mileage, it was disappointing. My 1973 Chevy Impala with a 350 definitely did better.

    Like 3
  8. Avatar Jermey Becker

    Absolutely love this car. My father had an orange with tan color combo when I was a kid. Sent him the information on this car. He has been looking for a classic to drive to cruise-ins over in Eastern Oregon.

    Like 9
  9. Avatar JOHN Member

    I’d say LS conversion, but to avoid the flak from the Blue Oval guys, Coyote it, maintain the stock look as much as possible, and have a blast with it!

    Like 4
  10. Avatar mark

    It is apparently in great shape but…………….7500 Bucks………..for a low performing (13.6 0-60, 19 second quarter mile) car that gets a whopping 13.7 Miles per gallon. Any PT Cruiser that runs will blow the doors off this thing and get nearly double the fuel mileage.

    Like 4
    • Avatar Bob_in_TN Member

      … and a Prius will get four times the mileage! But this Granada will out-accelerate a Kenworth AND get better mileage!!! So??

      Like 6
      • Avatar mark

        and your point is???????????? Sounds you should buy it.

        Like 1
      • Avatar CanuckCarGuy

        The difference between seeing it as a potential classic versus seeing it as a used car it seems…much like the popular 2-door versus 4-door debates. Different strokes for different folks as they say.

        Like 4
    • Avatar Superdessucke

      1970s cars have become all the rage. You might get flamed but I think it’s fair, and responsible, to remind everyone about the realities of the vehicles. There’s probably a lot of people on here who never drove one.

      They got poor mileage, their fledgling emissions equipment negatively impacted driveability, and their performance was pretty bad. Even the performance cars of that time are (considerably) slower than most of today’s economy cars. Kudos to the author for publishing the actual 0-60 and 1/4 mile times!

      But they have their place in history and it’s good to see some still exist in great shape.

      Like 10
    • Avatar Superdessucke

      And if anyone cares, this thing was practically a Challenger Hellcat Redeye compared to the 6-cylinder versions. With the 250-6 and automatic, the car took 22.5 seconds to hit 60!!! Is that even safe? Today, you’d get run over by traffic trying to wheeze along in something that slow!

      https://www.automobile-catalog.com/car/1975/1853825/ford_granada_2-door_sedan_250_six_cruise-o-matic.html

      Like 1
      • Avatar Lemble

        My dad had one with a 6 in it with a 3 speed manual trans. Highway gear in the rear end so it was a slow start but fine at speed. He cleaned out the guts out of the catalytic converter then ran a straight pipe out the back with no muffler. It was not as loud as one might think. At 150,000 the clutch went so he got a new truck and my brother put a top loader 4 speed it it. Totally different car. the biggest problem all along was the gearing. It was still not a V8 but it was better.

        Like 1
      • Avatar Superdessucke

        The catalog shows it had a 3.00:1 rear standard and 2.79 optional. While not performance gearing by any stretch, that’s not that bad for the times. A lot of cars in this area had gears below 2.50:1.

        It is a good point that automakers often used high gears to try to meet fuel economy standards before the overdrive transmission came into wide use. Anyone who has ridden a bicycle knows that will kill acceleration big time.

        Like 1
  11. Avatar Mark M

    This same car in a Monarch Ghia is a very nice car, bought one for my sister years ago fir 100.00 bucks and she ran it to the ground, loaded every option, 302, was pretty quick. Nice looker in metallic green, alloy rims.

    Like 4
  12. Avatar Ralph

    Where did the shoulder belts go?

    Its got some kitschy value to it and there aren’t many left, I don’t know if I, or anyone else would pay $7500 for it, that seems steep, $4000 seems closer to a real price for this.

    Buy it and hope that they film a 70’s era movie or TV show in your area and you can rent it out……is Mindhunter getting a 4th season?

    Like 4
  13. Avatar That AMC Guy

    Very nice for what it is. What’s always amazed me though is just how badly Ford’s engines suffered from the crude emission controls of the day, at least in stock form. Even AMC managed to pull more power out of their engines.

    A quick search shows that in 1975 a stock grocery-getter Ford 302 delivered 122 hp vs. AMC’s 304 at 150 hp. Ford sixes were particularly strangled – their 250 six put out all of 87 hp vs. AMC’s 258 six at 110 hp.

    Like 4
    • Avatar Terry R Melvin

      Not only that, nearly all of the engines of the day suffered from hesitation and lack of any kind of acceleration. They were also inefficient. They were never designed for the emissions controls that were imposed on them practically overnight.

      Like 3
  14. Avatar Terry R Melvin

    You used to see these all over. A friend of mine bought a brand new ’75, black with red interior. He traded it in of a Fiat 128 3P! That’s how unexciting these cars were, yet they were popular at one time.

    Like 0
  15. HoA Howard A. Member

    I thought the Granada was one of Fords best cars. Right size, and you could option them to the hilt. I don’t buy the mileage claim, these could routinely get low 20’s, ( my ’77 GMC gets 13) it was a light car, little cramped under the hood, but they all were. Best engines in the business, rode nice, they were good cars. I knew several people that had them and were very happy. The Mercury was a tad nicer, but I bet due to the lack of just regular cars being offered today, a car like this would sell.

    Like 5
    • Avatar chrlsful

      1st of the fox bodied, B4 the Fairmont

      Like 0
      • Avatar Sircrunch

        It’s not a fox body. The fairmont was the first foxbody

        Like 1
  16. Avatar CJinSD

    We take it for granted that all cars have bucket seats today, but this was a weird place to find them in 1975. It would be like seeing a new BMW with a manual transmission sitting on the lot in 2019.

    Like 2
  17. Avatar Boatman Member

    Nice write-up, Adam!

    Like 4
  18. Avatar Arthell64

    When these cars were new they were plain brown wrappers. These cars drove well and were comfortable. I like it the way it is.

    Like 5
  19. Avatar firemedic2714

    I’d transplant a late model Mustang GT engine/6 spd.,/rear end/brakes, etc. and go have fun.

    Like 2
  20. Avatar Del

    Its fairly nice and there will not be any at car shows.

    Its a V8 which makes it for me.

    I think its worth the price

    Like 5
  21. Avatar Tman

    And remember the adds from Ford ” the Grenada, precision engineered”. A friend of mine bought one. Red on red 302. Put a shift kit in it and the 1-2 upshift would make the rear tires bark. Ot came with poor tractionless General steel radials. He got some European Firestone Cavalinos on it and what a huge difference in handling. Those gripped like glue. I bought a 70 Plymouth Fury 1. the 318 would run circles around that Ford. Especially when I got the last set of Firestone Cavalinos. Some Gabriel Strider adjustable shocks and he could never keep up with me on the straighaways or mountain curves backroads. Yes the Granada was an ok car. But that Fury surprisingly handled better.

    Like 1
  22. Avatar John Taylor

    Couldn’t you just take all the smog stuff off of this car and get it to have reasonable M.P.G. and perform a lit better with just a few tweaks, it would make a good every day drive car. In nice condition, I gave up buying a new car for myself in 1988 after a lemon and just buy low mileage cars, sure I do get my wife a new car but she deserves to have a better car than me.

    Like 2
  23. Avatar Kevin

    Reading these comments you would think that the only reason to own a classic car would be to race it and dog it out. But that’s just not true. Some cars….like this one… are cruisers! Are time capsules… are like the one your neighbor had… or your uncle… some people appreciate these cars for what they really are. And were.. from a particular hi at era that they may be nostalgic for. I’ve had all sorts of cars.. from fast beasts to luxury cars. Chevy Ford Dodge and everything in between. And I genuinely enjoy my 78 Granada. Because ya know what? I dont have a one track mind!

    Like 7
    • Avatar Bob_in_TN Member

      Good points Kevin. For me a good reason for owning a collector car is doing pedestrian, yet enjoyable things like cruising on a warm summer night and taking the grandkids for ice cream.

      Like 3
  24. Avatar Lc

    Looks familiar. Might have been listed in Craigs last year for about 3.5k to 4K.

    Like 0
  25. Avatar Mike R

    IMO, one of the least desirable cars ever to come out of Detroit. My three word summary of these was always “waste of metal.” That being said, if you’re in LA, you could easily get this thing to pay for itself offering it for rent to the Prop houses. Mindhunter would have been ecstatic to use it…

    Like 0
  26. Avatar Little_Cars

    You think emissions in American cars was primitive in 1975? Take a look at what was done to bring British-Leyland cars up to standard that year. B-L couldn’t even meet requirements with their ubiquitous 1275 engine that had been their bread and butter since the early 60s. Instead, they opted for the love-hate Spitfire 1500. The “sports” went out the window in my opinion with the 75-79 MGs. Not to mention the bumper standards that eventually stole their good looks away from them.

    Like 0
  27. Avatar PatrickM

    Should this car be this or should it be that?? Ok, it’s 45 years old. But, has anyone else seen the donuts on the new asphalt? Maybe the seller is trying to show us that there really is some good life left in the old girl (as cars go). But, here again, it is way too far away for me to take seriously. I am looking for a very practical car and this is just like the ones rolling around in my attic.

    Like 0
  28. Avatar Little_Cars

    @PatrickM what makes you think those marks were made by the Granada? It’s certainly conceivable. Looks like the photo shoot was taken on a very popular stretch of paved parking. And the asphalt doesn’t look that new to me.

    Like 0
  29. Avatar chrlsful

    nice Mercedes ! (heard in the streets back then). 1st thing is get in’n dial up the initial advance to 4* BDC. They retarded’em for the pollution. Better gas MPGs & pep.
    The 1st, 1st’n a half posters above missed the rest0mod craze. We take the best & add to the rest. Suspension mods like Bilstien’s fox Street or Track &/or Maximun Motorsports, a cam & carb up grade to the 302, breaks, etc. Folks who know their wrenchin have show some ‘stuff’ here & on the other venues. The truth? after these additions any1 would B proud to own (except the purists). I know a guy who gets in the 9s w/a totally stock ’77 Maverick (C Autocrafters 8/11 “Mike’s Mad Mav”). o0OPPp, no, it hasa 300 i6 ‘truck engine’. Should B even worse, no?

    Like 0
    • Avatar Little_Cars

      Never understood why diehard gearheads, craigslist posters and eBay trolls spell the things that stop a car using a foot pedal “breaks.” Brakes have been around long enough for most people to know the diff.

      @chrlsful it would really benefit us old timers if you would write in something other than cellphone shorthand and cyber slang. It was difficult to catch the drift of what you were trying convey on first reading. Just my old fart opinion, of course. Your perspective on these Fords was very interesting.

      Like 1
  30. Avatar TheGasHole

    Had this car in blue a few years back. Built up the 302 as best as I could and it actually drove pretty well. Sold it to a guy who… No kidding… Has now dropped an LT1 into it. It is freaking awesome.

    Like 1

Leave a Reply to DayDreamBeliever Cancel reply

RULES: No profanity, politics, or personal attacks.

Become a member to add images to your comments.

*

Get new comment updates via email. Or subscribe without commenting.