Ford introduced the Granda in 1975 as a “senior” compact, meaning it had more of an upscale appeal. The Maverick was still in production at the time and ran through 1977. Ford hoped that the Granda would compete with European sedans of approximately the same size, with the ESS Ghia Coupe being perhaps the most “international” of the Granada offerings. We’ve seen this 1979 Granada ESS before, but the seller only provided one photo then and went the cheapie route on craigslist. This time, it’s been listed here on eBay with many photos, mostly before it was rescued from a barn. Located in Hiawatha, Kansas, this one prior owner project is available for $710 (latest bid, reserve unmet).
The Granda was probably considered a success, running across two generations and eight years. In that time, 1.9 million of them rolled down the assembly line, including this ESS (European Sports Sedan). Our Jeff Bennett didn’t have much to work with the last time we saw this Ford (a couple of months ago), here on Barn Finds. It was a single owner machine that was found languishing in a barn with a stuck 302 cubic inch V8. After some work, the engine still won’t turn. Our thanks go to Mitchell G. for this déjà vu tip!
Rather than tell you the story twice, we’ll share with you the photos that weren’t available before. The Ford has just 35,000 miles, believed to be correct. The seller has too many irons in the fire and has only given it a courtesy wash. Rust may be minimal, and the paint may come back to life with some more effort. After sitting for 20 years, it certainly could be in worse shape.
Here’s the car in the barn where the seller found it.
Now it’s on a trailer headed to the seller’s domicile.
Here’s a glance at the interior that’s not in bad shape.
And here’s the 302 V8 waiting for some more attention.
Guaranteed to draw a small crowd of ladies at your nearest assisted living facility.
Especially if you just delivered Jimmy John’s in your pale yellow ESS!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M3phz6HO-Uo
If it’s not rotted underneath, it’s worth fixing up for a hobbyist. It’s a 302 with A/C and velour interior. I could get a shine out of that paint. Credit to the seller for washing it.
No clock, hard pass
It’s a coupe, so there’s that. I wonder if it ever occurred to Ford management if they wanted to compete with the Europeans they should have bought a baby Benz and taken it apart to see what all the fuss was about.
That happens all the time. When one of the fire apparatus manufacturers that I worked for decided to offer their own proprietary “custom” chassis (they had been sourcing them from another manufacturer), they ordered a chassis for an existing order. As soon as it arrived, it was completely disassembled, measured, photographed and reassembled prior to being completed and delivered to the customer. Just enough cosmetic changes were made to avoid any issues. When we showed up at a trade show with something new, same thing- our competitors were climbing all over it with pads of paper, tape measures and cameras.
And then asked ma and pa six pack, that these cars were marketed to, to ante up a couple thousand more of their hard earned dollars for a Ford Granada?
This may be apocryphal but I seem to remember reading an article about a department at Ford that disassembled other manufacturers’ cars. It was done to see what the competition was doing and look for best practices in engineering. One of the guys tasked with sawing apart the vehicles had a crisis of conscience when he was told to cut up a Testarossa.
That experience would have traumatized most of us for life.
I would be in line to view but I am not a lady.
A rare ESS to restore- JK! It’s a Granada for God sakes – unless you want to make a super sleeper out of it with a 5.0 Coyote it’s not worth the effort
Perhaps my eyesight has seen better days, but is that a six?
It’s a 302 V8
It’s a brick that won’t turn over
I was hoping for a stick with the ESS package. The color is nice.
Not worth the asking price if you can’t get it to at least turn over as it sits it’s scrap metal. I would be interested in trying a couple of tricks I’ve learned to see if I can get it to break free but I would only pay scrap value to try so I don’t burn to much money if it wants to stay locked up
Nice entry level “collectable” car that looks decent, not much money, and would be dependable as a daily driver. 👍🏻
I found a stash like this many years ago inside an old farmer’s quonset that housed horses. A couple of tractors, a jeep from the 50s and a 1950 Ford sedan, all shin deep in horse manure. In the yard was a 1947 Ford coupe baking in the prairie sun. He would not sell a thing.
he was probably worried that you wouldn’t take care of them!
rotflmao