The Ford (Found On Road Dead?) Grenade, er Granada, couldn't hold a candle to the 107.

 

Bought my wifey a new 1979 Ford Granada, white with blue vinyl interior.
Not a bad car. I did noted that the doors felt as solid as a Mercedes.
Traded the wifey's red 1971 Chevy Chevelle for the Granada.
Lot of cheap plastic wood grain on the interior but overall not that remarkable.
Never a problem with it, traded it for a 1983 Datsun Maxima.

Now at the same time I had a 1976 Cadillac Seville I purchased used.
Silver with gray leather interior and matching vinyl top.
Wow, that was a nice quality ride with lots of bells and whistles ... for the time.
Cadillac had a winning design 1976 thru 1979 and screwed it all up in 1980.

All during the 1970s and until 1983 those 450SLs and 380SLs always caught my lusty eye. But they were mostly driven by local doctors wives. When I bought my 1983 380SL our R107s were quite a rare sight around here. I remember some friends visited Hollywood and couldn't wait to come back and tell me that around Hollywood your Mercedes was as common as a Chevy Vega or Ford Pinto

 

No idea why they made that comparison, but one with a 351 in it the 450 would not have stood a chance, at least for a quarter mile. I do give them credit as they do indicate the 450 as a "remarkable" car in the ad.

 

Lee Iaccoca also dissed the 450SL/380SL and claimed Chrysler has a less expensive version.
I still remember Iaccoca dissing the curvature of the R107 hood stating that his car design was superior.

 

My dad bought a 76 Granada. It was a pretty good car, a little lacking in power for a 302. My cousin liked it so much that he bought the Mercury equivalent, a Monarch. When he brought it home and showed it to his wife she walked around the car looking at it and as she stood behind the passenger side she said “I thought you bought a Monarch, that’s a Grenada.” He said “No, it’s a Monarch, why?” Seems that the front and driver side said Mercury and Monarch, the back and passenger side said Ford and Granada. He took it to the dealer and showed it to the salesman who was extremely embarrassed and said they would fix it right away but my cousin laughed and said “Leave it like it is.”

 

When he brought it home and showed it to his wife she walked around the car looking at it and as she stood behind the passenger side she said “I thought you bought a Monarch, that’s a Grenada.” He said “No, it’s a Monarch, why?” Seems that the front and driver side said Mercury and Monarch, the back and passenger side said Ford and Granada. He took it to the dealer and showed it to the salesman who was extremely embarrassed and said they would fix it right away but my cousin laughed and said “Leave it like it is.”

I suppose that doesn't happen now because those parallel platforms with different chrome aren't common anymore. I expect it wasn't rare back in the day. 40 years ago I had a customer who had a "Dorgo" tandem truck that he was very proud of.

 

My first new car was a 1984 20th Anniversary Mustang (still have it), I noticed the Mustang on the passenger side fender was running the wrong way. Quality was not job #1 at Ford at that time. I too, said leave it as that is the way it came, and I was just a poor boy that was happy to have a brand-new car. For me it was not the expensiveness of the car that mattered, it was the freedom and knowing it was my hard-earned money that paid for it.

 

The Grenada I had was less than satisfactory with a permanent vibration above 60 mph which the dealer and area Ford rep said didn't exist For some time I drove with a sign in the back window "If this is job #1, God help job #2.

 

The Grenada sold over 2M cars in 8 years. That about 250,000 cars a year. By contrast MB sold 33,000 450/450 5.0 SLC's. Yet today there is not a single listing for a Ford Grenada of any year on E-bay. Yet there are 8 listings for a 1979 450 SLC. So what does that mean? It means just about all 2M Grenada's have been scraped.

 

So, imagine how rare the one in the ad is. A Ford Granada Sports Coupe would be worth what? Now that would be really rare. I am sure it still would not be worth the $23,976 in today's money as the MB was $23,976 in 1980 money !!!! What is a 1980 450 SLC worth in today's money with inflation rate from 1980 to current? Just asking. I really do not think Ford was dumb enough (maybe) to actually compare the Granada to the MB when they tout the MB as perhaps the world's finest sports coupe, and a remarkable engineering achievement. Now I have to take that $4,189 1980 figure and find out what that is worth today. But really one was built for rich, elite, and movie stars, and the price proves that the other for some poor working "Joe" in middle America.

 

Today's value for a low milage 42K miles, somewhere under $12,900 . This was the only sold listing I found on Ebay. The rest of them never met the asking price.

 

I just did a search, actually found a lot of "classic" postings. Here is the first one I came to. I am surprised at the prices. As they say there is always someone for anyone, I think that applies to this post. I think it will die after this post.
Ford Granada for Sale / 10 used Granada cars with prices and features on classiccarsbay.com

 

Cool sight. Too bad there is no way of getting sold prices.

 

I give Ford credit, they compare size, not performance...or the other intangibles that make a Mercedes a Mercedes. And has already been pointed out, they give the Mercedes its due...

I'm pretty sure no one ever crossed shopped the two.

$24k was a lot of money back then. By the late '70s, thanks to Carter's malaise-era inflation, everything got expensive.

Let's be honest, no one needs a Mercedes price car. No one needs any thing better than an Accord or Camry.

In the '70s, I considered myself lucky to have a new Mustang. I wouldn't have dreamt that I'd one day afford a 107, or buy the 129 I have today. The year my 129 was built, I bought a very nice newer home for less money than the MSRP of the car.

Back on topic. that's a great shot of the SLC.
I think they're under appreciated.

One more thing about the Ford...you can get keys for them.
That's more than you can say for some older Mercedes.

 

No one needs any thing better than an Accord or Camry

No one except anyone who sees motoring as anything more than just a mode of a private transportation. Camry is like that opened bottle of coke, 3 days after the party, with something floating in it. Just a set of 4 wheels less exciting than watching the paint dry.
I told my daughter if she marries a Camry driver she's inheriting only my hugs and smiles.
Luckily, she likes all my cars, with passion (for now, fingers crossed).
A camry driver is a class of its own, an ethnicity above one's ethnic membership. In the same category as Uber driver, a coach driver or a taxi driver. We all appreciate them but avoid mixing with them at any cost.
Did i ofend someone?
I did.

 

I wouldn't exactly call the R107 exciting. Nice, yes. Pretty, yes. Exciting, no. A camry would probably run off and leave it and get better gas mileage in the process.

 

I did say need, not want, desire.
The same way no one needs $1200 shoes or a 10,000 square foot house.
Point A to B....a Camry is fine.
Luckily, we have a choice.
Our successors may not be as fortunate.

 

I did say need, not want, desire.
The same way no one needs $1200 shoes or a 10,000 square foot house.
Point A to B....a Camry is fine.
Luckily, we have a choice.
Our successors may not be as fortunate.

No need to get excited, I wasn't having a go at you, but I admit it sounds that way.
I find Camry to be the epitome of driving excitement gone negative. Perfect for from A to B but utterly unfit for A to B with some motoring excitement.

No one needs a Van Gogh picture at home, we can all hang a lid from a nice Belgian box of chocolates with a picture of a paint-by-numbers oil on canvas. It is clear which of the two represents a Camry.
😉

 

I wouldn't exactly call the R107 exciting. Nice, yes. Pretty, yes. Exciting, no.

Why then bother with LS manual in 107?
Why not put manual LS in a Camry?😉

A camry would probably run off and leave it and get better gas mileage in the process.

So would a Prius.
But exciting cars live past the practical economical daily driving age. These are foremost about other things in life than how many litres consumption and how many miles before an issue.

Like this one:

Vs.

This one:

Don't need to know how each car drives, I already know which one would be fun.

 

Why then bother with LS manual in 107?
Why not put manual LS in a Camry?😉


So would a Prius.
But exciting cars live past the practical economical daily driving age. These are foremost about other things in life than how many litres consumption and how many miles before an issue.

Like this one:
View attachment 2950043

Vs.

This one:
View attachment 2950044

Don't need to know how each car drives, I already know which one would be fun.

But I know which one is more likely to start every morning. 😀

 

I got in a discussion with a "refined" lady and said to her, "you wipe your ass just like I do", she replied, "No, I have a bidet". I smiled and said, "Touche". What does it mean here? I don't know but there is more than one way to clean your arse after you poop.

 

Only use I've ever had for a Granada is as a parts car. Their 8" rear axles were commonly used in street rods. They were the right width, were cheap, and could handle moderate horsepower.

The Explorer 8.8 is now the go to junk yard rear axle.

 

Granada and Sports Coupe shouldn't be in the same sentence, especially with a 200 6 cyl.
My dad had a 1979 Ford Fairmont with a 2.3L 4 speed for commuting, the most under powered car I ever drove.
It was reliable though.

 

Granada and Sports Coupe shouldn't be in the same sentence, especially with a 200 6 cyl.
My dad had a 1979 Ford Fairmont with a 2.3L 4 speed for commuting, the most under powered car I ever drove.
It was reliable though.

1979 was pretty much the low point for everything automotive. I had a 1979 Z28 and the build quality was awful. It must have been built on the Monday after a long weekend.

 

I had the misfortune to own a Grenada in the early 80s; every power steering pump failed at some point. I couldn't get one. I had to use a riding mower belt and bump it on the alternator pulley...

The heater cores also failed and I was in Chicagoland. I had an ice scraper for the inside!

 

I like my R107, but not that much. You need therapy dude.

The only time I got a hard on over a car was when I was a teenager and Shirley Muldowney was getting out of her Top Fuel Dragster with a halter top on and short shorts. But then again it was not the CAR that caused it.

The TV commercials said to see a doctor right away if that happens.

☝
Meh, just a bunch of old dudes with erectile dysfunction
😉

 

☝
Meh, just a bunch of old dudes with erectile dysfunction
😉

No mine works fine just do not have a desire to stick it up a car's tailpipe, I prefer females over cars.

 

When I grow some tits....I'll start looking at Miatas.

Being 13kg overweight, I already have man tits.

Eat more chicken that is all jacked up on hormones and you will have a miata in the driveway in no time. 😄

Should I have said vagina?

 

C'mon, you're just jealous of us with real roadsters which can actially corner and can drop the hard top in 13 seconds