This is pure porn for those of us who get off on buttery smooth floating rides. Appears to ride smoother than my mid 90's Towncar and that makes me incredibly jealous.
MAAAAN! Getting motion sick just watching this. I'm glad American automakers stepped away from using molasses and marshmallow for suspension in favour of actual springs and struts.
mipmipmipmipmip Yes very true. I hate it when they tell me "they dont make them like they used to" Of course, you could travel on modern cars and don't have to be on the side of the road overheating.
@mipmipmipmipmip Not at all...but in 1982, most part stores (and even many rural dealers) likely would not HAVE the then-new serpentine belt in stock. Most cars in that era (indeed, into the mid-80s) still used V-belts.
@Rich Santoro I have never had a car overheat unless there was something seriously wrong with the cooling system. 95 degrees...none of the many pre-1990 cars I have owned had any trouble.
@@hgpo27 In this era, really beginning around 1977-78, Ford used very, VERY hard and cheap plastic that creaked and rattled even when brand new. They say it had no squeaks or rattles so maybe it just came right off the truck from the factory. Give it a month once it's gone over a few chuck holes. These cars were all rattle boxes. All the way through the mid-1990s they used that garbage plastic. Also, this was when Ford thought it was cute to have the horn be the wiper stalk (don't get me started on having both stalks on the same side of the steering column). You had to press the wiper stalk forward for the horn. The European influence was right, maybe they had the engineers drinking Absynthe from France.
@@67marlins81 I agree these thing are nothing more but tanks and are bulletproof I love these cars and I still occasionally see LTD's on the road today still no often but they are still around
@@zackstopzackstop8091 You got that right. Notice the digital dummy I corrected has since withdrawn his ignorant statement and gone back to hiding beneath his keyboard.....
At a certain age this feature gains a good bit of appreciation. I love my 91 Colony Park. I wouldn't mind one of these fox bodies at all but I much prefer the straight six to the V.
At about 4:25 John suggests carrying a spare for the newfangled serpentine belt. A better suggestion would be having a spare Duraspark ignition module. Far more likely to fail than any belt. Those things failed so often, they should have been held in with Velcro instead of screws for easier replacement.
The '79 was the older, original Granada. It had a 3.3 liter, 200 CI 6 cylinder engine, and an optional 4.1 liter, 250 cubic inch 6 cylinder engine. That may have been what you had.
I love these old reviews of comfortable cars that were meant to be comfortable and that’s it. As opposed to today’s cars which all try to do everything at once, MW could have just bright in Ollie Williams to summarize the Grenada’s features: “IT’S QUIET ‘N COMFY!!”
I love the body bounce and especially the dive and bounce on brake tests. Your coffee would be on the roof and anything in the back would be in your lap and on the dashboard! Including your kids and dog as no one wore seat belts back then! Reminds me of of when Clark drove the Family Truckster off a ramp. LOL!
The Granada wagon was a one-year wonder, since it (and the entire Granada series) was renamed the LTD for 1983 (thus also meaning the Panther-based LTD added "Crown Victoria" to its name to distinguish it from the new Fox-body LTD). When initially introduced, it actually meant the Fairmont wagon had bid farewell.
@@qrud Mercury also had a wagon version of the Cougar out at the same time, their second attempt since the Montego-based version in 1977. The 1982 Cougar wagon, inherited from the Zephyr series, was equally short-lived and hence replaced for 1983 by the new Marquis wagon, which forced the existing Panther-based Marquis to become Grand Marquis.
@ClassicTVMan1981X Doomsekkar is a hat that was published in the avatar shop by Roblox on October 17, 2013, to celebrate Halloween. It came out of the Big BOOtiful Gift of Destiny, which itself could be purchased for 31,000 Robux. Approximately 283 copies of this hat were given to users. It is a retexture of The Dusekkar. As of April 27, 2020, it has been favorited 4,125 times.
this was a car that, if you timed the brake pedal oscilllation/application right you could get the front bumper to scrape off the ground or the bump stops - did that with the sedan version of this car
+Eric Fortune Crossovers are a scam by car companies to make more money. Here's why: back in the day, you could buy something like an Escort or Focus wagon for only a small amount more than a sedan version of the same car, but today, an Escape is only the size of a theoretical Focus wagon, however, they charge you the price of a Fusion for it. An Edge, which is based on the Fusion, is way more than a Fusion. Then you also have the disadvantages of poorer fuel economy because they aren't as aerodynamic as cars, and the handling on them isn't as great either because they sit higher. And subjectively I find them ungainly and ugly.
the slightest braking or left-right maneuver induces bouncy, floaty hilarity straight from one of those moonwalk things for kids at every carnival and fair. Classic early 80s car.
I drive a 2008 crown victoria lx. It doesn't bounce nearly as much as this car but it still feels like you're floating down the road when you drive it. Such a comfortable ride.
No, it's a midsize. (Note that when the Fairmont it's based on showed up, it was considered COMPACT.) Running gear the same as the 1981-88 Thunderbird.
105" wheelbase....is firmly in compact car territory by modern standards. A 2005 to 2012 Nissan Sentra has a very similar wheelbase and is only little bit smaller than this car (due to the short overhangs of the Nissan) That Granada was styled to look like a barge but was not large at all.
I wish the 1981-82 Ford Granada/Mercury Cougar (non XR7) were available with the 5.0 liter V8, I'm sure these cars would've done well in the acceleration runs.
Ford sure got a lot of miles out of the Squire name. For a while you could even get a Pinto Squire and later an Escort Squire. Shame they never did an Aerostar Squire to take on the woody Dodge and Plymouth minivans.
That car ain't soo bad. Worse could of been a 1976 pontiac. I think 1976 was the worst of the malaise era when the cars were still heavy, but still kept the iron duke engine that produced little torque.
My dad bought a new Granada and when I looked underneath, it was totally covered with surface rust. I don't know if they just forgot to paint the underside or if all the cars came like that.
I had the coolest fairmont wagon thats basically the same car with different front end, I had the 302 and automatic with 2.50 rear end, it would never shift into 3rd gear, but it could do 45 in first and burn the tires all the way up to that speed lol. had a edelbrock carb and headers and interior from a 84 cougar, wish I still had it lol
From 0-60mph the Ford Granada wagon with the 3.8 Liter V6 did so in 14.3 seconds, in 1982 that was a fair showing, in the quarter mile run it did 19.9 seconds at 71 mph, another fair showing.
my father had many used and almost new cars over the years. He picked up this up as a sedan in 1986. Can't think of any car of his that I dislieked more
I remember reading somewhere that Ford offered the Fairmont sedan with a 302 and a four speed. Imagine a Fairmont with Mustang GT underpinnings. That would be fun!
Yes, for 1978 and '79 only; for 1980-81 the 302 was replaced by the smaller 255, which almost nobody seems to love. With the exception of the 1982-87 Lincoln Continental, the 302 would not appear in a Fox-body sedan again until the 1984-85 LTD LX.
My uncle had the sedan, I recall you had to push the blinker lever in to honk the horn. I remember him driving off in a hurry one time with the muffler dragging on the ground, lol.
That braking test is why I have a love/hate for old school cars! Some of them I actually really like, but under hard braking, the rear of our Buick Century wagon would make you think the rear was going to flip over the front!!! And can someone tell me why were American cars so fascinated with wooden paneling on cars?! Is it the covered wagon mentality?
