Ford Granada MK2 Estate
The Granada was launched in 1972 as Ford’s exec car - a front engine, rear wheel drive car aimed at a European market. The car came in to replace the Zephyr and was part of the overall strategy to combine British and German model ranges at Ford.
The MK1 proved popular, not just for the discerning motorist or businessman, but for taxi drivers, fleet car buyers and even the police. The car was an easy conversion into a hearse or a limo and these were a popular choice for those in the respective trades.
It was a much more modern car that what it was replacing, which pleased the buying public and journalists. For example, the independent rear suspension, the V4 and V6 essex engines with a top choice of 3 litre and the new Ghia luxury trim - which as you can see on this mK2 is a big step up on the old top level Executive trim.
With popularity riding high, the MK2 was released in 1977 for the 78 market. The investments from Ford into the initial design meant the MK2 was largely a modernised facelift with attention to the areas which had become apparent from motorist feedback: cabin noise, certain vibrations and a harsher ride than anticipated.
For the styling of the MK2, the car generally follows the rules of Ford’s design house of the time and you can see strong similarities to cars being sold alongside such as the Cortina.
However, Ford are good for recognising when things need modernising before the competition or customer demand it, and in late 81 early 82 you see the next wave of modernisation for the design. It wasn’t an investment to be sniffed at, because Ford invested 50 million into this new wave of motoring.
There’s a new bumper which is increased in size and wraps around the body, a new grille, a new rear lamp lens styling and interior wise, the dash and seats are both revised too. In particular, the seats are examined for long use comfort and are uprated for both driver and passenger. The driving position is referred to as ‘command post’ driving and the idea was, was that the driver felt more at one with the car than in competitive motors; with this they’ve improved steering wheel positioning, where the pedals are situated, gear lever and heater controls
positioning.
There’s other changes too including better brakes which included improvements to the dual line system and revised suspension to give a softer ride. The suspension changes include softer front springs and stiffer stabilizer bar to improve ride but maintain handling repsonse. At the rear, the variable rate springs improve the ride when load is light and front and rear gas shock absorbers add to the ride smoothness; tested on rougher roads which is especially welcome on some of Britain’s less forgiving roads today.
There are plentiful improvements elsewhere too including clutch and transmission improvements, a larger radiator to support better cooling, new rubbers to tackle vibration woes, low maintenance battery and a new fuel sender to give a greater degree of accuracy. Apparently this accuracy extends to the other guages too with the new voltage stabilisers. There are thoughtful other amends too including inprovements to door locks and handles, the door sill lock removal helps to reduce likelihood of theft and switches have been illuminated and colourised to aid driver. And as Ghia drivers today, we get the illumated vanity mirror.
In terms of production, there were nearly 640,000 of these estates made. By this point in the production, post facelift, there were several options listed in the brochure for the engine from the 2.0 OHC to the 2.3 V6, 2.8 V6 and 2.8 V6 injection.
You could option a manual, which slightly increased your 0-60 but many just stayed with the auto for ease of it. Power steering was standard and the discs to front too; which when
comparing lower specs on these versus market rivals, it really becomes apparent the Granada offered the buyer a compelling car - whether it was a saloon or estate preferred.
It’s worth mentioning on the power steering that in the 82 improvements, the power steering has an improved response in all driving conditions, some of this is down to the fact that Ford
tweaked the power steering to transmit less power assistance the faster the vehicle went, so the feel of the road wasn’t lost.
The estate was well proportioned and offers 77 cubic feet of load space with back seats folded or 41 with the seats up. The load platform is over 80 inches - just over 2 metres - long.
On the load carrying front, that roof rack you see fitted on this is standard for the Ghia.
Although we’re testing the Ghia spec today, if you weren’t going flash and going for standard, the standard interor in a Granada estate matched the spec of the GL saloon.
And of course, whilst on the topic of specs, it would be utterly remiss of me not to mention the Chasseur estate which was a luxe estate offering kitted out with duotone paint and the Ghia
interior.
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