JHZR2
Staff member
Nothing like any Mercedes I’ve seen. Neat survivor all the same!
Local Car Show with a Granada!
- Thread starter wings&wheels
- Start date
Neat car show! Almost all the local ones to me are a mix of everything too, which I like. I do like the "regular" cars almost more than the classics. My area seems to have a lot of old Ford's people have kept going. Kind of neat to see 100+ year old cars still driving around.
Yes, they were proud of their copycat styling.
As I recall, some of the print advertising played up how the Granada (and its Monarch twin) had a smoother ride than a comparable Mercedes, was quieter at highway speed, etc.
The advertisements did leave out the Granada's various deficiencies w.r.t. the Mercedes.
An ancient memory:
A Granada came into the shop in 1980. As I recall, it was a powder-blue '76 with 40,000 miles on it.
The owner, a brush-cut man of about 40 with a military demeanor, had done his own tune-up, and the car was running terribly.
Although we charged (IIRC) $49.88 for a tune-up on a 6-cylinder engine, we also offered an "electroanalysis" (a scope diagnosis) for $15.88.
One of the plugs was not firing at all. The owner had not gapped them, and the misfiring one had no gap at all.
We opened up the gap to spec, reinstalled the plug, and the owner drove away happy.
And thus ended my mechanical experience with the Granada/Monarch twins.
A Granada came into the shop in 1980. As I recall, it was a powder-blue '76 with 40,000 miles on it.
The owner, a brush-cut man of about 40 with a military demeanor, had done his own tune-up, and the car was running terribly.
Although we charged (IIRC) $49.88 for a tune-up on a 6-cylinder engine, we also offered an "electroanalysis" (a scope diagnosis) for $15.88.
One of the plugs was not firing at all. The owner had not gapped them, and the misfiring one had no gap at all.
We opened up the gap to spec, reinstalled the plug, and the owner drove away happy.
And thus ended my mechanical experience with the Granada/Monarch twins.
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And another ancient memory:
As a teen I was smitten with Japanese cars (and still am with a lot of the older ones), and was happy for my friend Kevin when he bought a new Honda Civic in the late summer of 1976.
And although I can now appreciate a lot of domestic cars of that era, I couldn't stand most of them at the time, especially anything overly fancy or ornate. The new Granada was just about the opposite of the Civic I so admired.
The Honda dealer talked Kevin into buying a bunch of dubious options (black vinyl roof, mag wheels, cassette deck ...) which bumped the base price of C$3000 up to C$4000.
Anyway, Kevin took me out for a drive to show off his new car. We spotted a Granada, and Kevin said "I like that it's so classy! I think it's called a Grandanna! Maybe I'll get one for my next car!"
I was suitably appalled.
As a teen I was smitten with Japanese cars (and still am with a lot of the older ones), and was happy for my friend Kevin when he bought a new Honda Civic in the late summer of 1976.
And although I can now appreciate a lot of domestic cars of that era, I couldn't stand most of them at the time, especially anything overly fancy or ornate. The new Granada was just about the opposite of the Civic I so admired.
The Honda dealer talked Kevin into buying a bunch of dubious options (black vinyl roof, mag wheels, cassette deck ...) which bumped the base price of C$3000 up to C$4000.
Anyway, Kevin took me out for a drive to show off his new car. We spotted a Granada, and Kevin said "I like that it's so classy! I think it's called a Grandanna! Maybe I'll get one for my next car!"
I was suitably appalled.
Love those ads, but man they haven't aged well
"We're proud to offer cheaper knock offs of Caddys and Mercedes Benz"
"Hubby rates a 'Benz, Wifey a Granada...."
The 70's rock!
Two years old! That's OLD already. I went to one show and the guy next to me had a brand-new Mustang he'd just picked up at the Ford dealer down the street; it had less than ten miles on it and he was still still peeling off the plastic film that was on the various small screens on the dashboard. Of course he took home a trophy because all his Mustang buddies voted for it.
