It can’t be easy devising a family car these days. Should it be electric, plug-in hybrid, mild hybrid or something else? Should it be an SUV, SAV, ordinary hatch or somewhere between the three? Is traditional leather allowed? Can it really be made to ride properly on 20-inch wheels? And so on and so on.
Once upon a time (ancient history now, in fairness), the situation was simpler. The bigger your space requirement, the bigger the hatch or saloon was. For those with hounds, there would be an estate. And that sort of served everyone adequately well for quite a long time. Vauxhall once marketed the Vectra wagon with the tagline: ‘To get a bigger estate, you’d have to inherit one’. The Ford Mondeo retired a few years ago seemingly just a rear bench removal from hearse spec. Sometimes a giant estate gets the job done like little else - see the Volvo V90.
This Ford Granada could hardly be a better representation of the old school approach to carrying capacity. It’s the total opposite of today’s sleek and suave estates - the rear overhang must be a yard long, the glass fit for a conservatory - and all the more lovable for it. Unpretentious is probably the best word, a big saloon made into an even bigger estate. Because what else would the parents and offspring of the '80s need?
While the days of anyone using a Granada as a regular family bus are long behind us now - as are those of mass market makers launching flagship saloons - the Granny was in the Ford range for more than 20 years. It was an important model when these sorts of cars mattered; plenty with four cylinders, but what you really wanted was a Cologne V6. So guess what we have here…
It’s Ghia spec, too, which would have made the neighbours green with envy back when you could own a three-bed semi and a Ford Granada with one salary. It’s been upgraded with a few Ghia X bits as well, and looks great in Caspian Blue on its TRX alloy wheels. Best get thinking about replacement rubber for those already. But it’s easy to imagine PHers of a certain vintage swooning. As far as once common cars that have now disappeared go, the Granada must be up there as one of the most loved.
It’s going to need some work, before you get too excited. Its last MOT in 2020 highlighted some corrosion (this is an old Ford, so of course it did) as well as a few other issues. Since then, it’s only done a couple of hundred miles and resided in a private collection, so the situation likely won’t have improved. The advert suggests that the Granada is ‘ready for light recommissioning or restoration.’ Probably it’s best to err towards the latter rather than the former there, just to be sure. Plan for the worst and hope for the best is usually a good approach to classic car repair. Still, it’s a very cool old thing to rescue, and you’d have to hope that the sheer popularity of the Granada will ensure that the skills are out there to bring it back to former glory. Trips out with the family will never be the same again…
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