Junkyard Find: 1981 Ford Granada L, Beige Fox-Body Edition Receive updates on the best of TheTruthAboutCars.com
The first-generation Ford Granada was based on the aging platform that debuted with the 1960 Falcon, and we have seen this ’77, this ’79, and this ’79 so far in the Junkyard Find series. For the 1981 model year, the Granada moved to the Fox Platform, and very few were sold for the two short years of the Fox Granada.
Here’s a rare ’81 sedan that I found recently in a Denver-area self-service wrecking yard.
L was the base trim level in 1981, and the MSRP on a four-door L sedan was $6,633. That’s about $17,500 in inflation-adjusted 2016 dollars, so this car was very affordable.
The real cheapskates opted for the “Pinto” 2300 four-cylinder engine, but this car has the optional 200-cubic-inch straight-six, good for 88 horsepower. Fortunately, this car weighed only 2,750 pounds, or a bit less than a 2017 Honda Civic. It was slow, but not quite as slow as the depressing power numbers might suggest.
How about a nice pink-and-beige interior, made from the finest velour and vinyl (that was available for cheap in Michigan)?
Sometimes it’s hard to say why a particular car ended up in a place like this. Not this time!
It’s completely rust-free, as one would expect from a car sold in bone-dry New Mexico and driven in nearly-as-bone-dry Colorado. It would have been sleeperific fun (and easy) to take this car and apply all the standard go-fast tricks used by the Fox Mustang guys, as just about all the mechanical stuff interchanges between the various Foxes.
38 different inspectors examine every … single … car. Note the 1958-style theme music in this ad.
This dealership promotional video shows you everything you need to know about the Fox Granada.
