1975 Ford Gran Torino Brougham

Not a wagon but maybe worth a look due to the incredible condition. Not that many mid '70s Torinos survive at all, and certaily very few this pristine looking! What a beauty.

http://alberta.kijiji.ca/c-cars-veh...-Coupe-LOW-KM-All-original-W0QQAdIdZ510853759

 

Ford had a somewhat confusing mid-size lineup in 1975.

- You could get this top-of-the-line Gran Torino Brougham.

- You could get a Torino Elite (or maybe it was just 'Ford Elite'..?), which was basically the same vehicle, with a cougar front end and different headlights and grill. Brochure: http://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/ford/75eli/75eli.html

- You could get a 2-door Granada coupe in a slightly smaller outside package, but almost the same interior room (a bit narrower, though)

All 3 of these were meant to appeal to the same sort of buyer. I was working at a Ford dealer for a short while in late 1974, and even I was confused.

 

It really is amazing that this was considered "mid-size" at the time. It seems only slightly smaller than an LTD.

 

Yup. Tremendous amount of wasted space in these vehicles. My folks bought a used '72 Gran Torino 2-door (former rental car). The only cool part of the car was the big bass mouth grill. The rest of it was unimpressive. A lot of wasted space. The only truly roomy version was the wagon.

 

Yep! That's what we had. A 1972 Gran Torino wagon. Loved it.

 

Looked it up. The '75 Torino 2-door was 213.6" in length and weighed a portly 4195 lbs. The '75 LTD 2-door was 223.9" in length and the brochure didn't even list the weight. The 10" difference in length between the two is more than I would have thought, but with cars that gargantuan to start with, it would be hard to call that much of a real difference in size.

 

Of course a fair amount of the "wasted" space provided for room to work on the engine as well as engine options up to gigantic. When trying to get around in an engine compartment where you can't even see the ground from above I long for a bit more waste.

mike

 

Remember also in these mid size Fords, there was more than enough room in front of the rad to header panel to mount your spare tire and still close the hood

 

I think the Elite was supposed to be Ford's answer to the Chevy Monte Carlo, for a personal semi luxury coupe.The mid size segment was pretty popular and Ford along with others wanted every sale they could get in it. I thought the Elite's were good looking cars myself.

 

Ford's mid-sized offerings made perfect sense at the time. The base Torino was for people on a budget. The Gran Torino was meant to be the volume model, and it was. The Gran Torino Brougham was for those who would otherwise have opted for the giant, but wanted something a bit more fuel efficient, and with a 302, these were. With a 460, not so much. The Elite was Ford's answer to the Mercury Cougar XR-7, and shared a body shell. It was the 'sporty' personal luxury model, and could come with buckets, console, and gauge package. It may have had them standard, but I can't remember. Any I have see have had that interior. It was sort of a budget Thunderbird. The Granada was an up-scale Maverick, and was built on the same platform, with the same wheelbase, and appealed to a different buyer again.

That said, this Brougham is beautiful, and it is not often that you see them still sporting their original fender skirts. Those are very hard to come by. All in all, this is a beautiful car, and one I would love to see in my driveway.

 

Great looking car. And reasonably priced, too.

 

Was even more reasonable! Current seller is just flipping the car, was for sale earlier on a farm for around $3500

 

Lo and behold, here's another very nice looking one. Price not so nice, though.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1976-FORD-GRAN-TORINO-BROUGHAM-EDITION-/271260090207

 

Might wanna check your link. For me, it pulled up Ebay search results for 1976 Torino in the Diecast/Toy section.

 

Thanks. There was a link problem. Should work now.