I can imagine a Ford (North America) Granada being used a police car. If not as a pursuit vehicle, unless it has an extremely powerful V8 engine and strong drivetrain capable of handling such extreme work, certainly other police duties.
I’m sure someone somewhere used a 1975-80 Granada/Monarch as a police car.
Some places used the A body 1978-81 Chevy Malibu, and what about all those poor 1978-80 Pontiac Le Mans that were sacrificed as police cars in the Smokey and the Bandit movies?
I cringe when I see those Le Mans get wrecked.. I’ve owned 2 1979 Grand Le Mans, and 1 1978 Le Mans. Good cars.
These A bodies were competitors with the Granada, as was the Aspen/Volare/Diplomat/Le Baron… and we all know what 90% of the Diplomats were used for. 🙂
The A body 1979-81 Chevy Malibu was a storied & popular package, loved by it’s users, and immensely capable. Granada offered no such package. In fact, Ford arguably did not have a competitive sub-full-sized cop package (excluding the Mustangs) until the the ’84 Fox-based LTD with a 302. The Saskatoon police bought new ones every year from ’79-’83, when they were dropped, and they forced to go with B-body Impalas. They bought those every year until they couldn’t, skipping 1991 and switching to Panthers in 1992.
Roger, weren’t some Granadas/Monarchs/Versailles equipped with the 302?
I can’t imagine it being very powerful being a Malaise Era carbureted version. The one in my 80 Mercury Capri RS, was fast, but it really was nothing to write home about.
Also, didn’t those Granadas have a 9in rear end? Pretty beefy for such a granny type car.
Yeah, I do agree the Granada would be a bad choice as a police cruiser. My uncle had a 78 Monarch, and even at 7 years old… I thought the interior was too cramped.
The ’84 LTD had the 175 HP 302 HO, same as auto-equipped Mustangs of the same year.
My point is, it’s very rare for departments to use retail (non-special package) cars. Ford had no such packages in smaller size cars, save for a halfhearted attempt with the Maverick in ’77, which was a huge flop. Chevy owned the compact cop car market in the mid 70’s with the 9C1-Nova, and later the Malibu. Chrysler was a distant second with A-38-E58 Volares and Aspens in this time period.
Bill Mitchell
Posted April 17, 2015 at 7:35 AM
Don’t forget the Fairmont, which was offered until 1982 in Police guise, but just had few takers.
roger628
Posted April 17, 2015 at 7:38 AM
The key word was “competitive”. The Fox LTD was, the Fairmont wasn’t.
Bill Mitchell
Posted April 17, 2015 at 8:18 AM
“Ford had no such packages in smaller size cars, save for a halfhearted attempt with the Maverick in ’77, which was a huge flop.”
You imply there was no other Ford sub-fullsizer except the Maverick until the LTD. This is untrue. I was just trying to share the information about the Fairmont, which I noted was not successful in the police market. But Ford must have sold enough of them to offer it until 1982. Even the Fox based LTD wasn’t overly competitive with the B-body/Panther/M-bodies, but it was a good replacement for those department that formerly used Malibus.
roger628
Posted April 17, 2015 at 8:35 AM
Point taken-Replace “competitive” with “successful”. Fixed.
In 75-76, the Granada and Monarch could even be had with the 351. My father had a 351-equipped 76 Monarch, and that thing would scoot (for a brougham-ish 70s car, anyway).
Ford did offer a police package on the Fairmont, although it was not nearly as successful as the Malibus. The Fairmont with a 302 V8 was a decent straight line performer for it’s era, comparable to a Malibu with a 305. The 9C1 Malibu was supposed to replace the Nova police cars. Although the Malibus were pretty quick and noted for their good handling, they didn’t quite seem to live up the reputation for the 9C1 Novas. In this same era, Chrysler did offer packages on the Volare/Aspen.
The 302 powered Fox based LTD’s were one of the quickest straight line police cars of their time, but they had a notorious reputation for terrible braking. Plus by this time, most police departments were moving back to fullsize cars.
That is the UK Ford Granada, not the US Ford Granada! The US Ford Granada was different in every single way than the UK Ford Granada, including body styles and engines.
NYPD Police – from the same Department of Redundancy that brought us VIN number. From the looks of this, the NYPD is having some serious budget problems.
We had lots of Malibu police cars here in Jacksonville, Florida. In fact, we had so many ’77-’78 Nova police cars that Chevrolet had a national television ad bragging about it. They had hundreds of marked Nova cruisers parked on the field inside the old Gator Bowl (now Everbank stadium). The cops actually liked them after having to suffer through the previous slugs, ’74-’76 Gran Fury cruisers.
For a second, I was wondering if it was a demolition derby car, since people like to spray-paint them (and doesn’t have tags or taillights). But it also has all the glass, so I guess not.
Well, this is borderline scary. After reading something on here, I’ve recently renewed my search for a mid 70s Granada or Monarch. My “ideal” car would be a Monarch with a floor mounted shifter and hopefully “bucket” seats.
Good Luck, with your search, Howard… but, your unicorn may not be a 4 door sedan, like the one pictured.
Your 4 speed floor-mounted, bucket seat Granada/Monarch may come to you in the 2 door coupe version.
Not saying that the 4 door manual, sport models aren’t available… It’s just that, they are as rare as seeing a Snuffleupagus, walk down the street. 🙂
The choice of “504” as the unit number makes me wonder if this is the work of a New Orleanian with a sense of humor (since that’s the area code for NOLA).
I can imagine a Ford (North America) Granada being used a police car. If not as a pursuit vehicle, unless it has an extremely powerful V8 engine and strong drivetrain capable of handling such extreme work, certainly other police duties.
Achtung !
I’m sure someone somewhere used a 1975-80 Granada/Monarch as a police car.
Some places used the A body 1978-81 Chevy Malibu, and what about all those poor 1978-80 Pontiac Le Mans that were sacrificed as police cars in the Smokey and the Bandit movies?
I cringe when I see those Le Mans get wrecked.. I’ve owned 2 1979 Grand Le Mans, and 1 1978 Le Mans. Good cars.
These A bodies were competitors with the Granada, as was the Aspen/Volare/Diplomat/Le Baron… and we all know what 90% of the Diplomats were used for. 🙂
The A body 1979-81 Chevy Malibu was a storied & popular package, loved by it’s users, and immensely capable. Granada offered no such package. In fact, Ford arguably did not have a competitive sub-full-sized cop package (excluding the Mustangs) until the the ’84 Fox-based LTD with a 302. The Saskatoon police bought new ones every year from ’79-’83, when they were dropped, and they forced to go with B-body Impalas. They bought those every year until they couldn’t, skipping 1991 and switching to Panthers in 1992.
Roger, weren’t some Granadas/Monarchs/Versailles equipped with the 302?
I can’t imagine it being very powerful being a Malaise Era carbureted version. The one in my 80 Mercury Capri RS, was fast, but it really was nothing to write home about.
Also, didn’t those Granadas have a 9in rear end? Pretty beefy for such a granny type car.
Yeah, I do agree the Granada would be a bad choice as a police cruiser. My uncle had a 78 Monarch, and even at 7 years old… I thought the interior was too cramped.
The ’84 LTD had the 175 HP 302 HO, same as auto-equipped Mustangs of the same year.
My point is, it’s very rare for departments to use retail (non-special package) cars. Ford had no such packages in smaller size cars, save for a halfhearted attempt with the Maverick in ’77, which was a huge flop. Chevy owned the compact cop car market in the mid 70’s with the 9C1-Nova, and later the Malibu. Chrysler was a distant second with A-38-E58 Volares and Aspens in this time period.
Don’t forget the Fairmont, which was offered until 1982 in Police guise, but just had few takers.
The key word was “competitive”. The Fox LTD was, the Fairmont wasn’t.
“Ford had no such packages in smaller size cars, save for a halfhearted attempt with the Maverick in ’77, which was a huge flop.”
You imply there was no other Ford sub-fullsizer except the Maverick until the LTD. This is untrue. I was just trying to share the information about the Fairmont, which I noted was not successful in the police market. But Ford must have sold enough of them to offer it until 1982. Even the Fox based LTD wasn’t overly competitive with the B-body/Panther/M-bodies, but it was a good replacement for those department that formerly used Malibus.
Point taken-Replace “competitive” with “successful”. Fixed.
In 75-76, the Granada and Monarch could even be had with the 351. My father had a 351-equipped 76 Monarch, and that thing would scoot (for a brougham-ish 70s car, anyway).
Ford did offer a police package on the Fairmont, although it was not nearly as successful as the Malibus. The Fairmont with a 302 V8 was a decent straight line performer for it’s era, comparable to a Malibu with a 305. The 9C1 Malibu was supposed to replace the Nova police cars. Although the Malibus were pretty quick and noted for their good handling, they didn’t quite seem to live up the reputation for the 9C1 Novas. In this same era, Chrysler did offer packages on the Volare/Aspen.
The 302 powered Fox based LTD’s were one of the quickest straight line police cars of their time, but they had a notorious reputation for terrible braking. Plus by this time, most police departments were moving back to fullsize cars.
That is the UK Ford Granada, not the US Ford Granada! The US Ford Granada was different in every single way than the UK Ford Granada, including body styles and engines.
NYPD Police – from the same Department of Redundancy that brought us VIN number. From the looks of this, the NYPD is having some serious budget problems.
While there are other subtle hints that this is not one of our city’s patrol cars NYPD cars really did say “NYPD Police” for a spell.
The old Granada hangin in.
That’s ” The Department Of Redundancy Department ” .
=8-) .
-Nate
We had lots of Malibu police cars here in Jacksonville, Florida. In fact, we had so many ’77-’78 Nova police cars that Chevrolet had a national television ad bragging about it. They had hundreds of marked Nova cruisers parked on the field inside the old Gator Bowl (now Everbank stadium). The cops actually liked them after having to suffer through the previous slugs, ’74-’76 Gran Fury cruisers.
For a second, I was wondering if it was a demolition derby car, since people like to spray-paint them (and doesn’t have tags or taillights). But it also has all the glass, so I guess not.
Reminiscent of Frank Costanza’s Monarch on Seinfeld.
“Unit 504”? I think it should say “Unit 420”
Well, this is borderline scary. After reading something on here, I’ve recently renewed my search for a mid 70s Granada or Monarch. My “ideal” car would be a Monarch with a floor mounted shifter and hopefully “bucket” seats.
Good Luck, with your search, Howard… but, your unicorn may not be a 4 door sedan, like the one pictured.
Your 4 speed floor-mounted, bucket seat Granada/Monarch may come to you in the 2 door coupe version.
Not saying that the 4 door manual, sport models aren’t available… It’s just that, they are as rare as seeing a Snuffleupagus, walk down the street. 🙂
“It’s 10 miles to Vancouver, we got a quarter tank of gas, half an ounce of 420, it’s daylight… and we’re not wearing sunglasses”
“Hit it”
Is Unit 504
Is that a special unit set up under Mayor Guiliani to find lost hubcaps??
The Non Alloy Wheel squad.?
Or is it a lost Peugeot recovery squad?
The choice of “504” as the unit number makes me wonder if this is the work of a New Orleanian with a sense of humor (since that’s the area code for NOLA).
And, it’s a Highway Patrol car, too!