(first posted 7/20/2014) Elite (n): The most powerful, rich, gifted, or educated members of a group, community, etc. Synonyms include upper crust, intelligentsia or nobility. When Ford chose this name for a new car in 1974, it must have been affixed to a truly special and desirable automobile. Or not.
If we were to head for the sidewalk and ask random passers by to list the names of all of the mid 1970s Fords that come to mind, we would be awash in LTDs, Mustang IIs, Pintos, Mavericks and Granadas. Would anyone remember the Ford Elite? Probably not many.
Chevrolet’s introduction of the 1970 Monte Carlo marked a trading of places for the two biggest brands in America. Although Chevrolet had been the perennial top seller, it was Ford that had identified and exploited market after market, causing Chevrolet to react like a punchdrunk fighter. The personal luxury car (1958 Thunderbird). The basic, simple compact (1960 Falcon). The intermediate (1962 Fairlane). The pony car (1964 1/2 Mustang). The popularly priced luxury sedan (1965 LTD). Aside from whole models and segments, the 1960s at Ford saw other innovations like the station wagon “doorgate”, the early popularization of disc brakes, reversible keys and convertibles with glass rear windows.
That was the established order in the 1960s: Ford would innovate and lead, while Chevrolet would respond a year or two later, usually (if not right away) building a more competent (if not more inspired) version of Ford’s better idea.
It was into this world that Chevrolet introduced the Monte Carlo. Suddenly, for the first time in over a decade, Chevrolet found a new niche: Personal luxury for the masses. Chevrolet mined this niche very well, too. By 1970, Ford’s Thunderbird had dwindled in popularity to about 50,000 units annually. The Monte Carlo nearly tripled the Bird’s volume in its inaugural year.
The Monte Carlo caught Ford napping. By 1972, the Monte was approaching 200,000 units a year and clearly could not be ignored. The new Gran Torino was not enough to put a damper on the Monte, and when the new ’72 Thunderbird failed to hit 60,000 units, it was clear that the Thunderbird was still hanging out at the supper club while the crowd was heading for the disco. Something more would be required. The Monte Carlo must have been a bitter pill to swallow for the company that had invented both the personal luxury and the intermediate segments a decade or more earlier.
Ford’s Anti-Monte would not arrive until midway into the 1974 model year. We have all occasionally had to try to make something appetizing for dinner out of whatever odds and ends may be in the pantry, and this is how Ford cooked up the Elite. First, the company started with a ’74 Cougar XR-7. Fool a bit with the opera window and add a new grille flanked by big single sealed beams, and there it was – the 1974 Ford Gran Torino Elite. At least Ford beat the Cordoba by six months.
The conventional wisdom is that the second generation Monte Carlo was a runaway success, while the Elite was a poorly selling stopgap. The conventional wisdom is pretty much true. In roughly half a model year (1974) the Elite sold under 97,000 cars while the Monte Carlo’s full year production was a bit over 312,000.
The Elite may not have lit the world on fire, but it certainly sold better than the Gran Torino Brougham coupe, of which Ford only managed to sell about 26,000 cars.
The pattern held for 1975 and 1976 (when the Gran Torino badges were stripped from the car, now just known as the Ford Elite). The two combatants settled into a pattern for 1975 and 1976, with the Elite selling at about half the rate of the Monte Carlo (1975: 123,372 to 258,309, 1976 146,475 to 353,272).
The Elite did its job – it held the fort until reinforcements arrived, which came in the form of the new 1977 Thunderbird. Although the new Bird was nothing more than a heavily restyled Elite, there was still some magic left in the Thunderbird name, because it sold over 300,000 units in its inaugural year, a figure not far from what the Elite sold over its entire two and a half year life cycle. Although the ’77 T-Bird was a big improvement, it was still about 100,000 units short of the hugely popular Monte Carlo.
But back to the Elite. I still remember the first one that I saw. One evening in early 1974, the national news was on TV and there was a story about auto sales, which were in the tank during the recession that started that year. The background video was from a Ford assembly plant. I suddenly realized that the front end of the cars being assembled were unlike any of the Gran Torinos that I had seen at my local auto show a month or two earlier. I checked my stash of literature, and nothing from Ford with those big single headlights. Only later did I realize that I got a sneak peek of this car that night on the news.
Ford made a lot of variants out of a single, basic car in the eight years from 1972 through 1979. Torinos, Montegos, Cougars, Thunderbirds, LTD IIs, and this Elite. Although the Elite never really did much for me when it was new (the 1977-79 Cougar XR-7 was my fave at that time) this car has grown on me as time has passed. It is a curious mixture of the voluptuous early ’70s and the squared off and tucked in late ’70s all in one car. Somehow, it kind of works, in its unique way.
It has been eons since I have seen one of these in the midwest. These cars were extremely susceptible to infestation by rust mites, which was generally fatal. (You can always tell a case of rust mite infestation by the trail of iron oxide droppings.) This was not one of Ford’s better eras for quality, and most of these were long gone by the time cash for clunkers came around.
Mrs. JPC and I were on the way to a movie early one evening last summer when this particular example gave my retinas a big old slap. How deliciously 1970s, white vinyl upholstery, green vinyl roof and all. And how long has it been since we could buy tires with that inch-and-a-half whitewall? Weren’t those briefly popular around 1980 or so? This one lacks the Gran Torino badges, so it must be a 1975 or 76. I couldn’t tell the difference then, and I still can’t. Let’s call it a ’76 – Ford made more of them that year. In any case, it is a beautiful example of a now-uncommon car. I cannot recall the seller’s asking price, but I remember that that it was a bit stiff.
When getting ready to write this piece, my son Jimmy saw these pictures and started regretting his Grand Marquis purchase. I reminded him about gas mileage in the low teens and he felt better. I always thought of these as bloated, wallowy barges that drove more like ships than cars. But for today’s kids, no such thing has ever existed in their memories, which gives the car a certain cachet.
Ford did a pretty passable job taking a lot of leftovers and cobbling together a decent stew. It was better than it had any right to be. And after another thirty five years at the back of the fridge, it’s actually kind of appetizing. If you like stew.
Had a neighbor who had one. Brought it home, his wife hated it so bad that he dumped it after a week. I can’t begin to imagine what kind of $ hit he took.
I don’t remember what he exchanged it for, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a Ford and was a 4 door.
Try as I might, I just don’t understand what could the attraction be for this decade’s intermediate cars. All of Detroit’s products in this market were bloated, floating pieces of crap.
Now I can, and have, written up very nice pieces defending the full sized cars of this era. If you wanted room for six with a magic carpet ride and V8 power, Detroit had you covered. So, what would be the purpose of creating a market full of intermediates similarly sized with similar road handling characteristics? Why would someone want what turned out in daily life, to be a full sized car that only seated two comfortably? Even in sedan and wagon form, there is pathetically little room in the rear seat of this era’s Detroit intermediate line up!
Detroit had spent a billion making intermediate cars that had all the drawbacks of full sized cars, and little of the benefits of a full size.
It is quite perplexing for me. I usually can make out some kind of marketing trend, but in this particular case – I just don’t get it, at all.
I have a white 75 Elite and it gets admiring looks when ever I drive it and although I am a Pontiac lover my Ford is a great cruiser and drives and looks new not a race car but real American classic design not cookie cutter imports
Great looking Ford Elite. I wouldn’t mind owning that. Reminds me of a 79 Thunderbird I almost bought new. White with the half green vinyl roof and a green cloth interior. Sticker price was around $ 5,500. A really sharp car, not too big, not too small.
The T-birds in 80, smaller, did not evoke the class of the earlier models. However, the 72 to 76 were just too big.
I have an almost virgin ’76 Elite. I would be glad to share my pics with you. Send a working email. Nick
I know this post is old. But I have a black 1976 Ford elite. I’m trying to find out where I can but a dash board for it and saw where you have a Ford elite so didn’t know if you would know. So decided to ask.
The car is sort of reminicent of those “custom” cars of the 70s like the Stutz Blackhawk and the like.
I looked at this and just saw a bloated thunderbird. What a relief when towards the end of the article it turned into one.
My kindergarten teacher had one of these in typical ’70s brown. I was only 4, so I only knew it as a Ford. The taillights are what I remember most. Even at that age, I thought they were too “fancy”. I only drove in it once to go to one of the local swimming holes with the other Kindergarteners as a day trip. I remember how “wallowy” it was, and the smell of fried food. I’ve always associated that smell with that particular car. Weird.
Those door straps bring back memories – so many cars of that era had them. A console shifter would look nice in it. Wonder what it had under the hood? 351? 400? A 2 barrel of course.
Ahh, yes, door straps. Actually using them caused their separation from said door in very short order since all they were held on with was a single screw.
And then you screwed them back on with an added washer to cover up the ripped out hole and distribute the pressure better. Don’t know how many times I saw that little fix! As a sidebar story, the night my father bought home the ’78 Monte Carlo, I pulled on the passenger armrest to close the door and it came off in my hand. Wasn’t screwed on at all. He traded it in on the later mentioned Rabbit after the rear end started making strange noises and vibrations. We received a letter from GM long after the fact that it was being recalled for some problem with the differential where the axle shaft would separate. I found this by searching “axle shaft falling out chevrolet recall monte carlo”
1978 Chevrolet MONTE-CARLO Recall
Item Affected: POWER TRAIN:AXLE ASSEMBLY:AXLE SHAFT
Date Announced: 11/27/1984
Description of Recall:
REAR AXLE ASSEMBLY MAY HAVE AXLES THAT WERE IMPROPERLY MANUFACTURED. THIS CONDITION MAY RESULT IN SEPARATION OF THE AXLE SHAFT AND WHEEL ASSEMBLY FROM THE VEHICLE.
Action Needed To Fix It:
THE DEALER WILL INSPECT THE REAR AXLE TO DETERMINE WHETHER IT WAS MANUFACTURED AT THE BUFFALO PLANT. IF SO, THEY WILL MAKE AXLE MEASUREMENTS AND IF NECESSARY REPLACE OR MODIFY AFFECTED AXLE COMPONENTS WITHOUT CHARGE.
Very common problem with all A and G bodies of the era. The later B body Chevrolets were not much better. There was no bearing on the shaft, it was only hardened. After about 80,000 miles (or less) the oil would leak out of the differential case via the groove. The shafts were not cheap, either, and trying to weld them was waste of time.
What bean counter approved THAT $1 savings per shaft? Why that little gem might have given GM an whole 5 million dollars more profit over the few years that they did that. I do know that was the last Chevrolet my Dad ever bought. Gee, I wonder if there’s a connection there…
The axles had wheel bearings. The problem was that the inner race was the axle shaft itself.
This wasn’t new. GM built axles that way for over a decade before the “recall”. My ’68 ElCamino has an axle built like that, and it wasn’t a new design then. It goes back AT LEAST to the “Chevy” 10-bolt and 12-bolt “Integral” axles starting in ’64, I think. My ’88 K1500 also had an axle like that, as did the ’92 that I grabbed the rear axle from when mine was close to 300,000 miles and the differential was getting worn. GM is probably still using that bearing-on-axle-shaft design
IF (big IF) the axle shaft is appropriately hardened, it can be a long-lasting design. Screw-up the heat-treatment, and it’ll be an expensive, high-failure-rate item with the bonus of being distinctly unsafe when it fails.
For those vehicles that didn’t get warranty repairs, buying axle shafts from the local Treasure Yard was the usual parts-source, until they ran out of usable shafts. Our local salvage-yard owner would scowl in his trademark fashion, and claim “Those damn axles must be made in Viet Nam!”
The axle shafts are, of course, readily available in the aftermarket, but at higher price than “good used” shafts from “the junkyard”.
The best thing about the ’73–’77 “A-Body” intermediates was that with some clever re-engineering, they became the ’77-newer “ALL-NEW” “Downsized” “B-body” full-size.
The problem with both rounds of late 70’s GM downsizing (full size in ’77, intermediates in ’78) was that in the process of making more efficient and easier handling cars, GM also pinched every penny they possibly could, and it showed. Worse on the intermediates than the full sizers. Everyone remembers the infamous fixed rear door glass, gossamer thin bumper plating, Insta-Fade interior plastics. So it doesn’t surprise me that some 98 cent part would have avoided the problem.
The GM door straps were the worst. My mom had a 74 LeMans with them and my stepmother had a 74 Cutlass. Both of them had the same door strap problem. I seem to recall that there was some kind of small screw into a clip thingy. A big screw directly into the door fixed it. I do not recall the Ford straps loosening up so much.
Those straps. I can still remember my dad ripping one off using it to close the door. He just pushed the screws back in and warned everybody not to ever touch it. You would still have to put it back on every now and then if you slammed the door too hard. You almost had to tiptoe around that Olds wagon so that nothing would fall off of it.
I had a ’74 Century Luxus coupe and had a devil of a time keeping those damned straps attached.
More sheet metal in one Elite door than an entire 2012 Fiesta!
My best buddy growing up had one of these. It looked a lot like the one in the Ford ad, further up in the post. It had the 351 and autobox and had all of the ‘luxury’ features, like air conditioning, sunroof, PS, PB, etc.
It was an unusual car for a 17 year old kid to have during the late disco period. However, if you asked him, he swore it helped him score with the ladies. I don’t remember it that way so much. We both did OK with or without a car.
It wasn’t a bad car, considering how much hell he put the car through, but with both of us having grown up in a number of mid-sized Fords, we weren’t all that impressed with it, either. At that time, we aspired to something, anything else that wasn’t a mid-sized Ford product.
Good point JP…about the styling growing on you over the decades.
I still think it’s ugly…only it’s grown less ugly with the passage of time.
There was a neighbor who owned one back when new, couldn’t have been any more than 21 years old at the time. He was driving 50-60 miles one way to work at a good-paying job and wanted something new and comfortable. The Elite was it.
I remember one of my cousins calling it an “EEE-light”.
“Elite” indeed!
Compare this with that delicious interior and on style alone, it stands head and shoulders above most anything else in a sea of grey nowadays.
Aside from that, I wasn’t a fan of Ford in general, and these were bloated like most other American cars of the era, but to my eyes looked even more so.
A friend bought one of these – same body and all, and I was in the back seat and it was hot. I looked for the window crank or button – nowhere to be found. Surely they cleverly hid it somewhere, as the car had no B pillar. None. Nada. Boy, was I angry! I couldn’t believe it. Colonnades were one thing, but this was a pillarless model! Shame on you, Ford. I ragged on this for a while, but the friend didn’t care, as he never sat back there, anyway. He did turn on the A/C. I had to agree, but I was in the habit of rolling everything down, ’cause that’s what you were supposed to do with pillarless models – it was all about the look with the glass down, that wide-open space!
I know I bring this subject up a lot, but this was a very big deal for me back then and I’m just sharing memories. After all, isn’t that what “CC” is all about?
Rant over. A very nice survivor, to be sure. How much was the owner asking? I’m curious.
My wife and I talked a few years ago about buying something old and fixing it up, but decided it wasn’t worth our while and bought our MX5 instead. No muss, no fuss. Still…
What has always amazed me of the coupes of this era was how cars that were so huge outside could have so little room inside. I mean, cars like this, the Monte Carlo and the Thunderbird where honking enormous sleds. Even at the time as a teenager, I kind of thought the reason you bought a sled was to enough space to drive the family around. These cars certainly not the case for space. However, it didn’t seem to matter much because loads of them were sold. It really was different era where bigger was almost universally seen as better.
All the Fords of this era were horrid to drive. Underpowered, excessively soft suspensions, almost non-existent shocks, vague steering and mediocre brakes at best. At least the Monte Carlo drove relatively well in a kind of gargantuan way and even the 350 base motor made reasonably respectable power.
I never understood these cars. There were scads of them available used, for peanuts, in the 1980s. I tried to drive a Cougar XR-7 for a while (a very short while) but it was absolutely awful I started to drive a 1973 Dart Swinger (with 1976 Dart GT interior, no less!) and it was a much better ride in every respect.
Thinking back to my parents’ Torino wagon (substantially the same platform), I remember the dashboard being absolutely huge, even with rudimentary 70’s equipment and no airbags, etc. I also remember how low the seating positions were, almost on the floor. I never had any desire to inherit that car when I turned 16, and was thankful when they traded it before that could happen.
Our family had a late seventies Torino wagon for a year as the icy we lived in at the time had next to nothing for affordable used cars. It was huge and not loved at the time. I wouldn’t mind having it now in original condition. I would not turn away an Elite at the he right price either if it were decent. Seventies cars are becoming popular now as they are cheap to buy and sometimes complete in very good condition.
Yep. A ’77 T-Bird is within a couple of inches in exterior dimensions to a ’77 Sedan deVille, believe it or not, but has a useless rear seat, a tiny trunk and all kinds of wasted space under the huge hood. Worse yet, the 302 in the Bird was slow and wheezy but no better on gas than the 425 in the Caddy. I know, having owned both cars.
And the driving position in the Bird was indeed crappy, giving me back pain on trips longer than 15 miles. The kind of thing you don’t discover in a 2-3 mile test drive.
And yet despite such lousy space utilization, people thought that buying such a personal luxury coupe was quite a rational purchase decision! How times have changed.
My folks, bless their hearts, gave me a choice between an Elite and a ’69 Camaro as my ‘first car’ when I was in high school. They wanted me to have some metal around me when I drove by myself, so Dad’s Karmann Ghia or Mom’s Rabbit were out. I’d never even heard of the Elite before. The Elite was white and looked just like this one. I chose the Camaro, even with the gutless 327 2 bbl, Powerglide, and the road-feel eliminating power steering as Camaros were the car of choice at my high school. There weren’t any Elites in the student parking lot. I don’t know what kind of powertrain it had, but I suspect it was some variant of the 351 alphabet. I would have chosen the Elite if there were a 460 under the hood as even then I understood the cubic inches=go faster equation.
I wonder how well this one runs and how the soft parts in the fuel line and carb in 70s cars hold up to E10 gas.
According to my reference books, the 460 WAS available in Torino-platform cars from 1974-76, so there might be some 460 powered Elites out there. In ’75, the 460 was rated at 216 HP versus 150 ponies for the 351.
However, the porky ’75 Elite weighed 4154 pounds, only 200-300 less than the big LTD sedan depending on trim level. That’s 1100 pounds more than a ’69 Camaro. So I suspect the 327 with 210 gross HP in the Camaro would still outdrag the 460 with 216 net HP in the Elephant, umm, oops, I mean Elite. You made the right choice Marc.
Yes, the 460 was available, my parents had one. These things weighed closer to 4500 pounds with said engine.
Nice find. At last year’s Carlisle All-Ford show, there was a white 1976 Elite for sale, but it had the blue vinyl roof and blue cloth interior. It was in very good condition. I don’t recall the asking price.
I remember being initially baffled by these when they first appeared…they were obviously based on a Torino, and even used the Gran Torino name, but were supposed to be somehow different. Meanwhile, nobody confused a Monte Carlo with a Malibu.
The big story is what happened later. The 1977-79 Thunderbird was a triumph of marketing. Ford took this platform, restyled the body (while the dashboard was left largely unchanged, if I recall correctly) and applied the Thunderbird nameplate to it.
Ford then advertised it as the “downsized” Thunderbird with a huge reduction in price (which was a big deal in the inflationary 70s). The result was skyrocketing sales, which stayed strong right on through the final year of that body style, and the onslaught of GM’s downsized 1978 intermediates.
I remember seeing one of these regularly when I rode my bike all over the place as a kid. This was probably around 1992-93. It was a copper color, and already pretty rusty. On the same street, I recall seeing an AMC Spirit-based AMX, also pretty rusty. I think both cars were owned by the same person.
With all of the ‘II mania’ Ford was under at that time, I’m surprised this car wasn’t called the Thunderbird II.
Last week I actually saw one cruising down the road. It was being piloted by a late teen early 20 something and overall looked in good shape. Personally I liked them when they were new and still like them today. I remember Ford advertised the heck out of them and in the small town I lived at the time there were quite a few on the road.
They aren’t bad looking cars but something about them never took me the way the GM intermediates or Cordoba/Charger did.
The Elite, to me, just looked like a poor mash up of early 70s GM and Chrysler styling cues on a wheelbase that was too short (I’m seeing a lot of 68-72 Chevelle and 71-74 Mopar to be specific).
At least Ford waited until a redesign with LTD II to switch to the stacked quad headlights unlike Chrysler and GM who seemed to crudely slam them on the cars they already had..
There should have been a Quinn Martin show developed around the Elite, I just want to slide over its king sized bed hood with a tan leather jacket, big mustache and a .38 special.
Yup. Alas, the sheetmetal was so thin that you might have left an impression.
A car explosion would be mandatory 🙂
Of course, along with the required j-turn reverse to foward spin.
Don’t forget the bouncing front end as it screeches to a stop, front brakes locked and wheels cocked all the way to the left while the car plows straight ahead.
Slam the drivers door open and fire at the bad guys while using the door for cover!
http://youtu.be/z5rRZdiu1UE
Beastie Boys – SABOTAGE!
How come I never saw bullet holes in the S&H Torino? None. Ever. How could the crooks miss a barge that big and why do I still want one?
That Elite would be an acceptable interstate cruiser tho, especially with the 70 mph speed limit + 5 mph cop forgiveness here.
All filmed in Griffith Park! What would the hook be? Maybe Jettidiah (sp?) gets his own show – Barnaby Jr.?
My favorite QM scene was when Cannon took out a bad guy with the door of his Mark IV.
Oh yes – Quinn Martin cop shows. They were known for using Ford cars.
Some other shows if I remember correctly were Mopar-biased, like Adam-12, and Emergency.
Interesting fact: Jack Webb was a Ford man all the way. Sgt. Friday and kooky officer Bill Gannon tooled around in a mid to late 60’s Fairlane. Sgt. Friday’s own ride was a 2 door ’64 Fairlane. Back then, LA cop cars were Mopar hence the aquad cars were mopar on Dragnet, Adam 12 and the Squad 51 meatwagon was a Dodge.
However around ’74 the LA police car of vhoice was the dated 4 door AMC Matador!
Re: Quinn Martin shows Ephram Zimbalist JR always drove the latest Ford/Mercury during the closing theme on the FBI.
Back to the Elite and other Torino based cars; they drove like turds. The General mid sizers tended to be more fun to drive. On an up note, GM, Ford and even Mopar perfected their factory AC during the 70’s.
I agree with the above poster that Ford made a killing on the 77-79 Torinobirds. I even remember a guy on campus at U of M College Park had a spanking new 77 T Bird in the popular navy blue with tan vinyl top with tan Torino interior. His car did not have factory AC. THE first T Bird since the flair birds 64-66 to have no factory air!
Looks wise I actually liked the 1980 restyled even further downsized T Bird. One of many Fox platform Fords. Many have said Ford should have used the Futura with the prominent window treatment as the ’80 T Bird. Though maligned, the 80 TBirds drove much better than the 77-79 Torino Birds IMHO.
It would have to be a private eye, not PD issue.
It wouldn’t be replaced by a T-bird, but there’d be a gas-crunch episode followed by its’ replacement with a MkI Fiesta.
After which the action scenes wouldn’t be the same – a car that can go around corners without drama’ll do that, but the cinematographers would have a newfound fondness for “looking up at the driver shifting the 4-on-the-floor with the open sunroof above” shots…
My parents had a 1976 one of these that they leased new for 2 years.
The same puke gold color and wire wheel covers as depicted above.
Absolutely vile automobile!
The suspension was diabolical. Very soft springs and flaccid shock control.
The slightest undulations while cornering would cause the front end to completely wash out and plow ahead. At high speeds, the front would bob up and down like a dipping bird ornament, and the steering felt like the shaft had come adrift of the steering box. It didn’t have the available handling package, which included a rear sway bar and uprated springs and shocks. I don’t know how much this would have helped, but it must have made some difference. It couldn’t be much worse. This package should have been standard, and when they turned these into the ’77 T-Bird, it was.
It was also oddly equipped, having Auto-temp AC, tilt and cruise but no power equipment, stereo ,or really strangely, a rear defroster, this being a Canadian market car.
All in all, this would have been a highly forgettable car, except for one thing. Under that overly long and too heavy-for-the-hinge-springs hood, resided a 460. A Canadian-spec 460. This meant full dual exhaust with no catalyst, and not even resonators. At full song just before the upshift, these emitted a lovely sound. And torque? This thing could burn rubber like no tomorrow, despite it’s 2.75 rear axle. I took it out one day and ran it flat out, pinning the 120 MPH speedo. I have no idea how fast it was going. I remember timing it 0-60 with a stopwatch and taking under 8 seconds. I also remember surprising a fair number of Malaise-era “muscle cars” such as Trans-Ams with it. V8 Mustang IIs (Cobra poohs) it would munch for lunch.
I remember my dad being baffled at the early demise of his rear tires, and getting upset when the penny finally dropped. He hated this car, constantly cussing at it’s 7-9 MPG city fuel economy. Curiously enough, this increased to 22-23 MPG on highway trips at sane speeds (meaning I wasn’t driving).
As far as quality control went, it wasn’t too bad, the only notably defect being the drivers window that fell into the door.It was better put together than the 1978 LeBaron that replaced it. Said replacement necessitated by my dad running it into a pole and the Ford dealers body shop making a botch of the repair.
The featured car above is a late production 1976 model, since it has no badges at all on it’s fenders.
The dealer in town had a number of such units in stock in the late summer of ’76. I would guess that they ran out these items and simply omitted them, rather than tool up more for a soon-to-be dropped model.
For 1976, Ford cleaned the badges from the sides of many of it’s cars, most likely a cost cutting measure. They figured one badge on the back of the car was enough.
Elite was really a rebadged Mercury Cougar, same rear end styling. Looks alot better with 4 headlights.
Changing the name of the restyled 1977 to Thunderbird was genius, but the magic didn’t work for changing Gran Torino to LTD II.
A lot of would-be LTD II buyers simply purchased T-Birds instead, relegating the IIs to cop, taxi and government-fleet duty.
The price of the Tbird was so close to the LTD IIs that no many people bought the LTD IIs. There was also internal competition from Ford’s own smaller but roomy Granada sedans and later the all new Fairmont which matched the size of GMs new downsized intermediate cars.
Part of that was that the LTD II used the Montego intermediate body, instead of the Torino. Difference was a smooth exterior, without the relief valley running the length of the vehicle. Basically, the Montego body stampings became the standard for LTD II, Thunderbird, Cougar, Elite and after 1977, Ranchero.
Prequel to the K-Car, anyone?
True of the Elite and the 1977-only wagons, but the sedans and coupes got entirely new outer skins for ’77 without the Coke-bottle kickup to the window beltline.
On the one hand renaming the Elite to Thunderbird did prove out to be quite a success but on the other hand it stole so many of the potential LTD II 2dr sales. However since the T-bird was priced higher it probably put more cash in Ford’s pockets. The fact that the Mercury was now pedaling their midsize as the Cougar, offering a 4dr version, and the fact that it was only a few dollars more likely hurt the 4dr LTD II retail sales. Which again probably put a few more dollars in Ford’s pocket than if the LTD II had been more popular.
Before the LTD II came out the Torino was already hurting for sales because of internal competition from the popular right sized premium compact Granada which was the size of 1960s Fairlanes. Then the Fairmont came along better matched to the downsized GM intermediates. The Thunderbird sold on the magic of the name and $2000 or so reduction in price. The LTD II would not have sold any better even if the Tbird was not moved to the same platform.
The ’77 T bird was pure Ford marketing genius. Give the old Elite a modest makeover, slap the T bird name, raise the price a bit and quadruple your sales. Just shows the power the T bird name had at the time.
Even though it was enormousluy popular, I consider the ’77 T bird one of Ford’s deadly sins. Basically just a badge engineered Torino. The ’76 model, although it had grown somewhat chubby and boring, was still very much a luxury car with a standard 460 4-bbl V8 and gobs of goddies. The ’77 was severely decontented with a 302 2 bbl as standard. Then the next generation was even worse. Things didn’t get better until the Aerobird in 1983.
I think these were nice looking, but I prefer that Gran Torino Brougham coupe with the fender skirts shown above!
There was an article on these in Collectible Automobile a year or two ago, it showed one in triple black that was pretty sharp looking.
Don’t recall exactly where I read it, but I read that the Elite came about not only as a Monte Carlo-fighter, but also for Ford to test-market whether the public would buy a T-Bird in a smaller size (relatively speaking, of course) before the ’77 went on sale.
Ford had been doing styling studies of Torino-based Thunderbirds in the early 70s as evidenced by styling proposals based on 1970-71 Torinos. Perhaps Ford would have been better off transferring the Thunderbird name sooner to what became the Elite car so they could have had a bigger hit sooner. Monte Carlo and Grand Prix killed Thunderbird sales with their luxury looks but much lower prices. Using the Thunderbird name with a drastic price reduction was the magic needed to sell cars.
What that Elite needs is a Starsky and Hutch paint treatment! 🙂
The thing to remember in comparing the sales of the Thunderbird and Monte Carlo prior to MY1977 is that the Thunderbird was a substantially more expensive car. A 1970 Thunderbird started at around $5,000, while a first-year Monte Carlo started under $3,200, about $300 more than a V8 Malibu hardtop. By 1974, the Monte started at around $3,900, while the T-Bird’s starting price was over $7,300 — a huge spread in those days.
The great appeal of the Thunderbird had always been that it looked different from everyday Ford sedans and hardtops, which made it feel special. However, doing that had required a unique body shell. Having the T-bird share its cowl and certain other pieces with Lincoln helped somewhat, but it was still expensive to build, and thus had to be priced higher. The great success of the Monte Carlo (and 1969-on Grand Prix) was that GM stylists figured out how to make it look more upscale than the Chevelle/Malibu for a surprisingly modest tooling investment, so they could sell it for a few hundred dollars more than a Malibu and still make money on it.
Agree.
Also, please note that the company that showed GM how to take a plain vanilla car like a Falcon and turn it into a Mustang, a plain vanilla car like a Galaxie and turn it into an LTD, a plain vanilla car like the Maverick and turn it into a Granada – somehow needed GM to show them how to take a plain vanilla Chevelle and turn it into a Monte Carlo, before Ford figured out what to do with the next generation Thunderbird.
So – Ford seemed to had been locked into a mindset with the Thunderbird, preventing them from recognizing it as a little more than a fancy intermediate. From 1962 until 1977, Ford spent millions putting out intermediates in coupe, wagon, sedan and pick up versions – yet, also spent millions putting out a Thunderbird coupe and sedan while watching the personal luxury car market slip away from them.
That car is magnificent.
If it had a T-top it would be perfect.
Agree~ My friend’s parents had a 76 powder blue Elite w/dark blue vinyl interior. I remember being fascinated in the day by the huge body-side moldings & chrome around the wheel wells. They were a product of their time, & competed with all the other 2dr personal luxury intermediates so popular then. (Cordoba, Grand Prix & Monte Carlo) I remember how soft & quiet the ride was when traveling on the highway & how it bobbed up & down slowly over dips, quite a feeling when partying on Saturday nights! Those were the days….
It is late spring, 1974. Marin Motor Movies, sitting in the back on one of the (then)family cars in the fleet, the ’65 Dodge Custom 880, tagging along with my sister and her friend, trailers and promos are being shown. I’m about 14 at the time, one year shy of permit age in California.
Big, dramatic presentation promo comes on for the NEW GRAN TORINO ELITE.
Green over green example. Even then, I thought of it as a half-assed attempt of a “me-too” 2nd gen Monte Carlo, which back then in NorCal, gas rationing and all, was a WILDLY popular car.
Montes, Mark IV Lincoln’s, Buick Regal coupes, seemed to be the ride of choice for upwardly mobile Bay Area types. I think it was ’72-’76 the well to do San Rafael Loch Lomond Yacht Club/Dominican Woods/Peacock Gap crowd gravitated towards the personal luxury coupe set. After ’77, it then became Benz and Bimmer.
However, at the time of the Elite’s introduction, I saw this car as being an over decorated feeble attempt of Dearborn trying to keep up with Flint. Car does have some appeal to me now, but I still remember the weaknesses these cars had/have as I was very much there when these cars were in showrooms, in rental fleets, etc.
One of my top 5 from the ’70s! I thought it was just a simple, beautiful design, especially the front. I love the Pontiac Grand Am too….
I’d be curious to know what sales of the Cougar XR-7 were during the same years the Elite was available, and also how the next-gen version did compared to the T-Bird during the 1977-79 model years. I always thought it was strange that they used the single round headlights; they never looked right to me. As ugly as the front end of the subsequent LTD II was, I think the stacked rectangular headlights would have looked better, and more upscale (by the standards of the era) on the Elite’s front end.
In high school, a friend’s parents had an Elite, dark green inside and out. As JP said, bloated and wallowy. Another friend’s mother had a ’75 XR-7, bought new, which was even plusher inside and even gaudier outside: pale blue with a slightly darker dusty blue landau top (rear portion only) and cloth interior. She’d also had the dealership install a fiberglass “Continental” trunk lid (a fairly popular Brougham-era customization touch where I grew up).
Her husband got her a new car every two years, and in ’77 she got the newly downsized Olds 98 sedan, which was quite a bit more luxurious inside than the Cougar, and it was an awesome car to cruise in.
The problem was rectangular head lights were not yet approved when the Elite hit the market, plus the LTDII front end was pretty much the Elite front end with rectangular headlights and a few other slight differences.
Lido, even before he got his sorry backside fired from Ford, was getting older…forgetting his moves. The man with the plans, the father of the Mustang, the re-birthing of the Falcon, phoenix-like, as the Maverick…he was in the process of turning Ford into the All-Torino Company.
The 1972 Torino was a sales winner. In the real world, less so…ten miles per gallon; willowy suspension, dead steering, gun-slit visibility. But it did move…the right car at the right time.
In 1972.
It a strategy later mirrored with the K-Car, Lido used the Torino as a template for a whole field of clones. Elite, Cougar, LTD II…and the unkindest cut of all, giving it the Bird. I will NEVER understand how gluing hidden headlights and a THUNDERBIRD badge onto a Torino, even keeping the 1972 dashboard, made it a best-seller…but it did, somehow.
The gas crisis killed the Torino chassis; and Henry killed Lido’s ambitions of the time. Both were fitting…the Torino’s time had come and gone; and Lido found his highest and best use down the road.
But the Elite? A stopgap, as noted. A car in search of a market…one of many such.
As a placeholder, one would have to call it a qualified success.
This car was hideous. It had the automotive equivalent of child-bearing hips.
I remember riding in an Elite. It was Dark Red with same color vinyl interior and was like riding in a cave. The first car I bought on credit was a 76 Monte Carlo. White 1/2 vinyl roof over red-white tape striping all over with white swivel buckets and 350 2bbl. It was definitely not subtle! Those flashly fender bulges put any other GM, Ford, or Chrysler Product to shame!
Just in case someone is looking for one of these….
I drove by a used car lot in Royal Oak MI last weekend after leaving the NAIAS (my yearly pilgramage from NY to MI with some very old friends)
there was a white with I think maroon top Elite sitting out front for sale….looked to be in really nice shape.
In 1974 I graduated from High School. My dad traded in his 1968 LTD Brougham 4 door hardtop (Seafoam Green, black VT, DK Green “Panty cloth” interior, 390 2V……great car BTW!) for a 1974 Gran Torino Elite Brougham (DK Blue met. DK Blue VT, Med Blue Int. 351 2V). Everyone knew performance was dead and LUXURY was in. The Elite Brougham had it in spades: thick, thick carpet, tons of insulation, comfy “mouse fur” twin comfort lounge seats, faux wood grain trim. I can’t say, even then, that I thought it was a great car. I never liked the thick door/side trim. But it had a cool dash with lots of GAUGES! And it had lots of options that were new to us: power windows, cruise control, P door locks, AM/FM etc. Still I wish he’d gotten a Cougar and/or one with a 460, but then nobody cared about having a Big Block anymore…………sad. That LTD would do some incredible burnouts. The Elite not so much.
Fords in the late 60s and early 70s had great interiors, especially the Broughams. Like the Mark III/IV they were more luxurious than the Eldos……. that seemed sterile in comparison.
Good memories! I had that same white ’76 Elite w/blue top, cloth interior, used w/only about 60K miles in 1985 or 86… It was absolutely the best car I ever owned! It ran like a team of horses, and it never, ever left me stranded. It got me through college, and finally died of thrown rods — but it got me coasting into a parking space in a dealer lot where I got the next car. I wish I still had it!
I owned one of these ’75 Elites and it was an adventure from the start. It flew like nothing on the road. If there was a car that could catch it I never rode in one. I could take a 90 degree corner at 50 MPH and not squeal a tire. The 5,964 pounds for ’75 held it to the ground. I thrashed that car and lived to tell the tales. A few of my friends damn near shat their pants when I took them for a ride. One friend watched the speedometer race over 120 MPH, the other experienced the sense of flying (off of the ground). I don’t recommend any driving like this in traffic like these days but back in the early 90’s it was still possible. It was also the only car I owned that could start rolling then simply by smashing the accelerator start a burnout until you let off. Another friend experienced that jaw-dropping episode. The street was tire smoke that night. Buy one fix it up, restore it and have a car with a totally different sensation in the drivers seat than all other cars I’ve EVER driven (and I’m a mechanic of 35+ years). 351 Windsors rule. And by the way…most 70’s Chevys in NASCAR ran Ford rear axles.
5,964 pounds? I don’t think so. These were whales but nowhere near that weight.
Having driven many mid-70’s Cougars, Torinos and Elites back in the day, most of these with 351’s, you are describing a vehicle with which I’m not remotely familiar. These were true dogs. Slow and wallowing, with amazingly tiny interior dimensions in contrast with their huge exteriors. Good for 9 mpg around town. The only thing good about these is that the competition from GM and Chrysler was little better.
I’m not sure what you mean by better, if it is better at falling apart then yeah the GM was certainly better. The Chryslers were much better at staling at the most inopportune time possible they were also far superior at fouling spark plugs, particularly if they didn’t start on the first crank when cold.
All cars in Nascar in that era ran Ford 9″ rears, converted to full floaters, it was required by the rules.
totally agree, they were a sensation to ride in & drive!
The Elite is how we came to own a 74 Montego MX Brougham (which I still own today). My Dad was wanting to trade his first new car he had ever bought, a 65 Impala SS!!
Today those are worth a fortune, but then it was a nine year old car with 117,000 miles on the clock. He went to the Ford dealer, but the dealer would not come off the price any. So he drove 1.5 miles down the road to the Mercury dealer who was only too happy to make a deal on the Montego. He got a $700 trade on the Impala, and the dealer took $1200 off the car after that. After a little money down, plus TTL, they only had to finance $3100 on a $5250 car! If I remember correctly ( I was a little more than 7 1/2 at the time in May when he bought the car) the payments were $102 a month for 36 months. I also remember as plain as if it had been said five minutes ago, the dealer looking at the Impala and telling my Dad “I don’t know if I’ll sell that car or keep it for myself for a fishing car”. And the Montego is a white vinyl interior as well with a white exterior. And two piece vinyl roof! Still runs fine, although rust is starting to flare up. It was garage kept until a few years ago. I’ll never get rid of it!
jpcavanaugh…I’ve read your article and opinions on the Torinos. Could you tell me what you think about this car? Thank.
http://www.paulsevagmotors.com/used/Ford/1975-Ford-Gran+Torino-608b671c0a0a001f0141fedbd409ebb2.htm
While I’m not JPC, I’ve got to say WOW!!!!!!! that is an incredible survivor. Looks like the only thing that has been done to it is the battery has been replaced rather recently and the tires right before it was parked in the late 70’s or early 80’s. Hard to say just how much it is really worth since you’ll likely never see another one like it but on the other hand they don’t have any real following that is necessary to give them a big price.
Just read this for the first time…Great CC!
You described two feelings I have about these cars really well. First, about why the styling fascinates me: “It is a curious mixture of the voluptuous early ’70s and the squared off and tucked in late ’70s all in one car”. And secondly about how people who are younger than this era of cars find them so interesting. I couldn’t have said it better!
So yes, I do find the Elite very intriguing.
Everything you need to know about how bad Seventies Ford’s were is in those tailights. Look at them: Fussy, overdecorated details ladled on with a trowel.
The Elite was my first car, won by a buddy’s dad at a car dealership. So bad as a used car they had to give it away. I’ll have to dig up a picture of it somewhere.
It amazes me to this day how the moderately successful Elite became the very successful ’77 Thunderbird with little more than a restyle and a name change.
Bob B., I was as amazed at this triumph of ’70s FoMoCo advertising as you. Oddly, it reminds me of this (I’ll paraphrase your words):
It amazes me to this day how overgrown common “button” mushrooms were successfully rebranded as a premium item, the Portobello Mushroom ( = triumph of 80s marketing).
Indeed, it’s just fascinating how the Torino Elite failed to sell, yet in less than a year, the brand-new Chrysler Cordoba, targeting the exact same market demographic as the Elite, set the sales charts on fire. Ford tried to get away on the cheap with their Monte Carlo fighter, and they paid for it dearly.
Do you have more photos of that Chevrolet C/K? It sure is lovely.
Quite a few guys in the real estate office where my wife worked at the time had Elites, or Gran Torinos, or Cougar sedans, or Lincolns, to the point where it was kind of hard to tell them apart. They all felt the same to ride in, and about half of them had the same noisy heater fan motors. I was rather contemptuous of them all. During that time we had a 1962 Lincoln convertible and a 1957 New Yorker 4-door hardtop, and our main driver was a 1975 Monza fastback V8 4-speed.
It must have been affixed to a truly special and desirable automobile. Or not.
The Detroit 3 have a long history of affixing laughable geographic names to cars in a vain attempt to give a “status” image to their tacky products, until they become meaningless.
Try and associate the bland-suburbia Chevy Malibu with a wealthy coastal enclave in southern California.
How many rusty Dodge Aspens were driven by residents of that Colorado ski resort?
And how many Chevy Monte Carlos or Dodge Monacos do you imagine ever pulled up to the casino in that Principality on the French Riviera?
I can’t find it posted online but Car and Driver did a “10 Worst Named Cars” list once. I do remember that the list was largely geographic names being used for cars that would NEVER be seen in those places. Like “Ford Granada” and “Edsel Bermuda” and “Chevrolet Monte Carlo”.
A neighbor had a triple dark green early version–with a 400 cid I believe. She had so many problems with it…stalling, leaking window seals, transmission failure, ignition module failure…etc….she got herself riled up enough to fire off letters to the State of California about the shabby quality of the car and shabby treatment she received from her dealer. He efforts, combined with those of similarly peeved US auto buyers, spawned the CA “Lemon Law”. The mid 70’s were indeed a sorry period for the US auto industry. Lots of shame to be passed around.
A good friend once told me “We owe Toyota, Datsun, Honda and debt of gratitude. If it wasn’t for their very real competition, we would all be driving $40,000 Pintos these days.
Gem of an article and well placed after the one on the Cutlass.
If the Elite wanted to join the Monte Carlo at the disco it should have taken a few trips to the gym first. Because like you said the trimmer looking ’77 Tbird did just fine. I was surprised to hear it was the same size as the Elite it seemed smaller. Maybe it was the more cut lines.
Our eyes must have been ready for that because Cutlass sales jumped after the restyle in ’76. The crisper styling made the hood look longer, very important. I still find it hard to believe the ’76 Seville didn’t have more WB up front than the Nova, that’s how much longer the hood looked to me.
The smaller ’78 Regal and Cutlass coupes kept the athletic proportions and continued to sell well while the ’80 Tbird got lost again. That ’77 was a real fluke for Ford.
Give this car a Starsky & Hutch paint job stat! 🙂
I was a pre-teenager when these were popular. And from my perspective, it was not a cool car to be seen in, or associated with. I felt, the lowly Pinto seemed more in tune with the times, and the future.
Even though it was a production model, I thought the skirted Gran Torinos looked like a George Barris custom job. They were that pimpish. Pure 70s gaudiness.
Looks just like one I see around here. Old man drives it.
I had a ’75 Elite for a while. Bought it off my next door neighbors daughter, who used it to pull her 2 horse trailer. Trunk was full of hay when I got it. The factory tach was intermittent too, I could hit the top of the dash with my fist, Fonzie style, and get it to work. 400 and C6 even at 180k still worked great until I ran it out of oil and seized it. No big loss, car was a steaming pile ‘o poop. And I’m a Ford guy too, so you know it had to be bad!!!
It is cars like these which must’ve inspired Dave Barry to pose this in “Test your Business IQ”:
“You are a major automobile manufacturer. You have been losing sales to cars from other nations, particularly Japan, because their cars tend to be fuel efficient, technologically advanced, and extremely well-made, whereas the most innovative concept you have come up with in the past two decades is the opera window.” – from “Claw Your Way To The Top”
My dad got one of these as a dealer loaner when his ’76 LTD 4 door went in for service. Substitute dark red for anything green on the subject. He thought it quite snazzy as a two door and trimmed a bit better than his LTD. Ford sold these to Ford guys. My dad wasn’t much of a car guy, but hanging around shiny new Fords at the time, he thought it was pretty nice. I can vouch for his LTD and also Torino cars as a bit sloppy and overly isolated on the road. But, they were quiet.
A friend in college had one in the late 70’s. It had Firestone 500 radials in which the right real tire blew up on I-20 on a Saturday nite ride to town to get beer for a party. The steel cords wrapped around the axle so we couldn’t get the tire off. We borrowed some wire cutters to get it loose. Needless to say we missed the party.
A high school friend had a same-era LTD that I drove around occasionally. Those big, heavy, buxom front ends are an experience very few young drivers will ever experience.
I always loved seeing the front end bob over a frost heave before I could actually feel it in the cabin.
But I have an early 2000s Sable now and it feels vaguely similar. All bloat.