As a company, Ford did not drop many clangers. Given their excellent track record in designing and building cars that people wanted to buy, the Mk4 Zephyr and Zodiac of 1966 perhaps failed to live up to the same high standards. To be sure they had many good points, but they also had more than their fair share of negatives. So Ford really couldn't afford to fall short with its successor, the Consul and Granada range that took over in 1972.
History shows that this new car marked a return to top form. Designed by both Ford of England and Germany, the new car was five inches shorter than the Zephyr and around 60kg lighter. It featured Cortina/Taunus style double wishbone front suspension, and a muchimproved independent rear suspension when compared to the Zephyr MkIV's flawed design. Allied to rack and pinion steering plus careful attention to geometry and spring/damper rates, the result was a car that rode extremely well and had very good handling. The interior was also very roomy and well planned, with a crisp new facia design and excellent seats.
The cheaper models were called Consuls initially (that name was dropped from October 1975), while the plusher versions were Granadas. The Consul had a choice of either the 2000 V4 or the 2500 Essex V6 in base or L trim, or with a 3000 V6 in the Consul GT. The Granada was available as a 2500 or 3000 in standard (renamed Granada XL from January 1974) or GXL trim, the latter having automatic transmission as standard, a vinyl roof, twin speaker radio, steel sunroof and tinted glass. A 3000 Ghia was added in July 1974, but it is a
