I used my Mom's 75 Granada on dates as a high schooler. One day I said, Mom did you know your seats lean all the way back? No, then she asked, how do you know? I just stood there busted.

We are in another malaise era now. Overblown cars with too small overstressed engines and full of tech gimmickry. They might not rust but they are so expensive to fix that they are junked when a significant component fails. The difference is that they are getting more and more expensive so value is falling through the floor.

The 50's-60's were the peak of American Auto industry. They were retooling almost continuously to bring out a new car design every 1-3 years and the amount of choices you had for colors and interiors was insane. The quality of the materials was better than the 70's and beyond. Even the car commercials were like short films instead of 30 second ads. Now that CEO's make 40 times what they made back then they can't afford to do that any longer. And this is every industry. I currently own a '69 GTO that I've considered selling several times but, I know I would regret it immensely so I might die with that vehicle.

The 5MPH bumper requirement had nothing to do with safety, although it was sold that way. It was really about lowering costs to insurance companies.

You forgot to mention how insurance companies were making it more and more difficult for young people to drive muscle cars and so at the end of the 60s (peak muscle), car manufacturers were actually under-rating the advertised HP figures to get drivers cheaper insurance.

My 1st car, in 1990, was a 1977 Ford Granada, 4 door, black with red vinyl roof and interior, and the 305 V8. We named her "Granny". My friends kept talking about how "HUGE" my car was compared to all their cars. I told them that this was considered a "mid-size car" in '77, and the 302 was the "small V8" engine. She was hard on gas, and the steering was so overpowered, and she wallowed over bumps and around corners. Was she a great car? No...but as my 1st taste of true freedom, she was for ME!

Hey, I owned a 1977 Aspen, and drove it into the ground for 10 years with almost no problems. The 318 V8 got pretty good mileage at 23 MPG on the highway. I loved that old wagon.

0-60 in 23 seconds is downright dangerous. I can't even imagine passing someone in that car, or trying to merge onto a freeway

The Datsun was actually closer to ONE third of the size of the Granada's engine.

What I remember about the Ford Granada: Virtually every one of them had broken/missing fuel cover doors by year 2 or 3. My parents were driving AMC Gremlins. Great motivation for me to work and buy my own car. First one was a '71 Beetle, then a major step up to a '77 Corolla SR5 liftback. The Japanese quality invasion was real and spectacular.

The 70's Ford Granada also suffered from bad body steel and was EXTREMELY susceptible to body rust. I owned one and so did a few of my friends, and we ALL suffered from accelerated rust through.

My 1976 Volare was the only American car (up to that time, in my family history) that actually made it to 100,000 miles. Of course, the tops of the fenders rusted out. But at least it was made of metal!

My belief is that overnight every model they sold was obsolete. They were making many more platforms than ever before, and the emissions made engines out of date too. Needed to develop new technology, and redesign everything overnight. Everything suffered as everything was rushed thought with a much too small engineering staff.

I learned to drive on my Moms Mercury Monarch (a granada with mercury badging) I remember the thin steering wheel and the constant steering inputs to keep it straight at 60 mph. It had a velour interior and as I remember a pretty damn comfy drivers seat. It lasted 85k miles despite my moms meticulous service. She bought a 1 yr old Mercedes 300d in 1985 which sits in my driveway now as my sons daily driver. I anticipate my grandkid driving it 20 yrs from now.

This is quickly becoming one of the best car channels on youtube as far as I’m concerned

IN DEFENSE OF THE FORD GRANADA: My family had a 1976, the fancy model, with a BOSS 302 under the hood. Got my license that year. Once dad let me drive it, more than one sporty foreign car ate my dust on the highways of south Jersey. Once I raced a Celica. I was ahead when we hit a traffic circle. Last thing I remember was seeing him spin out in the rear view mirror. It felt great. My passenger, my girlfriend, was *not* amused. :)

Well I drove my neighbor’s 2 door Granada often in my teens and enjoyed it in the early 80’s.

Watch an old movie in LA from the 1970s and see the smog so thick. Thanks to their leadership we now benefit from safety features, power, and air that doesn’t choke you or burn your eyes.

Hey wait a minute I still have my Father's 1975 Ford Granada. Still runs great

My memory of Grenada...every time I passed one stalled along the road, I would stop to help, because every time the problem was the same! I would grab the air cleaner and wiggle. Sure enough, carburetor was loose. Tighten the base nuts, fire right up!

Quality entertainment on a Friday night for car, history, culture and nostalgia fans. Thanks.

GM had plenty of diesel experience at the time the Olds diesel engine was engineered. They happened to own the diesel engine manufacturer, Detroit Diesel at the time which made solid, durable engines. They just decided to ignore engineering. Accounting and marketing departments had more say than the engineers. This was common practice in the GM of the 70's-00's and can still be seen today in their products. Don't blame inexperience on that failure. It was Hubris that lead up to the Olds Diesel, Cadillac V4-6-8, and Chevy 2.3L engines. There were others that were not that great too.

In 1976 I ordered a Mercury Monach with the optional (biggest) engine available. The 351 W (V8). Though 'de-tuned' for the era w/ 'only' 150 hp, its performace figures were at least adequate.. However, later engines, such as I had in one of my cars (Chevy Vega converted), a `96 350 cu. in. LT-1 V8, developed over 300 hp!

Granada was a great car especially the V8 302 / c4 Combination You couldn't beat the reliability.... My Folks bought a Granada in 1977 and sold it 1995 We had been all over the united states in that car. .....It was a Damn good reliable car and had Ice Cold Air conditioning.

Boy, I remember that Granada-Mercedes ad champaign. At the time I had already sworn off Fords after buying one of the exploding Pintos thinking it was a safer car for my pregnant wife, and I remember wondering what they were smoking when they dreamed that ad campaign up. Speaking of the Pinto, while it did not explode on me it did have its share of BS. The first was the alternator light which was the only warranty claim I think I made. Little things like the dashboard not being completely painted I let go but I had to have that alternator fixed. So the dealer got to my car after they worked on all the thunderterds in the shop, they replaced the alternator and took it for a test drive. They returned right away with the light on. To make a long story shorter they replaced it two more time before they realized there was a short. They tracked it down. A wiring harness had been installed with insulation scraped off at one point, God only knows how. The car had an automatic transmission that shifted into neutral when the fluid was low. That happened whenever I drove around a corner. I understand it was designed in Germany to save the transmissions. I eventually found out where the leak was, two cooling lines were crossed and wore through. The engine also would wear out cams at 30K miles or so. I never heard of another car that did that. One day I went to start it the starter spun more rapidly than normal without the car starting. On investigation there was some timing gear that broke so that the cam no longer turned. This happened less than a year after the cam was replaced. At that point I junked the car. Some years later I was walking down a street and noticed some guy looking under the hood of his Pinto. I stopped to talk and we discovered we'd had exactly the same things go wrong with our cars. Quality may be job one now, but it sure wasn't in those days!

I was really looking forward to this! You deserve at least 200k subs. Edit: I just noticed that it's a reupload of the older one. Explains why I've seen it before.

It was the era of the most beautiful and best cars built and driven in America. The darkest hour came when people were born to make videos like this.

Great job getting your video back up, Ed! I loved watching this one the first time round

It is a tragic story; and history had given an earlier economic model of dysfunction; The British car industry; what an implosion!

This series is soooo good! Thanks for making it.

Very good show, but the old days are viewed through rose colored glasses. My parents tell me of days here in Los Angeles when you could not go outside in the 60's because the smog was so thick. Windows had to be kept shut at times. The changes HAD to be made. Unfortunately, before EFI and ECU's this was only possible with very inefficient methods. Combine that with the corporate "screw the customer" mentality of the 70s, and you have the disaster that were the cars of that era. Not noted in the video was than in the 70s the big 3 all moved their design offices to Detroit. From that point the cars were no longer styled by NYC hipsters with educations and fine art degrees, but rather by someones' cousin Bob. And it shows.

An issue that gets overlooked is iron ore. We burned through our supply of hematite and only had magnetite left. Producing steel with magnetite ore is roughly twice as expensive as hematite. The cheap abundant supply of steel that made the auto industry possible had run out. No matter what they did , the American auto industry was going to shrink dramatically and they knew it.

Was so looking forward to this... A Big thanks for the video...

My dad had a 1975 Ford Granada. It lasted until 1997, when the transmission died, and he decided to replace the Granada with a Mustang. I loved that Granada.

I had a 76 Granada shortly after I finished high school. I don't recall it being under powered

What's good is that you explain clearly and in a non boring way part of our recent history

My family had a Mercury Monarch, which was the Granada's twin. It always seemed like a weird car to me, in that it was neither fish nor fowl: not compact or fuel-efficient enough to be an economy car, not roomy or practical enough to be a family car (especially since ours was a two-door), and certainly lacking the power, handling, or style to be anywhere near sporty. It just seemed like a vehicle that didn't fit any particular niche. (BTW, on another topic: At 9:21, I like how the "0-60" entry for the Toyota minivan simply reads, "Yes.")

The exception to the late 1970s malaise autos was the 1976-1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme coupe. They were the #1 selling cars in America at the time.

As an italian guy, I always found amusing how U.S. car manifacturers found impossible to make an engine smaller than a 4 liter, even in fuel crisis. They tried to make them less thirsty, at the point they didn’t move at all, while the rest of the world moved tons of steel with itty-bitty inline 4s

My friend, you truly have become this platform's premiere automobile industry historian. Your videos are a joy to watch.

Absolutely marvelous. This is an American history lesson that is a blast to follow along with.

I love my 77 Granada. It's my time Capsule from that era . Inline 6 300 makes 100hp with the Emissions delete. And a single downdraft carb. 9miles to the gallon in the city. 11 miles to the gallon at 55mph cruising. And the car tops out at 85mph. But things start shaking really bad over 65mph. 😁

Had a ‘71 Toyota Corolla as my first car. Rear wheel drive. 5 speed synchromesh transmission. 42 MPG on the freeway. Reliable as all get-out. And those front bucket seats went all the way back too! 🤣

From Leo. The Datsun 810 sedan was a 2.4 Six cylinder, similar to the 240Z sport model.

Ive been waiting for this! This should be good!

I lived through this and you hit the nail on the head. I was into cars since the 50’s and knew everything you mentioned as it happened in real time.

My parents had a granada in the 70’s it was the nicest car they ever owned.

Ah, reupload, that explains why I thought I already saw this

Scene from Donnie Brasco 10:19 . “A Lincoln is better than a Cadillac!” ~ Nicky

Instructive, yet hilarious!!!! I love these videos, keep up the great work

Thanks for the nostalgia, I worked for Lincoln-Mercury in the 70's one dealer owned Honda and Lincoln-Mercury in the same facility. in 1977-78 we ended up doing New Car Prep in the Lincoln dealer service dept. because they were selling Hondas to fast to keep up and the HUGE Lincolns sat waiting for a buyer. Yes, the Monarch/Granada was an attempt to keep the line alive and was actually a decent car except for the lack of power. The 302 CU IN V-8 actually did better on fuel than the six cyl.

Lol!! Awesome show. Remind me of when I was a kid back in the '80s. I was 6 years old when my father bought a 5-speed manual Dodge Omni with all the packages bundled together. It was a nice small car that actually had some room in it. The acceleration and steering were horrible, but it got near 35 miles per gallon, both highway and street driving.

My first thought when I watched the initial video was that no way he's not getting copyright strike for that music in the beginning. Surprised it took them so long.

15:39 70s Chryslers: "The cars suffered from numerous quality problems..." 80s Chryslers: "The cars suffered from numerous quality problems..." 90s Chryslers: "The cars suffered from numerous quality problems..." 00s Chryslers: "The cars suffered from numerous quality problems..." 10s Chryslers: "The cars suffered from numerous quality problems..."

Yeah I totally agree that this is becoming a very good program right in front of our eyes! Like Ed said in his earlier videos, they started a bit amateurish, but now, heck its a TV show!

In 1988, I bought my uncle's 76 Granada, fully loaded.... white with red carpet and white vinyl, cassette w auto reverse! And the a/c was so cold, I wore my Members Only jacket in July in Houston 🧥😎

Maaan and here i was getting excited about a new episode

General Motors had been making diesel locomotives for 40 years when the v8 diesels appeared. Detroit Diesel engines powered about every bus, fire truck, and a good many big rigs at the time as well. It’s not like they didn’t have the experience. You’re talking about a company that kept the small block Chevy V8 and Buick V6 going for half a century. They’re not retooling for a diesel only a few schmucks are going to buy.

I love that they named the Ford Grenada the worst of the worst. My grandmother had a four-door Granada and that thing single-handedly led to EPA regulations for emissions. It was also woefully underpowered for such a lead sled. There was about a five-second wait between stomping the accelerator and feeling any sort of acceleration, which even then was barely noticeable. Now, if you were looking for a roomy back seat for extra-curricular activities, you were in great shape..,.......if you were able to keep from slipping around too much on the vinyl. Ahhhhh what memories.

GM actually had decades of diesel experience. They started doing diesel engine research in the 1930s at GM central research, and owned a number of diesel engine manufacturers for large applications. They also had Detroit Diesel which was one of the major diesel engine companies at the time. The problem with the Olds diesel was that they did it on the cheap, not that they didn’t know how to do it. A common GM thing in those days.

God! Does This Series Hit Home! I got my driver's license in 1968 and my first car. It was a 1966 Mustang. Funny aside three years after the first Mustang was introduced the fact that it was essentially a Falcon meant that I could buy a $5k Mustang, the cost of a new one in 1965, at the Pontiac dealership for $1k. That's when I learned why! In 1969 I ordered a new GTO in February. Because of a Union Strike, I didn't get untill June. My father bought my mother a 1970 GTO convertible. Little did we know then that the very next model year 1971 marked the beginning of the end for American cars. I became so depressed that I joined the Army and left the Country. But that's a whole other story.

I had a 1978 Granada with a 5.0L V8 and it was one of my favorite cars. It was comfortable, rode and handled great and was reliable. I also had the ‘78 Mercury Monarch with the 351ci V8 which was pretty much the same car the only noticeable difference was fuel economy. The bigger engine had slightly better mileage.

Got my first handy from a wild-haired aspiring artist in a green '75 Granada coupe with a black vinyl roof, vinyl seats, and a pushbutton AM/FM radio that I bought for $50 in 1983 as a 16-year old. No power, and the thing had a tendency to fishtail while braking in the rain. It stalled often, requiring me to jump out, remove the air filter cover, and jiggle the butterfly to get the carb working right, and eventually the roof just dissolved into shreds. My buddies and I bought a massive bucket of bondo, cut off the shards of vinyl, and applied the patch in swirls. I drove it another year, into my freshman year of college, calling it the StuccoMobile. Eventually, it was eating two quarts of oil per fill-up so I junked it and bought a 1977 Oldsmobile from an estate sale that mysteriously was powered by a Pontiac 400. I don't know who that old, dead guy was, but he liked to fly. 9mpg city, 14 highway--pushed it to the 120 mph peg once and still had plenty of throttle to use, but I was a coward.

Way back when - our neighbor bought a brand new 1975 Chrysler New Yorker - he hit a big pot hole and the side view mirror just fell right off the car. It was that moment at 12 years old that I knew American made cars were in BIG trouble.

Nice! And a good birthday special for me.

I had a 1981 mercury zephyr. 4 door, bucket seats, 4 speed stick on the floor. I enjoyed driving it. Wish I still had that car.

My dad bought a new ‘77 Monarch after rolling our ‘76 Granada, swerving to miss a deer. The Granada was bad enough, the Monarch defined POS! In the first couple years of driving this heinous monstrosity we found that the front brakes would partially apply whenever the car received impacts with expansion ruts and potholes in the road surface. After impact, it drove as if a front tire had suddenly deflated completely, and we were driving on a bare rim. None of the tires were flat when we’d stop to inspect them, and we’d stand there scratching our heads. We’d then get back in to test drive and everything would be back to normal. Whenever I drove the thing after that, I’d try to avoid road conditions that would jolt the car, knowing the brakes would “set” like that again. A Ford dealer finally rebuilt the entire brake system and the issue was resolved. Continuing with the brakes. My dad’s business partner - who would occasionally borrow the car for business errands - had a habit of applying the parking brake whenever he left the thing parked. The second Michigan winter we had this pig of a car, the right rear tire locked up solid as dad was rolling along at about 40mph. The parking brake cabling had become so corroded after just two Michigan winters that one of the cables snapped and that single tire got locked up somehow. We had the entire parking brake system disabled when the brakes were finally done over. Dad’s partner could set the parking brake to his heart’s content, but it wasn’t doing a damn thing. Moving on to the transmission. This pathetic excuse for an automobile had a 302 V8 with a 3-speed column shift automatic transmission. If you put the transmission in park on the slightest fraction of a degree slope forward or back, the shift linkage would get wedged in by the vehicle’s weight and you could not pull the damn shift lever out of park!!! I was just a 19 year-old kid the first time this happened to me, and not knowing what the hell was going on I called a wrecker. When the guy arrived and assessed my situation, he simply leaned his weight against the front of the car and I could shift into reverse. He told me this was common with Ford products of the early to late 70s. Over the 8 or 9 years my dad clung to this thing, the shift linkage became so bent-up from this flaw that the gear indicator on the column pointed at D when it was actually in N. I discovered later that Ford’s manual three-on-the-tree from the same era had a similar flaw. The linkages got tangled somehow whenever parking on an incline and it would get stuck in whatever gear you had it in when parking. Getting back to the ’77 Mercury Monstrosity. In '82 or '83, at around 60k miles, the parents and I went on a road trip from MI to southern IL to visit my dad’s brother. When we got off the freeway at uncle’s town and came to a stop at the first intersection, the motor went completely to hell. Idling rough enough to shake the whole car, horrible valve clattering and backfiring and sounding as though it was getting ready to vomit engine parts all over the road. We limped it to my uncle’s place and called a mechanic. Dad wanted to save on towing charges and insisted on limping it the few blocks to the garage, but when he tried to start the engine again it turned one-half crank and seized up. Turns out an exhaust valve had broken off right at its keeper somewhere along the highway. It must have stayed up in the cylinder head and maybe even functioned somewhat with the help of engine compression as we cruised along the freeway, but as soon as we shut down at the uncle’s house the valve must have slipped out of its sleeve and dropped onto the piston. When the motor cranked again the valve wedged into the piston and wrecked that cylinder in the engine block. Another used 302 was installed in the car and dad continued to drive that beast into the late ‘80s. I have no idea why he so stubbornly clung to this horrible mess of a car, but it became his car alone and they bought a 1980 or ’81 Mercury Towncar(?) as a family vehicle. Don’t get me started on that one! Before all of this fun and frivolity with 70s era American cars, our family had a 1967 Ford Fairlane 2-door. 289 V8, manual three speed column shift. I learned to drive with that car and it seemed indestructible. We kept that car until '78 and I preferred driving the Fairlane over the Grenade or the Monstrosity.

Excellent video. Keep up the great work!

I actually enjoyed the previous version of this! But its soooo good, I'll watch it again!

The darkest hour of the automotive era is now --- the amount of cars in the world remains untenable and the push to plan communities without them is getting stronger and stronger.

Love your channel ❤❤❤ YOU are incredibly smart and talented!! Thank you 😊

Must say that I'm enjoying your videos, and finding them educational too.

14:09 For GM to screw up diesel cars is just tragically sad. They already *had* a *fine* series of diesel engines: the Detroit two cycles. They powered everything from semis, to dozers, to watercraft back in the day. *Why* in Tarnation didn't they just scale one down for passenger car use? Detroits have a bad ass "rip roaring" sound that would have made GM cars more fun to drive.

Good thing this awesome video has returned!

Glad someone else remembers that RIDICULOUS commercial where the police motorcade mistakes a Ford Granada for an ambassador's Mercedes. The entire industry, from engineering to labor to marketing to management, needed a massive dose of reality therapy. And love that shot of Atlanta at 0:40. I begin to understand now just how berserk I must have been to push my 1976 Pontiac Grand Prix to 130 mph in Phenix City, Ala. over 30 years ago Ah, the Cadillac Omega.... errr, Cimarron. And finally... in about 1975 my mom's new car was a Toyota Corona wagon. That was the most frightening car I've ever been in. It had the acceleration of the Granada with feeling of riding in a great big piece of origami. The doors were literally less than an inch thick and weighed about as much as McDonald's new (at the time) Quarter Pounder. It was cheap, and felt every inch of it. I remember being told not to drum my nine-year-old feet on the floorboards, because (1) that literally shook the entire car and (2) there was a legitimate fear that my feet would do a Fred Flintstone.

New subscriber. You had me at Malaise part 1. Great presentation with humor. 😎🇺🇸

6:40 - 1975 Granada with a 6 cyl engine. The 'Malaisiest!' I had the dishonor and displeasure of driving one of these for high-school Driver's Ed. Four kids and the instructor. God it was slooooow! 7:41 - Datsun engine was 4/10 the size, not 2/3! 8:34 - The people at CurbsideClassics call the formal grill typical of 70s Fords, "Iacocca Face".

Datsun used almost the same idea for their LD28, which was based off the 2.8 in the 280ZX

LOVE seeing the footage of how cars and everything were years ago.

Very cool and interesting analysis, thank you for that ;)

"Darkest Hour"? Forsooth ! TODAY is their darkest hour ! Their cars have just gotten more and more complex, more expensive to buy, maintain, and repair, and less and less reliable. And people wonder why I still drive my 1995 Ford Ranger with the 2.4L 4 cylinder engine, and the 5 speed manual transmission. Because it is all paid for, costs little to maintain, and beats the crap out of what they are making today.

12:29 Here is the moment GM jumped the shark. Cadillac Cimarro.

My folks narrowly avoided buying a Grenada in 1976. Instead they went for the Buick Skylark. It was a great car. It was the first car I ever totaled. And we kept driving it for another few years. It had a V6 that you could hardly hold back!

When I was a senior in high school I bought a brand new Gran Torino 4 dr elite it was huge heavy car with the 302 it was 1973 I loved that car never a problem with it sold it 10 years later with 160000 miles it was a beauty

My parents had a 1976 Ford Granada. I learned how to drive on it. I thought it was a great car for the time.

The first Cadillac Seville was a badge-engineered Chevrolet Nova. But they put some effort into it. The Cimarron was just a lazy rebadge.

Excellent video, Ed! 😊

In 1976 I graduated college and accepted a job in Chicago. The company offered a choice of cars for us and let us choose model and colors. The choices were Granada, Nova, and Volare. I chose a Granada. 6 cylinder and took half an hour to get to 60 mph. The Nova was a boring tin hatchback. And the Volare’s had a bad habit of electrical fires in their wiring harness. Awe good times

malaise era cars are the best for luxury imo. couch on wheels. peak comfort. got a 78 granada turning it into a hotrod.

The minivan saved Chrysler more than the K cars.

I bought a leftover 1975 Dodge Coronet in 1976. I took it home and worked on it, removing the cat converter and replacing it with a straight pipe. I stripped all the vacuum tubes and emission devices off the engine and played with the distributor to re-set the timing. I put a very good carbarator on it and threw the OEM one in the garbage. It then ran great and lasted 12 years.

I owned a 76 pinto in the mid 80s. Except to the rust it was not a bad car. My favorite was the 75 oldsmobile cutlass to this day. A friend of mine had the GM diesel station wagon. His favorite part about the car was that when he put the peddle to the meddle as he was already going about 45mph it would blow out a huge black cloud of smoke. It was quite fun to look out the rear view mirror and see that.

The K car was the manifestation of someone losing their will to live.

9:26 1992 Toyota Previa 0:60: Yes..... LOL

This is great work!! I subscribed👌🏾

You should allways consider torque when lookin at power. That inline six was bulletproof lasted forever , and had torque. For your information people often use these motor in farm tractors when restoring them.

I turned my 1975 Granada into a Chevy killer, it was unreal how great this car worked. I started with a 302 until they all caught up then grew up to the killer 351 Windsor wow big block and small block killer. Sweet.

My favorite cars came in this era. Especially 73-77 gm A bodies . I got nuthin against luxury. As far as performance, a trip to the wreckers or local speed shop restored power levels to 1970 specs in a weekend. It was a non issue. 73 my faves as there were no catalytic converters. Were they heavier? The 73 cutlass was about 250pounds heavier than a 72... so put your gf on a diet , do a cam and heads swap, and you have a faster, safer, better handling, better stopping, more luxurious car.

A missed topic was the downsized Olds Cutlass which from the start was a very successful mid sized coupe and sedan in the market that sold very well.

Excellent documentary I grew up in 50-60’s in Holland Small village The GP had a Chevrolet Impala VW and Renault for every one else Then DAF came Got my drivers license inn Datsun After my motorcycle episode got the first Honda Civic in early 70’s