The Ford Elite is a

personal luxury car Personal luxury car is a North American car classification describing somewhat sporty, sophisticated mass-market coupés that emphasized comfort over performance. The North American manufacturers most often combined engineering, design, and ma ...

produced by

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

and marketed in North American from February 1974 to 1976, using the name Gran Torino Elite for its first model year only then simplified to just Elite for the following two model years.

History

Introduced February 18th, 1974 as the Gran Torino Elite, it was initially the top-of-the-line model of the Torino series. Although advertised separately, it was titled and registered as a Gran Torino. For 1975 and 1976, the Gran Torino prefix was dropped and Elite became a stand-alone model nameplate. Early pre-production publicity photos for the 1974 model show the use of ''Gran Torino XL'' nameplates.

Sales Competition

Based on the

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

, the

mid-size Mid-size—also known as intermediate—is a vehicle size class which originated in the United States and is used for cars larger than compact cars and smaller than full-size cars. "Large family car" is a UK term and a part of the D-segment in ...

two-door

coupe A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

was intended to be a junior model to the

Thunderbird Thunderbird, thunder bird or thunderbirds may refer to: * Thunderbird (mythology), a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture * Ford Thunderbird, a car Birds * Dromornithidae, extinct flightless birds ...

designed to compete with the increasingly popular intermediate personal luxury class of vehicles such as the

Chevrolet Monte Carlo The Chevrolet Monte Carlo is a two-door coupe that was manufactured and marketed by the Chevrolet division of General Motors. Deriving its name from the city in Monaco, the Monte Carlo was marketed as the first personal luxury car of the Chevr ...

Pontiac Grand Prix The Grand Prix is a line of automobiles produced by the Pontiac Division of General Motors from 1962 until 2002 for coupes and 1989–2008 for sedans. First introduced as a full-size performance coupe for the 1962 model year, the model varie ...

Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme The Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme is a mid-size car produced by Oldsmobile between 1966 and 1997. It was positioned as a premium offering at the top of the Cutlass range. It began as a trim package, developed its own roofline, and rose during the mi ...

Buick Regal The Buick Regal is a line of mid-size cars marketed by Buick since 1973. For nearly its entire production, the Regal has served as the premium mid-size/intermediate offering of the Buick product range. Introduced as a submodel of the Buick Centu ...

, Dodge Charger,

Chrysler Cordoba The Chrysler Cordoba is a full-sized luxury car based on the Chrysler Newport that was marketed during the 1970 model year only and two generations as an intermediate-sized two-door personal luxury model manufactured by Chrysler in North Ameri ...

and

Mercury Cougar Mercury Cougar is a nameplate applied to a diverse series of automobiles sold by the Mercury division of Ford from 1967 to 1997 and from 1999 to 2002. While the nameplate is most commonly associated with two-door coupes, at various times durin ...

. While the Elite was a newcomer on the market for only three model years, sales performance placed it solidly in third for each of those years (respective to the other personal luxury vehicles) with a combined sales of approximately 366,000.

Design

The Elite was a low investment design derived from the concurrent Mercury Cougar XR-7 (both based on Mercury Montego 2-door bodies) with a mild front end restyling to resemble the Thunderbird with single round headlamps, eggcrate grille, different taillamps with a center reflector, unique twin opera windows and large color-keyed vinyl moldings placed higher on the bodysides. The interiors were identical save for upholstery styles and minor trim.

Discontinuation

The Elite name was dropped after 1976 as the Ford mid-size range was restructured for the 1977 model year. The Thunderbird was dramatically reduced in size and price for 1977 by moving its nameplate to the Torino-based LTD II platform which was the restyled replacement for the Torino. In effect, the Elite continued restyled and marketed under the more-recognized Thunderbird name, and the previous full-sized Thunderbird was discontinued. File:Ford Gran Torino Elite '74 (38665484854).jpg, 1974 Ford Grand Torino Elite File:1976 Ford Elite in Blue, right front side.jpg, Ford Elite File:1974 Ford Gran Torino Elite, front left.jpg, 1974 Ford Gran Torino Elite

Standard equipment

* 351W or

351M The Ford 335 engine family was a group of engines built by the Ford Motor Company between 1969 and 1982. The "335" designation reflected Ford management's decision to produce an engine of that size (335 cubic inches) with room for expansion during ...

V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and u ...

, both of 351 CID (5.8 L) * 3-speed

automatic transmission An automatic transmission (sometimes abbreviated to auto or AT) is a multi-speed transmission used in internal combustion engine-based motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving ...

* Power brakes (front disc brakes, rear drum brakes). * Power steering * Cloth bench seats *

Vinyl roof Vinyl roof refers to a vinyl covering for an automobile's top. This covering was originally designed to give the appearance of a convertible to models with a fixed roof and eventually evolved into a styling statement in its own right. Vi ...

with twin opera windows, Landau (partial) vinyl top for 1976 model year. * Protective padded body side moldings

Options

* 351C V8 engine 351 CID (5.8L), 1974 only *

400 __NOTOC__ Year 400 ( CD) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Stilicho and Aurelianus (or, less frequently, year ...

of 402 CID (6.6 L) *

460 __NOTOC__ Year 460 ( CDLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magnus and Apollonius (or, less frequently, year 1213 ''Ab u ...

of 460 CID (7.5 L) * Power glass

moonroof A sunroof is a movable panel that opens to uncover a window in an automobile roof, allowing light and fresh air to enter the passenger compartment. Sunroofs can be manually operated or motor driven, and are available in many shapes, sizes and styl ...

* Power steel

sunroof A sunroof is a movable panel that opens to uncover a window in an automobile roof, allowing light and fresh air to enter the passenger compartment. Sunroofs can be manually operated or motor driven, and are available in many shapes, sizes and styl ...

* Air conditioning with standard manual control or optional Automatic Temperature Control * Metallic Glow paint * Cruise (speed) control * Gauge package with tachometer, oil pressure gauge, coolant temperature gauge, and ammeter gauge * Fuel Sentry Vacuum Gauge - monitors intake manifold vacuum to give an indication of how hard the engine is working, and thus economy (not available with gauge package). * Fuel Monitor Warning Light - as above, but an on/off light instead of a gauge. * Bucket seats and center console (1976 only).

In Mexico and Venezuela

The Elite name was also used in Mexico. The

Ford Fairmont The Ford Fairmont is a model line of compact cars that was manufactured by Ford from the 1978 to 1983 model years. The successor of the Ford Maverick, the Fairmont marked the third generation of compact sedans sold by Ford in North America and ...

was introduced in Mexico in late 1977 as a 1978 model, replacing the Ford Maverick that was produced there locally. The Futura coupe with its distinctive Thunderbird-styled roofline was never offered in Mexico. Instead there was an uplevel 2-door sedan called the Fairmont Elite. It was distinguished from other Fairmonts by its higher level of equipment and vinyl roof. It used the four headlight grille from the Fairmont Futura along with Mercury Zephyr taillamps and rear quarter window louvers. For 1981, the Fairmont Elite switched to the Mercury Zephyr grille. For 1982, the Fairmont Elite was renamed Ford Elite II, which was now offered in two- and four-door sedans. It continued to use the body of the Fairmont with the front end of the North American 1982 Ford Granada and matching rear bumper. The rear continued to use Mercury Zephyr taillamps. From 1983 to 1985, a version of the North American Fox platform Ford LTD was manufactured in Venezuela and marketed as the Ford Granada Elite in uplevel trim.

References

;Sources * * * The Ford Torino Page.
Ford Elite
'. Retrieved on April 24, 2005. * Ford Motor Company.

''. {{Ford Elite Coupés Motor vehicles manufactured in the United States Cars introduced in 1974 Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Personal luxury cars