Nicest Granada Hotrod in America?

Update: Saturday September 7, 2017:

Brand new up to date air conditioner pump is connected to serpentine belt, but is not connected to system yet.

Update: Friday September 6, 2017:

I added a few more pictures including one of the trunk. I just picked the car up a few minutes ago from Sunmark Upholstery, they just installed thick brand new black trunk carpets. Most of the trunk that is not carpeted, has Rhino liner on it.

PS: As things come to mind I will update this listing. One of the things I forgot to mention below is that the rear tires are 295-50-15, and the front tires are 235-60-15. It took no extra body work to place such a wide tire under the rear fenders, they fit perfectly.

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How would you like to own the coolest 1975 Ford Granada Ghia Hotrod in America, and maybe the only one? Most of the American Ford Granada's are in the wrecking yards, or have already been recycled. Many of the European Ford Granada's are still around, but don't resemble the American version in the slightest.

My wife and I bought our Granada when they first came out in 1975, which automatically makes it a classic first year model, one of the very first Ford Granada Ghia's off the assembly line. That was the year we were married, and it was our very first brand new car. It has gone through three engines: The first one from the factory was a 302 V-8. When it wore out I installed a 351 Windsor that ran on both gas and propane with a flip of a switch under the dash. That was fun for a few years, and it ran smoother on propane than it did on gas. Then earlier this year I finally decided to do something that no one else has ever done. Turn one of the most unlikely cars on the planet into a Hotrod.

My Granada has always been garaged, and it sat there for the last 20 years collecting dust. I would only take it out once a year to drive it to AAMCO Transmission for its yearly check. Many years ago I had the C-4 transmission overhauled by AAMCO, and they sold me a life time warranty. I'm sure they never thought I would use it a whole lifetime, but that's the way it's working out. So if anything ever goes wrong with it, it's covered under their warranty.

At age 71 I was getting a little uncertain when riding my Honda Goldwing motorcycle, so I needed to either trade it in for a Goldwing Trike, which I like very much, or do something with the Granada to make up for it. I chose to trick out the Granada. Earlier this year I started with having the Pacific NW Hot Rod Specialist, Jim Green build me a brand new Ford 408 Stroker engine with dual quads, and a very aggressive cam. As you can see by the pictures, the engine also has a serpentine belt system, and two electric fans to replace the manual one. It doesn't over heat! By the way, a 408 Stroker engine is basically a 351 cubic inch Windsor block that has been bored and stroked out to 408 cubic inches. So that with the wicked cam and the dual quads increased the power to approximately 450 HP.

The second thing I wanted to do was to replace the ugly factory interior and install late model black leather Mustang seats. However, when I went to the wrecking yard to pick them up there was a gorgeous black leather set of 2015 Chrysler 300 Sport seats sitting right next to the Mustang seats, so it was a no brainer. The Chrysler 300 seats were three times as nice as the Mustang seats, so I bought them, front and rear. The two front bucket electric seats bolted right in without much trouble, but try to adapt the rear seat of a Chrysler 300 into a Granada and see what happens. I must say that Sunmark, our local upholstery shop did a fantastic job, the new rear Chrysler seats look like they were made for the Granada from the factory.

The third part of my project car was to do something that got the car noticed at first glance. That meant doing away with all the molding on the side of the car, as well as the molding around the wheel wells, the chrome on the hood, and anywhere else that gave it that horrible 1970s look. The only thing I wanted to keep was the look of the factory vinyl roof, the one redeeming feature I really liked about the age of the car. It is black and brand new as well!

My first problem with the body was that the original Granada gas tank was offset to the left of the car, and wouldn't allow dual exhaust. So I replaced it with a Mustang tank that was centered in-between the duel exhaust pipes. Even though I kept the car in the garage nearly it's entire life, the two rear quarter panels did get a little rusty on the bottom, so I went on line to Green Sales and they still had two brand new factory quarter panels for my Granada. If you're looking for old Ford parts, Green Sales is your best chance of finding brand new factory parts.

So in addition to replacing the two rear quarter panels, the entire car was sanded down to bare metal and properly painted with a late model Ruby Red Ford color that comes on all the new Fords today. It actually looks more like candy apple red than anything else. I've gotten a couple of First Place trophies in car shows this summer, and I also seemed to get a lot more people stopping and looking at my Granada than many of the other classic cars in the shows. I think because it is so unique, and no one else has one. Everyone wants to see it and congratulate me on entering something different.

I turned my Granada into a hotrod for a number of reasons. I have always liked the body style of the first year Ford Granada's. I don't like the later models at all, but the 1975 and 1976 two door models are perfect, just as long as they aren't four doors. If it had been a four door I would have sold it many years ago. Its fun taking it to the car shows and hearing all the positive comments.

Even sitting at a stop light I often get thumbs up from the guys next to me, and while walking out of the grocery store to my car, I get a lot of not only guys, but women telling me how nice it is. So I achieved the first glance goal I mentioned above. One lady walked by the Granada with her small son and saw the license plate that reads 2 QUADS. She asked me if I really had two quads. I said "Of course, would you like to see the engine?" She was thinking that I had eight children, not two four barrel carburetors.