What you Need to Know when Buying an Apartment
The following year brought another interesting new option: all-wheel drive, a part-time “shift-on-the-fly” setup intended for maximum traction on slippery roads, not dry-pavement driving or off-roading. Despite prosaic mechanicals and increasingly tough compact competition, Tempo proved another fast-selling Ford. Offerings now comprised base GL and sporty GLS coupes and sedans, plus four-door all-wheel drive and luxury LX models. For 1988, Tempo four-doors were reskinned to look like junior versions of the new midsize Taurus, an effective “nip-and-tuck” operation. A new, rather Japanese-looking dash was shared with unchanged coupe models. Tempo then marked time for 1989-90 aside from price/equipment shuffles.
The 14-model 1971 lineup was basically a carryover of the previous year’s. The Cobra fastback coupe remained the most-exciting of this bunch, though its standard engine was downgraded to a 285-bhp version of the ubiquitous 351 small-block first seen for 1969. High-power and big-inch engines began disappearing at Ford and throughout Detroit in 1972. By 1980, only a mildly tuned 351 remained as an option for full-size Fords. Like GM’s post-1967 intermediates, models divided along two wheelbases: 114-inch two-door hardtops and fastbacks (including semisporty GT variants) and 118-inch sedans and wagons. Except for engines, the 1972 Torino was all-new — and a big disappointment.
Responding to GM’s 1936 “Turret-Top” bodies, Ford adopted all-steel construction for 1937 closed models, belatedly discarding the fabric roof inserts of old. But this was easily overshadowed by crisp new bodies with headlamps nestled firmly in the fenders and a prow-type grille composed of fine horizontal bars (stretched rearward at the top). This and a lighter overall look made the ’37 Ford one of the prettiest cars of the decade.
Regardless of trim, Fusion showed the same good workmanship as the Five Hundred, the best ever from Ford and fully competitive with Accord and Camry. Even materials were better than expected for the prices. Though Fusion was just emerging as this book was prepared, first reviews and early sales reports suggested Ford had come up with a winner. Ford held back on some standard features to make those numbers, charging extra for traction control, torso and curtain airbags, and antilock brakes, but at least the charges were reasonable. The prices were right, running from just over $17,000 to near $22,000 before options.
Yet for all its crushing dullness, Tempo remained a decent seller, with steady model-year production of well over 100,000 units through swan-song ’94 — and the ’93s made a surprise spurt to better than 238,000. Tempo’s only changes of note in this period were loss of the AWD option after 1991 (when it was called “Four Wheel Drive”) and the ’92 addition of the 3.0-liter Taurus V-6 as standard for top-line GLS models (which then went away) and an option elsewhere. While that betrayed an aging design long since paid for, it also helped Ford to keep moving this metal. Base prices remained very attractive, rising no higher than the low $12,000s.
Buyers wholeheartedly approved, and Granada zoomed from nowhere to become Ford Division’s top-seller, outdistancing the full-sizers and swollen Torinos by wide margins. Nevertheless, Granada bridged a big market gap at a crucial time, appealing to both compact buyers with upscale aspirations and big-car owners now energy-conscious for the first time. Not that it performed that well on those roads with its untidy cornering response and a roly-poly ride on rough sections. It was soon a familiar sight on American roads. There was also a gesture toward sport in the 1978-80 ESS — for “European Sports Sedan” — but it was only a gesture.
