1975 Ford Granada Commercial vs Cadillac Seville and VW Rabbit

This commercial features a great number of Character Actors or Comedians, Alice Ghostly, Herbert Rudley and Ronny Schell.
The VW Rabbit was technically more expensive than the Granada when they were equipped with similar accessories. The base Rabbit at $2999 was so stark, it didn't even have disc brakes. the slightly upgraded version, $296 for the performance package and $204 for the deluxe interior trim package brought the Rabbit to $3,499, the La Grande Bug was also the same price....the Granada starting price was $3,826

[@jimzone8153]

The Seville was introduced in mid 1975 as a 1976 model and priced from a whopping $12.5k in 1975 dollars ($70.5k today), the most expensive Cadillac in the lineup. Commercial filmed at the Mark Hopkins Hotel in SF. Many car commercials were filmed in SF back in those days.

[@friendofdorothy9376]

There really was no comparison between them. Sort of goofy, but fun commercial. 😳

[@scooterp7009]

😝

[@OsbornTramain]

Well, there is a comparison in the sense the the VW Rabbit was an expensive car due to the D-Mark being very high at the time vs. the dollar, European Cars were all very expensive in the 70's, that's partly how Japan got a good foothold.....and the Granada was styled nicely and well appointed and a good price vs the Seville.

[@AbronHawkins]

Two years after the Granada introduction, Lincoln introduced its version called the Versailles, which only has a V8 engine

[@Seadweller451D]

Where is the Granada??? All I see is a Mercedes next to the Cadillac??? 😅

[@yeoldegamer5112]

I remember getting a lift from one of the guys here in town in Germany in the late 80's. He had a VW Golf 1, 50 PS. It was so bare bones it only had a speedometer, the Km/mileage counter and an LED that would light up if the coolant temp was too high. Not even a coolant temp gauge 😀 Seat belts all around of cause though, so there's that.

[@sooverit5529]

Leaving a poodle in a valet checked car. Ok that makes sense.

[@JTRocks1]

Real stupid of 'em!

[@jasonhsu4711]

This reminds me of the later Lincoln commercials showing people confusing an Oldsmobile, a Buick, and a Cadillac. Those Lincoln commercials were hard-hitting, because the Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac were made by the same manufacturer and built on the same platform. I find it hard to believe that the Ford Granada really was anything like a Cadillac or Mercedes. I remember seeing lots of these Granadas on the road when I was a child back in the 1980s, and they didn't look particularly fancy to me. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, any Granadas remaining were clapped-out rustbuckets, and that has only made it more difficult to see them as elegant luxury cars.

[@terrybeavan4264]

YUP your observations are spot-on. Oh, the memories LOL! Guessing here I'm about 10 years older than you and I'd ridden in quite a few Granadas and Monarchs and even driven a friend's once or twice. In junior high school a teacher told us how his was so bad after the dealer couldn't sort it out--he said it had a shimmy so bad at some speeds you could watch the dashboard move about a full foot left and right!!!--he stopped making payments and let it be repossessed! One and only one nice thing I can say about them, at least the ones built with the GM A6 AC compressor had VERY effective air conditioning, good enough for Florida heat and humidity which is saying something! Reliability not so good, build quality terrible, ride comfort and handling nothing like those ads would suggest and more like the car must've had inherent problems in its basic design, way worse than my '72 Pinto (way better car than people make it out to be but that''s another story for another time), fuel economy shockingly BAD considering these were supposed to be the "precision-sized" Ford LOL! Still, they were what they were and having known so many friends that had them I have a lot of memories associated with them! Shame we didn't get the same Granada the UK got, from all I've seen it was a great car for its time and might even hold up not so badly today!

[@giuliopedrali4794]

Comparative ads was always a goal for the competitors of Fords...

[@T-41]

Cleverly done commercial.

[@flyntmyrick6291]

Does anyone know the actor's name who was the VW Rabbit owner? I recognize his face from acting in many commercials and TV shows of the 1970s.

[@sooverit5529]

Ronnie Schell, 92

[@flyntmyrick6291]

@@sooverit5529 Thanks for taking the time to answer my question!

[@troynov1965]

Yeah I remember him mostly from Gomer Pyle but he did a number of Disney movies and cartoon voices. Did not know he was still alive though.

[@OsbornTramain]

I did list it in the introduction and in the text of the description......I figured people would click on this just to see Ronny Schell.......it's Alice Ghostly as the Caddy's wife and Herbert Rudley driving the Caddy too.....don't know the drivers of the Ford

[@nlpnt]

As someone born in '74 I always thought this comparison was odd because GM copied itself so many times over that the '75 Seville was almost archetypally GM while everything about the Granada's design details screams Fomoco.

[@nlpnt]

I'll take the Rabbit, in my favorite color for them (L51C Miami Blue) over either of the others in settle-for-silver.

[@OsbornTramain]

Not may people did at the price the Rabbit sold for, it was extremely expensive in this recession period. The VW Rabbit was technically more expensive than the Granada when they were equipped with similar accessories. The base Rabbit at 2999 was so stark, it didn't even have disc brakes. the slightly upgraded version, $296 for the performance package and $204 for the deluxe interior trim package brought the Rabbit to $3,499, the La Grande Bug was also the same price....the Granada starting price was $3,826

[@terrybeavan4264]

@@OsbornTramain I remember back then my cousins telling me their family were going to be getting a VW Rabbit diesel as a second car due to the fuel crises and general high cost of gasoline, but my uncle later instead "settled" for a then-new Toyota Corolla, only rode in it once but it was pretty nicely optioned and I suspect he dodged a bullet!

[@jamesrecknor6752]

@@OsbornTramain The Rabbits sure gave me a lot of job security as a VW dealership parts department employee in the early 80s. catalytic converters. exhaust systems, EGR valves. lotsa flimsy plastic parts.

[@LaShondaFelton1983]

Hi Osborntramain, My Request Is: More Kenneth Tobey Commercials And Simon Oakland Commercials.

[@OsbornTramain]

lol okay. I'll do my best.......I've got a few Tobey commercials uploaded, but no Simon Oakland commercials

[@LaShondaFelton1983]

@@OsbornTramain O.K.

[@JohnShinn1960]

👍🤠