Ford Elite
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The Ford Elite was an automobile produced by the Ford Motor Company for the North American market for the 1974-1976 model years. The Elite was based on the Ford Torino, and was a two-door coupe intended to be, in the words of Ford's advertising, a "mid-size car in the Thunderbird tradition"—a more affordable personal luxury car than the Thunderbird, intended to compete with such cars as the Chevrolet Monte Carlo and the Chrysler Cordoba. It was essentially the concurrent Mercury Cougar XR-7 with a mild front end restyle.
In the 1974 model year, the Elite was considered a sub-model of the Torino; although advertised separately, the side script said "Gran Torino Elite" and the car would be titled and registered as a Gran Torino. In 1975 and 1976, the Elite was fully its own model. In all three years, the car sold well.
The Elite vanished from the Ford range after 1976 because the Ford range was being restructured and downsized. The Thunderbird was reduced in size for 1977, being based on the old Torino platform; the Torino was discontinued, being replaced by the LTD II. In a sense, then, the Elite survived, but under the more-recognised Thunderbird name, the larger car being discontinued.
Standard equipment
As standard, the Elite came with:
- 351W V8 engine of 351 in³ (5.8 L)
- C4 3-speed automatic transmission
- Power brakes (front disc brakes, rear drum brakes).
- Power steering
- Cloth bench seats
- Full or landau vinyl roof with twin opera windows
- Protective padded body side moldings
Options
Among the options that could be specified on the Elite were:- 400M V8 engine of 402 in³ (6.6 L)
- 460 V8 engine of 460 in³ (7.6 L)
- Power glass moonroof
- Power steel sunroof
- Air conditioning - with optional Automatic Temperature Control
- Metallic Glow paint
- Cruise control
- Fuel Sentry Vacuum Gauge - monitors intake manifold vacuum to give an indication of how hard the engine is working, and thus economy.
- Fuel Monitor Warning Light - as above, but an on/off light instead of a gauge.
References
- The Ford Torino Page. [Ford Elite]. Retrieved on April 24, 2005.
- Ford Motor Company. [1975 Ford Elite advertising].
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