Ford Granada

    Back in the '70s, Ford introduced a new car, the Granada, with an ad campaign to the effect that valet parkers and such couldn't distinguish it from a Mercedes-Benz. This struck me at least as wildly funny because the car didn't look anything at all like a Mercedes from any angle. I liked them, mind you, but they didn't have the advertised resemblance at all. Then I went to France and saw the European car called the Ford Granada. Which looked exactly like a Mercedes-Benz. So I can only assume that there had been a plan to market the European model in the States, it fell through, but they stuck with the ad campaign anyway. It was only a few years later when they started the World Car program with the Escort. Maybe the Granada would have been a trial run. I could look it up of course, but my only point was how weird that ad campaign was, and how ironic that it could have just as easily been totally accurate.