Missed Opportunities: Cars that ALMOST made it to America, but didn't

[Sigmund Fraud]

11 hours ago, Madman Of The People said:

Volvo already had previous experience with front drive, thanks to their Dutch outpost, acquired when Volvo bought DAF's car division in 1974. 

Sorry to be pedantic, but DAF had no front wheel drive experience whatsoever. All their passenger cars had rear wheel drive and variomatic, from the DAF 600 all the way to the DAF 77.

[Snipes]

15 hours ago, HillmanImp said:

They did sell the mk3 as the Merkur Scorpio didn't they. 

Wasn't a success though. Probably wished they'd gone with the earlier one. 

Xr4ti, too.

[Bear]

I think, looking at it, that those are CX nacelles. They're the wrong shape for a GS grille or headlight...

[cort1977]

On 22/09/2025 at 12:26, D.E said:

The Lincoln Mark I Ghia, an American looking front grafted onto a Granada:

 

Magnificent. I almost prefer that to the actual Granada. Reminds me of the Holden Statesman and Ford LTDs which were Australian efforts at the same idea.

 

[Madman Of The People]

4 hours ago, Sigmund Fraud said:

Sorry to be pedantic, but DAF had no front wheel drive experience whatsoever. All their passenger cars had rear wheel drive and variomatic, from the DAF 600 all the way to the DAF 77.

What I meant to say was that the 400 series was the work of Volvo B.V. Netherlands, formerly DAF, with the assistance of Renault, of course.  I should have made that more clear.

 

[Madman Of The People]

2 hours ago, Snipes said:

Xr4ti, too.

I had an XR4Ti in the early 1990s.  Ford’s biggest mistake was selling them through their Lincoln-Mercury dealer network.  They didn’t have a clue as to the car or the sort of customer to whom Ford corporate were trying to appeal.  My local dealer service department were pretty hopeless, too!

 

[HillmanImp]

On 22/09/2025 at 12:26, D.E said:

The Lincoln Mark I Ghia, an American looking front grafted onto a Granada:

Looks like a Bentley Continental doesn’t it. 

[warren t claim]

How did the USA GS work without self levelling suspension? 

[Bear]

3 hours ago, warren t claim said:

How did the USA GS work without self levelling suspension? 

The self levelling suspension ban came after the GS, it hit the CX in 1974 and only lasted a few years which makes the plate under the bonnet of a Xantia baffling, but let CXA bring the CX in later and as mentioned there is an XM or two there - there were studies of the XM as a saloon, which wasn't as strange as the Renault 25 becoming an AMC/Eagle and then the LH.

It's easy to forget the Citroen GS was launched in 1970. Think of it sitting alongside Ford Escort Mk1s and HB Vivas...

 

[AnthonyG]

On 22/09/2025 at 12:26, D.E said:

The Lincoln Mark I Ghia, an American looking front grafted onto a Granada:

This was a styling concept by Ghia, just after Ford had taken full ownership of the design house (Ghia had previously been associated with Chrysler in the 1950s). It was never a production model, and I’m not sure it ever carried a Lincoln badge, albeit it had the gunsight hood ornament.

I don’t think it was ever a serious proposition, but the styling, particularly at the front end, was very similar to the American Ford Granada and Mercury Monarch, which were launched in late 74, so a year after this concept was displayed. Therefore it may have been built as a quick & cheap way to gauge reactions to the upcoming US cars, which were mechanically completely unrelated to the European Granada. 

The top spec Monarch was a Ghia badged version, and the Monarch was also ‘Lincolnised’ into the 1977 Versailles, a rush job after Ford saw the success of the first Cadillac Seville.  You could buy the Mercury Monarch in the UK and presumably throughout the rest of Europe - Switzerland and Belgium were generally the best markets for American cars and at one point GM had small assembly plants for its US models in both countries. 

[AnthonyG]

On 22/09/2025 at 07:27, New POD said:

At the time Chrysler owned Talbot.  That would have been an interesting* branding. 

Talbot was a Peugeot Group (PSA) rebranding of Chrysler UK/France cars. It was (re)created by PSA a year or so after they took control from Chrysler, picked from the vast range of defunct marque names PSA had access to, and they opted for Talbot because it meant something in both main markets, such as Sunbeam Talbot here and Talbot Lago there. 

Some models, such as the Avenger, started life as Hillmans, became Chryslers in 1976 when the old Rootes names were dropped, then became Talbots in 1980. 

[AnthonyG]

On 23/09/2025 at 00:47, warren t claim said:

I don't recall ever seeing a single Lada in Canada back in the mid 80s when I lived there. Quite a lot of Ford stuff though. Capris, Mk1 Fiestas and Mk3 Cortinas. BL stuff was mainly Jags and sports cars but I'd see the occasional SD1. 

I was surprised to see a few Fiat 131s roaming the streets though. 

The Capri was a really popular ‘captive import’ for North American Ford dealers in the 1970s, and the Fiesta was designed with both Europe and North America in mind. America got the Cortina Mk1&2 (and earlier British models like the Anglia) through the ‘English Ford’ line which bigger dealers carried alongside the regular Dearborn cars. America didn’t get the Cortina Mk3 as presumably they didn’t want to queer the pitch for the Pinto. Also around this time Ford USA was getting very peed off with supply issues of both cars and parts from Ford GB due to strikes. As a result all North American Capris, which were sold via Lincoln Mercury dealers, were German built. 

I doubt there were any left by the mid 80s, as they were considered an all time lemon on the Canadian market, but the Viva HC estate and Firenza were sold as Pontiacs in the early 70s. 

[Richard_FM]

17 minutes ago, AnthonyG said:

Talbot was a Peugeot Group (PSA) rebranding of Chrysler UK/France cars. It was (re)created by PSA a year or so after they took control from Chrysler, picked from the vast range of defunct marque names PSA had access to, and they opted for Talbot because it meant something in both main markets, such as Sunbeam Talbot here and Talbot Lago there. 

Some models, such as the Avenger, started life as Hillmans, became Chryslers in 1976 when the old Rootes names were dropped, then became Talbots in 1980. 

In most export markets the Hillman cars were badged as Sunbeams, even the non-sporting models.