For information on the Australian Ford Landau see Ford Landau (Australia)

Ford Landau (Australia)

This is an article about a motor vehicle built in Australia. For the Ford Landau built in Brazil see Ford Landau.The Ford Landau is a motor vehicle which was produced by Ford Australia from 1973 to 1976....

Launched at the 1970 São Paulo Auto Show, the Ford Landau was a full-size car

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

, manufactured in Brazil from 1971 until 1983 by the Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...

 at their São Paulo

São Paulo

São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...

 facility. It became Ford's flagship in that country. It was based on the Ford Galaxie

Ford Galaxie

The Ford Galaxie was a full-size car built in the United States by the Ford Motor Company for model years 1959 through 1974. The name was used for the top models in Ford’s full-size range from 1959 until 1961, in a marketing attempt to appeal to the excitement surrounding the Space Race...

. After 1976, it gained more differences from the Galaxie and LTD, and featured the newly introduced 302 engine, a lighter 5.0L V8, and its radical restyling clearly resembling the 1965 Lincoln Continental

Lincoln Continental

The Lincoln Continental is an automobile which was produced by the Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company from 1939 to 1948 and again from 1956 to 2002...

.

American origin, Brazilian style

The Landau joined the existing models Galaxie 500 and LTD in the showrooms in 1976 as Ford's new top-of-the-range model. All three models featured the new 302 CID engine with 4942 cc and 198 hp, which replaced the heavier 292, but the Galaxie and LTD kept their design elements from the American original. Initially the Landau offered in the single colour scheme “Prata Continental” (Continental Silver), an exclusive metallic clearcoat. The vinyl roof was painted silver coloured too.

Curiosities

On June 25, 1979, during the oil crisis in Brazil, Ford includes in Galaxie/ Landau range an 302 CID engine with higher compression ratio (11,0:1 vs. 7,8:1), and that made use of true dual exhaust, aluminum intake manifold and nickel-covered carburetor, to accept the use of Ethanol

Ethanol

Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a...

 (sugar cane alcohol). The first car was a present to the Brazilian president at the time, João Figueiredo.

From the total of 77,647 Galaxie versions built in Brazil in 16 years of market presence, 2492 units ran with alcohol as fuel.

Production figures

• 1971 – Unknown exactly.
• 1972 – Unknown exactly.
• 1973 – 3539.
• 1974 – 3720.
• 1975 – 2911.
• 1976 – 5556.
• 1977 – 2422.
• 1978 – 3903.
• 1979 – 4412 gasoline; 22 ethanol.
• 1980 – 1390 gasoline; 1581 ethanol.
• 1981 – 538 gasoline; 587 ethanol.
• 1982 – 929 gasoline; 270 ethanol.
• 1983 – 93 gasoline; 22 ethanol.

Until 1980, includes Ford LTD.