The best way to clean your pipe is to use the boiling water method. This can then be followed up with a mixture of mild detergent and water that will remove the smell of vinegar. The midsize Torino proved exceptionally popular in the early ’70s, then fell from favor once fuel economy became a pressing consumer concern. A direct reply to Chevrolet’s Vega, also new that year, it was smaller, less technically daring, less accommodating, and its performance and fuel economy were nothing special compared to that of many imports. It comprised upgraded interior appointments color-keyed to a special paint scheme crowned by a matching vinyl top. The Maverick kit, which was strictly for two-doors, included black paint accents, twin door mirrors, styled steel wheels, raised-white-letter tires, and special badging. Introduced during 1975, it was conceived as just a slightly larger Maverick using the same chassis and drivetrains. Introduced in early ’69, Maverick was much like the original Falcon in size, price, performance, and simplicity; even its basic chassis and powertrain were the same.

Bolstering Maverick’s appeal for ’71 was a notchback four-door on a 109.9-inch wheelbase (almost the same as the original Falcon’s), a sportier two-door called Grabber, and a newly optional 302 V-8 as an alternative to the 100-bhp 170 six. Luxury was further emphasized with a new LTD Brougham hardtop coupe, hardtop sedan, and four-door sedan. This explains why the Granada appeared on the four-door Maverick’s 109.9-inch wheelbase. Adroitly keyed to the changing market, Granada blended American-style luxury with the mock-Mercedes look then in vogue. More popular was the Luxury Decor Option (LDO), a 1973 package available for either body style through the end of the line. Yes, though you should only use a cream that specifically says it’s for your bikini line as the skin around that area is very sensitive. Designate one area as the “clean” section and the other as the “dirty” section. Though Pinto served Ford well in a difficult period, it will ­forever be remembered as what one wag called “the barbecue that seats four.” That refers to the dangerously vulnerable fuel tank and filler-neck design of 1971-76 sedan models implicated in a rash of highly publicized (and fatal) fires following rear-end collisions.

Like GM’s post-1967 intermediates, models divided along two wheelbases: 114-inch two-door hardtops and fastbacks (including semisporty GT variants) and 118-inch sedans and wagons. The triple bond is made up of one σ bond and two π bonds. Each bond has polarity (though not very strong). Granada was a far more rational proposition and one of Ford’s best-timed ideas of this decade. Arriving just below $2000 and backed by an aggressive but light-hearted ad campaign, this import-fighter scored an impressive 579,000 model-year sales, contributing greatly to Ford’s production ­victory over Chevy. Initially priced at $4437, the Elite didn’t sell as well as the Monte, though over 366,000 were built through 1976. After that point, a downsized, downpriced T-bird rendered it redundant. Though conceived around a traditional front-engine/rear-drive format, it was a big improvement over Maverick: clean-lined; sensibly boxy for good interior space on a shorter 105.5-inch wheelbase; lighter and thus thriftier than many expected. Symbolic of most everything wrong with Detroit at the time, these Torinos were needlessly out-sized, overweight, and thirsty, with limited interior room and soggy chassis.

The Cobra fastback coupe remained the most-exciting of this bunch, though its standard engine was downgraded to a 285-bhp version of the ubiquitous 351 small-block first seen for 1969. High-power and big-inch engines began disappearing at Ford and throughout Detroit in 1972. By 1980, only a mildly tuned 351 remained as an option for full-size Fords. The Torino Cobra returned as Ford’s “budget muscle car” with standard 360/375-bhp 429 V-8. Ford’s major 1971 announcement was the four-cylinder Pinto, a 2000-pound, 94.2-inch-wheelbase subcompact with fastback styling in two-door and Runabout three-door hatchback ­models. Maverick’s true successor bowed for 1978 with a name borrowed from Ford’s Australian subsidiary: Fairmont. Billed as the first FoMoCo car designed with the aid of computer analysis, the Fairmont (and its Zephyr twin at Mercury) was a common-sense car and pretty conventional. Nevertheless, Granada bridged a big market gap at a crucial time, appealing to both compact buyers with upscale aspirations and big-car owners now energy-conscious for the first time. Body-on-frame construction appeared for the first time, and dimensions ballooned close to those of late-’60s Galaxies and LTDs.