With wheelbases of either 114" or 118", the Gran Torino's platform represented one of the largest "midsize" cars ever marketed, with the 1976 wagon boasting a whopping total length of 223.2 inches.

The Gran Torino sedan, in fact, was the most popular mid-size Ford for 1976. The cheapest 1976 Torino was the base two-door hardtop, at $4172 (about $23,450 in today’s dollars). 34,518 were built.

As such, it directly competed with the similarly-proportioned Monte Carlo favorably, with Ford producing 459,057 1973 Torino models according to VIN data recorded on GranTorinoSport.org — of ...