At least here in California, any U.S. made car from '71 - '74 suffered from poor performance due to their suffocating anti-smog systems.  That's on top of  lousy fit and finish and manufacturer arrogance even though Hondas, Toyotas and Datsuns were stealing market share at a steadily increasing rate.

Granada's were OK. Fairmonts, not so much.

I liked the Dodge Diplomat/Chrysler LeBaron cars...

-- Dave

My grandparents had a 1978 Ford Granada with a 302 V8, C6 trans, and limited slip 9" rear end through 1992 which was replaced with a Lincoln Towncar. It was pretty decent vehicle for being smack dab in the malaise era and was comfortable for what it was. I can still hear that loud buzzer 3 decades later, lol. Also, the killer door locks were interesting. Pull the door handle up and the door lock automatically disengaged and opened the door. Convenient for an adult but a late term external abortion option for children.

I still have my 1964 Plymouth Valiant with the legendary Slant Six motor, and the Torqueflite automatic transmission. I bought it from the original owner around 1976. Made a lot of trips in that Plymouth - down to LA, up to the ski country, even to Portland, Oregon and back. And of course to commute to work and back for about 20 years. I learned how to work on cars with that Valiant.

My dad bought a pre-owned 1969 Continental Mark III, literally in the dark.  He went to see it at night and bought it on the spot.  Don't ask me what he was thinking, but he clearly wanted a Mark III badly.  It was the classic color combo from the the full width magazine ads:  burgundy with a black vinyl top.  When he got it home, I immediately noticed it had a Thunderbird emblem on the steering wheel.  It also had eliminator pipes that did away with two of the four mufflers, and had wheel covers off of a '70 or '71 model, which were entirely different looking from the '69 covers.  One day we were out in the car and spotted a Mark IV on a small used car lot nearby.  It had '69 Mark III wheel covers, which looked hideous on it, so we stopped and proposed a trade.  The dealer didn't hesitate to make the switch on the spot.

That Mark III drove beautifully and rode like a cloud, but it was otherwise sketchy.  Once when it was parked on the driveway, which was fairly long, my dad started it and while it was sitting there running at a fast idle from the cold start, it popped out of Park and into reverse (automatically releasing the parking brake), backed down the driveway at a pretty good clip, started heading into an arc and barely missed the front of the house, proceeded across the front lawn and if not for a young Mulberry tree in the parking strip, which it hit with a loud cracking sound (the tree survived with a scar that remained for a several years), the car would have headed into the street to raise havoc and likely trigger some serious insurance claims by the neighbors.

There was no visible bumper damage.  My dad was working out of town frequently at that time, and he instructed me to sell the car.  Some guy came along and I got him to pay more than my dad did for the car.  Apparently he wanted a Mark III really badly too.  I wonder when, where and how that cycle finally ended.

Yeah Bill, I remember the news stories about Ford's rogue reversals, so when it did happen it was for sure alarming, but I chalked it up to another statistic that fortunately didn't require reporting. 

The '60s Ford products with shifters on the column all had issues.  My dad's '65 Continental required holding the shift lever up to the top of the Park position in order to start it.  I followed instructions in the shop manual to adjust the switch at the bottom of the steering column, which was an exercise in contortion and was apparently written under the assumption that everybody had three hands to hold a contact post in place while sliding the entire switch assembly and tightening down two hard to reach screws.  No matter how many times I adjusted the switch mechanism and tightened it down, the problem would recur after a while.

The '69 Mark's shifter was a lot easier to adjust.  No screws involved.  Just zip a plastic tab on the switch assembly with your finger and allow it to snap back.  And the intervals between the adjustments were much longer.  Your mom's Falcon probably employed that same system.

Most of GM's early automatic transmissions from 1939-1964 (Dual band Hydramatic, Dual coupling Hydramatic, Dynaflow, ect) had reverse at the bottom so one could easily shift from reverse to low gear in order to rock a vehicle out of the snow. They universally adopted the PRND21 with the TH400 in 1964 and soon after, the TH350 in 1969 although the Powerglide was using it way back in the early 50's.

This may be where the Torqueflite transmission has the edge. The controls are located on the left side of the dashboard. There's a big lever that you bring down to put it into park, and it has a detente to keep it there. I've never heard of a Torqueflite transmission popping out of park/neutral into a moving gear. Sounds like Ford screwed up big time.

My first job out of university was in a hospital research lab. One of the other lab workers purchased a new Pacer (around 1976) and she was very excited about it. I was not so impressed but didn't say anything negative to her about it. I think after I left that lab, I heard that she had sold it a few years later. Don't remember why, but it sounds like it was a motor issue.

Our families cars from 70 to 80.  We started out as a single car suburban family with a

196x purple pontiac, no idea what it was

we got a baby blue 197x Buick Skylark. 

Then a 1974(?) 2 door mid blue with white vinyl roof LeSabre I think it was, which was a terrible car. My mother was literally crying at the dealership service center because of the issues.  That was the last GM they ever bought.

Then became a two vehicle household with the purchase of a red with white side paneled Ford F-100 or F-150 Lariat with a truck cap in fibre glas.  God I hated this thing.  But with the Buick it was all set for the bi-cential: red, white, and blue (and white).

Then the buick was ditched and a 1977 mid green Thunderbird.  Everything on this was green.  Didn't care for it either because we were a family of 4+ yet it only had 2 doors and with no operable windows in back and their smoking.   UGGGH. It had velour, AC, but I don't think it had electric windows.

Then in 80 the car was traded for a brown Ford E-100 cargo van when they started their business.  It was bol with no AC , 5 speed man. and nothing in the back. This was terrible because wtf?  Where are passengers supposed to sit?  Literally we had to put lawn chairs in the back and that was a disaster as soon as they went around a corner.  God, i remember riding to her mothers who was in the hospital and dying from cancer and they were crying and trying to convince me to come inside because it was probably going to be the last time I'd see her (which it would have been).  When we got home I told them I was never riding in that thing again.  It was obviously too dangerous.

They just did not think.

Then, one summer night, somebody (I know who they were...down the block) vandalised both vehicles by pulling the sleeping bags partially out of the back of the truck and lighting them on fire.  They also stuffed grass in the gas tank of the van.

The stupid cap was ruined (really thank goodness) so it came off and all four of us, plus the dog had to squeeze into the front of the truck to go anywhere.  Horrible.

The van wasn't drivable.  Had to be flatbedded to the dealership so they could do whatever.  The truck just went in to have the tailgate stripped and repainted. 

Thank goodness for insurance.

It was the suburban 70s.   lol.  Could have been worse I guess.