Confession time: I have a real soft spot for the 1971-72 Ford LTD. Yes, the very same Bunkie-beaked Fords that Paul famously whipped while working for Towson Ford as a lot boy in the early 1970s, but cut me some slack: I was three years old when my parents got their new 1971 Galaxie 500. For me, it was love at first sight.
Love may be blind, but it isn’t stupid. It didn’t take long for my wandering eyes to realize that some Fords were even more special than our special (to me) family Galaxie. In particular, those that had a full-width light bar between the brake lights where our Galaxie had but a simple filler panel. These three lamp cars were emblazoned with the letters L-T-D. What exactly did this cryptic triptych mean? Who knew? Who cared? Certainly not me.
I saw the rear ends of these LTDs a lot because it seemed like they were always passing our Galaxie on the highway. Young me thought that the LTDs must somehow be allowed to travel faster than my dad’s Galaxie, but I now know it was mostly due to the sedate pace at which my dad drove.
1972 Ford LTD
Whatever nascent LTD flame I may have had burning inside of me, it didn’t take Ford long to extinguish it. The 1972 model brought a rear end that looked a bit too much like a Dodge Polara. LTDs now had a simple reflector where there had been functioning lights the year before.
1973 Ford LTD
The 1973 refresh brought battering ram 5 mph bumpers that all but eliminated the Bunkie Beak that I found so enthralling.
Which brings us to our featured car. The 1975 model year brought several changes to the full-sized Fords. For starters, the Galaxie 500 name was now gone, meaning that exactly 20 years after it first appeared, the debasement of the LTD name was complete and total. Everything from base taxi and police spec Fords to the most button-tufted brougham was now an LTD.
1975 also brought the LTD a styling refresh so generic and bland to the point of being non-descript. To add insult to injury, Ford quit doing any annual styling refreshes on the LTD, leaving this anodyne design to soldier on unchanged for four more years. While most cars got rectangular headlights by the 1976 or 1977 model year, the LTD would have been one of the few cars left sporting the old-fashioned-looking round headlights in 1978. Indeed, if it wasn’t for the “arrest me” red color of the feature car, I likely wouldn’t have photographed it at all.
Properly identifying these 1975-1978 LTDs can be perplexing even for experienced car spotters, as running changes were minimal. Still, I was able to identify this example as a 1977 model based on a few minor details. The presence of an 85 mph speedo meant that this car was a 1977 or later model, while 1977 was the last year for the “brocade” style fabric on the interior of this example. 1977 it is, then.
Car & Driver’s David E. Davis Jr. famously called Detroit interiors of this vintage “whores drawers.” Really, I can’t hope to top DED’s mic-drop comment, so I’ll just give you a closer look at these particular drawers.
The flossier LTDs sported hidden headlights (perhaps to hide their shameful round headlights), but these were never common even when I was a kid. Most LTDs were sold like this example – air conditioning and maybe a few other options sprinkled on. If you wanted something fancier, the Lincoln-Mercury dealership was just up the street, after all.
While we generically refer to these cars as being from the Brougham Epoch, 1977 was actually the first year the LTD lineup lacked a Brougham model at the top since the LTD Brougham first appeared in 1970, Ford having discontinued the LTD Brougham trim level after 1976. Perhaps sensing the inevitable “brougham backlash” or the onset of “brougham fatigue,” the top LTD in 1977 was simply called the “LTD Landau.” Also gone that year were the rear fender skirts (also seldom ordered as I recall), although the popup headlight covers were still on offer for the few still willing to pony up for them.
But really, these changes just amounted to little more than the movement of deck chairs. What chance did this moribund 1977 LTD (whose bones dated back to the Johnson administration) have up against Chevrolet that year, the first year of their newly downsized B-body, and arguably GM’s second-greatest hit ever? Even my nine-year-old self knew it was game over for the LTD, and I became (for a brief time, anyways) a firm acolyte of the Mark of Excellence.
The new-for 1978 GM G-bodies landed a second one-two punch against Ford, this time the target being the bloated, Torino-based LTD II. That same year my Dad left the Ford fold for Chevrolet when he got his brand new 1978 Monte Carlo. By that time, the 1971 Galaxie was thoroughly used up and rusted out, seven years being about all you could expect a car to last on the salt-strewn streets of Ohio back then. He had even had the rust repaired and the car repainted a few years earlier, but the rust soon returned with a vengeance.
IIRC the Galaxie name dated to 1959, the LTD to 1965. These late ’70s Fords were the epitome of Brougham Bland, but at least they were far better to drive than my Dad’s gawd-awful 1972 Galaxie 500, what a pig that thing was.
Oh and this sedate 4 dr looks totally dumb with those faux-racer wheels. WTH?
What’s wrong with you? That’s a sharp look!
I was going to say, they’re just black steel wheels with trim rings, they might even be original to the car with only the wheel covers missing
I like wws and stock tires and wheel covers on 4 drs like this, trying to make one look sporty is just putting lipstick on a pig. Why bother.
Had a ’77 for years!! Spray painted black 4 door with moon disc hubcaps! So much room for speakers!!
I have a slightly soft spot (perhaps mushy, as in sentimental, is a better term) for the ‘72 Galaxie as it was our first Driver Training car and thus the first car I drive legally.
In the second pic, I couldn’t help noticing the design of the bumper on the Galaxie harkens back to the 1960 model, with the indentations on each side mirroring the tail lights above…
One helluva car but and with the 400-2V, a good thing it was a company car.
10 MPG city/highway
These big Ford’s really reflect the rapidly waning interest in full size cars, the 71s are full of ambition, like them or not, but the steady watering down as the run continued is evident. What frustrates me as a fan of old cars is when you look to the past versions like the 63 Galaxie, a design most people agree was a high point, or maybe the 65 or 66, these great looking only lasted a scant single model year, and when Ford effectively threw in the towel and stopped with annual styling changes they stuck with the blandest design they ever came up with. And that goes for the Panther era too – the 92-97s were fairly good looking, but nope, stick with the blocky 98 design for 15 years!
I like the 73-74s best of the 71-78 Ford’s though, it was a meaningful sheetmetal refresh and while they’re not exciting to look at I think they’ve got a handsome look, and I appreciate the headlights still being integrated into the grille texture. The 75-78 looks too much like a Pontiac Catalina in the front, those chrome headlight bezels scream cheap, and the vertical taillights were just plain generic, it seems like every other 70s car had them
“Everything (in 1975) from base taxi and police spec Fords to the most button-tufted brougham was now an LTD.”
Our 1975 full-size Ford patrol cars (with the 460 engine) were not labeled LTD. They were labeled “Custom 500.” I don’t know what the next years would have been labeled, in 1976 the cars were Torinos, in 1977, Pontiacs, in 1978 Dodge Monacos.
Custom 500 reintroduced mid year 1975, probably in response to the recession. However, starting in 1976, I believe it was fleet only
Custom 500 survived in Canada into the Panther era, I believe through 1981 to compete with the similarly Canada-only Chevrolet Bel Air. Unlike the Bel Air which was a low-end trim level not sold in the US, the Custom 500 was essentially the same car sold in the States as the LTD S.
I remember how disappointed I was when the 73 full-size Fords appeared. Bloated sheetmetal, wheezy engines.
I liked the 71-71 full size Fords and enjoyed a 72 Country Squire as a passenger in my friend’s parents wagon.
A few years later at the beginning of my radio career I bought a used 71 Custom with 302 V8. Basic transportation it was; AM radio, power steering and whitewall tires. Great highway car though as I worked in small town radio and drove into the big city now and then. The girlfriend could stretch out for a nap. The radio scanner fit nicely under the instrument panel. Actually drove the Custom to California and back for one vacation.
Two years later I bought a used RCMP car, a 75 Custom 500 with 460 V8. Hard on gas but again, great for driving long distances. It was later sold in central British Columbia.
There are times I do wish I had that 71 Custom, great bargain for $1,500. Yes it looked very much like the car in the picture.
OH MY!
I like this Ford style very much!
There is an awesome clean unfussiness with this design. The shapes are simple, straight and purposeful. This is why I usually like Chevrolets. GM always had a great way of making Chevrolets look classy, clean yet stylish.
The fancier versions of this Ford are garish. The hidden headlamps with the gew-gaws on each looking like tufted vinyl padding is unsightly. I lived through these years and most of the Fords were overdone Brougham sleds. What is so great about this particular car is how the colors and simplicity emphasize it proportions. It doesn’t even have those nasty vinyl roofs! Such a simple, plain, yet enormous beast. It is very handsome!
This car is SWEET. Love the wheels. It looks really fine to me! I would love to have this exact car!
> The hidden headlamps with the gew-gaws on each looking like tufted vinyl padding is unsightly.
That feature was on the Mercury Marquis actually; the LTD Landau had a chrome and plastic filigree insert instead. What looked like tufted vinyl padding with a crest pushing into it was actually a shaped piece of hard plastic.
Indeed, I think it might have been molded as part of the headlight cover since it was always body-colored even when a contrasting vinyl top with color-coordinated rub strip inserts and “padded” insert between the taillights was ordered (which was often on those big Mercs).
Memory lane…almost every branch of my grandparents’ generation in the family owned an LTD or Grand Marquis (there was that one uncle that bought the LTDII, but it was OK, he also had a Ranchero GT). But my experience was the opposite on the headlights–I almost never saw one with bare headlights, they were all the covered light models. One of my best friends in high school (late 80s) hooned around in a loaded ’78. He loved that car.
When I think of some of the worst examples of domestic malaise-era cars, that simply could not withstand the long term day-in and day-out abuse of typical American and Canadian drivers, I think of these. They often showed their age, fast. And when such large cars (increasingly out-of-step with the times), show their wear and tear, a comparison to a dinosaur becomes apt.
“Whore’s drawers” is so perfect to describe that lacy, red brocade upholstery. And now that phrase is sticking. And I’m also glad you mentioned the ’72 rear styling as having Polara vibes, as I was going to mention how Mopar it looked.
And yes, it’s like Ford stuck with the most anodyne styling between 1975 – ’78, with minimal changes. I’ll always have a soft spot for these, as my grandparents had one in mint green, which was one of my earliest car memories of them.
Great feature today.
I only recall DED Jr. describing interior upholstery as “whore’s drawers” in a counterpoint on a 1981 Cadillac Sedan de Ville review. I was a young teen when I read that and for some reason had never heard underwear referred to as “drawers”; the only drawers I knew of were the kind that extended from a dresser. I wondered if the bedrooms in brothels had dresser drawers lined in red button-tufted crushed velour…
Something about this bright red, base model big Ford makes me think of a fire chief’s car although that would surely have had vinyl seats.
Even at my age, I am still constantly amazed on how you guys put up with so much salt and rust back in the day. It is still not unusual to see a 40 or even 50 year old car cruise the streets out here on the West coast. Our 77 Country Squire is the only one I’ve ever seen with a factory sunroof. Was ordered new by a Southern California Ford dealer owner and had ASC install it.
I was a dumb sub teen who decided to abscond with my dad’s 1970 1972 country sguire station wagons crashed both at over 100 mph,so stupid would have loved to have rocked them in highschool having big car with plenty of room to watch the drive in movie with my girlfriend, ended up with a pinto 4 speed 2.3 hooked that up with some mods could get 3rd gear scratch solid burnouts 1st and 2nd, but would rather have the luxury big fords, later bought 5 Mark v over the years never dented or hurt anything, still working on finding a country squire wagon in decent shape
These have always been challenging for me to love. It seemed that as the visual excitement seeped out the quality got better. The 71s were beautiful, but the 77-78 models were far better cars.
I agree that these were some of the blandest things out there – but they look best in lower trim levels and (especially) without the vinyl roof. Also, I had never noticed the Dodge Polara look on the 72, but now I cannot unsee it.
The one thing I liked about Fords of that period was the way Ford put the window cranks up fairly high on the door so that you didn’t need to bend way over to roll windows up or down. The GM cars in my life mounted them quite low, and they were (to me) far less ergonomically successful.
Ergonomics (IMHO) always seemed to have been Ford’s thing. Every Ford I’ve ever owned from my own ‘73 LTD – thru the T-Bird years – all the way to my current 2007 Mustang have or have had excellent ergonomics. Everything is right where it’s supposed to be to reach it while driving.
Various other makes over the years, especially the GM cars, were not as good.
I will say however that the Honda Civic and the new to us CX-5 are very good, although I didn’t like how far back the cup holders are on the Mazda.
While they were new and exciting, I never liked the adaptation of square headlights to a current design. They should have waited for the next generation to adapt. The only exception I can recall where I thought it improved the front end was the Cougar, Regal and Cutlass. As well, the ‘75-‘78 LTD is my favorite design of the era as long as it wasn’t too broughamed out. This car is perfect.
My Dad bought a new ’73 Ranch Wagon, trading in his ’69 Country Squire on it. Kind of bad timing, he had just bought a new pop-top camper early in ’73, and had a hitch put on the Country Squire, the guy at the camper store gave him some grief about bad planning since he then had to get a hitch installed on the ’73 Ranch Wagon.
The Ranch Wagon was much fuller optioned than the Country Squire, having the trailer towing package, power locks (but wind-up windows) our first air conditioned car, and first car with AM/FM stereo (radio only, no cassette nor 8-track). It was a metallic brown, but the paint was really nice looking (some people dislike brown cars, but I’m not among them). It had the 400/2v.
It was a great highway car, but of course didn’t get good gas mileage, which of course my Father responded to the next year…by getting rid of his standard shift Renault R10 in favor of an automatic small car…which got worse gas mileage than the R10 but my mother could drive in place of the Ranch Wagon. Probably not worth the effort, but back then we were also looking at shortages, where you couldn’t get any gas, so having a small car with OK gas mileage was attractive due to uncertainty.
We had the Ranch Wagon up to ’78, when my Dad traded it for a very nice ’78 Caprice Classic wagon with the 305. Unlike the Renault, I did get to drive the Ranch Wagon, mostly on trips (I spelled my Dad…though it was Mom’s car mostly during the week, she never drove it on the long trips…I was otherwise his navigator keeping track of maps when we went to some unfamiliar place. Got my learner’s permit right after the 1st gas crisis, by then the Renault was traded for an automatic small car. I remember the Ranch Wagon having really audibly loud turn signals….the relays (maybe due to trailer towing package) clicked loudly, you wouldn’t forget your turn signals were on due to the noise. He bought the 6 passenger model since he didn’t need the 2 extra seats and really was good at packing what he called the under floor storage “the well” so there was less stuff up top in wagon area so my younger sisters could sleep or keep separated from each other.
Now that I’ve aged, I’m probably the target audience for these, but they no longer make them. Appreciate them for what they are, a comfortable car for the family. People call these gas guzzlers, but I’m sure even pickup trucks and vans of this era got the same or worse fuel mileage…engines have gotten much more efficient since.
One thing that’s interesting to me is that Ford seemed to lag GM (kept even with Chrysler) keeping its largest cars for a few years longer than GM….in the case of the Crown Victoria, more than a few years (from 1996 to 2011) vs GM. I’m sure they were predictably good sellers particularly for the older crowd, the younger ones seemed to dismiss cars in favor of trucks. Trucks have undeniable utility, but don’t think you can equal the ride of a car, so the old bones wish they still offered a car you didn’t have to bend down low to get into or out of.
LTD IS LIMITED TRIM DECOR . WHT. RIGHT? LOL
I couldn’t think of much to say when this piece first came out, even though I have memories of one that was in our family for a short while when I was a kid. Mom had a navy blue 1977 LTD Landau for a year or 18 months to fill in while her 1979 Firebird was off the road for an engine transplant. The Ford was powered by a 460, and its paint was that one shade of blue that probably oxidized minutes after it left the paint booth at the assembly plant. Nevertheless, the car was very blue. The body, the vinyl roof, the seats, carpet, headliner, steering wheel- all blue.
My parents were divorced, and the house Mom ended up buying was a block and a half from Dad’s. They still hated each other at the time, and I remember a particular episode where they engaged in a screaming match as I was sitting in the LTD out front. The 460 idled with a peculiar, slow and rhythmic “chuff-chuff-chuff” that you could feel through the seat, but most sounds of the outside world were well muffled. I could still hear their voices, so they were probably pretty mad.
The Ford wasn’t a particularly great car, and it seemed to have more than its share of problems for being ~12 years old and appearing like it was loved by its original owner, but it ultimately did its job. I remember the heater core failing while we were stopped at a red light on a damp winter night; the defroster vents immediately reversed function and blew fog onto the glass. This started Grandpa on a quest to make one of those lousy stopleak products actually stop a leak instead of stop up a cooling system, because nobody wants to replace a heater core. You all know how this turned out. Starter solenoid failure? Check …or “Click”. Lighting grounds seemed to come and go of their own accord. One thing that surprisingly did hold up were the vacuum operated headlight doors- everybody remembers Ford-Lincoln-Mercurys from this era staring you down with eyelids half open by morning (they defaulted open, so a minor leak in the system caused the doors to not stay closed) but this one worked correctly. I still remember the quiet “pchssssssssssss” sound the headlight switch made when you turned the lights on, then the slightly delayed appearance of the headlamps lighting the way ahead as the doors dropped out of the way. One always opened slightly ahead of the other.
Having grown up in a pro-GM family, I started with a prejudice against the LTD, and I never did grow to love it during Mom’s ownership. As I’ve grown and my tastes have diversified, I can pick out some features that I like. I have always liked softer riding, comfort oriented suspensions, and years of experience have taught me that for every 10 miles of twisty road that I feel like becoming one with, there will be 10,000 more that I’d rather float over without being told that I just ran over a cigarette butt. These cars excel at that. The low compression 460 was mostly a device that was capable of drinking more fuel to get you from point A to point B than the guy in the lane next to you, but you kind of get the point of it when you need to drag a heavy ass car from being stopped on the side of a freeway to a point where you can merge back into the flow of traffic… or execute a 45-70mph pass on a two lane road. For lack of a better descriptor, a car so equipped is something like a “road locomotive”. A fuel swilling pig to be sure, but one that’s not going to be caught pulling a grade at 48mph in the slow lane with your foot smashed to the carpet.
Last thing I’ll add is that the 1975-78 Fords sure do look different from the front when you compare the models with hidden headlamps to ones without. The ones with the exposed lamps look an order of magnitude cheaper, and the rectangular bezels appear like an afterthought. The filigreed divider isn’t making it look any richer. Go Brougham or go home.
If you listen closely, you can hear them rusting. American precision engineering to the “eighth of an Imperial inch.” Close enough, I suppose. Ugly, lumbering, inefficient behemoths from a ugly bygone epoch but really fun to look at. An era where cathedral ceilings were a factory option.