This very cherry 1970 LTD Country Squire posted at the Cohort by Daniel Lucy reminded me how hugely popular these were in the late 60s and early 70s. This was the preferred way to haul all those baby boomer kids. Baby boomer births peaked in 1957 (4.3 million), which meant that there were a lot of them that wanted to be taken to the mall or pool by this time. Including me and my first girl friend.
It got me wondering: just what exactly was the peak year for the Country Squire? Care to take a guess?
During the 50s, the Country Squire was a bit pricey for most average families, and sales started in the first half of that decade in the teens (thousands). In 1956, they topped 20k for the first time, and in 1960 they hit 30k. Then CS sales started really taking off; in 1964, they hit 47k; in 1965, 55k; in 1966 they shot up to 70k. The CS was mirroring the strong rise in middle class incomes.
By 1968, it was 92k; in 1969, a whopping 129k. Sales actually eased a bit in 1970, reflecting a mild recession in 1969-1970. By 1971, they shot up to 131k. 1972 eased a bit to 121k, but in 1973 they crested at 143k. Like so many things in America’s economy and income statistics, that was a peak year before the troubles set in. 1974 sales crashed to 64k, and 1975 dropped further to 42k. There was a slight uptick to 47k in 1976. Unfortunately, my Encyclopedia does not have CS breakouts for 1977 and 1978; Presumably, they were probably in a similar range. By 1979, with the new downsized Panther platform car, the CS sold a mere 30k. The 1980-1981 gas crisis and recession took it down to four digits, followed by a modest increase for a couple of years, peaking again in the 20k range, but still a shadow of its former wooden glory.
I prefer these ’69-’70 models over the ’71 and up successors (you probably knew that already). The ’69-’70 seemed to me to be put together a bit more solidly, and didn’t seem to float quite as bad as the later ones either. I did have a lot of seat time in both ’70s and ’71s, as it was right when I worked as a car jockey at Towson Ford. I remember a relatively rare 429 CS, and it picked up its Di-Noc skirts quite willingly coming down York Road from Timonium.
Except for the front end, these could so easily be mistaken for a GM product. Ford was trying hard to adapt GM’s Coke-bottle look a bit more organically than it had been able to on their ’66-’68 big cars. The ’69 was an all-new car, and with a 121″ wheelbase, these were big, wide and roomy. I have happy memories of sitting four across the front seats of a ’70 LTD coupe, a Towson Ford service department loaner that I “loaned” to myself on a number of memorable weekends the summer of 1971. Those evening outings to remote parts of the Gunpowder River included several all-new experiences for me.
If that had been a Country Squire, it would have been my personal CS peak experience. As it is, I have rather less happy memories of riding in a black ’67 CS with Nancy Stange and her family to some swimming club in eight grade. I somehow got corralled into being her designated first boy friend, and I played along for a while, until greener pastures presented themselves. Well, she did teach me how to kiss properly in the back seat of that big hot wagon in the parking lot, so I should have been more grateful, to her and the Country Squire.
So you’re saying you left Nancy at the curb? I think many of us have fond memories of these in a similar vein, one of the advantages to growing up on this continent rather than one with (much) smaller cars or (shudder) public transportation options 🙂 …
I like all the CS versions, no matter the year, my friends and I spent a lot of time in the early and mid ’80’s riding around in ones owned by several (slightly older) friends, there were many late nights with much either full throttle and/or sideways action, especially if there was any water on the streets involved. Good times, those.
I would’ve guessed a few years earlier, Paul. With the peak birth year being 1957, I’d have guessed 1973 just a tad late for peak CS. But then, 1972 was one of low spots in constant-dollar gas prices.
I’m from a Ford family–and so perhaps not objective–but I have always loved these cars, fake wood and all, and would happily give one a spot in my garage.
If I could only own one year (not pre-DiNoc, of course), it’s probably be a bit earlier; somehow those ’63s in Wimbledon White caught my eye at an impressionable age:
It’s relatively more economics than demographics. Incomes were advancing strongly right up to 1973, and folks were treating themselves by buying nicer cars. There was a very noticeable increase in sales of higher trim cars like the LTD and such. It was the Great Brougham Epoch, and folks were getting into the spirit of it.
This vintage of full-size Ford wagons was awesome. The 1970 Country Squire I owned during the mid-1980’s was used primarily as a winter car in the boonies of upstate NY where I lived at the time. I bought it from my younger brother for $50; which was double what he had paid for it several years earlier when he rescued it from the back yard of a friend.
Equipped with the 390 2V engine and a set of LR78-15 retread snow tires, the Squire would go any where, any time, any weather. It always started on the first try — even on -20 degree mornings (when the vinyl seats were as hard as a park bench). Six passengers fit with ease. When you went on a ski trip there was no need for a ski rack — just throw ’em in the back. Sadly, the frame finally rotted so badly that I couldn’t get anyone to let it pass New York state inspection. It was a sad day when I drove it to the junkyard.
Yes, the wagons had a lot more weight on the back, so they were they best thing for snow back in the day, except maybe a Saab or VW.
I drove one of these as a “loaner” in the mid 70s. Engine was a 429, but the car was very difficult to drive thanks to a gas pedal that was more like a toggle switch….connected to a VERY stiff throttle return spring.
A family down the street got a ’70 identical to the featured car with a 429. After 11 years, one of the daughters took the car to college. Parked on the street, someone sideswiped the driver’s side with heavy damage to the doors and “B” pillar. She drove it back home (500 miles or more), where it was a total. I then saw the car a couple of months later lashed on a flatbed truck, stripped of powertrain and wheels. A sad sight from that day in spring 1970 when it sat in their driveway shiny and new.
A co-worker of mine had a string of Country Squires. First a ’65, followed by a ’72, then a ’73 and a ’70. His MO was to find a one owner car for sale in the affluent areas around where we lived, fully depreciated with around 100K miles on them. The ’65 was his favorite, followed by the ’72. I think he put at least 75K miles more on each before something major forced him to move on. He loved that ’65.
Who wouldn’t?
That is one pretty wagon.
Ford always did fake wood the best, with the fiberglass “ash” complementing the “mahogany” panels. They really needed to be garage kept though because the sun was murder on them. It was very common to see the “wood” all bleached white after 5 years or so. But didn’t they look grand if they were cared for, especially in black or white.
A Country Squire was always a hospitable sight —
welcoming & friendly …. indicating fun up around the bend.
It was the official car of our summer camp. The charcteristic sound of the mufflered V-8 led to anticipation of all manner of unpredictable high-jinx & tomfoolery.
My friend’s dad had a series of CS’s for our trips to little league, altho rear-facing seats made me nauseous.
Meantime, my dad had a series of Olds 98’s ….. great fun in their own right ….
My mom got a new ’69 CS (I think it had a 390 CID) on trade in for her 1965 Vista Cruiser. This was an odd choice because my dad had not purchased a Ford (mostly Olds 88’s) since he had had so much trouble with his then new ’58 Ford sedan.
Our CS looked like the car in this pic. Only memorable difference being the grille, hubcaps*1, and the front side marker w/o the CID call out (can’t quite tell if the color is white or cream, ours was a creamy yellow color.)
Per my mom, yellow was the right color because that car was a lemon. It’s problems were mostly confined to cold start (also in warm ambient temps) and drivability. My mother became expert at opening the hood, removing the lid to the air cleaner, and inserting a screwdriver into the butterfly to hold it open a bit. After cranking, where a flame would shoot out of the carb (and I was much entertained in the process) the car would run. My mom finally tired of this routine and put her foot down. Took my Dad’s ’65 Polara (inherited from his late father) and made my dad deal with the fire-breathing CS.
After the dealer failed to remedy the problem, my dad’s patience wore thin, and my dad no doubt huffing and puffing, the car made a trip to the Ford T&C dyno lab (my 6-yo self recalls this being in the rear NE corner of the FP&SD building on Middlebelt north of Plymouth, I was about 6, and didn’t know my way around very well then). The Ford boffins corrected the problem, just in time for my dad to trade it in to Roger Penske on a new ’72 Chevy Kingswood 400 CID (this being a darkish brown to stay away from the lemon theme.)
Another CS thing that stands out is that the sexy tail lamps overhung the rear bumper by a considerable margin (as well depicted in the photo), and were thus easily vulnerable to damage; smth my mother verified backing up one day.
This was the first car my parents had with cruise control (in those days, 2 large rocker switches*2 on the horn pad, the left being off/on and right being coast/set, with no resume feature) and I still recall my dad instructing my mom how to activate it. Unless there was something unusual and different from later systems, my dad instructed her wrong. Dad understood that you had to press both on and set simultaneously (something that seemed illogically complex and fiddly to my 1st grade car nut self); I always got a kick watching my dad set it on trips because it looked not unlike Homer Simpson using the tongs to move radioactive samples. Sometimes, my otherwise intelligent and quite capable father would curse the car because he had inadvertently hit the set button a millisecond sooner than the on button and the cruise “failed” to set. (Dad didn’t tick the cruise option box again until around 1976.)
The aforementioned ’72 Kingswood, with its groovy clamshell rear door (my dad did not spring for the optional power lower section as neighbor Don Howard did with Cathy Hiward’s similar brown ’73 Pontiac Safari 455 CID) was a step-up in terms of tailgate simplicity too as Ford’s 3-Way Magic Tailgate was not exactly poke yoke user proofed. There was one time that somebody failed to fully latch the door for one mode before using the other mode (IIRC, the door was ajar and the inner handle was pulled – maybe by me?) When this happened, the door fell off, only constrained from complete escape by the torsion spring and the wiring harness for the electric rear window. My dad had to secure it to the car with a couple of coat hangers (I don’t recall why it was not possible to rehang it, but possibly the lower left hinge or torsion bar were damaged) until the dealer could fix it.
Other than these issues, together with our CS, we had three Easter trips to Florida (Sun and Fun in Sarasota FTW!) pulling a Coleman popup camper, with my folks and 3 sisters; I often was the one using the dual facing rear seat in the back.
I recall being fascinated by the precision of the (die-cast) movable vane assembly of the central a/c vents (and the use of a/c on the temp selector. IIRC, the panel also had “Air Conditioning” written on it in script.)
About a year and a half after my mom got her CS, our next door neighbor Dan O’Donahue bought his wife Rose Ann a used 1970 CS, identical to the car pictured (except for the luxury turbine wheel covers and (IIRC Kelly Springfield) twin stripe whitewalls. So for about one summer, the first two houses one saw when entering Kimberly sub were these two CS’s.
Btw, I remember crying when my dad said he was going to trade in the CS; I thought it and the’69 cougar were them ist beautiful cars in the world. (Maybe one day I’ll give myself a little therapy and buy a ’69 CS to go with my ’69 XR-7.)
*1 our hubcaps
*2 CC steering wheel (our interior was brown.)
Note: The suicide doors, reverse co-pilots seat and leisure pit rear seating did not make it into the final production car.
Sorry, can’t seem to submit more than 1 pic at a time…
Hubcap.
Yikes wouldn’t want to get t-boned in that car – can’t imagine it would hold up in real use without any sort of B-pillar
Great story Robert, thanks for sharing it! Hopefully the brown Kingswood (a name that had a good run in Australia) didn’t live up to its color too.
You have to wonder what Ford were thinking with the tail lights.
I remember in the eighties being chauffeured in the back of one of these for Boy Scouts by a friends father. Way more kids than seat belts and his father smoking cigars with the windows up as it was -30 outside. How did we ever survive…
Great cars his lasted for a very long time and you could even haul a full sheet of plywood in the back unlike a lot of lifted pick up trucks I see on the road now days…
As a kid, the CS was the ubiquitous suburban family hauler and seemed to outsell everything else. My family never owned one. But for two summers in my early teens, I worked on a horse farm, disguised as a summer camp. The half dozen campers eould spend all morning cleaning stalls, grooming horses and doing maintenace, then exercise them in the afternoon. As a treat eight of us would pack ourselves into a very dusty CS and go to the local swimming hole, down by a river. I was impressed by the sheer size and spaciousness. But the interior was somewhat low-rent vinyl. It looked solid but must have had rust holes because dust fromvthe road poured in when driving, unless we closed all the windows. Memorable times.
Unfortunately, these were notorious rusters. As the use of road salt greatly increased through the ’60s and 70s, corrosion resistance on most cars hadn’t kept up yet. Ford had secret warranties for rust during this era. My dad owned a ’69 Ranch Wagon that had a terminal case by the mid 70s.
My only experience with these was riding in the side-facing rear seat of a ’67 Ford wagon from Findlay, OH to Cleveland, OH. I was 11 years old.
I made SURE to get in the actual back seat for the return trip.
I seem to recall that one could flip up the bench portion of the dual facing rear seats, to put taller objects in the well. The bench seat was not very thickly padded, this is where our ’72 Kingswood was also superior, as the 3rd row seat had good padding, the seat back angle was more than the CS’ 90° and there was a decent offset between the seat cushion and the bottom of the foot well. (Not counting vans, maybe GM’s Class of ’71 full size wagons had the best 3rd row seat in a people hauler until the minivan?)
One of my elementary school carpool moms had a circa-1973 Olds Custom Cruiser with the forward-facing 3rd row seating, which was popular with the kids and since this mom’s own kid got priority over me and always wanted to ride in that cool 3rd row, I never got to sit back there. To this day I’ve never sat in a ’71-’76 GM clamshell 3rd row seat, but they sure looked more comfortable and roomy than the rear or side-facing seats in other wagons (or the floor in 2-row wagons, and yes it was common back then to have kids sit cross-legged in the “way back” of station wagons, one of several incredibly unsafe things people did with kids back in the day).
Anyway, how roomy and comfortable was the 3rd row in these?
As we used the 3rd row my folks’ ’72 Kingswood all the time, I could describe the seat as comfortable to us kids but the footwells became somewhat cramped as our feet grew longer.
I had plenty of driver seat time in V-8 Ford wagons of this era. My high school/college part time job was as a delivery driver for a florist.
There were two new Country Sedans every second year. One of the ’67s was black and the other that nice dark metallic green. The two ’69s were both black. By the ’71 model year the lease on Plymouths was a better deal than the Fords but I was getting done with that job and though I did not like the Plymouths I didn’t really miss the Fords.
In our town I remember the Country Sedans as working cars. If you needed an upscale wagon for country club duty the Colony Park was the way to go.
I had exactly one friend whose parents owned one of these (a ’68, yellow with wood grain). And, he moved to another town after about 2 or 3 years and I never saw him again. Yet, I can honestly say that I probably rode more miles in that car as a kid, than I have in all the CUV’s and minivans I’ve been in since (not counting our own Vanagon, not really a minivan, nor our Forester, which I don’t consider a CUV). And my kids will almost certainly never have that experience, especially riding in the “way back” with no seat belts.
Is that a marker light in between the two ash panels at the leading edge of the trim?
Interesting that sales slid so precipitously after ’73 even though other full size cars recovered more fully.
It isn’t a marker lamp, should have been!
No light then but it was predicting the front side marker location of the ’71.
Ford walloped all in the wagon wars. While we didn’t have a CS, our ’66 Ranch wagon made it through 3 kids and 10 New England salted winters.
Ford’s advertising slogan “The Wagon Master” was indeed an apt one.
I always thought Ford missed the chance to use a fun little turn of phrase by calling dealers the “Wagon Station”!
The 1965 is the best, but for its time the 1957 is better.
I’m quite partial to the 1959:
Come on, Paul….admit it that you “kissing” Nancy was really her teaching you how to really make the best usage out of that huge back seat (and big area in the back of the wagon). 🙂
This brings back more memories than I can list. My Father was too thrifty (read cheap) to buy the CS models so we always had Ranch Wagons. A 65 and a 72. My Dad kept his cars until they died beyond the point he could repair them. That 72 had 250,000 miles on it when I started driving it in 1982. You could put a million people in it relatively comfortably even without the rear fold up seat. The ranch wagon had a trunk where the seats would have been, a feature my father loved. You could line it with a plastic drop cloth, fill it with ice, fill it with beverages and have a rolling cooler. We would load up and many people as we could fit for “Carload” night at the drive in. For $10 you could bring in as many people as your 4 wheeled vehicle could carry (no Vans), but the wagon was fair game. Yeah…We saw lots of movies for real cheap. It was great for hauling band equipment. The 351 motor (don’t recall if it was a windsor or a cleveland) had decent pep for the big heavy wagon and held up decently for being abused by a High School teenager with aspirations of being Mario Andretti. Many of you are familiar with the famous line from Fast times at Ridgemont High “When it comes to making out, Side 2 Led Zeppelin IV” add the ranch wagon to that and you are GOLD!. The back with the rear seat folded down had more space than the bed I slept in at home, and the aforementioned cooler, when not stowing cold beverages was a great place for pillows and blankets, you know, for emergency camping!
I learned how to do semi minor auto repairs on it (since it broke down reliably) usually do to solenoid or VR (does anyone sense a larger electrical problem here?) but generally easy to fix, I started carrying them with me (in the aforementioned cooler/emergency camp storage). At one point it served as the base for a homecoming day parade for the math club (geeks were just coming into vogue, back then)
I think the best feature was the powder/sky/baby blue paint. Anytime I ever got pulled over, I got off with a warning, as the officer had to feel pity on the poor kid who was forced to drive his dad’s worn out station wagon that resembled a 2 ton rolling bassinette for a brand new baby boy.
Life was grand….
I like it a lot, we always had a rental Ford wagon for holidays in America & Canada in the 60s & 70s but never a woody. The beak works better with the wagon than the sedans.
I will agree with the pack that the 69-70 version was one of their high points. My father had a 66 CS and a 69 LTD 4 door hardtop. It seems strange to say, but I don’t think I was ever in A wagon of this 69-70 Ford generation (but was in loads of other ones.)
(At the risk of repeating myself here, which I seem to do as I get older:)
Anyone below the age of 40 just cannot comprehend what a “Suburban Status Symbol” a Ford (or to a lesser degree of prestige, a Chevy or Plymouth) station wagon in the driveway was for the WWII and Korean Conflict generation of Americans.
Even though he preferred smaller, “sportier” cars for himself, my Korean Conflict veteran Father eventually developed a grudging respect for my Mother’s Ford station wagon.
Neither on them were fond of “fake wood”; so they had the Country Sedan Ford model.
One of the few times I have seen my unusually stoic Mother in tears was when Dad traded of “her” station wagon without telling her about it.
’69 was the last of a string of yearly company cars starting in ’64 for my dad.
I always thought the ’70 was a poor facelift of the ’69, but the wagon doesn’t suffer as much because it had the same taillights , as opposed to the melted-in-the-sun look of the sedan’s.
They corrected a numbers of odd design goofs in ’70 that pertained partly to hardtops, partly to the whole line.
-In ’69, hardtops used a glue-in window design that never lasted, and the weatherstrip between the front and back windows was a bright metal strip that attached to the trailing edge of the front window, on the outside, as opposed to the more common layout of rubber strip to the inside, mounted on the rear window. These never sealed properly and sometimes came adrift. Went back to the usual type in 70, bolted in, not glued.
-In hardtops without the optional light package, the only interior lights were a pair of little C-pillar lamps, useless at night unless you wanted to light up your rear package shelf. You had to pay extra for a pair under the dash. Rectified in ’70 with a standard dome lamp in the middle of the roof.
-In ’69 (and 68) the inside door handles were a recessed squeeze type, hard to operate especially for a little kid. Fixed with paddle-type ones in ’70.
-In ’69, For some reason, they put the radio antenna on the drivers side. Now this actually made sense since this was where the radio was, and the shorter the cable the better. Less line loss and less apt to act as a pickup for static.
They put the antenna back on the passenger side for ’70. For some reason, I’ve itched to know ever since why they did that.
1970 was the first year for decent standard tires, Fiberglass belted, either Firestone or Goodyear Polyglas, usually. The non belted tires on our ’69 lasted about 12,000 miles, and my dad had a flat where the tire was worn clear thru to the cord.
FWIW, ’69 was also the final year a big Ford would ever have an engine size callout.
The times they were a changin.
I’ve often forculated that the reason for the antenna being moved back to the right side was because in cold climates, drivers removing snow from their side of the car were snapping them off more frequently than before (back then, the antenna was not a flexible stainless whip, but a rigid chrome plated brass or copper tube.)
Forculated = speculated.
One other thing about that front side marker light, besides not having the CID call-out, being a short amber rectangle with a clear bulb (’69 was long beige with a “natural amber” bulb), I think this was the first year that Ford vehicles had a blinker functionality in the front and rear side marker lamps.
Your knowledge is incredible, and an entertaining and educational read. Thank you.
The sales numbers are what they are, but if we are judging peak Country Squire by the best car, I’m gonna cast a vote for the ’68. The ’68 fullsize Fords (including the wagons) completed the transition away from the boxiness of the 65-66 models (car design is an endless seesaw between curves and angles, and I’m definitely a curve man). They are lithe without any unnecessary bulk or gingerbread. To me, every change from ’69 through ’78 was just another step down the road to bloatitude, without changing the efficiency, performance, handling or passenger/cargo carrying utility for the better, and in some cases worsening it.
I think the ’70 was also the last year for the die cast grille assembly. In ’71 it went to a two tone plastic injection moulded set up which tended to distort and warp along the top and bottom edges.
Fun to see my car captured in the wild. Thanks for sharing.
Did Billy Squier drive a Country Squire? … now that’s the real question.
Hi,
I’m looking to rent a vintage 1979 Ford LTD Country Squire Station Wagon (or similar model and year) with a working era-appropriate radio and manual windows for 1-2 days the week of July 14th, 2019 in St. Louis (or within 50 miles). I’d appreciate any help you could provide in tracking down this car. Thank you!
Anne
646.621.0310
I think part of the reason the CS sales slipped after 1973 was the addition of the “LTD” wagon in 1974- basically a CS without the fake wood. The Country Sedan was moved down a notch in 74 and after 1975 it was discontinued. Another reason was the size of the Torino wagon in the 1970s. The Torino Squire could be ordered with a brougham option after 1974 making it one of the most luxurious midsize wagons. The Torino’s size was close to the CS and was larger than its GM midsize competitors.
Don’t forget the boom in large passenger vans that took off in the 70s. They were far roomier than a Country Squire at no real penalty in cost or driving comfort. The 1975 redo of the Ford Club Wagon made it a letitimate alternative to a big wagon.
Legitimate only if you didn’t want to park it in the garage at night. (too tall for most garage door openings.)