Here’s the future and the past of big Fords side by side for comparison. The isolation and comfort of the future or the carefree abandon of the past. It’s an interesting crossroads in American automotive history.
Ford really intercepted the Brougham play and ran with it with the LTD. As long established here at Curbside Classic, it upset the full sized car market forever. By 1967 it had released a host of imitators that brought brocade exclusivity to the masses.
Left to the bridesmaid role where big Ford Convertibles. Through the mid 1960’s they had been decent sellers, but in the bucket seat bomb proliferation at the beginning of the decade, they stood in the shadow of the Impala SS. Convertible sales in general fell off a cliff after a peak in the 1965 boom market. And the big Fords were no different than a host of other choices, some of which seeing their last year in production.
Buyers overwhelmingly went the Brougham route. But the full on stampede wouldn’t become a bulldozer out to catch every convertible until the early 1970s.
All things being equal. Where would you have cast your vote in your local Ford Dealership?
The LTD was originally a package for the Galaxies like Caprice was for the Impalas, the became its own model. This is a perfect example of what is known in the car business as “model creep” the eventual progression of the top end model to become the most popular version of the car. The Galaxie became the Galaxie LTD became the LTD became the LTD Crown Victoria became the Crown Victoria and then it died. Same with the Chevrolet starting with the Impala Caprice then by the mid 1980s it was just Caprice. This increased as more smaller cars were offered especially after the first gas crisis when more and more full size buyers bought nice and economy buyers bought smaller. This was a nice segue from the other end of the full size conversation with the Canadian bare bones Bel Air.
Where you were at in life and what the car’s purpose was to be would play a large role. Young and no kids the Convertible hands down. Throw in some offspring and then give me the full brougham treatment please. Kids leaving the nest then back to the rag top.
That being said, a young and no kids buyer would probably have been drawn to the Mustang section of the lot by ’67.
When I owned my 67 Galaxie convertible, we had some neighbors that my little sister babysat for. The wife was probably in her early 30s. When she graduated from college and got her first teaching job in 1967, she went out and bought a brand new Fairlane 500 convertible. It was that unfortunate metallic sandstorm color with a white top. 289, automatic, and normal options like whitewalls, wheelcovers, radio and heater. It was still in very nice shape after 10 years. They had a bright blue 72 Pinto as well that her husband drove, but I much preferred the Fairlane.
We did a piece awhile back of another young woman who bought a new yellow 67 Mustang ragtop, and still owned it 44 years later. https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1967-ford-mustang-forty-four-years-of-wedded-bliss/
I am probably the only person ever to have answered this question in advance. As many of you know, my very first car was a 67 Galaxie 500 convertible, just like the one in the picture, only in light green (lime gold metallic) with a black top and interior. I loved the car, and found all of the original sales literature. I recall spending a rainy Saturday poring over that booklet, figuring out how to fill out my future collection of the entire line of 67 Fords.
You see, doesn’t everyone need one of each? Custom, Custom 500, Galaxie 500 (regular and XL) and LTD. 2 doors, 4 doors, sedans, hardtops and ragtops. Plus Ranch Wagons, and the Country Sedan and Squire wagons.
Then there were the engines – 240 big 6, 289, 390 (2 & 4 bbl), 428 and the Nascar 427. Then add in choices of 3 on the tree, Cruise-O-Matic, or 4 on the floor.
The trick was filling out the selection with at least one of every one of the probably 15 exterior and maybe 6 interior colors. Don’t forget vinyl roofs.
You know I did the homework, because I can tell you that the convertible featured is Brittany Blue, one of my fave colors. I am having trouble making out the color on the LTD, but it was one of the dull ones that I had planned to stick on a 6 cyl Custom 2 door sedan or something.
Do I have to pick one? OK – a Maroon XL convertible, black top, parchment interior, buckets, 4 bbl 390 with the 4 on the floor, disc brakes and air. Unless it is for resale – then make it a red XL convertible, black top and interior, 427 and 4 speed.
If there is such a 1967 Ford shade close to Pewter, that’s the color of the LTD. Granted, “Patina Pewter” is the most apt name for it now.
Probably something like this Pepper Gray. They also had a Silver Pearl Metallic. The top end LTDs often came nicer colors.
Laurence is thinking of Beige Mist or Sauterne Gold. I was about to categorically deny that there was a silver in 1967, but the color charts say there was one – Silver Frost. I can’t say I ever remember seeing one, though it had been available in earlier years, I believe. My grandma bought a new 69 Silver Pontiac, and I was quite taken with what was a very unusual color in the late 60s. But perhaps it was just available but rare. I can categorically state that LTDs did not get special colors, but shared what was offered with Galaxies. There were some additional colors for mid size cars and lots of special colors on Thunderbirds.
1968 Ford Country Squire LTD for me, please.
That’s exactly like the one we rolled (with trailer) while on family vacation in Wisconsin ca. 1970. The locals thoughtfully located a graveyard nearby, but no injuries occurred.
Me too Ed,lime frost green bench seats,column shift auto,390 2 barrel,air con,power steering and brakes please.
Of course back then, when the domestics owned 85% of the market and full size Fords probably accounted for 1/3 of Ford’s sales, you could run a plethora of models like that. But of course by the 1973 redesign the LTD sedan, coupe, and wagon was everything except for a handful of Custom/Galaxie 500s they sold to oddballs.
While it is a Mercury, my preferred FoMoCo product of the late 60s (not including Lincolns) would be the Park Lane Woody Convertible.
We had a 68 7LITRE convertible in the shop for about 6 months.
When I want my fill of 60s and 70s FoMoCo products I just watch old episodes of Hawaii Five-O.
This reminds me how over-saturated the Full sized market was, and it came down to subjective loyalties and styling likes alone. Because that Park Lane couldn’t have been too much more expensive than a comparably loaded XL 7 Litre Convertible. Yet it looks all the more snobby with those di-noc panels and wires….
But at the end of the day, like between Plymouth/Dodge/Chrysler Newport there wasn’t much of a difference. All the same mechanicals, and basic chassis carried over, so all that was left was extra sound deadening, thicker carpet and more “refined” styling.All things you could get with the LTD (Or VIP).
At least at General Motors, even in a Caprice, you could still get the less than ideal Powerglide, which made big Pontiac’s, with their Turbo Hydra Matics as the only choice and different V8 worth the premium.
Sure, but remember, the cars were marketed to different people. The XL/7LITRE was marketed more towards high end luxury sport sort of like a touring coupe/convertible. Even though the price was similar, I do not think a Park Lane buyer, especially one that would buy a wood-sided one, would be much interested in the Fords. But you can see, even by the early 70s before OPEC and any encroachment of the imports in the big car market, the number of trim levels was severely reduced.
I am sure subjective loyalties played a larger role than individual specifications back in the day. Back, then, even though much of the mechanical underpinnings were the same, the Fords, Mercurys, and Lincolns were still pretty different on the outside. Also back then, a wider range of buyers bought full size, where as by the late 70s (due some to OPEC and some to simple changing tastes) full size was confined largely to seniors, certain families, and fleets. Ford produced over a million full size cars of all variants like this for 1966 yet by 1980 the Panther cars were down to about a 1/4 to 1/3 of that volume, with the imports offering no direct competitive option.
Ford Brazil offered a car based off of the 1966 LTD up until 1983 there.
True, and it’s also interesting to ponder where the 7 Litre/SS Buyer went and the Park Lane “Woodie” buyer (though that type being far more rare) went. Seeing as both types of cars disappeared or went smaller, I wonder how many went to Monte Carlos, Cougars and the such. Or imports for that matter.
It almost seems like a flow chart of “Where’s a buyer to go?” would be in order.
Well, car models tend to capture a moment in a generation’s time so what might be popular with a generation’s 20 years old will change when they get older. The twenty something secretaries that bought the first Mustangs were well into their thirties and forties by the time the Mustang II came out.
Market data does exist, albeit in pieces, at the car manufacturers but you would have to put it all together and interpret it and write a book to make it easy to digest. For example, as much as the Cadillac Cimarron bombed in the 1980s, most Cimarron buyer (new ones that is) were actually non-Cadillac customers so they found the market but just didn’t have the right product. Others, like the Edsel, never really had a market but most of the buyers were a mishmash of customers gleaned from the pools of the other makes.
The most famous study of “Where did the buyer go” was of course Alfred Sloan’s theory that people start off with Chevys and then when they got into their 50s they bought Cadillacs if they were successful. Everyone tried to copy that and it worked until the late 1980s early 1990s. Now, at least with GM, its not quite the same but each brand has a very unique target market.
See, because the 7 Litre sold so poorly, I wouldn’t necessarily assume those few buyers went anywhere specific. (The 7 Litre was only called out as a Galaxie subseries for one year and sold only about 11,000 units.) The 7 Litre seemed to me like a trial balloon: Ford didn’t stint on market research in that era, so if there had been a coherent market for it, even a small one, the model probably would have continued. It didn’t have its own body style and most of the hardware was available anyway, so there wasn’t a huge investment involved.
The question probably came down to this: Would the availability or nonavailability of the 7 Litre (or similarly marketed package) sway prospective full-size Ford buyers one way or the other? Probably not. I think Craig is right that in that era a lot of buyers were simply Ford people; even if a buyer missed the sporty trim package or was insistent on bucket seats (which as I recall became very hard to get on full-size cars after about 1969), I don’t think that was likely to make a full-size Ford fan go out and buy a Plymouth instead.
Yeah, The 7-Liter was a big hit in ’66 for the Galaxie. There was no replacement for cubic inch displacement and the bigger the better but ’67 brought tougher times and the muscle car craze was already starting to plunder especially in the full-size cars that were so popular in the early ’60’s. 1966 brought the 427 Fairlanes and Cyclones to compete with the Chevy Chevelles and Pontiac GTO’s. Ford still offered the 7-Liter in the Galaxie in ’67 but not many were sold and finding one now is quite rare. The 7-Liter version was gone from the option list in ’68 though they did offer a detuned 428 but not the 7-Liter version. In ’69 the 428 was gone completely from the Galaxie line though it was available early on in the Mustangs and Cougars. The new 4 bbl.429 thunderjet was now available in the fullsize Galaxies and LTD’s and the 429 Cobrajet and Super Cobrajet was available in the smaller cars like the Torinos and Mustangs. The XL option was gone by 1971. Bucket seats and a center console went away in 1971 from the fullsize Fords too with them being optional only thru half year on the Galaxies. Ford had some leftover from the 1970 Ford XL so offered them up on the ’71 Galaxie til mid year until they were depleted. . Most 1970 Ford Galaxies and XL’s were ordered with a standard bench front seat though the buckets were available but nobdy really wanted a fullsize sportscar anymore.. By 1972 the musclecar craze was just about gone and tougher emissions and MPG’s were required by the feds plus insurance companies were charging super high premiums for anyone with a musclecar or a big engine in a sportcar so those sales dropped tremendiously 1973 was the last year for the 429 thunderjet, the 390 and the 428 were already history and Ford shuffled in the smogged down 460 for the trucks and the fullsize LTD’s only though a few Torinos ended up with the 460’s under the their hoods but with all their emmision hoses and such, horsepower was way down and power was gone. The Galaxie was gone by 1974. leaving only the LTD family car as Ford’s Flagship. It continued as a family car until it’s demise in 1991 when it was replaced by the Crown Vic which was also demised in 2011 as the last Ford with body on frame design.
Kenny / MrBlueOval.
Re-The bucket seats-Also offered on LTDs and Canadian Meteors in 1971, as well as the Galaxie.
Re-The FE 428-It wasn’t completely gone from the ’69 Galaxie line, the 428 PI was still available as the top cop option for 1969-70.
240 Six and 302 equipped 1969 Fords didn’t get a CID callout on the front side marker lamp, and neither did 428-equipped cop cars.
Re-460 Torinos-My parents had a ’76 Elite with this
engine, and smogged as it was, could still smoke ’em
VERY well. Smog controls didn’t kill the torque, just the HP.
Interestingly, you still get a bucket &and console equipped LTD in Mexico for a few more years, here’s a brochure from 1975.
Hi, do you have this 1975 ford LTD brochure? For sale?
I almost bought a yellow “yacht deck” Marquis convertible about 8 years ago, I saw it at a car coral in Daytona, I was all over it, my friend looked at me like I had lost my freaking mind.
I recommend The Invaders for 60s Ford/Mercury/Lincolns..A lot of product placement back then!
Of course, it was a Quinn-Martin production.
Roger, I was talking about the public availability of the 428 and 390 in American cars for just the average guy… The 390 went away in ’71 but there was a 360 in trucks thru mid 70’s but again I’m talking U.S. cars, not trucks or cop cars or taxi’s either or even fleet cars, just the general public cars that you saw on showroom floors like the ones at my father’s Ford dealership back then in Chicago.. I Didn’t know about the bucket seats in the Mexican LTD’s. I would have liked that on my ’78 LTD Landau that I had in the early 80’s. Just like the bucket seat/center console with shifter Crown Vic LX Sport that was available as a limited edition in the U.S. during the mid 2000’s and the bucket seat/console with shifter option that was also available in the U.S. on the Grand Marquis SEL during the same years, though I’ve only seen one Grand Marquis SEL with the bucket seat/console option. but it was available just as it was on the Mercury Marauder for 3 years. The bucket seat option ran all the way into 2011 on the Grand Marquis SEL and 2009 on the Crown Vic LX Sport models only..
Woody wagon. ANY YEAR! But those mid-60’s Galaxie 500 2 door fastbacks were sch-weeeet! By the way, I’ve got that LTD full wheel cover (like new!) on the hallway wall! Found it ten years ago on a dirt road. Kinda knew it was a ’67, but never confirmed until now!
Totally agree with you on the Galaxie’s, make mine a Red ’64 two door hardtop, with a FE and two Holley four barrels. Thats how a full sized car of the ’60’s should look and sound.
If I recall correctly, back in the day Detroit thought as air conditioning became common, the rationale for and sales of convertibles weakened. Even with air conditioning and the top up, a convertible was harder to cool/heat and noisier than a sedan.
Yes of course, but with a/c, even cruising drives they just used the a/c. Small cars lost their convertible models first, then the full size. Ironically, in the 1980s when they returned, (except for the Riviera and Eldorado) convertibles were almost exclusively small cars and 4 cylinders.
Plus, ragtops & esp. synthetic rear windows deteriorate quickly, at least here in the Sunbelt.
My ’67 MGB seemed quieter with its top (UK: hood) down; maybe the exhaust note could better drown out other sounds. Also, the framework would’ve put a hole in my skull if it got broadsided from the left; perhaps that worried the safety mavens. Don’t know if was equally hazardous in other models.
If safety didn’t sell back then, neither did the perils of rolling over in a convertible. As a kid, I always heard convertible horror stories, like how someone apparently got killed when a tree fell on one.
You could make a very sound argument that the industry had been trending towards closed cars all along. In the 1920’s the open touring car was the most common body style, but closed sedans and coupes became more and more popular from that point forward.
By 1940, the convertible was a specialty car, not a mainstream one. The reason was obvious — the touring cars and roadsters did little to protect you from the elements, even in warm climates when it rained. Why bother when for only a few dollars more you could get a solid sedan.
That’s the other indicator — at what point did open cars go from the bottom of the product line to the top?
I’d say maybe as early as the transition between the Model T to the Model A? If not soon thereafter, as I would guess once buyers started flocking to sedans, the true volume sales went there. Convertibles, even the lowliest Chevrolet ones, were pretty top of the heap by the end of the 1930s.
I would say the convertible as a “luxury” in concept started in the mid 1930’s (Power tops came online long before power steering) and maintained that allure until the mid 1960’s.
There’s a weird tipping point after 1965 where American convertibles seem less opulent compared to their range topping closed mates. More vinyl interiors while closed models got richer fabrics and softer leather compared to the grains used in convertibles.
Fabric is a tough one for a rag top, most rag tops were either vinyl or leather because it was just better on an open car, even when mohair was common on interiors, convertibles had leather. Cadillac never had a fabric interior on their convertibles through the end of the run in 1976, by then it had become standard leather, but it the 60’s vinyl was standard on a DeVille with leather as an option, Eldorados came with leather standard.
My 88 Z24 Convertible had a fabric interior. As a matter of fact, vinyl was never available until the later years. Most J convertibles I have seen from 1983-2005 are fabric. Interesting, because, as you said, the vast majority of convertibles had some sort of vinyl or leather interior.
Yeah, when convertibles returned, it was common to have cloth, I’ve seen it on 80’s and up LeBarons, Mustangs, Cavaliers etc, but back in the 60’s it was always vinyl or leather.
My 90 Mustang LX 5.0 had the tweed sports seats (power lumbar/thigh extensions) and my Miatas (2 of them) were cloth too. They don’t get hot and sticky like vinyl or leather. Wears better than leather too. And you don’t slide around on cloth.
Most Pontiac Bonneville convertibles of the 1960s had leather-and-vinyl upholstery (standard bench or optional buckets) unavailable on any other full-size Pontiac, even as an option.
I’d go for a Fairlane GT rather than a full-size, if you won’t let me choose the Australian market Falcon GT that is
Yeah Ford Australia finally had its act together by 67 and the turd that the MK4 Zephyr was pushed kiwi Ford buyers into Falcons at just the right time.
Excuse me there was nothing wrong with mk4 Zephyr 6s.I had one which was a good car that I sold to my cousin.The Zephyr V4 however was a real POS
I have always had an appreciation for a fully optioned Galaxie LTD sedan. The formal roof treatment is very handsome. A great example of this is found at Oldcarbrochures.com. The 1967 Ford Full Size brochure at the bottom of the list, page 5, which features the dark blue Galaxie LTD is my favorite example.
http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Ford/1967_Ford/1967_Ford_Full_Size_Brochure/1967%20Ford%20Full%20Size-06-07.html
For me, it’s gotta be the two-door fastback all the way. One of the most attractively styled cars of its generation, if you ask me. Although I admittedly lean towards the brougham-ier side of things, I never really cared for the roofline of the LTD (at least not on the 67 model) and find the Galaxie to be better looking in every way. Make mine a Galaxie 500XL with a 390 4-bbl in candy apple red, sans vinyl top but with the mag-type wheels.
I always found it interesting how they made the 2 door LTD roof. They took triangular shaped pieces of metal and welded them into the Galaxie roof.
Then instead of metal finishing, they simply covered it in padded vinyl. They finished the job with convertible quarter windows. That’s why every 1967 2 door LTD has a vinyl roof. It was one of the few cars to ever have a vinyl roof standard,
a distinction it shared with the 1967-68 Mercury Marquis, and the 1968 Meteor 2 door LeMoyne and formal top Montcalm.
Much like the 80s Chrysler Fifth Avenue that had extra sheetmetal welded onto the back of the roof to give a LeBaron/Diplomat body shell that upright rear window. Mandatory vinyl covering on that one too.
Like this, though this is one of the K car New Yorkers.
Same for the 75 Mustang II Ghia. Never seen that Chrysler w/o it’s cover. That’s extensive!
The early Sevilles in the mid 1970s had mandatory vinyl roof because they used a two piece roof shell. Cadillac did that because it was not sure how well the Seville would sell and used a lot of existing Nova tooling. Eventually after the Seville proved popular, they created a special die for the roof that allowed them to make vinyl-less cars.
I always thought that Chrysler used a fiberglass cap on the Fifth Avenues to achieve the roofline.
While vinyl roofs were not standard on the deVilles, Cadillacs from 1980-1992 it actually cost more for Cadillac to produce a non vinyl roof car because they used a different process to join the roof to the quarter panels. Vinyl roof cars used a filler and did not need as much finishing. On 80-92 RWD Cadillacs you will often see bubbling due to the expansion of the filler compound as well as rust.
I’d heard it was fiberglass . . . . (Mopar 5th Avenue and K-Car New Yorker ‘cap’).
Funny story . . . . driving up to Portland, Maine after just crossing into the State of Maine from New Hampshire (about January, 2000), an ’86-’87 FWD Cadillac passed me on the left (must’ve been quite a feat with that weak-shit 4.1 V-8) . . . A Sedan de Ville with an aftermarket landau “cap”.
A mile up the road, the cap gave way and tumbled down the Interstate, breaking up along the way leaving said Caddy with glue marks where the cap was attached to the C-pillar and steel roof and sans a rear window.
I know on the ’60-’63 Imperial LeBarons, the ‘formal’ roof was a metal insert into the cutout for the lesser Custom/Crowns, inserted and seams filled in with lead.
The 4100 was not particularly slow in the downsized cars in which that motor was intended for. I have been well over 100 in those cars before.
According to various collision parts guides that I have seen there are separate part numbers for the roof pieces for Crowns and LeBarons which indicates to me that they stamped separate roof pieces and not just merely filled it in.
Ford did a similar job on the ’78 T-Bird Diamond Jubilees. I worked on the assembly line building them. The car came down the line and normally the 1/4 window and chrome bezel would be installed all at once after the rear portion of the car was painted. The build sheet was on the drivers door window to tell everyone what this particular car was getting as far as options and equipment. If it was a D.J. Edition, instead of installing the glass and bezel like he/she normally did on every other T-Bird, the assembly line worker had to install a made to fit thin piece of gray plastic in the opening and attach it with phillips head screws The interior got a full sail panel with foam padding behind it that covered the inside area. Then after the rest of the car was finished and down to the end of the line, instead of being driven to the loading lot that was down the street from the plant, it was driven directly over to the trim shop on the other side of the Ford assembly plant where a mandatory full overstiuffed color matched landau vinyl roof was installed.
Lorain, Ohio assembly or Milpitas, Cal. ??
Buick offered a very rare model of the Grand National version of the LeSabre coupe for 1986 only. The closed in part of the rear quarter window by fitting a special piece of glass with a plastic louver unit. Buick accomplished this by ordering all of he planned GN LeSabres to go down the line at the same time so they line employees could be tooled up correctly.
My first car was a 66 Gal ‘vert, black with red interior and white top, with a 390 2-bbl and a Cruise-o-Matic.. It came with the original brochure for that year, and I remember optioning all the possibilities I’d want – and it would have been my same car, save for a toploader and higher seat trim level. And a/c, speed control, and an 8-track. Oh, and while we’re at it, the goldang 427! Though I could see it with a 352, too. That 390 was a monster, and yet got surprisingly good mileage once I tuned it up…
The last car my Grandpa bought before he died was a ’67 Galaxie 500 sedan, which remained in the family for a good ten years or so after he died on August 26th of that year. Last summer, I spotted a light blue ’67 Galaxie 500 sedan not too far from where I live…wondered if it was Grandpa’s. I’m not a Ford guy (as evidenced by my avatar), but the ’67 Galaxie was a nice, cleanly-designed car, in my opinion. The major complaint, though, I remember hearing about Grandpa’s car centered on that big, padded steering wheel hub. Maybe the Ford guys here on CC can enlighten us on that one. Was that padded hub in lieu of a GM-style collapsible steering column and hence, a substitute for better driver/passenger accident protection equipment mandated by the Feds that year?
Yes, that was the purpose of the big padded hub. I believe it was a one-year feature only, because it did not meet the requirements of the energy-absorbing steering column safety standard than went into effect on 1/1/68. The 1967 GM collapsible steering column did meet the standard, but as I recall, it was used only in the full-size cars that model year.
No, pretty much everything from GM got some sort of collapsing column in 1967, even the lowly Corvair. It was mandated across the board.
The ’66 Galaxie had a real nice wood steering wheel with a brushed aluminum 3 spoke center and a small horn button in the center. I hated that ’67 wheel with that oversize hub. It just looked so out of place like it belonged on a semi truck or something. Then in ’69 Ford went back to a nice looking 3 spoke again only this time as an optional wheel, this year with a very small (smaller than ’66) center that was flush with the lowest part of the wheel . It was a Ford Exclusive Only and they called it the Rim-Blow Steering Wheel. It actually had the horn switch located all the way around the rim of the wheel on the inside portion. All you had to do was lightly squeeze the wheel rim anywhere where your hands were on the rim and the horn would blow. That wheel was so popular, that Ford offered it in all the sporty cars including the Mustangs, Galaxies, Fairlanes and their Mercury counterparts like the Marauder, Cougar and Montego/Cyclones all the way up thru the early ’70’s and even on the XBGT and XCGT Falcons in Australia. I’ve got one on my ’69 Ford XL. Not as nice looking as the ’66 wood wheel found on the Galaxie and the Mustang but much nicer than the ’67 wheel with the big hub.
Kenny/MrBlueOval .
There were wood type wheels offered in ’67. It came with the 7-Litre Sport Package on the XL. This wheel is much more common on Mustangs and Fairlane GTs. The rare part is the unique center for the XL.
You have the Falcon GT models incorrect, it was the XW & XY GT that had the rim-blow wheel. The XA that followed & the XB had a very similar wheel with a different spoke design, again probably the same as a US wheel. The XC (with no GT model but a GXL in its place without the go-fast emphasis) had a 2-spoke wheel.
The wheel roger628 posted was used in the XR and XT GT’s (1967-early 1969). I’m also not a fan of the oversized centre ‘pad’.
Yeah, the Aussie Fords, I always get them mixed up. What’s up with XB, XC XR, XT. ETC. Almost have to dot my eyes and watch my P’s and Q’s. LOL !!! I never really understood that. When you describe an Aussie Ford, It’s not by the year but by the X-factor. Weird, just plain weird, though they did have a 2 door Falcon back in the mid 70’s that looked like a cross between the ’71 Torino and the ’71 Mustang. Too bad it was right-hand drive. I think it was an XBGT or GTXB or XC , See, I’m confused already.LOL !!!
Kenny/ MrBlueOval,
Fords got an actual collapsible column late in the ’67 year. It wasn’t ready at the start of production. Chrysler and AMC sourced their ’67 columns from GM Saginaw. Ford evidently wasn’t willing to do this, even though they previously sourced 1965-66 Mercury tilt columns from GM.
I remember when I was a kid in the 1960’s. My uncle (dad’s older brother) was an engineer of some sorts at a big ink factory in Chicago and was very well to do, he pretty much ran the plant and kept everything running the way it shood. He was in his 50’s by then, divorced and loved fast sporty cars, especially Fords as my dad worked at the local Ford dealer as a partsman. Every year he walked into my dad’s dealership and bought a brand new Ford right off the showroom floor. In ’66 he traded in his white with black stripes ’65 Mustang 2+2 fastback for the shiny candy apple red with black vinyl interior and black vinyl roof ’66 Galaxie 7-Liter hardtop that they had sitting on the showroom floor. That baby was loaded with every option available including power windows,air cond. am-fm radio with rear seat speaker, bucket seats with center console, black vinyl roof and that famous 428 7-Liter mammoth big block sitting under the hood with the factory chrome dress-up option which gave you chrome valve covers and chrome oval air cleaner. . He was always showing off with that car smoking the tires every chance he got and taking his favorite nephew (me) for rides in the car as much as he could. He liked that car so much that he kept it for 3 years finally trading it in on a new ’69 T-Bird. I fell in love with that car too and never got it out of my mind. I’ve always kept an eye out for one for sale but never really found one exactly like it. That car was do die for and I consider tit to be the best looking classic car out there and my Holy Grail. I’m still looking for one just like it and would love to actually find the exact car he had if it’s still around.
. Kenny/ MrBlueOval
My dad had a succession of big Fords as well, ’64 Galaxie 500 4-door hardtop,
’65 Galaxie 500 4-door hardtop (both cars had Canada spec 352-2 barrels)
66 XL 390-2barrel, ’67 LTD 2 door hardtop 390-4 barrel disc brakes (the nicest of all them, but it was a company car), then he changed employers and went downmarket a bit, ’68 Galaxie 500 fastback 302, no options except auto and AM, then a ’69 Galaxie 2 door HT that was a little nicer, having PS, PDB and rear defogger too. That was it for full-sized Fords for us. Next car after that was a ’72 Comet LDO, then a ’76 Elite. That was our last Ford product except for my Moms ’66 Mustang which we kept until 1987.
Make mine a Custom with the police package, and a 428.
Normally, a convertible is the best looking car in a model line-up. But that LTD 4-door hardtop trumps it. Even if the top were down, I might take the LTD, instead.
Convertible interior fabric is an interesting topic. At first, one would think the decision might be based primarily on which fabric suffers the least amount of sun damage. But, then, it may boil down to convertibles being in the upper trim levels so they automatically get the higher trims, which for specific generations would be leather or vinyl.
Additionally, when exposed to the elements, leather or vinyl would surely be easier to keep clean than fabric.
I’m partial to the ’67 LTD 2 door hardtop since my parents had one. To a 6 year old it was a spaceship, with things I’d never seen before, such as disc brakes, Stereo-tape system, automatic vacuum locks, and much more.
However, if we are speccing out my dream ’67, this is how we go.
Start with an XL convertible. Add both the 7-Litre Sport Package AND the Luxury Trim Package. Both of these packages are quite rare. The latter included LTD door panel with door lamps, Comfort-Stream Power Ventilation, Convenience Control panel with warning lights and power door locks, and a rear seat armrest. It was essentially a bucket-seat LTD. Although the seats were vinyl, they had a cloth embroidered strip running down the middle that was lifted straight out of the LTD. The standard XL was actually decontented for ’67, getting plain door panels from the Galaxie without courtesy lights. The Luxury Trim option fixed that.
Now, add 428 for power (can’t get Power Steering or Brakes, AC, automatic and cruise control with a 427), then , every option in the book. Make mine black with white top and interior.
Having done this with the ’67 Armchair Estimator (a great piece of sales lit that Ford put out every year in the day)
I got a list price of over $5000. This explains why one like this would be rare. Not many people would be happy at that price point for a Ford.
Another view.
“Although the seats were vinyl, they had a cloth embroidered strip running down the middle that was lifted straight out of the LTD.”
It wasn’t cloth, the vinyl was embroidered…..same as the LTD. I’m 99% sure.
If anyone is looking to restore the “panty cloth” interior look here:
http://www.smsautofabrics.com/ajaxresults.php?year=1967&make=Ford&model=Ford+LTD&body=2+Door+Hardtop&trim=all&qu%5B%5D=C&rpp=12
I HATE velour in a 60s/70s Ford!
“’67 Armchair Estimator” THANK YOU it was driving me nuts. I could not remember the name! I was 12 YO and wore it out. Wimbledon White Thunderbird 4 door with the 428 and every option for me 😉
The Armchair Estimator! I have one from 1970, it was inside a Readers Digest.
One of my pet peeves is with that convertible. It was obviously repainted at some point and the lower moldings left off. They just don’t look right without them.
Agggh! You are right! How could I not see those missing lower moldings on the convertible? Those were on all of them. My car also had the optional chrome spear that ran along the front-to-back crease midway between the lower trim and the beltline. It was very useful for protecting against parking lot rash.
My car around 1977 or 78.
For me, this is no more a conundrum than porterhouse steak vs. Spam.
67 Country Squire. 428 4bbl, auto, A/C. Great road trip car.
I actually would take the LTD. Somewhere in Oakland, or Alameda, a matching wheel cover for the left rear may be found. I would take THIS one. Ship it to Honolulu. I have a set of green/white ’61-’68 Hawaii tags for this car (for show as Hawaii doesn’t yet have a YOM exception). I’d have to play “bad guy” and whip it up King and Beretania Streets mimicking an early 5-0 episode . . . .
The LTD was/is in the Glenview neighborhood. The Galaxie convertible was in the “old” section of Alameda off of Santa Clara. So many classics, too little time.
This is the correct plate . . .
Car shopping in 1967, My parents settled on a 1967 Pontiac Paresienne 2+2 Convertible. Clearly, for the first time since 1950, my Mother’s car lust, well hidden until this time, came to the fore. My totaly blind father was able to countenance this, I suspect, with the assurance that, It had a V8.The family was smitten. While it was fun while it lasted and I am sure that my Mother, at least, enjoyed the ride, Their next purchase was a 1970 Buick Lesabre four door hardtop. That was one of the two cars that my parents owned that I would love to have today. The other is their 1960 Monarch Lucerne four door with a two tone Bronze bottom and a white flat top. Man, that was a car.