How is it there have been nearly 14,500 articles at CC and we’ve never had much of a write-up about a four-door LTD of this vintage? Life can be so mysterious.
Then again, has anyone ever been so fond of these four-door LTDs as to write one up? We’ve had explorations of the highly related and dreamier appearing 1973 and 1974 models so I’m taking a life-experience approach with this one. Waxing poetic over every LTD that comes along simply diminishes their unabashed grandeur.
Before we get started, let’s discuss those wheels…rather, let’s not. They aren’t everyone’s cup of tea although, like any shirt they are so easily changed it’s really not worth talking about, is it? Somebody likes them and if that helped save this LTD from being recycled into a dishwasher, good for them. It’s obviously been sporting them for a while as the tread on the tires was getting thin.
The positive of having such wheels is one can easily check the condition of their disc brakes. It sure beats pulling off a wheel cover, fighting lug nuts, jacking up the car, and removing a boring old steel wheel. The brakes likely stay a lot cooler this way given such ample room for heat dissipation.
Having seen the presumed owner of this LTD made me wonder about the type of person who bought these when new. While there are 1,504,331 individual stories to answer that quandary, based upon production of this iteration of full-sized Ford from 1975 to 1978 (including wagons), I do know of one. This story could have happened any year from 1975 to 1978 as the physical changes were negligible but, if I had to guess, I’d speculate it was in 1975 or 1976.
Let’s also not forget this LTD is based upon Ford’s second most popular passenger car platform ever, behind only the Model T.
Velma is on the far right
Velma is my mother’s first cousin, the oldest child of my Grandpa Albert’s older brother Lyle and his wife Jessie. This is Velma’s senior picture from 1959, so given the longevity in my family she’s just now middle aged. But back in 1975 Velma and Joe had two pre-teen children to haul around and they purchased a white LTD to serve this purpose.
I always found Velma’s LTD to be rather fetching despite my life-long aversion to white cars. Seeing that LTD in the parking lot at school everyday certainly helped in keeping this irrational infatuation flared up. No doubt a huge influencer of my infatuation was a memorable ride in Velma’s Ford.
While I’ve covered it before, I was related to seemingly half the faculty at Egyptian School in rural Tamms, Illinois. My father was president of the school board, my mother had been the school nurse (she quit due to my arrival in 1972), my paternal grandmother was head cook, a cousin-in-law was my fourth and fifth grade teacher, and so forth. Among all this was Velma who was the office secretary.
During second grade in 1979 I had many repetitive cases of strep throat which ultimately led to that fun and joyous occasion of having my tonsils severed from my throat with instruments approximating a chainsaw. It was almost like clockwork; along came the first of the month and I was sick. Mrs. Moses, the school nurse, didn’t want me hanging around to infect others, primarily her, so I invariably got sent home. On one occasion Velma came to the rescue, taking me the fifteen miles to Lyle and Jessie’s house so I could cool my heels until my mother arrived.
We made the trip in her white LTD.
At the time my parents had a base model 1973 Ford Torino, the one with the freakazoid front end as seen on the white sedan in the middle of this picture. Seriously, I never saw another one like it until the early to mid-1980s – and that was on television. But these LTDs were all over creation, thus feeding my curiosity, and in retrospect Velma’s LTD was quite nicely equipped.
While I was quite sick at the time of my riding in Velma’s LTD, I wasn’t in a complete stupor. Sitting on the cushy red front bench seat, floating smoothly, quietly, and confidently down the county road that serviced the school, I noticed some unusual buttons on the steering wheel. When I asked Velma about them she said it was for the “cruise control”. I had never heard of, let alone seen, such a thing at that point in time. I was curious.
Velma, perhaps amused by my question, showed me not only what the “cruise” button did, but also what the “coast” and “accel” buttons were for. When she pressed the “accel” button, the torque of that Ford V8 could be measured by the pull on my seven year old neck. It pulled better than any other 351 I’ve experienced, making me now wonder if Velma’s LTD had the optional 400 (6.6 liter) or 460 (7.5 liter) engine.
Writing this has finally answered why I have a sweet spot for these LTDs. Is that a success or what?
That white LTD stuck around until the early 1980s when it went away for something following the footsteps of what Lyle and Jessie had purchased a year or two prior – an Oldsmobile Delta 88 diesel.
Lyle and Jessie never had any noteworthy issues with their Olds diesel, putting around 150,000 miles on it before being traded for a Buick LeSabre. I’m not sure that was the case with Velma and Joe’s Delta 88.
A few years later Velma’s Olds disappeared for a five-speed Nissan Maxima. Shortly after purchasing that Nissan, Velma stopped by the house one night. She didn’t appear any too thrilled with that Nissan and she was already tiring of shifting gears. A passing statement was made about still missing her white LTD.
When I last saw Joe and Velma in February 2018 they were driving a Toyota Avalon hybrid.
And who was driving our featured LTD? A tall, slender gentleman who appeared to be in his 60s, perhaps older. He had a wisp of gray above his ears and had a very relaxed yet dignified air about him. When I spotted him putting items in the back seat as I was leaving the hotel, I suspected he was a long-time owner of our featured LTD.
Close inspection revealed this LTD wasn’t born in such a desirable color. The roof is the giveaway, as is the paint flaking from around the rub strips on the door. This Ford left the factory in a horrible pastel yellow, a color that seems to have been applied to something like 84.7% of these LTDs.
Perhaps this is another reason I liked Velma’s white LTD so much – it wasn’t yellow. The other two LTDs of this vintage percolating around the town of 450 where I grew up were both the same putrid pastel yellow as our featured LTD was originally.
We are a good way into this recollection of an LTD creating positive impressions upon my young mind. However it would be negligent to not further explore how these LTDs were produced in times best described as unique.
In what is perhaps the most unique element, the smallest available engine was Ford’s 5.8 liter (351) Windsor V8 until 1978 when the 5.0 liter (302) was made standard on sedans.
To bolster the unique, the 351 was the standard engine in taxis – at least in 1976.
Only producing around 150 horsepower to lug around 4,400 pounds, all going through a tall geared 2.75:1 rear axle, the 351 was likely the most rational choice. That available 460 would have made for a memorable taxi but would have played even less nice with the fuel budget of the taxi company.
Sales of full-sized Fords were down considerably to around 350,000 by 1975 from the amazing 941,000 sold in 1973. A fuel crisis does have results.
But what is the most unique (or eccentric or tacky or trendy or unsavory) element about these should also be the most predictable. This was the 1970s, after all. For a car that was pleasantly innocuous in its purest form, Ford saw fit to muddle that up.
Let me introduce the LTD Landau. When I was only five years old I thought these were a mobile travesty. At some point I remember seeing a front-page picture in the local newspaper showing a car in which the driver had lost control and crashed into a brick building, thoroughly wasting the car. It was a light colored LTD Landau similar to the one pictured here.
A part of me was happy this event had beautified the highways of North America. But that’s just me; no doubt somebody here will think these are the cat’s meow.
But enough about unique times. Seeing this LTD was a genuinely enjoyable experience early on a cold, wet November morning.
There has been periodic discussion on these pages about the true meaning behind the initials of Ford’s “LTD”. In seeing the owner of our featured LTD and the general happiness that seemed to surround him, combined with my cousin Velma’s fondness for her white LTD, the true meaning has become evident. Able to enjoy a smooth, quiet, and comfortable Ford, the owner was, like many other LTD owners over time, simply Living The Dream.
Found November 18, 2019
Bloomington, Indiana
Related Reading:
1973 Ford LTD “It’s Not Easy Being Green” by JS
1973 Ford LTD “Bring On The Bloat” by JPC
1978 Ford LTD two-door “The Last Of The Whoppers” by Richard Bennett
1975 Ford LTD two-door “The Stupidest Name For The Stupidest Roof Design Ever” by PN
1975 Ford LTD two-door “Hoop-Tee-Dee” by Joseph Dennis
LTD = Lose the Donks!
Did you happen to notice the third paragraph? It said: “Before we get started, let’s discuss those wheels…rather, let’s not. They aren’t everyone’s cup of tea although, like any shirt they are so easily changed it’s really not worth talking about, is it?”
How does the choice of the owner to have these wheels adversely affect anyone else’s life in any way, shape, or form? Would anybody here appreciate having their choices critiqued by others?
Yes. Many who put those wheels on their cars DO appreciate critiques…which after all can go either positive or negative.
That is true, but the positivity seems to be on a sabbatical. 🙂
Personally, I had to either grab the eye bleach or scroll past the pictures and just read Jason’s excellent (as usual) post. I chose the latter. 😉
I agree with you as to personal choices. My only critique (were I so inclined) would be addressed to those rim protectors masquerading as tires. . .
I appreciate the wordplay, myself
That was my reaction too.
Wait, what? Isn’t one of the primary things this site exists for is provide a venue for people to talk about design choices made by others?
I will never understand how our culture has gotten to a place where one cannot issue a criticism without it being taken as an effort to undermine the whole of humanity.
I think the point the author of the post was trying to make is that the wheels are somewhat polarizing, he is aware of that, and decided to share the car here anyway as there are plenty of other aspects of it that are perhaps worthy of discussion or of interest. However in an attempt to not let that one aspect of this particular example take over the discussion he tried to nip it in the bud, first in the post itself and then again in the comments and was probably hoping people would respect his wishes.
I don’t think he has any compunctions about someone criticizing the styling and other aspects of the vehicle itself as designed by FoMoCo, on account of said designers being professionally employed in that capacity, whereas the owner of the car is merely expressing his own personal style with his choice of rims.
It’s kind of like if we featured your own car here and you happen to have a sticker advertising your favorite athletic team or whatever on the back window and then instead of discussing the car or the story written with it as inspiration everyone just focuses on what a horrible athletic team you are in favor of.
But a subsection of our readers actually like the large wheels. And that’s fine too.
I don’t draw any line between upsetting a random Ford employee whose design flourish made it to final production to some random guy expressing himself with aftermarket wheels. I’m not that condescending to lie and say “good job” just because of a perceived disadvantage.
And can we stop acting like it’s an artistic piece of personal expression by changing wheels? Unless they drew the design on the napkin, created casting dies in their backyard and plated them chrome in their basement, the only thing custom about custom wheels are production irregularities corrected by QC. How about the compunctions about someone criticizing the styling and other aspects of the wheel itself as designed by aftermarket company, on account of said designers being professionally employed in that capacity?
And generally speaking, the whole idea of a custom car is to get attention. Pardon those of us who have trouble averting our gazes to the oversized shiny objects and not instead beating the dead horse scorning 71-78 big Ford’s, broughams and malaise landbarges.
I personalized my car with no money, and it even has oversized wheels(19” to the stock 15”). Criticize away, I have thick skin.
Exactly, XR7.
“Would anybody here appreciate having their choices critiqued by others?”
Yes I would, if it’s from a reasonably knowledgeable person and given in a constructive spirit. I grow from having my personal choices critiqued, from being shown where I am naive, from realizing that my “likes” might not as informed or justified as someone else’s likes. While there is room for diversion of preferences, it is not the case that everything is subjective, as many people would like to believe. Some people know more than others about aesthetics. Those who don’t want their aesthetic preferences commented on generally don’t have a lot of aesthetic awareness themselves, and would have trouble designing a decent looking paper bag.
Matt, you have thoroughly missed the point I was making.
A person is a designer at Ford. He is working for Ford Motor Company and it is ultimately Ford Motor Company that decides what goes on or in the car, not the designer. It is Ford that then takes the praise or hit for any styling on their cars. In fact, the designer doesn’t even get his name on the car. And, it’s likely the designer was acting with a bunch of other designers working at Ford.
Aftermarket wheels are simply made with what target in mind? An individual. Said individual then puts these wheels on their Ford to individualize it. By using these wheels the owner is putting their figurative signature on the car.
Criticizing these wheels is criticizing the owner. That is vastly different than criticizing the manufacturer of the car – which incidentally, I’m sure you noticed I did not do any disparaging of Ford Motor Company in the text so your statement about beating dead horses seems a little out of place.
“Criticizing these wheels is criticizing the owner.”
Yes, this is true, at least to an extent, but again I have to ask, “So what?”
In design school years ago, my classmates and I often found it hard when our instructors criticized our projects. “We’re not criticizing you,” the instructors would say, “we’re criticizing your work.”
Well, work that came from me shows how I think and view the world, so criticism of my work actually IS about me.”
But again, so what? I became a better designer and a better person by becoming more aesthetically aware, by learning to make more informed choices, and by coming around to the hard realization that whatever I like is not necessarily as good as what others like. The problem is, there is a lot of room for privileged white males to abuse this, and to mistake what may be our personal preference for being inherently truer and more aesthetically “correct.”
To the extent this problem needs to be addressed in our society—and it indeed does—I don’t believe we are going to get there by telling everyone to avoid discussing personal opinions, whether of cars, houses, or other people.
All correct. Some people like big wheels on old barges, some people don’t. It’s not my taste but who cares?
Jason made that clear in his original post. That’s a lovely old Ford that someone clearly cares about. Isn’t that enough? I’m slightly disappointed at our tribe here that this conversation has gone so far. 🤦♂️🤷♂️
“A person is a designer at Ford. He is working for Ford Motor Company and it is ultimately Ford Motor Company that decides what goes on or in the car, not the designer. It is Ford that then takes the praise or hit for any styling on their cars. In fact, the designer doesn’t even get his name on the car. And, it’s likely the designer was acting with a bunch of other designers working at Ford.”
You missed my point too, I acknowledged that an individual designer might get one thing they brought to the table into the final design. If one criticizes that detail you’re criticizing that designer. It might make you feel warm and fuzzy that you’re critiquing a faceless monolith, but inside that monolith are artistic talents trying to express themselves too, I simply do not separate it from the individual.
“Aftermarket wheels are simply made with what target in mind? An individual. Said individual then puts these wheels on their Ford to individualize it. By using these wheels the owner is putting their figurative signature on the car.”
So is color choice, various options and factory wheel covers, yet:
“This Ford left the factory in a horrible pastel yellow,”
So if this were reversed and this car came from the factory in black and the owner had it repainted pastel yellow, what would your choice of words be? Omit the “horrible” part because it’s expressing himself?
And, no, aftermarket wheels are made specifically with the exact intent complete cars are made – attracting customers to buy them so they as a business can make money. Both use individuality in marketing, but there’s nothing specially tailored to the individual about these wheels or any mass produced wheel.
“Criticizing these wheels is criticizing the owner. That is vastly different than criticizing the manufacturer of the car”
Strongly disagree. Criticizing the wheels is criticizing the wheels, as much as criticizing the car is criticizing the car. Many cars have factory wheels/covers that range from stunning to abysmal, and this is no different
“which incidentally, I’m sure you noticed I did not do any disparaging of Ford Motor Company in the text so your statement about beating dead horses seems a little out of place.”
Sure, I didn’t say you did in the main article, but that’s what a lot of comments predictably are. It is what it is, a lot of people dislike these big 70s Ford’s, and a lot of people dislike big chrome wheels.
To say criticizing the wheels is criticizing its owner implies more-ok to criticize the car itself and not-ok to criticize the wheels. The owner OWNs the car itself too, not FoMoCo, and if you criticize the car you’re indirectly criticizing the owner’s taste that attracted him to the car.
What statement is better?
“Man, these cars were junk, but great wheels!”
“I don’t like the wheels, but really nice car!”
Matt, you and mFred are impossible. I say that lovingly. 🙂
It is entirely possible to separate one’s work (or any other form of output) from them as a person. One’s work can be influenced by any number of temporary or fleeting things. Do you separate one’s behavior from them as a person? Same concept. If you ever get so bored as to desire stepping in a shitpile, criticize someone as a person when they misbehave or commit any other type of error. It’s a really fun minefield.
Besides, if you want to get technical about it, you both have made a separation between you as a person and your output via your comments. Both of you are displaying handy work via comments by utilizing user names and not using your real name. Nothing has stopped you from using your real name here.
Blast away as I’m not commenting anymore. This discourse (which is output, not a person) has consumed too much time.
“Besides, if you want to get technical about it, you both have made a separation between you as a person and your output via your comments. Both of you are displaying handy work via comments by utilizing user names and not using your real name. Nothing has stopped you from using your real name here.”
I gave it some thought because your point was clever. But don’t think people here are using screen names in order to hide from criticism. I know I am not. I frankly have felt my name to be irrelevant to my participation. But if people want it in order to know who is talking, they can have it.
That said, the fact that the regular contributors to this site use their regular names and commenters tend to use screen names helps me keep track of who is who. There are so many commenters here that screen names make it easier to recognize who is commenting and to remember their past commentary. Screen names, whether it’s LT Dan or XR7Matt, establish a personality that regular simply names do not. I wouldn’t object if everyone used their real names, and if this site required me to use my real name. In fact, I wrote for this site twice, and IIRC, was surprised and a little disappointed that my real name was not attached to the articles.
Best regards,
Matthew Frederick
(See the problem? One more Matt to keep track of just within this conversation.)
I didn’t really expect this to become a philosophical discussion, and I don’t think I could really answer those questions without thinking long and hard about it, but speaking only for myself, if I were gifted enough to make it as a car designer, and I saw discussion taking place(positive or negative) about a detail on a car that I played a role in creating, I’d be just as affected by it as I would be if it were about my personal modified car being discussed. To me output is output, recreationally or professionally, and no I don’t judge a person as a person by it(and I don’t think I ever implied as such).
As for my screenname, my full name is Matthew Polster. I didn’t not use my full name for anonymity, it just seemed like a handle type name is what most others were using at the time I joined, and felt XR7Matt had a nice but descriptive ring to it. I have no qualms about changing it if that’s preferable?
I don’t mind the size so much as the style.
This is what my wife says.
The appearance of the wheels doesn’t offend me, but I can’t help but think that the ride quality must be awful.
The original, smaller wheels and high-profile tires make these tanks float down the highway like a cloud. Handling, on the other hand…
I was a Ford dealer mechanic in 1974. I quit to go to college full time just before the ’75 was introduced, so no direct memories of ever wrenching one. I doubt they could have been any worse than the ’74. I think that was the low water mark for drivability thanks to smog equipment. I sure don’t remember any ’74 351 as being capable of delivering an acceleration rush like your aunt’s. You may be right about it having a larger optional engine.
Those wheels look like super-size versions of the Brabus wheels from the nineties.
+1. I remember a neighbour had a set on an early-eighties Commodore wagon. perhaps the only car I’ve seen that they really seemed to suit, somehow.
Very nice story and find. I’m reminded of watching QM’s FBI in the late 60’s and early 70’s…
While I prefer my rides factory stock, I’m pretty open-minded on what others may want to do to their automotive canvas. But I just can’t stand these donks on older cars – ugly and sacrilegious in my view.
Guess I’m a certified curmudgeon now…
I never drove one, but they just look wallowy and underpowered.
They look cool in uniform though
I did drive these on patrol. Big, yes…the last fullsizers I drove at work until the 1979-1980 Chrysler/Dodge R-bodies. But these Fords were stiffly sprung and the police suspension had a rear sway bar ( except on station wagons) to help neutralize handling. Ours had the only engine the department deemed adequate, the 460, and the Corp Yard mechanic assigned to them had some tricks up his sleeve. Ours were not underpowered.
I have actually driven this car, its belong to the Mass. State Police Museum and Learning Center. Yes it wallowy and the front end is wicked long, it has power but it does not steer and stop like modern cars…optics at night thru the windshield is awful, not to mention the weak headlights.Drove over a humpback bridge, could not see what was in front its so long….lol But she is a looker and sounds real nice when you start it up…you got to hand it to the staties that chased people down in these…takes balls to handle them.
I’m not going to dis the donks, as that’s been done to death here. But I will say looking at the three pointed look of them, they belong on a very large Mercedes instead. 😉
The chrome between the taillights looks odd as well. I thought there was some sort of vinyl strip there on these ‘75 thru ‘78 LTD(s).
And as to the Landau, I have to disagree with you. They look the best of the lot of that generation. The broughamiest of them all. Especially in that midnight blue that the brochure picture is wearing. I almost bought a used one in September of 1979 to replace my aging ‘73, but my Dad talked me into the more practically sized Fairmont Futura, that happened to also be midnight blue.
I was an odd teen that liked brougham-like cars, rather than sportier cars. That would change a little as I got older, but I still preferred Thunderbirds over Mustangs through my thirties.
Thanks for the write-up! These cars need some love. 😀
“I thought there was some sort of vinyl strip there on these ‘75 thru ‘78 LTD(s).”
You’re correct for most LTDs of this era, and these molded vinyl pieces are difficult to find, and expensive when you do find them. I’ve attached a screenshot of my better half’s 38,000-mile ‘78, which appeared a few times in season 3 of the HBO series True Detectives, and you can see that it’s missing half of this trim.
The LTD Landaus and Broughams used a plastichrome mesh insert, instead, and seem to be slightly easier to find.
Here’s the pic…
These ’75 – ’78 LTD four door sedans were a staple of the fleet at Hertz in Denver when I worked there.
The Hertz cars were quite plebeian: no vinyl roof; hand crank windows; dog dish hubcaps. As I remember they had vinyl interiors and the interior was usually the color of the body – but not always. Common colors in the fleet were dark blue, dark green, dark brown, white (with blue interior I think), pale yellow (brown interior I think).
These cars were workhorses. There may have been more Granadas and Torinos in the fleet but the big LTDs were a significant portion.
Excellent write up! Whenever I see LTDs of this vintage, I immediately think of a house on Riverside Drive in Windsor, Ontario. I often drive by it and due to the number of these LTDs in the driveway, call the house home of the “LTD guy”.
Too funny!
I live in Windsor too, and remember seeing his collection for some 20-30 years. I think that his herd has thinned somewhat, and somehow, I was waiting to see if an odd Marquis would show up.
I just wanted to say that I love the Dub-Tee-Dee. And this write-up. That is all.
That took me a second. You win, Mr Dennis! 🤣🤣🤣
Far away and upside down, these would be more associated with Remembering The Dream than living it, as they were universally used as funeral cars. All that metal and flubber and squish and 11 mpg was indeed a bit of an engineering dead-end, I suppose, so seems about right.
But nice to hear about their real life at home amongst the living.
I was never a fan of the styling of sedans of the early 70’s from any of the Big Three – they all seemed under-styled and toooo big. After the excitement of the 60’s it very much felt like we were indeed watching the dinosaurs die, having become bloated, clumsy, and slow.
Still, there’s no denying that these LTDs were as good as it got: spacious
and sumthin. The only complaint (but not a small one) that I personally remember about them is that where I lived is that the salt Pennsylvania used on the roads made them vanish like tissue paper in the rain… my father’s co-worker had a two year LTD with the bottom edge of the trunk lid rusted through; and even under the expectations of the day, he NOT happy.I remember the cars owned by the folks who lived across the street best from all the cars in the neighborhood I grew up in during the seventies.
The neighbors traded in their 1972 green Chrysler Newport for a pastel yellow ‘76 LTD. I learned to drive in my mom’s brown ‘73 LTD. The 1973 OPEC Embargo really changed peoples buying habits, the neighbor’s other car was a ’73 Datsun 510, their older son had a ‘76 yellow VW Scirocco. My dad had a ‘75 VW Rabbit and my older brother had a ‘69 Toyota Corona and a ‘73 avocado green Chevelle.
I never cared for all the additional vinyl on the ‘75-‘78 LTD Landau, that model most of bit into sales of the Mercury Marquis (which somehow looked better with fender skirts).
I wonder if there was ever a car that seemed to age so quickly as these LTDs? What I mean by that is that — to my mind at least, in the early 1980s these were viewed as outdated and obsolete… yet they were only 5 years old or less. The transition between these cars and the 1979 box Panthers was so thorough and so right for the times that the old cars seemed to age 10 years overnight.
I remember riding in these cars occasionally as a kid, and was always mesmerized by the little frilly upholstery patterns, or the burled fake wood, or the endless numbers of random buttons for things. To me these eccentricities were like having a chandelier in your bathroom; completely unnecessary, but to me they were impossible not to stare at.
I would argue that the introduction of the downsized 1977 GM B and C bodies instantly made the LTD and Marquis obsolete. They were far more modern, efficient, maneuverable, and sensible than the competing Ford products, which looked bloated, overdone (all that godawful vinyl trim, especially on the Landau versions), and justifiably criticized for their poor handling and fuel economy. To be fair, the LTD (and Marquis) enjoyed a sales boomlet in their last years as fatties, reaching highs that the awkward Box Panthers never attained. That sales success aside, I still marvel at the differences between the late 1970s Ford products sold in North America versus high watermark designs like the Ford Granada sold in Germany.
When I was young and ignorant of economics, I too lamented the unavailability of the Euro-Granada in NA. Now, I realize it couldn’t have been sold at a price point that most NA buyers would pay. In a market where people buy by the pound, the Granada would approach BMW-MB price levels.
This was proven by the Merkur Scorpio debacle a decade later.
Overpriced, rapidly depreciating and questionable reliability, at least in the NA market.
Not exactly my cup of tea but then again I don’t expect Mr. LTD to fall all over my choices either, so I’ll just congratulate him on apparently doing a fine job of keeping an older car roadworthy and in impeccable physical condition. May he have many more happy years with his choice, thank you for sharing it with us. And Velma looks like she has a twin sister just to the left of her in the yearbook.
I had a ’77 two-door that got me through college in the mid-eighties. It was in the double green combo shown in JB’s driveway pic above. The only issue I had was the EEC box that would cause random stalling at speed (but would always immediately restart).
These seemed more solid and better screwed together than the competition, with nicer interior appointments. Rustproofing was also comparatively good after Ford’s well publicized problems earlier in the decade.
I’m pretty sure these got a decent sales bump in 1977-78 after the Caprice/Impala were downsized.
I would quite like that 5 spd Maxima today, one of the more desirable rides of it’s era.
Jeffrey Osborne and LTD. Love, Togetherness and Devotion.
Thanks for this great find and article Jason. Hilarious look for this Ford. The owner having fun with this barge.
CBC had a decent crime drama series in 1977-1978 called ‘Sidestreet’ based in Toronto, with the two detectives starring in the show driving one of these. Donnelly Rhodes and Jonathan Welsh would be known to Americans.
The theme song was obviously performed by Chuck Mangione.
For those around in the mid-to-late seventies, these land-barges were everywhere. To me, they just scream ‘peak brougham’, which would be appropriate since the 1965 LTD is widely regarded as the car that got the brougham era started.
It’s actually kind of funny how the LTD managed to continue to ride the brougham wave, even after the OPEC fuel crisis, while the new. mid-seventies, full-size Chrysler line-up bombed to the point it was a significant contributing factor to the company nearly going under.
The full-size Chryslers actually sold reasonably well after 1975. The problem was with the full-size Plymouth and Dodge, which never recovered from the double blows of the first fuel crunch and resulting recession.
“…the cat’s meow.”
1924 called, they want their metaphor back.
It’s great to know you are so well-versed in things from 1924.
F. Scott Fitzgerald would have loved the LTD.
These never did it for me. I found the styling both too cluttered and too lacking in imagination all at once. I didn’t like the 73-74, but this wasn’t much of an improvement. I actually liked the Landau, but it had the problem of putting fender skirts on a car that had a wheel lip to contend with.
The only person I knew with one of these was a college roommate’s father, who owned a baby blue Landau sedan with navy interior and (between the roof and all the moldings) acres of navy vinyl all over the outside. It was actually not bad.
Looks aside, they felt tighter and used better interior materials than the competition, so I could see where they would make a pleasant driver – in a quiet, floaty kind of way. The Panther versions actually made me a little fonder of these. I’ll take one with a 460, please. Scratch that – I will go for a Grand Marquis instead.
I remember catching my first peak at these in the annual new-car issue of Motor Trend. The Landau front end looked very dramatic and upscale. Much more so than the comparable Chevrolet (let alone the poor Plymouth Gran Fury!).
The full-size Chevrolet was often a junior-edition Cadillac. These looked like full-blown Lincolns to me, for better or worse. There wasn’t much that was “junior” about them!
The car’s split personality was also interesting. The top-of-the-line models could give competitive Buicks and Oldsmobiles a run for the money, while the lower-rung models looked right at home as police cars on various mid-1970s television shows!
Ford managed this “split-personality” approach in model hierarchy better than any of the Big Three, in my view.
I don’t like these kind of wheels on all cars but their blunt-edged styling works pretty well on this LTD. IMO. LOL.
My paternal grandmother had a 1978 LTD Landau she bought new. She had it until 1998. I’m sure it blended in well with the roads in the late ‘70’s and ‘80’s but that green on green on green on green on green land yacht with it’s one lazy eye headlamp cover was NOT what I wanted to be seen in when I hit adolescence in the 1990’s 😂 I used to cringe when I saw it in carpool picking my brother and I up from school and would sit in the rear floor when we would go to the mall so no one would see me in it.
It wasn’t because it was old, I had no qualms about being seen in my dad’s ‘70 F-100 or his ‘73 Beetle but man I thought that LTD was the most hideous thing on wheels.
It was green with a green vinyl top, Two tone green seats and door panels, green headliner, green carpet, green steering wheel and dash with that lovely fake wood grain that always looked like demon faces floating in poo.
I’m sure I have a photo of it somewhere.
I have to say, despite my disdain, it was a good car for her. She did drive it for 20 years.
Buying a set of custom wheels is like redoing your kitchen. You’re to going buy what’s in style at the time. My house was built in the time of the Brady Bunch decor. The kitchen had gold patterned wallpaper with brown Formica countertops and Harvest Gold appliances. There was three tone, harvest gold, avacado green and orange plaid wall paper in the bathroom and one bedroom. The carpet was peach colored shag! My house was the main sales office of the subdivision so it was dolled up in the current style. My Wife and I finally got to redo the kitchen in the mid 1990s. We went with white with ivy wall paper, forest green tile counter tops and whitewashed oak cabinets. Looked really nice at the time. Well it still looks the same Today, just a bit over twenty years out of style. We plan on redoing it in a year or two. Twenty years from now I’m sure guests will remark, 2020 huh? I’m sure that the gent that owns the LTD hasn’t been in a hurry to update his wheel choice.
The step mother had a ’76 Custom 500 for a number of years. 351M with air and not too many options. A good, dependable car with a great ride, but very uncomfortable bench seats. I’ve had plenty of basic bench seat cars, but nothing got my back started like a ride in the Custom.
Hello, I was wondering if you’re wondering if you’re selling any parts off this car, thanks.
Back in ’77 or so one of these was my school’s Drivers’ Ed car. Triple brown, as I recall. The thing wallowed horribly, but there were no curves east of St. Louis so all was well. And it easily fit four students plus the coach / driving instructor. His most memorable instruction was to never turn the wheel when parked, because it could hurt the power steering.
Many years later I test drove a Ford Flex. Same ride, same handling; no thanks.
I actually find the roofline of the sedans pretty attractive, the bent back glass is a nice detail that’s often overlooked and somewhat obscured by the vinyl top. These were much more attractive than the Panthers that replaced them.
This car used to haunt the Bloomington CL until CL went to a pay model. I think he used to ask around $7000.
As far as wheels are concerned, no I don’t like what it has but I can’t think of anything that would look good other than the original style hubcaps and those aren’t great.
Craigslist charging a nominal $5 per month for a car ad is the best thing to happen to Craigslist since it started. Finally it is useful again without all the repeat dealer and or obviously scam ads.
I learned to drive in my Father’s 1976 LTD. With the 351, I can assure you neck snapping acceleration was not on the menu.
It was a pleasant car. The LTD was the base consumer full-size model, and followed Ford’s general trend beginning with the 1975 Granada and lightly refreshed full-size cars that Ford’s main lines above the economy class no longer offered strippers. The base LTD inside and out was analogous to the high trim Galaxie 500 of the 1960s. As some have noted, there was a fleet grade Custom 500.
Handling was pretty crappy, but it was generally much more quiet than my Dad’s high trim Oldsmobile company cars. Smooth riding too. Close your eyes and the car punched well above its already prodigious weight in terms of feeling luxurious on the road.
Some have commented on the plastic imitation vinyl (!) strip that should be between the backup lights. Its mounting points in the bezel were fragile, and that strip flapped on one side on my Dad’s car for several years. It was one automatic car wash away from being snagged and torn off, but somehow survived our ten years of ownership.
Among the trim lines, LTD, LTD Brougham and LTD Landau, the LTD was by far the best seller. In 1976, there were some 170,000 LTDs, 52,000 Broughams and 64,000 Landaus. Station wagons are counted separately from these, about 30,000 were LTD trim and 47,000 the high zoot Country Squire.
I’m a bit surprised the Landau isn’t Jason’s favorite. It was essentially a Mercury Grand Marquis masquerading as a Ford. My Dad really admired the Landau and thought about trading up to it. He did eventually get a fancy Ford, but it was a 1985 Crown Victoria LX.
Not ours, we had a four door, but the same color blue and this shows the trim in place between the backup lights…..
I agree with all you say. Those big Fords and Mercuries through 1978 were the last big American cars that felt solid when you slammed a door. Their interiors were very nicely done compared to the competition, although by 1975 that competition was largely Chevrolet as consumer-quality Plymouths almost ceased to exist in any numbers that would allow people to experience them. I have never been in one.
Recently there has been talk about the brilliance of VW or Toyota making modular platforms that can be used to contain costs over countless model lines. Has there been an in depth discussion here about just how much mileage the once-big-three got out of a handful of chassis components?
Much has been made about how dependent Chrysler was on the K-car architecture, but it seems to me that the precedents had been well established. Some Chrysler Corporation cars have been unit-body since 1960. Based on a skim of the available literature, it seems like the big non-Imperials shared one unibody for 1960 and 1961. Then Chrysler developed their B-platform in response to a misguided belief that the industry was downsizing for 1962. They were wrong. It took until 1965 to develop a new full-sized platform, but they proceeded to put the B-platform under everything bigger than a Valiant and smaller than a whale until 1979. I suspect that the short-lived R-platform downsized bigs had some B-platform in them.
Everything made in the USA that was smaller than the 1962 Belvedere was on the Valiant A-platform until 1976. The flawed F-platform that replaced it gave us the Dakota and Durango.
It seems like Ford also had three platforms for the North American market over a twenty year span when they were well over 20% of the market. I know there are some GM platforms that stuck around under a plethora of disguises even at their biggest too. What’s different now in terms of economies of scale? The Big-Three did it even before the IIHS was a household acronym.
The early to late 70s found me prowling car lots on my bicycle pretty much age 9 to 17. I gotta say, I always liked these ‘75-‘78 full-size Fords. I always had an affinity for grocery-getter looking cars. When everyone else wanted a Camaro, I was slobbering over big, 4 door sedans and wagons. These Fords had nice proportions, great rooflines and were simply the bee’s knees to me. I, too, didn’t really care for the Landau package, but if you’re gonna go big, go big. Covered headlamps (that’s class), fender skirts (that could be removed and thrown in the trunk), the fake carriage tops and hinges, fat body side molding that matched the vinyl roof and color-keyed wheel covers, the high-backed velour, the warm, burled, fake woodgrain….all in a leaner package than the bloated looking Marquis. Even the chrome railroad ties fore and aft presented well. But not my style. I preferred the plebian, mid-line model. Or even the basic fleet model with dog dishes. No doubt, looking back these were a little too large, but I think they looked a bit trimmer than the ‘73-‘74 models. I must say ‘71-‘72 was peak LTD to me, or even ‘66. But that’s beside the point, I wasn’t cruising the lots that early. The ‘75-‘78 coupes were odd to me, with that hodge-podge of rear side windows, though they’ve grown on me over the years. I believe a previous CC explained there was a federal roll-over standard to be met, which explained those hideous Impala Custom coupes of ‘74-‘76, which are still hideous to my eyes. Yes, I liked this iteration of LTD.
“…..a QM Production” always comes to mind when I see this era of Ford full size.
Spotted this coupe in western New York outside of Fredonia. Just liked the look for some reason. Had been sitting there when I visited the year prior in 2015. Haven’t been back since I took this pic in 2016. Wonder if it’s still there?
Side note on the Torino. My family had a 1973 base Torino wagon in a brown color with the plain Jane (non Gran Torino) front end. My uncle worked for Philco–owned by Ford at the time–and got us a discount on what I presume was a car meant for fleets. It also had no carpet, instead it had this plasticky rubber material that when it got hot would leave this weird imprint on any part of your skin touching it. Interestingly, the car did have one option–a power rear window in the Magic liftgate. Our neighbors had a similar base model wagon in blue and theirs did not have the power window in the back. Instead it had a little handle that was stuck to the back of the car that had to be hand cranked.
Fantastic read Jason! After the full-size cars eliminated the 2-door hardtop, I generally thought the 4-doors were better looking. That was definitely the case with these Fords. I have never been a big fan of these cars, but it’s nice to see some being preserved. The later models, 77 and 78s had drastically improved rust proofing and held up fairly well around here. The full size Fords from 1969 to about 1975 or 76 just disintegrated very quickly. I remember Phil Edmonton’s used car guides saying these big Fords would have been a decent buy for a big car if they didn’t biodegrade so quickly.
Being that the big LTD predated my beloved Panther platform LTD Crown Victoria, and later just Crown Victoria, I have a healthy love for these brutes. Stylish, imposing, and very quiet riding. The base models with the 302 are best avoided, though. To describe one of those simply as slow is an understatement of massive proportions.
I’d love to have a 2-door Landau similar to the attached picture. With the 460, of course.
Back in ’81-’82, I had the pleasure of owning a ’76 LTD Landau Sedan in Light Gold (with matching vinyl top and interior), which was neither metallic or really gold, but sort of butterscotch yellow color that was definitely different than the light yellow many came in. It was loaded, including the 460, Trailer Towing Package, and the Landau Luxury Group. I have to say it was quite the handler for such a large car, and could easily achieve 18 MPG with the AC off. I really did enjoy owning it.
These were my cousin’s hand me down cars from my Aunt and Uncle. We have a lot of great memories piling into them, slamming the doors, and cruising the Rocky Mountains in them.
We used to say we were Karl Malden from the Streets of San Francisco shooting around the countryside.
We could so easily sit three across in the front seats and ride back to Chicago in them like they were magic carpets that needed a whole lot of gas.
I wouldn’t really want one now. The Panther is plenty big enough, but with more modern technologies than these. I need a car without a carburetor and modern fuel injection, please. Anything after 1988.