Lest anyone think we’ve pulled the plug on the CC Clue, we haven’t. We just keep getting busy and forgetting to plug one into the schedule.
So what have we here? I know, but do you? As always, please don’t post pictures to reinforce your hunches as that takes away the fun from others.
Late 70’s Thunderbird or LTD II.
Up north, where its serving as a winter rat …..
1974 LTD with a block heater!
Looks like a Ford Elite of the mid/late 70’s.
The plug is for an engine block heater – which is probably mandatory equipment for Canada.
engine block heater and a Malaise Era Ford product
I was thinking mid 70’s Cougar, personally. Definitely a block heater.
1969-70 Ford LTD
1975 Ford Granada
1975-’77 Ford Granada.
Agree on the Granada with a block heater
Yep – undoubtedly a 1975-77 Granada.
If it were my car it’d be for a dipstick heater, which I discovered not only did a much better job of keeping an engine ready to start, but ensured no damage from oil too cold to flow.
As for the car, specimens such as this are so aggressively unappealing to me I don’t want to guess, sorry. I know, I know, I’m drinking in the wrong bar, but there it is.
Well, I do believe, if my eyes don’t deceive me, that you, Jason, have found an extraordinarily rare prototype for the 1976 Teslaesque Preprius Brougham. Such jollification!
Was thinking the same thing. Pity the fools who reckon on this being a Ford product. hehehe
I think the identity has already been guessed, but I hate to see the block heater cord secured with bare wire. That’ll wear through the insulation and energize the whole car. Won’t kill you, but it’ll snap your eyelids open one cold morning when you grab the door handle. Crappy way to start the day. Ask me how I know…..
Westinghouse 4-slice toaster that you got from your bank when you opened your first account, circa 1983.
I’m thinking Ford product too .
I always preferred the inline coolant heaters .
-Nate
I remember this well, it was a Ford EV prototype from around 1974. Unfortunately the range was only 100′ because that was the longest extension cord they could find at Walmart.
This rare and valuable (?) prototype predates the Walmart expansion into Michigan…..more likely the extension cord came from one of the many K-Mart stores that used to dot the landscape back when people got excited for the Blue Light Special.
Yes, the original plug-in hybrid.
It’s a plug for a block heater-looks like a 70’s Ford product.
It’s definitely a Remington. A schick would have a thinner head, and a Norelco would, of course have rotating blades.
We had a coolant heater on our ’41 Dodge Pickup in the early ’70s. We got it from JC Whitney. I recall it was finished in red crinkle paint and was installed inline in the lower heater hose. Worked great during the cold winter of the first gas crisis, ’73. – ’74.
Immediately I thought Torino Elite. I was tempted to verify, but I didn’t. Seeing this does bring back memories. I didn’t like the way Dad left the plug hanging out from under the grille. But, I remember, like some of you might too, is Dad going out to the garage on a sub 20 below zero night, rolling out the drop cord with the 100 watt rough service bulb, putting it under the hood, then covering the hood with a heavy blanket. Thank God for tank heaters. And, with the cord hanging out, you don’t even have to open the hood. I still own Dad’s old Willys truck. Whenever I look at that plug hanging out of the grille, it makes me smile.
+1 on the Dad, truck, block heater and memories.
I hope you alls know how lucky you are .
I had to begin from scratch with my Son , seems to be O.K., he has many colorful stories about oldies, travels and travails he seems to enjoy telling….
-Nate
I was thinking 1970’s GM but on a closer look at the grille that’s a fine Ford product. Just look at the fit and finish on the bright trim at the left side 🙂
Besides, if it was GM that plastic filler panel would have decomposed by now..
1973 LTD
+1. 73 ltd. Grille inserts arent correct for granada
And they are for the ’73 LTD. And it’s not a ’73 Galaxie 500–this is an LTD grille.
Yep. The partition between grill sections gives it away.
+2 on the ’73 LTD. My first car. Except mine was gold. This one was Avocado Green, like my neighbor’s ’74 (different grille on that one). How ’70(s) are THOSE colors, guys? ?
Also, mine had the 351 Windsor. It wasn’t a way cool plug-in hybrid like this car. I got like 8/15/12 mpg (city/highway/combined). This guy probably gets 17/15/16 if it was a hybrid.. and yes I am kidding.
Being from Baltimore, we never really had need for engine block heaters. That must be a weird experience having to plug you car in for THAT reason. Is it still that way up there in the Great White North? Today’s cars use very thin viscosity oils. Or is it not the thickening oil that makes you need to plug it in?
It’s still that way here in the great white north. Almost a habit more than a requirement today. Most new vehicles these days have a block heater that doesn’t activate until around -17C. I’ve had the odd time where I’ve neglected to plug in at night and started at the twist of a key even at -35C but it’s hard on the engine. Today’s batteries and starters along with fuel injection make cold starting easy, but it’s still nice to have heat quickly in addition to the reduced wear on the engine.
I really don’t miss the morning ritual of coaxing an ice cold carburated engine to life and then nursing it for 5 minutes until it’ll run. Then back in the house for a last cup of coffee until it’s warmed up….
Don’t forget the rust holes ! .
-Nate
That part about nursing a carbureted engine for 5 minutes until it will run sounds like the cold start procedure for my old Malibu. It’d fire up on the second or third try and you had to stay with it and give it enough gas until it’d idle on its own.
The difference is, this was central North Carolina and “cold start” was in the 20s/30s Fahrenheit. No way in hell that car would have been remotely usable without a block heater if I had lived way way up north!
Or you could have had the carburetor and specifically the automatic choke set properly. Now granted we don’t see sub zero temps but I’ve never had a problem starting my carb equipped vehicles in the teen and single digit temps in the rare instances we have seen it that low.
@Scoutdude :
I vividly remember the 1960’s in Rural New England, many had the devil of a time getting their engines started but most of those old 1930’s & 1940’s 6 volt klunkers started right up in spite of agonizingly slow cranking speeds .
Here in Los Angeles I’m always flabbergasted to listen to long cranking before older engines light off ~ few seem to know any sort of proper starting drill and that makes a huge difference .
Pumping the gas pedal whilst cranking _always_ hinders rapid starting because, basic physics you know .
-Nate
@Scoutdude: You say this like it’s something I should have known innately at the time. A 17 year old with a non-mechanically inclined father had no idea that a choke was something that could be found on a car, not being old enough to remember when such things were manual. I just thought that was the starting procedure.
Granted, the fact that it didn’t occur to me in retrospect in my reply probably shows that I still never fully internalized that knowledge! In my semi-defense I haven’t owned a car with a carb since 2002 and I’ve never (yet) owned one old enough to have a manual choke.
In sub zero weather a can of ether was often a necessity for getting cold carborated engines started. Modern fuel injection really is a blessing in the cold.
Thanks for the replies, guys… and I had forgotten about a carburetor being one of the reasons you needed a heater. While my 73 LTD was not the last car I would have with a carburetor, it was the last one where you had to set the choke on a cold morning. And even though that was almost 40 years ago since I last started that car, I remember the procedure well. Turn the key to on. Push the gas to the floor once and release. Start the car without stepping on the gas. Let it idle to warm up. Despite being the days before electronic ignition, that 351W started up every time, even in 1976 when we had a very cold winter here in Baltimore.
Starting a balky carbureted engine on a cold morning: another of my skills that has become completely obsolete.
Damn, I thought it was a 74 but I think it is probably a 73
The 74 had a finer mesh to the grill, while the 73 had more of an egg crate effect. I personally liked the 73’s grill better, but my opinion is a tad biased.
Slide my chip onto ’73 LTD, please.
“Slide my chip onto ’73 LTD, please.”
+1
Slide mine all in for the 73 LTD and variants like the country squire.
’75-’76 Torino Elite would be my guess. Was surprised to see a block heaters are still optional – was scouting mid-sized sedans for my Dad. But then again, I don’t live in Minnesota.
Mid 70’s Ford Torino with a block heater. My wife is from Mandan, North Dakota. Practically standard equipment up there.
Definitely going with ’73 LTD. The grille is a bit different on the ’73 Galaxie 500. It’s not a Torino; the Torino didn’t have grille-like surrounds on the headlights. But these match the LTD. The plug would be for an engine block heater, normally seen in Tucson only on cars belonging to winter visitors from places like, oh, I don’t know, Minnesota or Wisconsin. You know, places that get a lot of snow and freezing weather.
Mom had a Ford LTD wood-sided wagon, 1973 MY. That sure looks like a LTD to me. I drove that car a lot. Quite a bit of squeaking from the interior pieces trying to separate explosively. I recall that that car had to have the freeze plugs replaced several times: perhaps a block heater would have helped even here in Va.
That is for the engine block heater(optional), but on a gasoline engine? Maybe a Canadian model Ford?
Theres a very rusty car with a grille like this in the hood about 5km away, not sure on the actual model and its not one they sold here but its a Ford or its Mercury stablemate, I’ll go look tomorow in daylight but by then the answer will be up.
Elan Musk’s first car.
Um…I’m hesitant to reply with what I think is obvious—and I could be wrong, but it’s the block heater plug to the green 1973 Ford LTD pictured in the previous Curbside Classic profile, the one entitled “1973 Ford LTD – It’s Not Easy Being Green.” Isn’t it?