It’s well known here I have a bit of a complicated relationship with Ford LTDs. I’ve not been very kind to them, here, here, and here, and a few other places I’m sure. Perhaps that explains why I keep running into these Fox-LTD’s, as this is the second one in the past couple of years (the other one is our only CC on these). Perhaps they think I like them, since I seem to be pretty friendly with its earlier incarnation, the Fairmont.
Friendly enough to buy one?
The For Sale sign wasn’t up in the rear window the first time we saw it on our walk and when I shot it; a couple days later it was. Hmm. $2,250, and only 77k miles. If I was to ever want to buy one of these, this one might be the one; it probably wouldn’t be hard to get the price down a bit too.
I don’t know what happened, but there’s no interior shot of the front, which I normally shoot first. But the back seat sure looks to be in most excellent condition.
I’ll borrow the front seat shot from the other one, which is unfair, as it’s quite ratty and dirty and gross. But here it is just in case you wanted to see what one of these looks like.
As to what’s under the hood, I have no firm idea. It could be the 2.3 L Lima four, the 200 ci Falcon six, the 232 (3.8L) “Essex” V6 or even the 302 (5.0 L) Windsor V8. This looks like a real grandma’s car, so I’m going with the Falcon six. That rather blunts my desire, not that it was very strong to start with.
I’m not sure just why I shot this wheel cover, except perhaps that its somewhat cryptic design embossed in the center. Just what is it supposed to represent? And how does it relate to the LTD? Inquiring minds would like to know. Imagine an archeologist uncovering one of these several centuries from now, and wondering what to make of it? A fertility symbol? A message left by or for aliens?
Who would ever have guessed in the mid seventies that the storied “LTD” name and badge would find itself on a replacement for the Maverick? With a standard four cylinder engine? The American car world was never so turned upside down as it was by the second energy crisis.
Well, there was an “LDO” version of the Maverick, so why not LTD?
This is a mighty clean example, if you’re into shrunken-head LTDs. I hope whoever bought it realizes what they have. But most likely it’ll end up in the hands of some kids who think it’s cool for having been built a decade or more before they were born, and in a few years it will end up looking like the blue one that I found a couple of years ago, owned by just such a young guy.
Feast your eyes, as it’s now gone and likely never to be seen again. I very much doubt it went to Germany like the ’72 I almost bought. It’s too…un-American for their taste. The era of the Strassenkreuzer was over, for them and for us.
Nice try, LTD, thinking you could sucker me into buying an LTD thanks to your svelte and lithe body and little six. Not buying it, though.
Related:
CC 1985 Ford LTD – The Father of the Brougham Era becomes the Surrogate Mother of the Aero Era PN
Woah, I have not seen one of these in forever.
I believe that the 3.8 V6 was the sole powerplant offered in these. The only variety was in whether you got the 4 speed AOD automatic or the 3 speed C5. I know that they only V8s were in the rare LTD LX of 1984-85 that got the Mustang’s 5.0 HO.
Boy, if this were closer to me it would get me to thinking. And if it were a wagon I might be on a plane your way. I genuinely loved my 86 (Fox) Marquis wagon and for this price might be tempted to try to re-live the experience. This car also looks like one of the last American cars with old-style all-vinyl interior? There’s a mark against it.
The 2.3 four cylinder was standard for all years and the 3.3 Falcon six was an option for 1983 only. The 3.8 was available all years, and the LX did have a throttle body FI version of the 5.0 available on the Mustang. I think 1983 3.8 had a carburetor and got throttle body fuel injection for 1984.
Fairmont was still available for the first part of the 1983 model year until Tempo was introduced mid-year.
I guess updating the Fairmont’s front and rear end and inserting the Thunderbird interior was the best Ford could do to compete with GM’s mid-size A and G bodies until the Taurus was available. I believe the LTD/Marquis sold much better than the 1981-2 Granada/Marquis.
I wonder if this had originally been a fleet vehicle? The all-vinyl interior is odd here… I just checked both the ’83 LTD brochure and my price book, and both list cloth as standard. So possibly it was a special order, or maybe part of a fleet?
The standard wheel covers are also unusual, I’m glad Paul photographed it up close – they were available, but for only $55 one could upgrade to the “luxury wheel covers,” which were more stylish and had a red design in the center. I hardly ever saw civilian cars with these standard wheel covers, but I bet a lot of fleets had them.
Good point about the vinyl interior. I did always assume that cloth was standard.
Maybe this car got forgotten in the deep recesses of motor pool garage? 🙂
I believe that the 3.8 V6 was the sole powerplant offered in these.
Not according to the Standard Encyclopedia of American Cars.
I suspect a high percentage did come with the V6.
These also came with a propane power plant
Wow, I learned another new thing. As for that 4 cylinder version, I have never before seen or heard of one. I would be surprised if even 2% of these were so equipped, as long as there were Fairmonts (or Tempos) being offered. They were probably ordered about 1 or 2 per dealer for skinflints or people obsessed with gas mileage to the exclusion of all else.
Turns out this particular car has the 200 Falcon six as per a VIN check.
I remember the Bondurant driving school at Sears Point raceway used these. They had a V8/ 5spd. combo as I remember. I checked and found verification here: https://bangshift.com/general-news/car-features/random-car-review-the-1984-85-ford-ltd-lx-the-hot-fox-that-slipped-under-the-radar/
That brings back some memories, as my first wife’s father had one, which I drove quite a lot. Perfect car for him, as Ray was the kind of guy who considered a car a transportation appliance and nothing more. The kind of guy who eventually became a Camry owner, except Ray wouldn’t buy foreign, and would definitely never buy Japanese. Being a WWII Pacific Theater vet probably had something to do with it.
I remember the car as comfortable and boring as hell. Had he offered the car to us at trade-in time, I would have turned him down. The Buick Century I got from my family was way superior.
Wow that’s super clean. If I wasn’t across the country I’d seriously buy it for my work car.
I’ve owned one and driven a couple of others. All had the 3.8L so I’d assumed that was the standard engine.
These have the happy rack and pinion steering feel like all the foxes, and were overall pleasant to drive.
I read that this was the year the 3.8L in these switched to EFI, and as I understand it some have it and some have a carb. All the ones I drove had carbs, so I don’t know if EFI made them better or worse.
In the mid 90’s I was getting something at the pick’n’pull and these were everywhere; all but one had the fuel injection. I don’t know if the EFI ones were that much more common, or if they were all junk.
“I don’t know if the EFI ones were that much more common, or if they were all junk.
Early Ford throttle body EFI systems were called CFI, for “Central Fuel Injection.” The hardware was very similar to GM’s TBI setup, but the Ford computer system were not as helpful. Early Ford scan tools could access Diagnostic Trouble Codes, but did not include an engine data list.
Instead of reading sensor data off a handy list, Ford techs had to install a “Breakout Box,” and measure each sensor input using the box test points. Not only was this time consuming, most independent shops did not have this equipment, and it was easy to measure the wrong test point during troubleshooting (Image of a breakout box below).
In addition, the 3.8 CFI often failed state emissions tests without setting any codes (this was before OBD II), and without DTCs or a data list it was difficult to identify the root cause and repair the system.
Exactly. Getting any meaningful data out of the ‘breakout box’ often required a test drive, which called for 2 mechanics. One to drive and one to read the book and probe terminals with a volt-ohm meter. Sort of like playing the old Milton-Bradley ‘Battleship’ game. GM was far ahead of Ford (and most everyone else) during those years when it came to engine control diagnostics. As for emissions testing yes, I ran into those issues as well. The carbureted 1984 Tempo 2.3L HSC’s were also tough to get to pass.
Definitely don’t miss BOB, but it did have its benefits as there are times when you do need to check continuity of the circuit between the ECU and the sensor/actuator and this does make it easier and less likely to go wrong than probing a connector directly.
While the lack of live data on the early models was definitely annoying the EEC-IV Ford system had a number of good points specifically the range in test modes
KOEO Will detect wiring issues
KOER Where it does rationality checks on all the sensors and actuators that it has feedback from or can derive whether it is working as intended or not.
Wiggle Test To help find intermittent connections/circuits
Output Test Mode Where you can cycle actuators on demand.
Cylinder Power Balance test.
KOEO and KOER can give you instant feed back on if a repair actually solved the problem and KOER is still a thing on modern Fords
Output Test Mode is the forerunner to the bi-directional capability of some systems with the right scan tool. Thankfully now you can limit it to one thing rather than cycling everything at once.
Cylinder Power Balance Test of course is the forerunner of miss fire detection required by OBD-II.
I’ve been watching Pluto TV streaming lately and there is a The Price Is Right channel – Barker Era (he’s 97 BTW). Right now the shows are in 1983 and there was an LTD as a prize, as well a Trans Am, Isuzu sedan, T1000s and Chevettes galore. I read on WP that when Barker took over as Exec. Producer he mandated only American cars as prizes.
It has been interesting seeing the prices for things and converting to today’s dollars, and of course there was still the lingering energy crisis (they even gave away an electric car!).
Thank you for mentioning this. I have been meaning to check out Pluto TV and the TPIR reruns from the Bob Barker era. The cars were always a big draw for me!
It was 1987 when Barker mandated the “no foreign cars” rule. I learned this when researching an article about the cars given away on the show.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-tv/cc-television-a-few-of-the-cars-from-the-price-is-right/
it looks like a Fairmont w/ unattractive extensions added to the front and back making an otherwise coherent design, a mess
I don’t think you are wrong. I by no means hate the Fox sedans, but I think the Red / Green show saying applies here, “If the women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.” The Fox sedans were handy if nothing else.
The Fairmont always looked cheap. A high trim car in a dark color with no vinyl top isn’t bad, but that was rarely how they were built.
The Fox Granada looked like a five year old playing with Grandma’s make-up and dressing in her old clothes.
The LTD looks like the rushed placeholder for the Taurus that it was. The carryover Fairmont doors are mismatched with the updated front and rear quarters, the chrome bumpers are that odd transitional integration Detroit did as the industry moved to vinyl bumper covers, and the tail light stylist should have been sent back for a do over.
Still, it isn’t terrible, and it was a handy placeholder for Ford. I would pick this over a Fox Fairmont or Granada, and the interior was actually fairly well done.
The Taurus arrived in the nick of time.
I think the LTD was a carefully crafted transition to the Taurus. From selling it to us as “midsize” when they were telling us it was a “compact” just a few years prior, to styling details like the faster roofline, that roofline meeting the trunk at a higher point loosing the corners on the wheel openings and the sloped front end, to dropping the 2dr and introducing the V6.
Yes some of those details of course were spreading to other Fords as well but a rushed stop gap car wouldn’t have warranted all new exterior sheet metal other than the doors.
Regarding the bumpers this went to the drawing board when the bumper standards were getting tougher and these were designed with that in mind.
Meanwhile the standards went the other way, from 5/3 mph to 2.5/1.5 mph paving the way for urethane bumper covers to go mass market.
I would be surprised if the Taurus was even a glimmer in anyone’s eye when the 83 LTD was being penned, probably 1980-81. My recollection is that when everyone thought we were running out of oil this was going to be Ford’s standard-bearer LTD going forward (thus the name), just as we saw with the Pontiac Bonneville and Chrysler’s efforts to shrink the flagships. The Panther LTD was on the chopping block for 2 or 3 years running, but kept getting stays of execution, probably because they would lose less money buy building them in relatively small numbers than by killing them. It turned out that Chrysler was the only one that actually pulled the trigger on dumping the big cars, something that probably hurt them a few years out.
The work on what would become the Taurus was well under way in 1980 (see comment below with 1980 concept image). And the aero 1983 T-Bird and 1984 Tempo very much previewed the styling direction of the Taurus. There’s zero doubt in my mind that the ’83 LTD refresh was very much influenced by them as well as the work on the Taurus, which was by then further along.
The changes to create this ’83 LTD could have been easily made within some 12 months, as they are all highly cosmetic. The only real change except the front and rear ends being extended a bit and reworked is the C-pillar, which has a faster slant. This is all doable within much shorter time frames than the time frames you suggest. It’s a very different ball game to create a new car from scratch (1980 would be about right) than to do a bit of window dressing as was done here.
It was always totally obvious to me that Ford was bridging the boxy Fairmont/Granada and the coming Taurus with this LTD. A preview of coming attractions. And of course to fit in better with the areo T-Bird, Tempo and Mustang.
That 1980 concept is here:
It is pretty clear that Ford had decided on a new direction for the “Ford look” of the mid 80’s by the late 70’s and this was a small but deliberate step along the way. There is definite styling continuity starting with 81 Escort’s slope nose and head/tail light theme from the 81 Escort – 83 T-Bird /LTD – 84 Tempo – with the headlight bucket that could take a composite lamp’ Those lamps came with the Taurus quickly spreading to the Escort, Tempo, T-Bird and even the Mustang.
I also remember the thoughts that this could be the “Big Ford” and that is why they used the LTD name to prepare us for the death of the Panther. The fact that they did a 5.0 Police and then the 5.0 LX made me think the Panther was done, and that the upcoming FWD car was going to slot under this.
I could see an alternate universe where the Panther got the ax after 1985/6, this got a Aero Headlight refresh in 1987 like the 2dr Foxes and it was pitched as a replacement for those Panther buyers that wanted a traditional RWD car with an optional V8.
I wouldn’t even surprise me if one of the reasons they did the LX 5.0 version was a cheap way to test market reaction to a sport sedan to help them decide on moving forward with what would become the SHO.
*Or a Fairmont sedan looks like an LTD with the ends chopped off. From the back the LTD looks similar to the Fairmont Futura coupe, so whether you find it attractive or not the LTD didn’t really veer away from the original design themes present in the Fairmont besides giving the nose a slant in addition
“From the back the LTD looks similar to the Fairmont Futura coupe.”
One person agreed with that statement enough to build their own LTD Coupe.
The parents of my late best friend’s had Ford LTD, replacing their much-abused Buick Century (G-Model), in same colour as profiled car and with Essex V6 engine in the 1980s. What I remembered the most about their LTD was the curiously odd “new car smell” that never went away for years.
While the performance and appearance were ho-hum and nothing exciting, the car was ideal and comfortable for long errand drives in Dallas area. His mother preferred the LTD’s “smaller” footprint—they had Chevrolet Suburban for towing Airstream and hunting—for easier parking and appreciated the large boot volume for her notorious shopping sprees at Sam’s Club and during the “Dollar Days” sales at Target stores.
This is the perfect old-car find: rust free climate, low miles, immaculate interior, being sold the good old fashioned “put a sign on it” method. On my bucket list is to do a fly and drive for something just like this. The risk of such a “shakedown run” across the country is all part of the fun.
As to the mystery of the hubcap design, i think it’s a variation of the emblem that Ford used on the LTD around 1971-72 on the grille. In those years it had 3 lions with a crown on top and said FORD at the bottom. It never stayed the same too long before they’d change it again.
Yes, it has a vague generic Ford crest vibe going on. The stylist phoned this one in a week before the stamping die was made.
But, it was mostly the end of the line for the crest as the Blue Oval took over most everything.
In the post linked at the bottom, there’s one with a fake convertible top covering the glass triangle in the C pillar. I don’t like the material, but the car looks much better without that window. That’s true of many sedans with a window behind the door.
JPC:
Paul has the potential powerplant nailed: the 4 cylinder was standard, except on the wagon where the inline 6 was standard. The wagon and the sedan both gave you the choice of the optional V6.
I don’t think that I have ever seen one of these with vinyl seats, I just assumed nearly all had the fabric upholstery.
My parents had the Mercury version of the sedan, it looked somewhat like the blue car Paul profiled.
Probably the only thing that I think might be a bit off putting stylewise, is the weird downward slant at both ends of the car.
BTW, isn’t there a generation of the Toyota Corona (the generation after the last one to be sold in America?) that looks like this LTD.
Seeing a car like this reminds me how much time has passed since the ’80s & ’90s when these were a common part of the everyday “carscape”. Now you see one and it stops you in your tracks. Reminds me of a 1972 Buick LeSabre I saw a few months ago. Not a car I really cared about (then or now), but I instantly recognized the swoopy body lines, the distinctive taillights–even that cream color! Even the way it moves down the road and takes corners looks different from modern vehicles! It’s hard to believe this was once “normal”. And I said, “Wow! It’s probably been 30 years since I’ve seen one of those!”
The crushers do their job well . . .
(Photo shown is from a movie.)
If only these had aero headlights…
I’ve seen a few of these retrofitted with 87-93 Mustang front ends, I think a SVO front end would look really fitting since the turn signal shape is very similar to the LTD
I haven’t seen one in forever, and it would be of interest (at that price!) if closer to me. The brochure reminds me of things just becoming available then—automatic with the overdrive, the 3.8L, even a propane option. Very cool! (Though, all things equal, I’d probably take the classic Fairmont look.)
Our Family had TWO of these, my Dad had an ’84 in two tone Blue with the high-zoot blue velour bucket seat interior in the late ’80’s, early ’90’s. It was…fine from what I recall beyond sitting kind of low with the dash looming above in front.
Then my brother got an ’83 a year or two later, buttercream on tan vinyl (another vinyl car), a much more basic car and his may have been rebuilt at least partially, both had a V6, and were generally reliable. The ECU did go out on my brother’s car and then he eventually inherited my Dad’s car and it developed shifting issues wherein he had to hit 75mph during his morning commute to shift into high gear. The San Mateo bridge part of his commute usually let him accomplish that.
Nice to see this one in excellent condition, sort of a Grandpa car, and seems a decent price assuming the mechanicals are as good as the cosmetics.
I Wish I could get my hands on an LTD LX with the V8. I foolishly passed one up several years ago that had Mustang H.O. v8 a manual swapped in. Regrets!
My Maternal grandparents also had a 72 Buick Lesabre hard top like the picture posted by Poindexter. They had purchased the car new and it was well equipped, pretty solid, albeit a little tired and leaky. By the time I got my license in 1986, I probably could have bought it off them for $500. I had 0 interest in the car at the time. I bought a $200 barely running VW Beetle instead of that cushy air conditioned boat. Further Regrets!
IIRC, reviewers liked the LTD LX. Barring anything equipped with a police package (which is kind of what the LTD LX was), it was about as close as one was likely to get to a domestic sports sedan at the time.
Maybe someone could dig-up and post one of those old magazine articles?
Buy this car and swap in a 302. It’s a direct fit.
+1 Foxbodies and 5.0s are like Lego bricks, for modest money you could build a LTD LX that is a far better performer than the original was.
I’ve always thought these were one of the better-looking early 80’s cars (which I realize is damning with faint praise).
The hubcap decoration looks to be an upside-down stylization of the old Ford crest with the LTD gold leaves added. I’d have preferred those dishes clean.
Uncanny how much it looks like a Plymouth Caravelle.
I always thought these were a huge improvement over the Fairmont I’m exterior and interior styling and engine choice. The Fairmonts all seemed to come in that hearing aid beige colour and had bench vinyl seats. I like straight lines but the Fairmont was a little too many plain straight lines. The ltd/marquis softened the lines, added some.much needed chrome, and could be somewhat convincingly luxed up with vinyl roofs and power accessories and plusher cloth split bench interiors. Plus the rear windows rolled down!
Interestingly, although the g body coupes sold well and Chrysler was doing ok with it’s two door ks, ford didn’t offer a two door ltd/marquis.
Ford did offer a two-door Fox-based Granada and Cougar. They apparently weren’t very popular. For 1983-85, it used the Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar, which were also based on the Fox platform, to satisfy coupe buyers.
Got a few of these in my files:
• My folks rented one of these when we went to Massachussetts in 1984 or so. A blue one with blue velour interior. “What kind of car is this?” I asked as we packed our stuff into it. “An LTD, it’s a fancy kind of Ford”, said my mother. She and my dad had gone to school in MA years before, and they’d been telling us kids about Brigham’s ice cream. I guess we’d been fussy at some point before the trip, and they told us if we quieted down and behaved they’d take us to Brigham’s for breakfast when we were in Boston. I guess they figured we’d forget. We did not. They did in fact take us to Brigham’s as soon as they opened one day, and as mother liked to tell it, they got all kinds of dirty looks from others on the “T” (the MTA, Boston’s subway) because they were obviously unfit parents, giving kids ice cream in the morning. I think it was probably more because eating on the subway is rude and probably against the rules even when grownups do it. Anyway, the car did fine; it was a generic anymobile of its day.
• Against mother’s wishes (she baselessly hated him all his life) I went visiting my engineer grandfather, dad’s dad, when I was 14 or so. He arranged for me to spend one of my days at the car repair shop he used. They put me to work, as it were—one of these cars, a V6 unit, was in for a tune-up and a water pump. They let me help with the water pump, clean the carburetor, and swap the distributor cap and rotor, the air filter and crankcase vent filter, and the spark plugs. I might’ve checked the timing, as well. I noticed it needed a battery cable terminal, too; they said okeh and I replaced it. I imagine their insurance company and the car’s owner would’ve been upset to learn it, but even their combined anger wouldn’t’ve come halfway to the giant meltdown my mother had when I came home all excited about it (I hadn’t yet learnt to keep my triumphs, successes, and joys quiet around her).
Shrunken-head LTDs 🙂
That’s comedy gold right there.
Maybe it’s a uber rare propane powered one? “ The Ford propane cars will be sold first in Canada, where a Government grant of $400 for each converted car and tax incentives are being offered to promote the use of propane in vehicles. The only models with the propane option will be four-door Granadas and Cougars with 2.3-liter, 4-cylinder engines and an automatic transmissions.”
I drove an LPG equipped LTD. It was probably the most gutless car I have ever driven and that is saying something. I was interested in it because it had factory LPG and I wouldn’t have to convert it.
But it was so slow I knew I would have a taxi driver revolt, so I passed on it. The salesman doing, the “Better snap it up, I have another buyer” game cemented my walk.
The only version of this generation LTD that appealed to me was the LTD LX, which was the police package suspension with a fuel injected 302 that was effectively a 4 Mustang. I had a high school friend who owned one and called it his V8 Interceptor since Mad Max was very popular at the time and the Fox body with a V8 wasn’t that far off from the size and performance of an Australian Falcon.
Amber rear turn signals. Very international.
I want to say the 3.3 Falcon six was 1983 only, the brochure suggests it was standard in wagons rather than the 2.3, only way to get a V8 in 1983 is if you had a badge. It’s a curious thing considering the Fairmont had an available V8 (302 and 255) a few years earlier.
These were dumpy looking 80s sedans to me as a kid, but in fairness most were clapped out and rusty and all but disappeared from Chicago by the late 90s. The greenhouse drives me nuts in particular, the clunky window frames, the bits of bright trim accenting them, 4 panes of glass per side(5 with the optional vent windows) is so cluttered looking. I also remember Kramer had a brown one (like this actually) in early seasons of Seinfeld before replacing it with his green 73 Impala, which I thought was way cooler at the time.
Now my perspective has shifted 180° as they’ve become less common and surviving examples tend to be in better condition. The basic design is pretty attractive, the more fastback like roofline and sloping trunk have a sleek look, in fact I only recently noticed the little spoiler like protrusion at the top edge of the decklid. It took me time to appreciate the Taurus design too for similar reasons I didn’t originally like these, and as I later did I actually see much of the design evolution directly from these LTDs, take away all the Audi inspired bits and sharpen the corners and you get a fair approximation of these LTDs. I don’t know how people looked at these when they were new but they are a fairly convincing “downsizing” compared to some more hasty attempts at the time(including the Torino based LTD II), the Fairmont roots are somehow less obvious on this than on its predecessor 81-82 Granada or the 80-82 Tbird despite the LTD actually sharing more sheetmetal with the Fairmont than both the Granada and Tbird did. The LTD also used the 80-82 Tbird dash which I think was actually a fairly clever bit of recycling, take a luxury design from a different class of car than an LTD buyer would seek, and not a particularly popular one at that, and few were the wiser.
This is the ’83 LTD from the Venezuelan market. The Ford Cougar Brougham.
Note the revised D-pillar.
https://live.staticflickr.com/4223/35089033676_7292d1295a_b.jpg
Wow, a rolling time capsule. I hope it went to a good home, someone who will honor it for what it is.
I enjoy it’s beauty every day!😁
These are more attractive to me now then they were at the time. In the early 1980s, the Big Three still dominated the family sedan market – for most of the country, the Honda Accord and Toyota Corona/Camry, good as they were, didn’t have the size necessary to fill that role.
GM still dominated this market with its old-school rear-wheel-drive intermediates, along with the front-wheel-drive A-bodies had that debuted during the 1981 calendar year. The Fairmont-based 1981-82 Granada and Cougar didn’t gain much traction in the market, although the nasty recession that lasted until early 1983 didn’t help.
The 1983 LTD and Marquis, along with that year’s aero Thunderbird and Cougar, were the first signs that Ford was moving away from the Ye Olde Brougham Look. They were a breath of fresh air at the time, even if they were obviously based on the Fairmont (and it was more obvious with this car than it had been with the1981-82 Granada and Cougar). GM still dominated this segment, but it was becoming apparent that applying first-generation Seville styling cues to every vehicle above the J-cars was running out of steam.
These LTDs were the first sign of better things to come from Ford…while GM’s approach to styling had hit the wall.
I agree. Back when these were new I considered them hopelessly outdated and outclassed at a time when FWD was the price of entry for a “modern” car. These were like a Volare in 1980 or a Lark in 1962 – they would get the job done and were decent cars but they were hopelessly old fashioned.
I came to appreciate them when I bought one not too old but really cheap. The 3.8 and 3 speed auto was really pleasant – I liked the car better than the much lower mile 85 Crown Vic that replaced it. My 86 Marquis wagon was highly optioned, quiet, smooth and one of the nicest cheap 2nd cars I ever bought. Today I would take one any day over the FWD competition.
I’m a big fan of the LTD LX but would seriously consider an LTD no matter what was under the hood.
The LTD in this feature would be welcome in my garage. Up here, it seemed very few LTDs were on the road and then they just disappeared. My theory is being based on the Fox platform they weren’t tough enough for year-round use in Canada.
I don’t care what anyone thinks. I had a 1986 Mercury Marquis brougham As my first car. I love that car I still like the way it looks and I would love to have another one. The attached pic is identical to the one I had… but in better shape.
That emblem on the hubcap is the emblem used on LTD hood ornaments in the 70s. Although it’s a very lame and cheapened attempt at replicating it. There’s other variations of it from other years that may convince you if this one seems doubtful to you.
I’m a bit late to this post, but according to this LTD’s VIN (obtained via the license plate), it does indeed have the 200ci “Thriftpower” Falcon inline-six.
Thanks for confirming my WAG.
I used one license plate lookup that didn’t specify the engine. Which one did you use?
https://www.faxvin.com/license-plate-lookup
It can be a bit spotty on cars from before around 1990 (and won’t work on anything pre-1981, like Carfax), but it worked for this one. Only reliable source I’ve found to get the VIN from the license plate.
I believe I’ve ever only seen ONE Fox-body LTD in my whole life. It was a dark blue station wagon variant parked at an auto alignment center in my town. At the time I didn’t know what it was–let alone its rarity–or I might have taken some pictures but knew for certain it was neither a Crown Victoria (too small) nor a Taurus (shape wasn’t quite right: too boxy!). I have no idea what became of it.
I agree with some of the other guys in that this was a sort of “transitional” model between the ’70s full-size LTD (as well as the Panthers) and the upcoming Taurus as the mainstream family car.
I remember seeing that symbol on the wheel covers somewhere on our ’78 Fairmont. It may have been on steering wheel center.
Hello, as I’m doing research and searching for more about the interior, I come across this article that is about the car I purchased abt 5 months ago, this is literally the car.. its only at 77,077 miles now, havent been out much since covid. It needed a new radiator, and new hoses and clamps n such, and swaybar end links, rear springs ect ect. I could go on and oh yeah the engine leaks pretty bad. I got her to drop the price to 1500, as I listed about 750 in repairs but honestly can’t complain. It does have the 3.3 I6 in it.