This is my great grandmother Sue, walking up the path to our front door one sunny day in about 1971. That’s her 1967 Ford LTD parked curbside.
Sue was my mother’s mother’s mother. She favored girl children, and so had little to say to my brother and me but doted on my cousin Patricia. My main memories of her are of her sitting stick straight in a chair in the corner when the family gathered. But oh, the stories my mom and grandma would tell about her. Born in 1889 in Van Wert, Ohio, the courthouse allegedly burned down with her birth records in it, and so by lying about her age she was able to stay on at Bendix in South Bend, Indiana, where we lived, well past the mandatory retirement age. She helped raise my mother, who was a tomboy. This infuriated prim and proper Sue, who expected my mom to be a lady. Sue constantly bought her frilly clothes in pink and other pale colors. After she left home, to the day she died, my mom wore earth tones and black. Sue was also a terror on the roads — my parents would not let me ride with her.
But I did get to ride in that LTD. Sue lived with my grandparents at their home on a small lake near Dowagiac, Michigan. By 1974 or so, Sue was showing clear signs of dementia. One day, Sue managed to back the car into the lake. That was quite a feat, as it was at least 200 yards from the driveway. Shortly after, Grandma put Sue in a nursing home. Grandma drove the LTD for a little while after that, and sometimes took my brother and me along. I remember the cloth seats having a lovely delicate pattern in them, but as I look up LTD interiors on the Internet I find only plain cloth. I’m far more sure that they were in the same blue as the exterior. I noticed that from the inside, the windshield had the same shape and chrome surround as the one in my dad’s ’66 Galaxie. I didn’t know yet that these were essentially the same car.
Sue’s LTD gave her near-Lincoln luxury at a good price: $3,362 was the base price, equivalent to about $32,500 today. I think the vinyl top was an option, but it was a super common one if the ’67 LTDs that turn up on Google Image Search are any indication. The base engine was the 289 V8, putting out 200 HP, which ought to have made it a decent enough performer.
Sue is carrying a record player. On this day I was about three, and my memory hadn’t switched on yet. This must be the day we received this record player, because Mom used it for years and years. Now I have it. I sometimes get it out at the holidays to play the Christmas albums my mom bought as a young adult in the early 60s.
This is the only other photograph I have of Sue from the years I knew her, and it’s with her pet ALLIGATOR. Sue was a badass.
It wasn’t until Sue died some years later that I learned that her name wasn’t Sue. I picked up her In Memoriam card to read that it was actually Eileen, and that her middle initial was P. “Yes,” Grandma said, “she just had everybody call her Sue.” Enigmatic to the end.
Further reading
1967 Ford LTD sedan by J.P. Cavanaugh
1967 Ford Galaxie 500 fastback by Ed Stembridge
1967 Ford LTD 2-door hardtop by PN
Sue reminds me of a saying I once heard…”she’d go bear hunting with a rolled up newspaper and give the bear the paper to better his odds”.
What a nice looking LTD! It’s hard to tell, and enlarging the picture doesn’t work well enough, but it appears there may be an engine callout on the front fender, seen between Sue’s purse strap and leg. I’ve seen a few ’67s with 390s having the engine badge in that location.
Thank you for sharing this picture. There are lots of good things going in it.
I can’t tell if there is a callout or not from the photo, but yes, it would be behind the front wheel and above the trim band. The 390 and the 428 were the only two engines that got the callout badge, and 390s were quite common in these.
Your memory on that seat upholstery does not fail you. There was a fancy little design in the seat back that does not show up well at the wrong angle. I found a decent picture showing one.
Also, according to the brochure, the vinyl roof was optional on 4 door cars, but standard on the 2 door, which was the only way they could fill in the C pillar to go with that small rear quarter window. In your photo taken in the bright light, you can kind of see the original C pillar shape in a barely perceptible shadow.
And Van Wert, Ohio – I know it well!
I had an Aunt of similar ilk. 2 time retired school teacher, never married, She however doted on us boys. Similar terror on the road. This was the early 70’s. Her Delta 88 has 2 speeds, wide ass open or off. She tore up the back roads of NC in that car. My Grandmother forbid me from riding with her, but what she doesn’t know won’t hurt any of us. Great memories