My dad owned one and he loved it. He was a manager at a Ford dealer and once he saw this announced had to have one. I drove it whenever I was home from college, looking for the curviest roads I could find. It was a lot of fun and really comfortable too.
I got to drive one as a law enforcement specialist when I was stationed in Az in 86. Loved it. Got it up to 129 mph one night on the runway, when the flight line was shut down. You know, to blow the carbon out. 😁
I also spent hundreds of hours in one as an AF law enforcement specialist in the United Kingdom (High Wycombe) in 1984. It was an ‘81 Fairmount. Once had to pick up an AF airman being held at Paddington police station in London. Did nightly security checks at an American housing addition near Watford (Carpenders Park) NW London driving that blue and white Fairmount.
Returning viewer. Very excited about this one! My childhood neighbor had a dark brown LTD LX back in the day and I washed it every Saturday for like 7-8 years before the ole feller past away. I had no idea back then that it was gonna be something that me or anyone else would ever care about. But here we are lol. Oh, and I agree wholeheartedly that the last SHO was overshadowed by all its competitors because the last Taurus was the best Taurus and the SHO was a freaking monster!! I love them.
@@ltdscott I remember you from the forums back in 2002. You had a white LX and I think you had uploaded a sound file of the exhaust. You sold it and bought a 5-speed swapped LX later on. I never posted anything, only lurked. Always wanted an LX but always had too many beaters and not enough room.
Standard Blues Brothers Recipe; Cop Motor, A 5.0 Liter Plant, Cop Tires, Cop Suspension, Cop Shocks, screw the catalytic converter, runs good on regular gas - and nobody notices it.
The problem was the tires. Our Air Force police cars had "lowest bidder" May Pops on then and we lost at least one to a front tire self-destructing at speed.
@@johngalt9737 ; This was in NJ in the late 1990s. I moved a few times since then and lost track of him and that car. As I recall, it was black, but he was a body man and could have painted it before he sold it.
My best friend had one of these. Well, not the fast LX… but rather the Base model. I was less than impressed (power, rear traction, style). At the time, I was driving an 1979 Oldsmobile Tornado (when it worked)… a Bus when it didn’t. My friend’s LTD, on the other hand … NEVER … left him stranded. So well done Ford! Thanks for the video.
@@GreenHawkDriveFun Fact: With the rise in popularity in Japanese sport coupes at the time the Probe was originally set to be the new Mustang and the Fox Mustang we know now was to be the new Fairmont coupe.
I drove one of those LTD LX 5.0's back in the early 1990s Our Department had one as our unmarked unit. Very Fast, would blow away any Dodge Diplomat marked unit. But stopping, that was another story.. . Our Chief didn't want Officers plowing in to telephone poles, so he opted for the Full size LTD with a 351 and Heavy Duty brakes a few years later.
I never know of the factory hotrods, but I did get the feeling that the Police versions were special. I learned to drive on my parent's Mercury version. It was plush with velour upholstery, wood trim, and a decent little v6. When my parents had their 84, the police in my town adopted the LTD version. Made for interesting driving as everyone thought our car was a cop.
My first car in 1998 was a 1985 LTD Brougham with the 3.8. Even in the wild west days of 90s internet, I found sites dedicated to these cars and learned of the LX. Blew my mind that it existed from the factory! I just thought it was a cool old shitbox and had chosen it over an 81 Cougar with 3.3 lol. I loved my granny spec version, and fantasized about 302 swapping it someday, but alas, it got rear-ended on the fwy and died too soon. I'd still absolutely love to have one of these. It felt rare and forgotten even back in 1998 when a car from 1985 seemed ancient to a 16yo 😂 I love that it's getting it's due here, and what a great tribute! 👏🍻
Heads up at 5:08, thare is no 4 valve ltd 5.0. Common mistake with young guys. V4 is referring to the 4 barrel carb. V for Ventury, as in the Ventury effect that happens in a carbonated intake and draws in the fuel from the bowls.
@@brianfeeney3936 that's just how text to talk did it. It capitalized it as well so I assume Google thought I was saying a name. Point remains the same the v4 gets a lot of younger people because they didn't grow up with carbs. I ment no offense only to give the heads up.
One of my brothers was a sheriff deputy back then and worked part time for a small police department. That department had one of these smaller LTD's in police package and my brother loved it. He always said it was one of the best ones he'd ever drivern.
@@GreenHawkDriveI miss it so much and the fact that we didn't get the new one that was made for China just makes me mad. But maybe one day if Ford does get the Taurus. I hope I'll be old enough one day to get one of those cars
Ashame that last gen Taurus was no longer competitive in the changing market that was being dominated by SUV's. I sat in one of the last years model Taurus. I never felt so claustrophobic in such a big car.
I worked for Ford Motor Co. in the mid-80s. Our office had an LTD LX in the fleet of cars we lent out to the press. I drove it a few times and recall it was a fun, lively sports sedan for its time. It was overshadowed by the introduction of the Taurus, which looked 10 years newer. The original Taurus SHO was faster than the LTD LX.
In 1993 Sold my 1981 Fairmont sedan 3.3 inline 6. It was a base model. Bought a 1984 LTD wagon. 3.8 fuel injected V6. Though it had bad berings it was no slouch. I had planned on putting in or rebuilding the motor. But before I could do that. I was running an errand for work, When a Trans Am ran a red light. (7th and Packer Ave) Needles to say the car was totaled. I bought a 1990 Mercury Grand Marquis. That ended up being the biggest piece of junk I ever owned. A story for another day.
I owned one. My goal was to rip the engine out of my 83 Mustang GT with the 4BBL carburetor and drop it into the LTD. Instead, I re-built the 3.8 V6 that came standard in the car and gave it to my brother. I do remember how smooth they were and the doors closed with a sound of excellence. I wish I could get my hands on one now.
I owned a police version in 1986. I bought it used from a local ford dealership. It had been a St. Augustine FL police car based on the paint inside the trunk. It was very fast compared with other cars of that era.
They did make an 86 model of the LTD in limited numbers. You can spot one by the 3rd brake light. The reason why was, because Ford had no idea how the public was going to take the new Ford Taurus's rounded shape. So, they continued to make the Ford LTD along side the new Ford Taurus for a year.
A co-worker bought a new LTD LX in 1985. I had read an article about the LX in Car&Driver so when I saw her pull into the parking lot at work I knew that it was a unique car. It was silver or gray. She said that she loved driving it.
Too bad Ford did not offer the HO 5.0 210hp with a 5 speed manual as an optional order. Now that would have been the coolest 4 door on the market and very collectable today. A missed opportunity but they did build the SHO Taurus, so there is that. Someone has probably dropped a newer Coyote with six speed in an LX.
I'm lucky enough to own two 84 low mileage LX's. One is a 58,000 mile CA. car & the other a 85,000 mile Virginia car, both of them are VERY clean. They are special cars to drive & I love both. Unfortunately most cars guys have no idea what they are & people walk right past them at shows. But the Foxbody guys know & that's fine by me.....
I Drove these a Taxi Cabs with the 3.8 TBI and you could not kill these cars, Sadly the Cab Company Switched to Caprices in 1988 and were inferior in every way. The Caprices were too light in the rear and you had to put a 100 LB. Bag of Rock Salt in the Truck or it was unsafe to drive on wet roads. The 1993 Caprice was the only decent Taxi while the 1994 was the worst piece of crap Chevy ever made with the L99 4.3 V-8 that made no Torque and only made Horsepower at 4500 RPM.
Had Ford continued this package (LX) into 86 with port fuel injection, it would have been on top. The previous TBI always had issues. S Even still, it was stout performance sedan.
i had one when i was 17...i had my 5.0 get hit and was in the shop and i was too young for a rental so my neibor sold me his under the condition i have to sell it back to him wish i woulda held onto it instead i got a 93 altima se r, i still had the stang but needed something bigger and a turbo nissan with a manual was cool AF back in 2002 not LTDs with pushrod v8s and automatics
The EFI 5.0 was also in the mustang in '85, but only the automatic transmission version! If you ordered the 5 speed it had the carbureted engine, which did indeed make more power.
Never heard of? Maybe to young people (guess I'm old, lol). It was America's best seller also I remember these cars everywhere as family, government, cop and cabs..
i had the pleasure of being stuffed into the police car version back in the 80s. the police had problems stuffing full grown people into these tin cans. what can i say i was a bad boy in my youth.
@@GreenHawkDrive im old and stay home these days. my brother half expected to see me on America's most wanted back in the day. i learned quick to stop causing problems.
Cars that used to look ugly back in the day are looking nice today. Would have never taken a second look at that type of car in the mid 80s, but now I would equate it with a collectible.
I had an '84. The car came with 14 inch wheels. The 15 inchers from the 1985 Mustang fit nicely and made a difference in the ride and handling. My only complaint about the car was the front seat. After about 2 hours it became very uncomfortable.
I visited New Zealand in 1991 when I owned a ‘63 Galaxie 500 and was a huge Ford Guy… I stopped into several Ford dealerships in NZ and grabbed a host of brochures for Aussie/NZ Ford offerings… So many inline 6 and V8 models that looked amazing…all RHD of course, but I bet they were entertaining Fords to heave through the Southern Hemisphere…Good Lord..!! (I still have all the brochures…PLUS you could still have the Euro Sierra Sapphire Cosworth 4x4 right off the showroom floor in NZ…Gosh..!)
8:01 Green Hawk, you answered your own question. Those red accents are in the middle of the rubber bodyside moldings. In the 80's and 90's bodyside moldings were available, usually optional, but standard on the top-of-the-line trims, on almost every car and at least some trucks. They're to protect your vehicle's body if someone parks next to you like in a supermarket lot and opens their doors just a little too far. Especially if that other vehicle Doesn't have moldings. Haven't seen those moldings on a new car in what feels like 2 decades at least. Don't know why the industry stopped making them other than to make the body shops richer. Remember all that plastic cladding on the lower thirds of GM cars and trucks from the mid-90's on, i.e. the Aztek, Grand Am, Avalanche?? That was decorative molding!😎😎I think some XJ Cherokees had them, too. Or was it the First- and Second-Generation Grand Cherokees??🧐Well, You get the picture!🤧
Click bait. Not a Mustang. Call it a gussied up Fairmont if you wish but there was far less commonality in the floorpan stampings between the Mustang and LTD compared to the LTD and Fairmont which was the original Fox variant.
The floor stampings are the same for all of them except with 5" added in the middle for the sedans and wagons. My LTD has all of the same holes for accessories/components in the floor that Mustangs do.
When 200hp was a lot 😂. I remember thinking I had the fastest car on the planet with my Trans Am GTA with 250 hp😂. I had 2 of them. Great cars. Now you can get a Camry that will smoke it 😅.
As a young officer in DC I was pleasantly surprised by the 85 Ltd. Every single other vehicle we had available to us was a joke. In particular the K car and Chryslers required us to put your foot through the floor to get anywhere. I did that in this Ltd 1 day and peeled rubber down NY Ave. My Sgt called me back the station to tell me to slow down. I later discovered that 5.0 under the hood. That 4 year old Ltd ran great. I even preferred it over the 89 crown Vic . Sleeper all day
Back in 1993, I inherited an '85 Mercury Marquis that needed lots of work. I quickly found that many Mustang parts worked, but the car was ultimately a pos and I sold it. I kinda miss it, it was comfortable. A friend of mine back in '94 had a an '84 wagon LTD with a Mustang 5-speed and clutch pedal, it was a sleeper for the time hehe
When the LTD LX debuted in 1984, it had the exact engine as the automatic transmission equipped Mustang GT for 1984(both rated at 165hp). For 1985, the automatic equipped Mustang GT was rated at 180hp due to a less restrictive exhaust system(quasi-dual exhaust behind the single catalytic converter), but the LTD LX maintained it's 165hp rating as it still retained the single exhaust system as in 1984. These are non-roller camshaft 302 H.O.s. Only the 5 speed manual equipped Mustang GTs for 1985 received the roller cam 302 H.O. engines rated at 210hp. The 1984 5 speed manual equipped Mustang GT was rated at 175hp and is a non-roller cam 302 H.O. Ford also made a Police Special package in 1984-85 for the LTD LX, using the 302 H.O. CFI engine. A buddy bought one in the late 80s at an auction. For the time, it hauled butt!
You're spot on. Interestingly, at least one 1985 LTD LX ad stated the engine was good for 175 HP compared to 165 HP in '84 (Google "Bondurant LTD LX ad" since RUclips doesn't like external links), but Ford didn't make any material changes to the engine or exhaust between '84 and '85 (it didn't gain the dual exhaust or tubular headers like Mustang got in '85) so I'm pretty sure the LTD LX was rated at 165 HP all the way through the end of production.
Thumbs up, new subsriber. Amazing how much the big three cars looked alike at that time. Being born in the 60s I remember the hunt for performance in the late 70s and 80s.
I disagree. 20th century cars were almost painfully easy to differentiate. Especially because they had badges on at least 2 sides. Today's cars all look like they came from the same mold. I can't tell a Buick from a Honda from a BMW!!😢
Those short lived LTDs replaced the Fairmont, and they had V8s available too. Similar cars, and I always thought of them as a refreshed Fairmont with no 2 doors available. Great vid Hawk!
@KDoyle4 It technically did yes..But the Fairmont was only a inch shorter than the LTD, and had the same width and wheelbase of a Fairmont if memory serves. They dressed up a Fairmont as a stop gap model untill the Taurus arrived LOL. I was implying that the Fairmont was a pretty close cousin to the LTD that's all.
Well the Granada was already a dressed up Fairmont, and even shared interior components with it. The LTD was just kinda gen 3 Fox sedan in design IMHO. It had the dash from the previous gen Fox T-bird and a mixture of other Ford componentry and a new V6. It was sold concurrently with the Fairmont for one model year though, so in terms of model line up, seems like it replaced Granada.
I had a 1985 2 door LTD Crown Victoria 5.0l, the performance was nothing to write home about but it had tons of potential using parts from many different other fords...I was going to swap in the drivetrain from the V8 Ford Explorer including the full wiring and installing the extended tailshaft and driveshaft from a police 4r70Rw...Swap in the chassis from a 2003+ Panther... My aunt had the baby LTD wagon but hers had a 3.8l V8 with 2 barrel throttle body injection...it lacked power and had a hard time getting out of its own way...
You're not gonna fall for the banana in the tailpipe? It should be more natural, brother. It should flow out, like this - "Look, man, I ain't fallin' for no banana in my tailpipe!" See, that's more natural for us. You been hanging out with this dude too long.
Early and into summer 1984 Mustang GT 5.0 5 speed carbureted were 175hp. 1984-3/4 Mustang GT 5.0 5 speed carburated were 205hp. Changeover was around July 12th 1984. 1984 Mustang GT 5.0 automatic with EFI were 165hp. 1984 LTD LX 5.0 automatic were all EFI were 165hp. 1985 Mustang GT 5.0 5 speed carbureted were 210hp. 1985 Mustang GT 5.0 automatic with EFI were 185hp. 1985 LTD LX 5.0 automatic were all EFI were 185hp. So the LTD LX 5.0 got the same EFI engine as the same year EFI automatic Mustang GT.
No official Ford records anywhere show 185HP for the LTD. Some ads did state 175HP. But the LTD never got the dual muffler exhaust that the Mustang did in 1985, so in 1985 the LTD made less power than the Mustang.
@@MustangsTrainsMowers I respectfully disagree. I'm probably as close as you can get to a living expert on these cars (my white LTD LX was featured several times in this video, and was also the car Hemmings used to feature in their LTD LX buyers' guide), have owned 5 of these cars, and have been collecting documentation on them for the last 25 years and I haven't seen one single piece of Ford-produced documentation saying the LTD LX ever had 185HP. The famous Bondurant magazine ad did say 175HP, which is the only place I've seen any numbers other than 165HP. I have plenty of evidence to back this up but sadly RUclips won't allow external links. Oh and you're mistaken on the '85 Mustang automatic power figures too - they were 180HP, not 185, and that 15HP bump compared to '84 was due to tubular style headers and dual exit exhaust which the Mustang gained in '85 but the LTD didn't.
I grew up in this era and although I feel pretty confident in my knowledge of cars I have to admit that I learned something new today. Thanks for sharing this video. Cheers!
The original LTD was "supposed" to be a LimiTeD edition but it was so popular they kept it advertising that LTD meant Lincoln Tradional Design. My 85 LTD Brougham came with a V6. I HATED IT and traded for a 87 Camaro. LTD had FULL WHEEL COVERS not "lug covers."
It was a dowdy looking thing left over from the late seventies. It wasn't outright ugly, but it never inspired either. Ford was making new cars by turning wrenches and slapping on badges! This was typical of the "Big Three" at the time. The market was switching to Front Wheel Drive and turbocharged engines for better economy. The idea was genius, but the marketing directors were not impressed! Europe and Japan were introducing cars for the 21st century and domestic manufacturers were still stuck in the 70's! It was the Police Interceptor Package in all reality! The car just looked like a "leftover" model still in production for government fleet sales. Sadly, it was cheap, dependable, and fun!! It would have been a genius move if Ford could have made a four door version of the 1983 Thunderbird! Imagine a sedan that looked like a Merkur Scorpio in 1984? Rear wheel drive cars were considered outdated and not suitable for midwest climates! Four Wheel Drive cars were going to be the next craze! The advertising for this model was abysmal and the dealers had no profit margin! Ford was busy with the Taurus platform, and this car was dead.
Always loved these, and all the other weird fox platform cars. Fairmont’s, early boxy tbird’s, 4 eye aero tbird’s, mark vii’s. Easy to build into a sleeper fox body back when boxy 80s cars were still common.
My Driver’s-Ed courses in high school featured the pre-Taurus midsized Ford LTD…definitely not the LX hotrod, though… “Hey, I got my license..!!” SHOTS-SHOTS-SHOTS Decent car…I got my license in one, so there’s that… My kids took Driver’s-Ed in a PRIUS… …feeling lucky to be Gen X.
in less than 1 min - it shows ‘the cop car’ as named in the vid & colloquially. THAT was the LTD - panther (or crown vic) model. Not the down sized of the same era - the fox bodied (or mustang-ish). EDIT ok, I watched more. There were the few LTD-LX (s) as cop cars too. That WAS 4 dor...yes, 1st fox Grenade-A & then fairmont/zepher thru ’04 stang, some even say onto the SN-95. thnx GHD !
5:00 the 1984 Mustang GT with V8 had 175 hp for the manual (it was carbed) and 165 hp for the auto with EFI. Which is the engine Ford went with for both '84 and '85 as they did not offer a manual trans. In 1985, the 5-speed manual GT had the higher performance engine rated at 210, whereas the '85 automatic GTs continued with the EFI 5.0 but power was rated at 180 hp. Apparently, Ford had stockpiled the 1984 EFI 5.0 engines for both model years they planned with the LTD LX and police cars. Would have/should have: In 1985 they should have offered a 210 hp manual transmission LTD as well as gone with the 180 hp engines. That bit of extra performance may have kept interest for a 1986 version as the engine was EFI and offered a solid 200 hp regardless of transmissions. I owned both a '85 LX 5.0 ex-CHP car and a 1986 Capri 5.0 (both 5-speed manual) and the '86 felt better and quicker overall even when rated 10 hp less. My guess is that Ford was more interested in continuing to roll out the Taurus for the masses and sales of the LX kept it a very niche car other than the ones sold for police duties.
In 1979 my dad bought the family a Ford Fairmont Country Squire wagon... with a 2bbl carb, 4.9L/302 Windsor V8. I loved it! It only had about 135hp, but the torque was something like 250 lb/ft. I confused a lot of people with that "woody wagon". The big problem with that car was the brakes, they were beyond awful. One time I tried to slow the car down from about 75-80 mph... about 500 feet from a busy 4-way intersection. The brakes faded to nothing after about 300 feet. Once my light went red I had no choice but to hit the gas and try to thread my way through the opposing traffic. Extremely scary for a 17 year old. As you can tell, I survived.
I remember those rubber covered rims- I worked at a tire shop way back and we had a few old Fords and I think a late 70's early 80's Mustang 4cyl come in. Trying to rig those up on the balancer was stupid. So spongy. Damn those were dumb. On a side note, you mentioned the column shifter and no console in the cop car. I had a 71 Mercury Cyclone that was like that. It was one of 23 built for LEO use, (hypo), I think AZ, but they never got delivered and were sold to the workers at the Ford plant at a steep discount. The HYPO went a four door Dodge at the last minute. Coronets?? Satellites?? IDK. I had number 20. Found the paperwork in the glove box and the trunk. I was the 2nd owner in 1987. THAT car is rare, beyond rare.
The agency I worked for had what we referred to as the little LTD's, as opposed to the full-size Crown Vics we had previously. The LTD was a reskinned Fairmont both on the Fox body, as Ford called it. My regret was not buying the police package Mustang LX. It was light, nimble, and quick for its day. Aah, woulda, coulda, shoulda.
I briefly was given a 1980 Mustand with a 4 cylinder turbo. Pathetic machine. I then got a weekend with a 2 door Fairmont "ES" with a 265 V-8 (California compliant) and a handing package. Way better car with similar gas milage.
Ford needs to add a 4-door variant of the current Mustang. It’ll be the best replacement for the Crown Vic here in North America and the Falcon over in Oceania since their discontinuation in 2011 and 2016, respectively. In 2007, Ford designed a concept full-size 4-door sedan called the Interceptor and it utilized a slightly lengthened version of the D2C platform which has been used in every Mustang since 2004 which means Ford already has the platform for a full-size sedan and they just have to lengthen it like they did for the Interceptor. This is a chance for American full-size V8 RWD sedans to return since the discontinuation of the Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 at the end of last year. The 4-door Mustang could also become a police car and taxi and maybe they could produce a Lincoln variant which would be a replacement for the Town Car and Continental. After all, just because many Americans prefer SUVs over sedans doesn’t mean no Americans want sedans. If Ford produces a 4-door Mustang, they could become very profitable since they’re offering what muscle car enthusiasts who want room for the family want and also they’re offering what police departments want, plus possibly what some taxi companies want as well.
WHen I was training to be a technician, they had one as a team Drag car (At least and LTD). Such an odd choice but it always stuck in my mind. Saw a LTD a few days ago and was like 'Heyyy". TBH the rear looks good.
Would look alright with the Mustang front sheet metal, the funny thing is there was a 3rd variant of the LTD being made at the same time but on the other side of the Pacific at the Eagle Farm assembly plant in Australia and came with the choice of a EFI 4.1ltr Cross-flo in line 6, 302 2v Cleveland and 351 4v Cleveland. This was based on the Falcon platform and the LTD waa the stretched long wheel based ultra luxury limousine version and was made untill 2008 still based on the Falcon platform. This same Eagle Farm assembly plant in Brisbane also had the distinction of being the biggest hand made luxury car factory in the world during the 80's.
I have the Marquis LTS that is discussed on the FourEyedPride forum (You scrolled past my posts. LOL). The forum works, but you may be going to the old/bad link.
There is a tan LTD WAGON briefly in jurrasic park. Dotson gets out of the wagon and dosen't shut the door of the wagon taxi and pisses off the taxi driver this is when dotson meets up with nedrey. And he gives him the barbasol can. Theres a old muscle mustang and fast fords magazine article where some guy grafted a 1987 mustang nose onto a LTD sedan. Making it REAALLY a 4 door mustang. I saw a LTD WAGON with a mercury capri nose on it at the hot rod power tour.
Had an 83 Marquis Brougham 3.8/4-speed overdrive. Actually was very reliable except for that stupid Ford electronic ignition, and later on needed a transmission transplant. Pretty sure it was over 200k when the rust and other age issues made it too expensive to keep, but up until that point in my life that was the longest I ever owned a car (12 years) Was a comfortable cruiser. Worst thing I can say about them was they were terrible in the snow and even in the other seasons they handled like a much bigger cumbersome car. I wish I could have driven an LTD LX for comparison.
I am 73 years old. Back in the 1980s I purchased a 1984 Ford LTD midsize car that had a 3.8 liter V6 engine and the Ford 4 speed automatic overdrive transmission. The engine had throttle body fuel injection. The car was a nice comfortable riding car. However it had reliability problems. The rear differential developed a loud howling noise and had to be rebuilt. Also the heater core developed a leak and had to be replaced.
I always find it funny that WIKIPEDIA says that the Fairmont/Zephr were discontinued in favor of the Taurus. Did they never see the LTD? It is beyond obvious that it was a more modern and luxury version of the super basic Fairmont. Even the windows are almost the same. I personally swapped a hood from an LTD to my Fairmont. The LTD hood was a much thicker steel than the fairmont.
Nearly every domestic car during this time looked like they were built by Fisher Price. Chrysler's bumpers started to sag after about a year which gave them the appearance they were smiling. Every brand's plastics were so cheap like off-brand Legos. Four cylinder engines ran like tractors from the 1930's with the side benefit of poor gas mileage. Rolling toilets.
I drove a Fox chassis LTD police car for 2 years. Fast & handles great, poor brakes. The brakes would heat up very quickly & brake fade was consistent with the heat. Crashed many because of the brake fade.
These looked so outdated compared to the new Taurus in 1985. No one really wanted these and once the Taurus was out that's the car people preferred due to its modernized styling and better handling fwd power train. So yeah these are rare! But honestly I'd prefer a first gen 89-91 SHO over any one of these LTDs!
My dad owned one and he loved it. He was a manager at a Ford dealer and once he saw this announced had to have one. I drove it whenever I was home from college, looking for the curviest roads I could find. It was a lot of fun and really comfortable too.
LTD should have gotten at least a 351"/5.8L engine...
@@buzzwaldron6195 that's exactly what I was thinking.
@@buzzwaldron6195Would have made it too nose heavy
@@1983jblack [ It was discontinued by then.
I believe the Granada had a two venturi 351 option.
I got to drive one as a law enforcement specialist when I was stationed in Az in 86. Loved it. Got it up to 129 mph one night on the runway, when the flight line was shut down. You know, to blow the carbon out. 😁
I also spent hundreds of hours in one as an AF law enforcement specialist in the United Kingdom (High Wycombe) in 1984. It was an ‘81 Fairmount. Once had to pick up an AF airman being held at Paddington police station in London. Did nightly security checks at an American housing addition near Watford (Carpenders Park) NW London driving that blue and white Fairmount.
Hell, that is faster than most cop cars of the time.
We had a 1978 Ford Granada with a 302 . I remember doing donuts in the high school parking lot cranking AC/DC lol
4V is not 4 valve, it's 4 Venturi. Ford speak for a 4.barrel carburetor
Crap
Correct
Returning viewer. Very excited about this one! My childhood neighbor had a dark brown LTD LX back in the day and I washed it every Saturday for like 7-8 years before the ole feller past away. I had no idea back then that it was gonna be something that me or anyone else would ever care about. But here we are lol. Oh, and I agree wholeheartedly that the last SHO was overshadowed by all its competitors because the last Taurus was the best Taurus and the SHO was a freaking monster!! I love them.
Thanks for sharing that story man. I appreciate you coming back every week😎
@@GreenHawkDrive heck yeah, man. You keep making them and I’ll keep watching them lol
Either it wasn't an LX or the car was repainted because the LX was never offered in brown. Only white, black, silver, grey, and light blue.
@@ltdscott you know what, you’re right! It was a respray! Had black on the door jambs but as a kid it never occurred to me that was wrong lol.
@@ltdscott I remember you from the forums back in 2002. You had a white LX and I think you had uploaded a sound file of the exhaust. You sold it and bought a 5-speed swapped LX later on. I never posted anything, only lurked. Always wanted an LX but always had too many beaters and not enough room.
My dad bought a Ford LTD LX the day it came out, and he STILL owns it today, it has NEVER gave us ANY problems! It has under 100K right now.
Ofc it has no problems, it's under 100k miles
Rear wheel drive should make a comeback !
Amen
Well, it sort of never went away, thank God.
Standard Blues Brothers Recipe; Cop Motor, A 5.0 Liter Plant, Cop Tires, Cop Suspension, Cop Shocks, screw the catalytic converter, runs good on regular gas - and nobody notices it.
Elwood: "So whaddya say....is this the new Blues Mobile, or what??"
Jake: "Fix the cigarette lighter!!"
The problem was the tires. Our Air Force police cars had "lowest bidder" May Pops on then and we lost at least one to a front tire self-destructing at speed.
a mechanic I knew had a late 1080s Ford Fairmont station wagon with a 302, 4 speed manual trans, and dual exhaust. It was fierce.
That’s awesome, wow
I have seen video of a brown wagon like that auto crossing
@@johngalt9737 ; This was in NJ in the late 1990s. I moved a few times since then and lost track of him and that car. As I recall, it was black, but he was a body man and could have painted it before he sold it.
@@jvcyt298 my guy was on the west coast. Popular sleeper conversion
I had a police unit, rebuilt the engine, ran very well. I then got a LX and loved it. Wish I still had it.
we old gear heads know what that is. A 5 liter 4 door mustang
My best friend had one of these. Well, not the fast LX… but rather the Base model. I was less than impressed (power, rear traction, style). At the time, I was driving an 1979 Oldsmobile Tornado (when it worked)… a Bus when it didn’t. My friend’s LTD, on the other hand … NEVER … left him stranded. So well done Ford! Thanks for the video.
Thanks for watching man 😊
@@GreenHawkDriveFun Fact: With the rise in popularity in Japanese sport coupes at the time the Probe was originally set to be the new Mustang and the Fox Mustang we know now was to be the new Fairmont coupe.
I had a 1984 LTD Brougham for over 20 years. It was the 3.8L V6, EFI, and AOD. Great car, like the Energizer Bunny, kept going and going.
I drove one of those LTD LX 5.0's back in the early 1990s Our Department had one as our unmarked unit. Very Fast, would blow away any Dodge Diplomat marked unit. But stopping, that was another story.. . Our Chief didn't want Officers plowing in to telephone poles, so he opted for the Full size LTD with a 351 and Heavy Duty brakes a few years later.
I never know of the factory hotrods, but I did get the feeling that the Police versions were special. I learned to drive on my parent's Mercury version. It was plush with velour upholstery, wood trim, and a decent little v6. When my parents had their 84, the police in my town adopted the LTD version. Made for interesting driving as everyone thought our car was a cop.
My first car in 1998 was a 1985 LTD Brougham with the 3.8. Even in the wild west days of 90s internet, I found sites dedicated to these cars and learned of the LX. Blew my mind that it existed from the factory! I just thought it was a cool old shitbox and had chosen it over an 81 Cougar with 3.3 lol. I loved my granny spec version, and fantasized about 302 swapping it someday, but alas, it got rear-ended on the fwy and died too soon. I'd still absolutely love to have one of these. It felt rare and forgotten even back in 1998 when a car from 1985 seemed ancient to a 16yo 😂 I love that it's getting it's due here, and what a great tribute! 👏🍻
Heads up at 5:08, thare is no 4 valve ltd 5.0. Common mistake with young guys. V4 is referring to the 4 barrel carb. V for Ventury, as in the Ventury effect that happens in a carbonated intake and draws in the fuel from the bowls.
Yeah, that’s my mistake man. Thinking back on it, I have no idea what happened😂
he said that they came with the 5.0 EFI. and you spelled ventury wrong it's venturi
@@brianfeeney3936 that's just how text to talk did it. It capitalized it as well so I assume Google thought I was saying a name. Point remains the same the v4 gets a lot of younger people because they didn't grow up with carbs. I ment no offense only to give the heads up.
@@GreenHawkDrive no offense just a heads up.
The intake isn’t carbonated. It’s carbureted.
One of my brothers was a sheriff deputy back then and worked part time for a small police department. That department had one of these smaller LTD's in police package and my brother loved it. He always said it was one of the best ones he'd ever drivern.
I had one it was a fl state trooper car loved it was fast and fun too drive
Right on man, there was a 5 second picture of a FHP LTD.
My buddy had the first gen SHO and I later bought a 93 SHOmatic .
Amazing And you're right, the Taurus was very overlooked with its last gen
It definitely was. They make great power too!
@@GreenHawkDriveI miss it so much and the fact that we didn't get the new one that was made for China just makes me mad. But maybe one day if Ford does get the Taurus. I hope I'll be old enough one day to get one of those cars
Ashame that last gen Taurus was no longer competitive in the changing market that was being dominated by SUV's. I sat in one of the last years model Taurus. I never felt so claustrophobic in such a big car.
I worked for Ford Motor Co. in the mid-80s. Our office had an LTD LX in the fleet of cars we lent out to the press. I drove it a few times and recall it was a fun, lively sports sedan for its time. It was overshadowed by the introduction of the Taurus, which looked 10 years newer. The original Taurus SHO was faster than the LTD LX.
In 1993 Sold my 1981 Fairmont sedan 3.3 inline 6. It was a base model. Bought a 1984 LTD wagon. 3.8 fuel injected V6. Though it had bad berings it was no slouch. I had planned on putting in or rebuilding the motor. But before I could do that. I was running an errand for work, When a Trans Am ran a red light. (7th and Packer Ave) Needles to say the car was totaled. I bought a 1990 Mercury Grand Marquis. That ended up being the biggest piece of junk I ever owned. A story for another day.
Awesome video. As a kid from the 80’s. I completely forgot about it. Thanks for posting.
Hey man, thanks for watching!
I owned one. My goal was to rip the engine out of my 83 Mustang GT with the 4BBL carburetor and drop it into the LTD. Instead, I re-built the 3.8 V6 that came standard in the car and gave it to my brother. I do remember how smooth they were and the doors closed with a sound of excellence. I wish I could get my hands on one now.
This makes my aunt's '83 LTD much cooler than what i previously realized
First gen Taurus SHO looked great 👍
Way ahead of its time. 3.0 Yamaha-designed engine, 220 HP.
I owned a police version in 1986. I bought it used from a local ford dealership. It had been a St. Augustine FL police car based on the paint inside the trunk. It was very fast compared with other cars of that era.
V8 Fairmont.
They did make an 86 model of the LTD in limited numbers. You can spot one by the 3rd brake light. The reason why was, because Ford had no idea how the public was going to take the new Ford Taurus's rounded shape. So, they continued to make the Ford LTD along side the new Ford Taurus for a year.
I've never heard of this one before. Never! Thanks Hawk!!!
Thanks for watching Stinger😎
A co-worker bought a new LTD LX in 1985. I had read an article about the LX in Car&Driver so when I saw her pull into the parking lot at work I knew that it was a unique car. It was silver or gray. She said that she loved driving it.
Too bad Ford did not offer the HO 5.0 210hp with a 5 speed manual as an optional order. Now that would have been the coolest 4 door on the market and very collectable today. A missed opportunity but they did build the SHO Taurus, so there is that. Someone has probably dropped a newer Coyote with six speed in an LX.
I'm lucky enough to own two 84 low mileage LX's. One is a 58,000 mile CA. car & the other a 85,000 mile Virginia car, both of them are VERY clean. They are special cars to drive & I love both. Unfortunately most cars guys have no idea what they are & people walk right past them at shows. But the Foxbody guys know & that's fine by me.....
I Drove these a Taxi Cabs with the 3.8 TBI and you could not kill these cars, Sadly the Cab Company Switched to Caprices in 1988 and were inferior in every way. The Caprices were too light in the rear and you had to put a 100 LB. Bag of Rock Salt in the Truck or it was unsafe to drive on wet roads. The 1993 Caprice was the only decent Taxi while the 1994 was the worst piece of crap Chevy ever made with the L99 4.3 V-8 that made no Torque and only made Horsepower at 4500 RPM.
The 1984 station wagon suspension with the same as a LTD police car. . All you had to do is add the rear sway bar
Had Ford continued this package (LX) into 86 with port fuel injection, it would have been on top. The previous TBI always had issues. S
Even still, it was stout performance sedan.
Wasn't the LTD Crown Victoria a four-door Mustang itself? It shared the Windsor V8.
i had one when i was 17...i had my 5.0 get hit and was in the shop and i was too young for a rental so my neibor sold me his under the condition i have to sell it back to him wish i woulda held onto it instead i got a 93 altima se r, i still had the stang but needed something bigger and a turbo nissan with a manual was cool AF back in 2002 not LTDs with pushrod v8s and automatics
Your neighbor did you a solid, and you kept your word that you would sell it back to him once your car was fixed. It’s good to keep one’s word.
Yup
The EFI 5.0 was also in the mustang in '85, but only the automatic transmission version! If you ordered the 5 speed it had the carbureted engine, which did indeed make more power.
Never heard of? Maybe to young people (guess I'm old, lol). It was America's best seller also I remember these cars everywhere as family, government, cop and cabs..
My first car was Ford ltd station wagon 1984, with 86k. I bought it in 91 for 1500 bucks. Great car, served me well. Brings back memories.
The LTD LX was cool
i had the pleasure of being stuffed into the police car version back in the 80s. the police had problems stuffing full grown people into these tin cans. what can i say i was a bad boy in my youth.
That’s hilarious, you got caught😂😂😂
@@GreenHawkDrive im old and stay home these days. my brother half expected to see me on America's most wanted back in the day. i learned quick to stop causing problems.
He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was there when the cop showed up.
Cars that used to look ugly back in the day are looking nice today.
Would have never taken a second look at that type of car in the mid 80s, but now I would equate it with a collectible.
I had an '84. The car came with 14 inch wheels. The 15 inchers from the 1985 Mustang fit nicely and made a difference in the ride and handling. My only complaint about the car was the front seat. After about 2 hours it became very uncomfortable.
These are awesome! 👏 I just recently bought an 89 Mustang GT so it’s cool to now know there was a 4 door version of it.
Good stuff man with the GT! And thank you
Has an 84 LTD LX in silver. Loved that car.
Fr. I drove this once on a Roblox game called Central Kansas. It somewhat resembles a 4 door fox body mustang.
I visited New Zealand in 1991 when I owned a ‘63 Galaxie 500 and was a huge Ford Guy…
I stopped into several Ford dealerships in NZ and grabbed a host of brochures for Aussie/NZ Ford offerings…
So many inline 6 and V8 models that looked amazing…all RHD of course, but I bet they were entertaining Fords to heave through the Southern Hemisphere…Good Lord..!!
(I still have all the brochures…PLUS you could still have the Euro Sierra Sapphire Cosworth 4x4 right off the showroom floor in NZ…Gosh..!)
VERY nice video. First time to hear about this car. I was young in those days...meaning I should have heard about it.
Thank you!
8:01 Green Hawk, you answered your own question. Those red accents are in the middle of the rubber bodyside moldings. In the 80's and 90's bodyside moldings were available, usually optional, but standard on the top-of-the-line trims, on almost every car and at least some trucks. They're to protect your vehicle's body if someone parks next to you like in a supermarket lot and opens their doors just a little too far. Especially if that other vehicle Doesn't have moldings. Haven't seen those moldings on a new car in what feels like 2 decades at least. Don't know why the industry stopped making them other than to make the body shops richer. Remember all that plastic cladding on the lower thirds of GM cars and trucks from the mid-90's on, i.e. the Aztek, Grand Am, Avalanche?? That was decorative molding!😎😎I think some XJ Cherokees had them, too. Or was it the First- and Second-Generation Grand Cherokees??🧐Well, You get the picture!🤧
Thank you man, that's what I was thinking
Thanks Donald Petersen.
He just passed away very recently too, like a couple of weeks ago.
I have seen a few people graft GT front end on some of these to make a true 4door 5.0 stang
Click bait. Not a Mustang. Call it a gussied up Fairmont if you wish but there was far less commonality in the floorpan stampings between the Mustang and LTD compared to the LTD and Fairmont which was the original Fox variant.
The floor stampings are the same for all of them except with 5" added in the middle for the sedans and wagons. My LTD has all of the same holes for accessories/components in the floor that Mustangs do.
The 302 Fairmount was even faster than these!!
When 200hp was a lot 😂. I remember thinking I had the fastest car on the planet with my Trans Am GTA with 250 hp😂. I had 2 of them. Great cars. Now you can get a Camry that will smoke it 😅.
Hey man those are awesome
Except those of us who actually drove during this period knew all about them.
My father and grandpa have never heard of the LX and they love cars
As a young officer in DC I was pleasantly surprised by the 85 Ltd. Every single other vehicle we had available to us was a joke. In particular the K car and Chryslers required us to put your foot through the floor to get anywhere. I did that in this Ltd 1 day and peeled rubber down NY Ave. My Sgt called me back the station to tell me to slow down. I later discovered that 5.0 under the hood. That 4 year old Ltd ran great. I even preferred it over the 89 crown Vic . Sleeper all day
Back in 1993, I inherited an '85 Mercury Marquis that needed lots of work. I quickly found that many Mustang parts worked, but the car was ultimately a pos and I sold it. I kinda miss it, it was comfortable. A friend of mine back in '94 had a an '84 wagon LTD with a Mustang 5-speed and clutch pedal, it was a sleeper for the time hehe
When the LTD LX debuted in 1984, it had the exact engine as the automatic transmission equipped Mustang GT for 1984(both rated at 165hp). For 1985, the automatic equipped Mustang GT was rated at 180hp due to a less restrictive exhaust system(quasi-dual exhaust behind the single catalytic converter), but the LTD LX maintained it's 165hp rating as it still retained the single exhaust system as in 1984. These are non-roller camshaft 302 H.O.s. Only the 5 speed manual equipped Mustang GTs for 1985 received the roller cam 302 H.O. engines rated at 210hp. The 1984 5 speed manual equipped Mustang GT was rated at 175hp and is a non-roller cam 302 H.O.
Ford also made a Police Special package in 1984-85 for the LTD LX, using the 302 H.O. CFI engine. A buddy bought one in the late 80s at an auction. For the time, it hauled butt!
You're spot on. Interestingly, at least one 1985 LTD LX ad stated the engine was good for 175 HP compared to 165 HP in '84 (Google "Bondurant LTD LX ad" since RUclips doesn't like external links), but Ford didn't make any material changes to the engine or exhaust between '84 and '85 (it didn't gain the dual exhaust or tubular headers like Mustang got in '85) so I'm pretty sure the LTD LX was rated at 165 HP all the way through the end of production.
Thumbs up, new subsriber. Amazing how much the big three cars looked alike at that time. Being born in the 60s I remember the hunt for performance in the late 70s and 80s.
I appreciate that man!
I disagree. 20th century cars were almost painfully easy to differentiate. Especially because they had badges on at least 2 sides. Today's cars all look like they came from the same mold. I can't tell a Buick from a Honda from a BMW!!😢
I loved the look of this car but I was too young and hence did not make a lot of money to be able to to afford one.
Those short lived LTDs replaced the Fairmont, and they had V8s available too. Similar cars, and I always thought of them as a refreshed Fairmont with no 2 doors available. Great vid Hawk!
Good point and thank you!
The Tempo replaced the Fairmont. The Fox platform LTD replaced the Granada.
@KDoyle4 It technically did yes..But the Fairmont was only a inch shorter than the LTD, and had the same width and wheelbase of a Fairmont if memory serves. They dressed up a Fairmont as a stop gap model untill the Taurus arrived LOL. I was implying that the Fairmont was a pretty close cousin to the LTD that's all.
Yes! The Fairmont and the Mercury Zephyr.
Well the Granada was already a dressed up Fairmont, and even shared interior components with it. The LTD was just kinda gen 3 Fox sedan in design IMHO. It had the dash from the previous gen Fox T-bird and a mixture of other Ford componentry and a new V6. It was sold concurrently with the Fairmont for one model year though, so in terms of model line up, seems like it replaced Granada.
I had a 1985 2 door LTD Crown Victoria 5.0l, the performance was nothing to write home about but it had tons of potential using parts from many different other fords...I was going to swap in the drivetrain from the V8 Ford Explorer including the full wiring and installing the extended tailshaft and driveshaft from a police 4r70Rw...Swap in the chassis from a 2003+ Panther...
My aunt had the baby LTD wagon but hers had a 3.8l V8 with 2 barrel throttle body injection...it lacked power and had a hard time getting out of its own way...
Why didn’t you?
@@GreenHawkDrive I was trying to, but the project fell through due to unrelated problems I had most of the parts to do it too,
Darn man, I don’t know what to say. That’s the way life goes sometimes.
These were ubiquitous in the 1980s.
This car was my favorite "Banana in the tail pipe" Beverly Hills Cop moment.
I should have added that clip in there
You're not gonna fall for the banana in the tailpipe?
It should be more natural, brother. It should flow out, like this - "Look, man, I ain't fallin' for no banana in my tailpipe!" See, that's more natural for us. You been hanging out with this dude too long.
@@paulie-Gualtieri.
🤣😅😂
@@paulie-Gualtieri.
BHC - 4 is supposed to be out this year.
@michiganborn8303
Looking forward to it 👍
Very cool car! I've never seen one in person, but always wanted one. All the "Police Spec" upgrades and 5.0 made it a 4 door Mustang.
Horn button on the tip of the turn signal on my station wagon. A move to make it more EURO.
That was '83 only and gone by '84 when the LX came out.
Early and into summer 1984 Mustang GT 5.0 5 speed carbureted were 175hp.
1984-3/4 Mustang GT 5.0 5 speed carburated were 205hp. Changeover was around July 12th 1984.
1984 Mustang GT 5.0 automatic with EFI were 165hp.
1984 LTD LX 5.0 automatic were all EFI were 165hp.
1985 Mustang GT 5.0 5 speed carbureted were 210hp.
1985 Mustang GT 5.0 automatic with EFI were 185hp.
1985 LTD LX 5.0 automatic were all EFI were 185hp.
So the LTD LX 5.0 got the same EFI engine as the same year EFI automatic Mustang GT.
No official Ford records anywhere show 185HP for the LTD. Some ads did state 175HP. But the LTD never got the dual muffler exhaust that the Mustang did in 1985, so in 1985 the LTD made less power than the Mustang.
@@ltdscott
I was a teenager back then and I with a passion read everything Ford related that I could find and I stand by the numbers I posted.
@@MustangsTrainsMowers I respectfully disagree. I'm probably as close as you can get to a living expert on these cars (my white LTD LX was featured several times in this video, and was also the car Hemmings used to feature in their LTD LX buyers' guide), have owned 5 of these cars, and have been collecting documentation on them for the last 25 years and I haven't seen one single piece of Ford-produced documentation saying the LTD LX ever had 185HP. The famous Bondurant magazine ad did say 175HP, which is the only place I've seen any numbers other than 165HP. I have plenty of evidence to back this up but sadly RUclips won't allow external links.
Oh and you're mistaken on the '85 Mustang automatic power figures too - they were 180HP, not 185, and that 15HP bump compared to '84 was due to tubular style headers and dual exit exhaust which the Mustang gained in '85 but the LTD didn't.
Great video. What a super car to have.
Thank you man, I agree
High output 165 hp from 5.0 l . Only high is stupidity here .
I appreciate that man
I grew up in this era and although I feel pretty confident in my knowledge of cars I have to admit that I learned something new today. Thanks for sharing this video. Cheers!
Same here
Thanks for your continued support man!
I made same comment just now. I was young when this car was around.....young guy - fast cars......apparently very few people talked about the LTD LX.
Didn't know about these, thx!
Thanks for watching!
SHO
" Super High Output"
The original LTD was "supposed" to be a LimiTeD edition but it was so popular they kept it advertising that LTD meant Lincoln Tradional Design. My 85 LTD Brougham came with a V6. I HATED IT and traded for a 87 Camaro. LTD had FULL WHEEL COVERS not "lug covers."
Wasn’t a 4 door Mustang , except for the uneducated!!!!!!!!.
Ford Fairmont/ Mercury Zephyr was the FIRST FOXBODY , not a Mustang…1978..
It was a dowdy looking thing left over from the late seventies. It wasn't outright ugly, but it never inspired either. Ford was making new cars by turning wrenches and slapping on badges! This was typical of the "Big Three" at the time. The market was switching to Front Wheel Drive and turbocharged engines for better economy. The idea was genius, but the marketing directors were not impressed! Europe and Japan were introducing cars for the 21st century and domestic manufacturers were still stuck in the 70's! It was the Police Interceptor Package in all reality! The car just looked like a "leftover" model still in production for government fleet sales. Sadly, it was cheap, dependable, and fun!! It would have been a genius move if Ford could have made a four door version of the 1983 Thunderbird! Imagine a sedan that looked like a Merkur Scorpio in 1984? Rear wheel drive cars were considered outdated and not suitable for midwest climates! Four Wheel Drive cars were going to be the next craze! The advertising for this model was abysmal and the dealers had no profit margin! Ford was busy with the Taurus platform, and this car was dead.
Always loved these, and all the other weird fox platform cars. Fairmont’s, early boxy tbird’s, 4 eye aero tbird’s, mark vii’s.
Easy to build into a sleeper fox body back when boxy 80s cars were still common.
Don't forget the Lincoln Mark VII LSC, a Mustang GT in a tuxedo.
@@lsrx101 it’s in my list.
I had one of those.
Such a fun sleeper
My Driver’s-Ed courses in high school featured the pre-Taurus midsized Ford LTD…definitely not the LX hotrod, though…
“Hey, I got my license..!!”
SHOTS-SHOTS-SHOTS
Decent car…I got my license in one, so there’s that…
My kids took Driver’s-Ed in a PRIUS…
…feeling lucky to be Gen X.
Any Thing _Fox_ . . . . . Rocks!
Outstanding platform.
in less than 1 min - it shows ‘the cop car’ as named in the vid & colloquially. THAT was the LTD - panther (or crown vic) model. Not the down sized of the same era - the fox bodied (or mustang-ish). EDIT ok, I watched more. There were the few LTD-LX (s) as cop cars too. That WAS 4 dor...yes, 1st fox Grenade-A & then fairmont/zepher thru ’04 stang, some even say onto the SN-95. thnx GHD !
5:00 the 1984 Mustang GT with V8 had 175 hp for the manual (it was carbed) and 165 hp for the auto with EFI. Which is the engine Ford went with for both '84 and '85 as they did not offer a manual trans. In 1985, the 5-speed manual GT had the higher performance engine rated at 210, whereas the '85 automatic GTs continued with the EFI 5.0 but power was rated at 180 hp. Apparently, Ford had stockpiled the 1984 EFI 5.0 engines for both model years they planned with the LTD LX and police cars. Would have/should have: In 1985 they should have offered a 210 hp manual transmission LTD as well as gone with the 180 hp engines. That bit of extra performance may have kept interest for a 1986 version as the engine was EFI and offered a solid 200 hp regardless of transmissions. I owned both a '85 LX 5.0 ex-CHP car and a 1986 Capri 5.0 (both 5-speed manual) and the '86 felt better and quicker overall even when rated 10 hp less. My guess is that Ford was more interested in continuing to roll out the Taurus for the masses and sales of the LX kept it a very niche car other than the ones sold for police duties.
In 1979 my dad bought the family a Ford Fairmont Country Squire wagon... with a 2bbl carb, 4.9L/302 Windsor V8. I loved it! It only had about 135hp, but the torque was something like 250 lb/ft. I confused a lot of people with that "woody wagon". The big problem with that car was the brakes, they were beyond awful. One time I tried to slow the car down from about 75-80 mph... about 500 feet from a busy 4-way intersection. The brakes faded to nothing after about 300 feet. Once my light went red I had no choice but to hit the gas and try to thread my way through the opposing traffic. Extremely scary for a 17 year old.
As you can tell, I survived.
I have built the AMT 1/25 scale model kit of the 89 Taurus SHO... A very enjoyable build!!
I remember those rubber covered rims- I worked at a tire shop way back and we had a few old Fords and I think a late 70's early 80's Mustang 4cyl come in. Trying to rig those up on the balancer was stupid. So spongy. Damn those were dumb. On a side note, you mentioned the column shifter and no console in the cop car. I had a 71 Mercury Cyclone that was like that. It was one of 23 built for LEO use, (hypo), I think AZ, but they never got delivered and were sold to the workers at the Ford plant at a steep discount. The HYPO went a four door Dodge at the last minute. Coronets?? Satellites?? IDK. I had number 20. Found the paperwork in the glove box and the trunk. I was the 2nd owner in 1987. THAT car is rare, beyond rare.
The agency I worked for had what we referred to as the little LTD's, as opposed to the full-size Crown Vics we had previously.
The LTD was a reskinned Fairmont both on the Fox body, as Ford called it.
My regret was not buying the police package Mustang LX. It was light, nimble, and quick for its day. Aah, woulda, coulda, shoulda.
I briefly was given a 1980 Mustand with a 4 cylinder turbo. Pathetic machine. I then got a weekend with a 2 door Fairmont "ES" with a 265 V-8 (California compliant) and a handing package. Way better car with similar gas milage.
Ford needs to add a 4-door variant of the current Mustang. It’ll be the best replacement for the Crown Vic here in North America and the Falcon over in Oceania since their discontinuation in 2011 and 2016, respectively. In 2007, Ford designed a concept full-size 4-door sedan called the Interceptor and it utilized a slightly lengthened version of the D2C platform which has been used in every Mustang since 2004 which means Ford already has the platform for a full-size sedan and they just have to lengthen it like they did for the Interceptor. This is a chance for American full-size V8 RWD sedans to return since the discontinuation of the Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 at the end of last year. The 4-door Mustang could also become a police car and taxi and maybe they could produce a Lincoln variant which would be a replacement for the Town Car and Continental. After all, just because many Americans prefer SUVs over sedans doesn’t mean no Americans want sedans. If Ford produces a 4-door Mustang, they could become very profitable since they’re offering what muscle car enthusiasts who want room for the family want and also they’re offering what police departments want, plus possibly what some taxi companies want as well.
WHen I was training to be a technician, they had one as a team Drag car (At least and LTD). Such an odd choice but it always stuck in my mind. Saw a LTD a few days ago and was like 'Heyyy". TBH the rear looks good.
Would look alright with the Mustang front sheet metal, the funny thing is there was a 3rd variant of the LTD being made at the same time but on the other side of the Pacific at the Eagle Farm assembly plant in Australia and came with the choice of a EFI 4.1ltr Cross-flo in line 6, 302 2v Cleveland and 351 4v Cleveland.
This was based on the Falcon platform and the LTD waa the stretched long wheel based ultra luxury limousine version and was made untill 2008 still based on the Falcon platform.
This same Eagle Farm assembly plant in Brisbane also had the distinction of being the biggest hand made luxury car factory in the world during the 80's.
I have the Marquis LTS that is discussed on the FourEyedPride forum (You scrolled past my posts. LOL). The forum works, but you may be going to the old/bad link.
There is a tan LTD WAGON briefly in jurrasic park. Dotson gets out of the wagon and dosen't shut the door of the wagon taxi and pisses off the taxi driver this is when dotson meets up with nedrey. And he gives him the barbasol can.
Theres a old muscle mustang and fast fords magazine article where some guy grafted a 1987 mustang nose onto a LTD sedan. Making it REAALLY a 4 door mustang. I saw a LTD WAGON with a mercury capri nose on it at the hot rod power tour.
Had an 83 Marquis Brougham 3.8/4-speed overdrive. Actually was very reliable except for that stupid Ford electronic ignition, and later on needed a transmission transplant. Pretty sure it was over 200k when the rust and other age issues made it too expensive to keep, but up until that point in my life that was the longest I ever owned a car (12 years) Was a comfortable cruiser. Worst thing I can say about them was they were terrible in the snow and even in the other seasons they handled like a much bigger cumbersome car. I wish I could have driven an LTD LX for comparison.
I am 73 years old. Back in the 1980s I purchased a 1984 Ford LTD midsize car that had a 3.8 liter V6 engine and the Ford 4 speed automatic overdrive transmission. The engine had throttle body fuel injection. The car was a nice comfortable riding car. However it had reliability problems. The rear differential developed a loud howling noise and had to be rebuilt. Also the heater core developed a leak and had to be replaced.
Suprised you didn't talk about the Futura/Zephyr 5.0s.... looking back those were neat cars from that platform as well...
I always find it funny that WIKIPEDIA says that the Fairmont/Zephr were discontinued in favor of the Taurus. Did they never see the LTD? It is beyond obvious that it was a more modern and luxury version of the super basic Fairmont. Even the windows are almost the same. I personally swapped a hood from an LTD to my Fairmont. The LTD hood was a much thicker steel than the fairmont.
Nearly every domestic car during this time looked like they were built by Fisher Price. Chrysler's bumpers started to sag after about a year which gave them the appearance they were smiling. Every brand's plastics were so cheap like off-brand Legos. Four cylinder engines ran like tractors from the 1930's with the side benefit of poor gas mileage. Rolling toilets.
I drove a Fox chassis LTD police car for 2 years. Fast & handles great, poor brakes. The brakes would heat up very quickly & brake fade was consistent with the heat. Crashed many because of the brake fade.
These looked so outdated compared to the new Taurus in 1985. No one really wanted these and once the Taurus was out that's the car people preferred due to its modernized styling and better handling fwd power train. So yeah these are rare! But honestly I'd prefer a first gen 89-91 SHO over any one of these LTDs!