My old man bought this exact car used in 71, was green a 4 door and vinyl top with a 390. He loved that car! 1969 ford LTD brings back good memories. He never again wasted money on an expensive car. He was 31 at the time owned (mortgage) 5 homes in an expensive area of Vancouver probably worth over 12 million today. He passed a few years ago not broke but not much to brag about, passed happy and content though. I think his happiest point was bringing that 1969 car home, he just loved it. So did I
My mom had a white four door 78 LTD when I was a kid. White with green interior. That thing was in immaculate shape too. Every single option you could imagine. Such a smooth ride that car was
We had a '70 Custom 500 Ranch wagon when I was a kid.. had the great 351 Cleveland Racing engine.. was the best car my parents ever owned, even today (they have a suck-ass Kia Soul now, perfect for retirees in their 80s LOL)!
I had a 69 as a teenager in the late 70s. Great car but it got totaled in a head on collision with a Chevrolet suburban that crossed the center line and hit me head on. Thankfully I was that rare teenager that buckled up both the lap and shoulder belts back then. I walked away with only bruises from the belts which was far better than the unbelted other driver who had massive head and chest injuries from the steering wheel. Three seconds to buckle up was really a game changer.
My father had a four door LTD of this model in 1969 in Australia. We drove it across the Nullabor before it was sealed in 1969 - Melbourne to Perth and back again. Thousands of kilometres of corrugations and thick dust. When we went through Melbourne on the way home the car was thick with red bulldust inside and outside and we got a lot of double takes. No doubt the fuel economy, braking and cornering appear to leave a lot to be desired but fuel was cheap it sat very comfortably and solidly on the road and had huge character and presence.
OMG those bench seats practically went unchanged all the way into 78 with the Landau. And believe me it really is like having your living room sofa in your car.
I would agree with you in the idea that the seats stayed the same but i know that there were changes and improvements in 71, 73 and 75 with the body style updates. Brougham trim materials were better too with thick cut pile carpeting. In 74, there was a velour trim upgrade for the Brougham and leather option in 75-78 with the Landau models. Fords best interiors were in those years.
This was my first car. My grandfather gave it to me. White 2-door with a black vinyl top, just like the one in the video. Car sat in storage from 1979 to 1986. Tons of issues from sitting but I learned to fix them all. Car was HUGE in every way. Doors were dangerously heavy. Ride was almost comical…it floated down the road like warm marshmallow and tires squealed in 10mph turns with absurd body roll. The car is long gone but the wonderful memories remain.
My first car. You could run over a parking lot full of Toyotas without feeling a bump. This beast was all about going down the highway at 80 mph with six big passengers and A/C that would run you out of there.
Mark Duncan four in the front seat, four in the back. Cops made sure both center riders in front shared the middle seatbelt if you had four in the front
@@markduncan8661 you are absolutely correct sir,I owned two 77 mercury marquis,loved those cars, it's like driving your couch down the street.if I seen one of those coming I wouldn't have to worry about getting out of the way and there's other ways to stretch out your girl friend.
My frist car was a70 Monterey it was a tank 390 it got you where you wanted to go my aunt backed into it tore her car up bad just scratched my paint I backed into a oak tree just pushed the chrome up the side I just pushed it back in place it was a luxury liner
You can criticize these cars as much as you want. Reality is for the size they were , and the Technology they had they did pretty well. You can't really compare them to the cars today. As my father used to say, "back then it's all we had".
+AKS and even closer to this car is my 92. mine has body roll, but is confidence inspiring. plows to poweroversteer at high speed, and very smooth transmission
Late 80s and a guy I worked with at a landscaping company had a 70. Damn thing would get up for a big ol beast,and it had some kinda decent exhaust because it sounded nice. I'd tell him to floor it and 5$ is on me at the next gas station 😆
'69 LTD, my first car. Sure do miss it. Dad gave me in '78. Twenty below zero, with one pump of the throttle and a tap of the key, the 390 started every time. The stock 8-Track with "Quadraphonic" sound was a cool option. Between my Grandparents, Parents, and me, that 8-Track tape player had thousands of hours on it and worked untill the crushing death of the car in '85. Rust killed it. The body was about to fall off the frame. With everything still working, it had to go.
Aside from the soft suspension...the lack of real grip could be blamed on the tires! Radials finally helped achieve a much more solid grip between car and road.
My Dad had one of those new in Australia when I was a kid (4 door 390 V8). Terribly inefficient I suppose but I loved it, they were very solidly planted on the road and the handling felt fine, and acres of stylish bonnet. Those old 'yank tanks' generated more excitement than todays plastic fantastics.
I'm 37 and I can still remember asking my mother to turn the hide-away headlights on and off for me. In the late 70's my sister and I were in the back seat, my mother was at full stop waiting to take a left. Shortly after a woman plowed into the back of us at around 30 MPH because she was looking after her baby. The cop kept asking my sister and I if we were ok, and to which I replied "did something happen?" I miss that beast, we drove home after like nothing happened.
In 1971 when I got my license, I inherited my mom's '68 LTD Brougham coupe. Had the 390 4 barrel. For a 2 ton car it had pretty good get up and go. However got about 10 mpg on a good day...but then gas was 30 cents a gallon so who cared? Wonderful car but I totalled it in Dec '72 when I couldn't stop in time on a rain slicked road and rear ended a '65 Falcon. Boy those hidden headlights were really hidden after that! lol
+san379 These went to the junk yards quickly here in New England with rust and exhaust systems gone every 2 years! Love the fact they made it LONGER! A friend had a convertible.
Back when you actually GOT what YOU PAID FOR! It's always been funny to me how the old road test films would show the big cars essentially "road racing", cause NOBODY ever actually drove 'em like that in real life (at least nobody I ever knew)... They just did that to show that the cars COULD, if the situation 'came up'. Seems like after the mid-80s, if a car COULDN'T be driven like a "Maniac Mobile", it was unworthy... Funny how Public Perception works, huh? Something else I've always wondered about- if the car companies would have had all fuel injection, wide- range OD transmissions, better tire technology and 'better' fuel economy "back then", would people today think that the cars from the 50's through the 70's STILL think they were sort of half-ass? I mean, we can "improve" the old ones NOWADAYS, but what if they were "better" to begin with? In my opinion, (although I LOVE 40s through early 60s cars) ya can't really beat the 1968 to 1971 luxury and other full-size cars for dependability, serviceability and comfort....
I learned to drive on that car and took it to college. Although ours had the 351 2V it was awesome, quiet and fast. 50 years later my sister and I still talk about that car.
I miss those days, but I sure don't miss cars like the '69 LTD. Watching this land yacht heel over in the turns like a dinghy in a hurricane made me reach for the Gravol, and dig those misaligned body panels! Rudimentary safety equipment, scary handling and wretched build quality all combined with the ground-hugging weight of a Sherman tank. Hell, what more could you possibly want?
BAAHAHAHAAA I was thinking the same thing. How badly can each of these test cars fail in the braking department...yet it just goes ignored as if unimportant every time.
Parents had a wagon when I was a kid. 22mpg highway on trips. Dad would turn the radio speakers to the rear and we would lay in the back with our ears pressed to the speaker grills. Seat belts? Pfff.. no way.
Seat belts were not popular back then and hardly any one wore them. I was that rare teenager that wore a seat belt back then when I turned 16 in1973. I thought I looked mature with the shoulder belt on and a Winston 100s in my hand. Being buckled in really enhanced the ride and drive of the car.
I bought one of these new and this ad omits a lot. Tires were only two ply, Battery was weak as far as cca were concerned, car dived to right or left depending on hard steer. Ride was good on smooth pavement but bad on rough surfaces. Plus many others not mentioned in this ad
@cadrolls1 funny you mention that, i have a 74 LTD and my friends LOVE the interior and soft ride. i garuantee you some one WILL get to comfy and doose off in no time, they also like the rear ash trays in the arm rest base. a real shame youngsters may never know a great ride. i always said it, Best american interior's are pre-down sized models.
"kind of like some one moved your living room sofa into the car" my grandfather had an australian 77 ford LTD and i think that quite describes it to a 'T' ah you don't get commercials like this anymore, it makes you want to listen more and more and he even gives you some of the negatives as well as the positives
I prefer the 69' Cobra Fairlane GT with formal roofline. I had a FORDOR 69' Fairlane with the 200 inline six, 3 spd. auto, and it was pretty peppy, believe it or not. Those 68'-69' 428 Cobra's were fast, I know because I worked at the dealership. Everybody loved the fastback GT, but the formal roofline 428 with luxury interior and viny roof was the real sleeper, especially in SCJ configuration, with shaker hood intake delete, of course. On the other hand, FORMAL roofline with shaker intake over GT dress up package does look damn fancy, if you ask me. Fully loaded out the 68'-69' Cobra with FORMAL roofline were lucky to weigh in at 3500 lb. Although the 68'-69' Fairlane Cobras fit the "muscle car" definition, in reality they were slightly smaller, I think.
When I was 14 my friend and I took his moms LTD out for a joy ride.We never drove before but we caught on fast.After about 2 hours we burned a lot of gas and pulled in a gas station and he hit a cement block by the pump and dented the fender.She never said a word about it.We got lucky.we never did that again.I love the 69 LTD.
People don't realize this important fact about perimeter frame cars: They have 'unitized bodies' on top of frames. They are BOTH - unit body and have frames. This is true of the '64 GM A bodies and then Ford did it with the '72 Torino as well.
You are totally right about old cars performance. Back in the 60s this would have been decently quick, and by the early 80s, it would be considered fast because the late 70s and early 80s cars were choked out with emissions. Now today's cars with a V6 can churn out the same power or more, but the new cars are not as quiet or comfortable as this LTD in the video.
The cars in this country were geared differently back then. This car was rated to tow a 7,000 pound travel trailer. It wasn't geared for quickness. Although it is not quick by today's standards, when going up the steepest hill you can imagine, you wouldn't need to push the gas pedal to maintain the speed from how much you pushed it before getting to the hill. The ride was NICE. It was quiet too.
I agree 100%. Even though the cars have air bags and anti-lock brakes and stabilitrac systems, like my Cadillac, I miss the ride we got in the cars we grew up with. True, we had to slow down for the large dips in the road back then and true, we had to take corners slower too but, out on the open road and highways, they were what we wanted and what we enjoyed. It is no longer enjoyable to go on a long trip. The seats are too hard and so are the springs. That's progress?
Amen to you. I drvie a fleet of big cars and the smallest motor in my cars is a 400 in my '79 Lincoln, and I have lots of food, clothes, nice home, and a garage. What people don't realize that my 5 cars insured at the same time cost less to insure than my '99 Cadillac STS I owned a couple years ago. And I get slightly less gas mileage. Good maintainance and driving habits make these big boats even better on gas than many SUVs on the road today!
And you didn't need a room full of diagnostic equipment to work on it. All you needed was a multi meter, a timing light and basic set of hand tools and a little common sense.
You wouldn't believe how awful most mechanics were of the era. Stuff like points were replaced often in these cars, and often screwed up. They would play around with the idle/mixture all the time and make it so the cars ran badly.
scdevon yeah thats how it is with my 68 Ltd ...the fuel gauge is not working and pulled out a ohms meter and the gauge is at fault not the sending unit
My Dad owned one of these..Brand new in 1969 Almost identical to this one in the video but red. I recall FOMOCO rated this engine setup at 370 hp @ 5k rpm. Wish I still had it today.
That was a problem with the gearshift indicator, not the transmission. It looked like it was in park, but it was really stuck in between park and reverse
My dad bought a new 69 XL white with black top that looked very similar. I think the XL was maybe a more stripped down sport model? Either way, the car in this video looks great compared to the 69 Impala video.
I had two of these in high school in 79 one a station wagon,the other a 4 door sedan. both had 390 2 bbl. They sure were torquey engines. blew the headgasket on the stationwagon broke my heart. lol
my friend in High School, mom had a 69 XL, it was like a LTD, same front, but a bit sporty for the time, had kind of a fast back design, with a 390 engine. She traded it in for a new 72 Monte Carlo and my friend said the XL was faster than the 350 Monte Carlo.
My 69 torino ran low 17 in the quarter mile, with a 302 2 barrel . in which we still own .i had a 69 t bird with suicide doors a 9 inch air locker rear installed with the 429 4 barrel that would run low 15 all day. And at 60 mph would pull away from 454s. Something must have been wrong with this car that was tested!
I had a 1970 LTD with a 429. You wanna talk about literally watching the gas gauge move down under full throttle? Oh but it did. However, because of all the weight, (a 2 door brougham) I could floor it and the back wheels would smoke almost to the 1st-2nd shift point at 54 MPH. Yeah, I killed a few tires in the rear to say the least. Great on the highway and passing was never a problem as the kickdown gear was always there to give a major boost and away I went. I miss that car. *sniff*
My parents had a 69 ford wagon (country squire) Lots of memories It took us across country and up into the Rocky Mtns in Colorado pulling a pop up camper. But my dad let mud get up in the rear quarter and the frame rusted out. It got pulled apart one winter after it got stuck... sad
1St car. My father gave me his first car he bought brand new. It had a 390 2barrel, c6 tranny, and 190,000 miles. The motor wore out. I replaced it with a 390 eliminator motor balanced and blueprinted with only 20,000 miles on rebuild. I got it out of 66 sport Fairlane with a broken A frame...
True. Much of that had to do with the fact that Ford gave unusually long spring travel so, the Fords and Mercurys tended to hit the bottom of the car when going over large dips and humps in the road. Those areas that scraped the road were very prone to rust as the paint was scraped away.
In 89 I bought a 77 Grand Marquis in HS it had 460 4 bbl and 280 rearend it could go if manually shifted 70 in 1st when you popped that thing in 2nd it really pulled hard. Honestly with my buddies Honda 1100 along side we saw 125 my speedo went to 85. Engine was rated at 220 horsepower I believe 8 to 1 compression. I’m pretty sure this 429 had 10 to 1 compression and possibly same cam and I know same carb, better heads, better gas but points ignition. My Merc was 4752 in pounds if I remember correctly I raced a lot of cars on the straightaway heading out of town I usually got them in the top end. From 70 to 110 it was quite fast for a 12 year old land yacht with a 100000 miles. I was surprised that it did well against a 1972 Grand Prix with a 400 4 bbl nice shape I caught up to it at about 95 and edged by it, it seemed looking back I had a solid runner for what it was and I completely and utterly beat the living hell out of that 460. My 1977 Lincoln MK 5 that was a quicker and faster car that 460 really ran exceptional. 3.00 rearend and true duals it would top out 130 I had a duel with a 1990 Mustang 5.0 a roll on to top end hung with him pretty well. I think a 1969 Linc MK3 with a balanced and blueprinted engine would be the hot ticket before the engines lost compression I read that Ford balanced and blueprinted some of the 1969 Linc 460s per Lee Iacocca to really show that they could hang with the Caddy Eldorados 472.
@SmidgenPC ford used a 2.80:1 rear end and a three speed auto for economy. today we have V6 with 5 or 6 speed automatics with a 3.3:1 rear and 30 mpg big jump in technology
@SmidgenPC These were Gross Ratings back in the day. From 1972 all engines were quoted Net horsepower. Let's say that 90 to 100 HP drops were fairly common between 1971 ratings and 1972, on the same engine. Besides, this car weighs 2 tons and has 2.80 gearing (very bad for acceleration, good for cruising with the top gear in the box being direct, no overdrive), lousy tires and brakes, soft sprung suspension. You can see how it struggles in cornering, but for the day this was the standard.
I had one but without the flip headlights. Red with black vinyl top. My wife hated it when going up a hill the earth disappeared and all you could see was sky!
I covet an 1969 XL GT 429, a relatively unknown seinor/full size muscle car. I think they are much more interesting than a lot of other cars that are over done.
That 429 pulling a 2 tonne luxury car must have had the tach linked into the fuel gauge so when you rev the engine the Needle move towards the Empty reading .
I got 17 mpg out of a 1970 Mercury Marquis, 429, 2 barrell. Re-read it if you have to, or check a dictionary for anything you don't understand. I've been working on cars for over 30 years, and know how to drive.
My old man bought this exact car used in 71, was green a 4 door and vinyl top with a 390.
He loved that car! 1969 ford LTD brings back good memories. He never again wasted money on an expensive car. He was 31 at the time owned (mortgage) 5 homes in an expensive area of Vancouver probably worth over 12 million today. He passed a few years ago not broke but not much to brag about, passed happy and content though. I think his happiest point was bringing that 1969 car home, he just loved it. So did I
My mom had a white four door 78 LTD when I was a kid. White with green interior. That thing was in immaculate shape too. Every single option you could imagine. Such a smooth ride that car was
I have rode in several 69's, but had a 1970 that I still have today. Great cars
'70 Wagon was my first car, and I miss it.....
We had a '70 Custom 500 Ranch wagon when I was a kid.. had the great 351 Cleveland Racing engine.. was the best car my parents ever owned, even today (they have a suck-ass Kia Soul now, perfect for retirees in their 80s LOL)!
Love all the Galaxies, Impalas, Catalinas, Bonnevilles and Wildcats of the 1960s !!! : )
Back in the day when the tires sidewall was part of the contact patch! lol
Love the 69 Ltd's, had the wagon from my dad, yes I am 60 years old, miss both my car and my dad.
I had a 69 as a teenager in the late 70s. Great car but it got totaled in a head on collision with a Chevrolet suburban that crossed the center line and hit me head on. Thankfully I was that rare teenager that buckled up both the lap and shoulder belts back then. I walked away with only bruises from the belts which was far better than the unbelted other driver who had massive head and chest injuries from the steering wheel. Three seconds to buckle up was really a game changer.
My father had a four door LTD of this model in 1969 in Australia. We drove it across the Nullabor before it was sealed in 1969 - Melbourne to Perth and back again. Thousands of kilometres of corrugations and thick dust. When we went through Melbourne on the way home the car was thick with red bulldust inside and outside and we got a lot of double takes. No doubt the fuel economy, braking and cornering appear to leave a lot to be desired but fuel was cheap it sat very comfortably and solidly on the road and had huge character and presence.
Nullabor?
What do you mean by "sealed."
OMG those bench seats practically went unchanged all the way into 78 with the Landau. And believe me it really is like having your living room sofa in your car.
I would agree with you in the idea that the seats stayed the same but i know that there were changes and improvements in 71, 73 and 75 with the body
style updates. Brougham trim materials were better too with thick cut pile carpeting. In 74, there was a velour trim upgrade for the Brougham and leather
option in 75-78 with the Landau models. Fords best interiors were in those years.
This was my first car. My grandfather gave it to me. White 2-door with a black vinyl top, just like the one in the video. Car sat in storage from 1979 to 1986. Tons of issues from sitting but I learned to fix them all. Car was HUGE in every way. Doors were dangerously heavy.
Ride was almost comical…it floated down the road like warm marshmallow and tires squealed in 10mph turns with absurd body roll. The car is long gone but the wonderful memories remain.
360 horses running all over the place. this guy has a great way with words. gotta love it!
Running all over the place😂😂😂🤣🤣
360 HP is the same horse power as my 2011 F150 5.0 makes.
I had a 1974 Ford LTD. It was very easy to drive. It was very comfortable. It was what Ford wanted it to be.
My first car. You could run over a parking lot full of Toyotas without feeling a bump. This beast was all about going down the highway at 80 mph with six big passengers and A/C that would run you out of there.
Mark Duncan four in the front seat, four in the back. Cops made sure both center riders in front shared the middle seatbelt if you had four in the front
Don't get me wrong,I love these old barges, I grew up with them. But my 03 Camry would eat it's lunch all day.
@@davidcarder6364 Until you wanted to stretch out with your 5‘10“ girlfriend. Sometimes size does matter. :)
@@markduncan8661 you are absolutely correct sir,I owned two 77 mercury marquis,loved those cars, it's like driving your couch down the street.if I seen one of those coming I wouldn't have to worry about getting out of the way and there's other ways to stretch out your girl friend.
My frist car was a70 Monterey it was a tank 390 it got you where you wanted to go my aunt backed into it tore her car up bad just scratched my paint I backed into a oak tree just pushed the chrome up the side I just pushed it back in place it was a luxury liner
The 1969 LTD, the favorite car of every 1970s American TV bad guy.
😢
You can criticize these cars as much as you want. Reality is for the size they were , and the Technology they had they did pretty well. You can't really compare them to the cars today. As my father used to say, "back then it's all we had".
+AKS and even closer to this car is my 92. mine has body roll, but is confidence inspiring. plows to poweroversteer at high speed, and very smooth transmission
i air my 92's tires at 30 psi cold. this gives me a car with tons of pedal even at 70 mph
***** eek. mine gets too squirrely over 33
Those brakes were inexcusable at that time.
@@jamespfitz Very true, check out the excellent road test braking results for the 1968 Hurst Olds.
My first car a yellow 1969 ford Ltd 429 v8 2 door.Man I miss that car.passed everything but a gas station
I had one of these monsters, it was truly a boat on wheels...these cars loved to rust while you looked at them.
Late 80s and a guy I worked with at a landscaping company had a 70.
Damn thing would get up for a big ol beast,and it had some kinda decent exhaust because it sounded nice.
I'd tell him to floor it and 5$ is on me at the next gas station 😆
When I was a kid , my neighbor had a new 72 Cadillac Sedan Deville with leather interior. To this day it was the nicest car I ever rode in.
I believe you. Wow I wish..
'69 LTD, my first car. Sure do miss it. Dad gave me in '78. Twenty below zero, with one pump of the throttle and a tap of the key, the 390 started every time. The stock 8-Track with "Quadraphonic" sound was a cool option. Between my Grandparents, Parents, and me, that 8-Track tape player had thousands of hours on it and worked untill the crushing death of the car in '85. Rust killed it. The body was about to fall off the frame. With everything still working, it had to go.
Aside from the soft suspension...the lack of real grip could be blamed on the tires! Radials finally helped achieve a much more solid grip between car and road.
My Dad had one of those new in Australia when I was a kid (4 door 390 V8). Terribly inefficient I suppose but I loved it, they were very solidly planted on the road and the handling felt fine, and acres of stylish bonnet. Those old 'yank tanks' generated more excitement than todays plastic fantastics.
These cars were enormously popular when they came out.
That is true. I had the 73 LTD with the 400 - 2V and i had the same gas mileage of my wife's V6 bonneville! It seated six with epic style :D
This is one beautiful landyatch mate. Its a car that my teacher Mr.B would love.
I'm 37 and I can still remember asking my mother to turn the hide-away headlights on and off for me. In the late 70's my sister and I were in the back seat, my mother was at full stop waiting to take a left. Shortly after a woman plowed into the back of us at around 30 MPH because she was looking after her baby. The cop kept asking my sister and I if we were ok, and to which I replied "did something happen?" I miss that beast, we drove home after like nothing happened.
And I' m willing to bet neither you or your sister were buckled up.
In 1971 when I got my license, I inherited my mom's '68 LTD Brougham coupe. Had the 390 4 barrel. For a 2 ton car it had pretty good get up and go. However got about 10 mpg on a good day...but then gas was 30 cents a gallon so who cared? Wonderful car but I totalled it in Dec '72 when I couldn't stop in time on a rain slicked road and rear ended a '65 Falcon. Boy those hidden headlights were really hidden after that! lol
Hopefully you weren't hurt as I guessing you were not buckled up with even the lap belt let alone the shoulder belt.
just bought a 1968 ltd and I love it. ..real classic
what a great classic.. very rare.. too many were wasted
+san379 These went to the junk yards quickly here in New England with rust and exhaust systems gone every 2 years! Love the fact they made it LONGER! A friend had a convertible.
John Hiram sounds great with a huge hole in the muffler..lol
Back when you actually GOT what YOU PAID FOR!
It's always been funny to me how the old road test films would show the big cars essentially "road racing", cause NOBODY ever actually drove 'em like that in real life (at least nobody I ever knew)... They just did that to show that the cars COULD, if the situation 'came up'.
Seems like after the mid-80s, if a car COULDN'T be driven like a "Maniac Mobile", it was unworthy...
Funny how Public Perception works, huh?
Something else I've always wondered about- if the car companies would have had all fuel injection, wide- range OD transmissions, better tire technology and 'better' fuel economy "back then", would people today think that the cars from the 50's through the 70's STILL think they were sort of half-ass? I mean, we can "improve" the old ones NOWADAYS, but what if they were "better" to begin with?
In my opinion, (although I LOVE 40s through early 60s cars) ya can't really beat the 1968 to 1971 luxury and other full-size cars for dependability, serviceability and comfort....
My late great uncle had one of these in a light yellow-green. Rode like a dream.
I learned to drive on that car and took it to college. Although ours had the 351 2V it was awesome, quiet and fast. 50 years later my sister and I still talk about that car.
Thanks for posting I got one of those old things when I got out of the Navy in 76 mine wasn't quite that nice but it was still nice to see
I wish it was 1969 all over again. With today's technology of course. Bring these great cars back.
thanks love to see that big old iron put through their paces
Those poor polyglas sidewalls are crying UNCLE! UNCLE!
I miss those days, but I sure don't miss cars like the '69 LTD. Watching this land yacht heel over in the turns like a dinghy in a hurricane made me reach for the Gravol, and dig those misaligned body panels! Rudimentary safety equipment, scary handling and wretched build quality all combined with the ground-hugging weight of a Sherman tank. Hell, what more could you possibly want?
BAAHAHAHAAA I was thinking the same thing. How badly can each of these test cars fail in the braking department...yet it just goes ignored as if unimportant every time.
Yeah, I've heard the Big Three's quality REALLY started to fall in the late 60's.
I guess that's why my '70 Ford wagon went over 280,000 miles, and the engine is still going.
67marlins Back at it again, huh marlin?
Shut up and drive your Prius then😆
@Embargoman
Amen.
I love cars like this, hope to own atleast one in my lifetime.
Parents had a wagon when I was a kid. 22mpg highway on trips. Dad would turn the radio speakers to the rear and we would lay in the back with our ears pressed to the speaker grills. Seat belts? Pfff.. no way.
Seat belts were not popular back then and hardly any one wore them. I was that rare teenager that wore a seat belt back then when I turned 16 in1973. I thought I looked mature with the shoulder belt on and a Winston 100s in my hand. Being buckled in really enhanced the ride and drive of the car.
I bought one of these new and this ad omits a lot. Tires were only two ply, Battery was weak as far as cca were concerned, car dived to right or left depending on hard steer. Ride was good on smooth pavement but bad on rough surfaces. Plus many others not mentioned in this ad
@cadrolls1 funny you mention that, i have a 74 LTD and my friends LOVE the interior and soft ride. i garuantee you some one WILL get to comfy and doose off in no time, they also like the rear ash trays in the arm rest base.
a real shame youngsters may never know a great ride. i always said it, Best american interior's are pre-down sized models.
1:40 429 Cubic ACRES??
Maybe that was a joke about this being a land yacht!
"kind of like some one moved your living room sofa into the car"
my grandfather had an australian 77 ford LTD and i think that quite describes it to a 'T'
ah you don't get commercials like this anymore, it makes you want to listen more and more and he even gives you some of the negatives as well as the positives
I had a new XL 429 and that car was a work of art. It would cruise at 120 all day long like you were doing 60 and bury the spedo. in second
Say what you will, these were great looking cars....Would be proud to own one today....
I had a '73 with the 429. Handling was horrendous, and the detuned 429 was so anemic that it wouldn't even break the tires loose.
The LTD was always step up from the impala, with nice smooth ride and nicer design. My father rented one New in 1974.
I prefer the 69' Cobra Fairlane GT with formal roofline.
I had a FORDOR 69' Fairlane with the 200 inline six, 3 spd. auto, and it was pretty peppy, believe it or not.
Those 68'-69' 428 Cobra's were fast, I know because I worked at the dealership.
Everybody loved the fastback GT, but the formal roofline 428 with luxury interior and viny roof was the real sleeper, especially in SCJ configuration, with shaker hood intake delete, of course.
On the other hand, FORMAL roofline with shaker intake over GT dress up package does look damn fancy, if you ask me.
Fully loaded out the 68'-69' Cobra with FORMAL roofline were lucky to weigh in at 3500 lb.
Although the 68'-69' Fairlane Cobras fit the "muscle car" definition, in reality they were slightly smaller, I think.
"Smooth as Liquid Velvet "!!!!!!! I gotta write that down!
When I was 14 my friend and I took his moms LTD out for a joy ride.We never drove before but we caught on fast.After about 2 hours we burned a lot of gas and pulled in a gas station and he hit a cement block by the pump and dented the fender.She never said a word about it.We got lucky.we never did that again.I love the 69 LTD.
drove my 68 ltd in the rain today and oh my how fun it was lol
Had the Country Squire version of this growing up, grandparents bought new in '69. Lots of trips in the flip up seats in the cargo area.
My sister had a '70 LTD and it was body on frame. What did this guy mean by unitized body?
Oh yeah that and the body panels too man it was unreal, I remember as a youngster watching cars disintegrate.......
People don't realize this important fact about perimeter frame cars: They have 'unitized bodies' on top of frames. They are BOTH - unit body and have frames. This is true of the '64 GM A bodies and then Ford did it with the '72 Torino as well.
You are totally right about old cars performance. Back in the 60s this would have been decently quick, and by the early 80s, it would be considered fast because the late 70s and early 80s cars were choked out with emissions. Now today's cars with a V6 can churn out the same power or more, but the new cars are not as quiet or comfortable as this LTD in the video.
2.80 rear end ratio. Just the right ratio necessary to get the smooth acceleration you expect when driving your living room.
"body roll was not too bad". It didn't drag the door handles 😀
Those brake tests make you very thankful for the advent of anti-lock brakes.
This car sure looks very luxurious for it being a Ford, it almost reminds me of the Mercury Marquis that came out during this time period.
The cars in this country were geared differently back then. This car was rated to tow a 7,000 pound travel trailer. It wasn't geared for quickness. Although it is not quick by today's standards, when going up the steepest hill you can imagine, you wouldn't need to push the gas pedal to maintain the speed from how much you pushed it before getting to the hill.
The ride was NICE. It was quiet too.
...."kinda like someone moved your living room sofa into the car..."
I agree 100%. Even though the cars have air bags and anti-lock brakes and stabilitrac systems, like my Cadillac, I miss the ride we got in the cars we grew up with. True, we had to slow down for the large dips in the road back then and true, we had to take corners slower too but, out on the open road and highways, they were what we wanted and what we enjoyed. It is no longer enjoyable to go on a long trip. The seats are too hard and so are the springs. That's progress?
I miss my 69 LTD, I bought it from an old man and it only had 40k miles on it. It was a great and reliable car.
Those wheel covers were HEAVY. Hit a pothole just right and they'd take off. I had to chase one for a half block once.
Amen to you. I drvie a fleet of big cars and the smallest motor in my cars is a 400 in my '79 Lincoln, and I have lots of food, clothes, nice home, and a garage. What people don't realize that my 5 cars insured at the same time cost less to insure than my '99 Cadillac STS I owned a couple years ago. And I get slightly less gas mileage. Good maintainance and driving habits make these big boats even better on gas than many SUVs on the road today!
And you didn't need a room full of diagnostic equipment to work on it.
All you needed was a multi meter, a timing light and basic set of hand tools and a little common sense.
You wouldn't believe how awful most mechanics were of the era. Stuff like points were replaced often in these cars, and often screwed up. They would play around with the idle/mixture all the time and make it so the cars ran badly.
Yea, and if a light didn't work, it was just a broken wire.
scdevon yeah thats how it is with my 68 Ltd ...the fuel gauge is not working and pulled out a ohms meter and the gauge is at fault not the sending unit
..and maybe a Chiltons
My Dad owned one of these..Brand new in 1969 Almost identical to this one in the video but red. I recall FOMOCO rated this engine setup at 370 hp @ 5k rpm. Wish I still had it today.
....felt, big, strong and solid.....THOSE are values!!!
@Embargoman Amen brotha! My 74 LTD was made in Los Angeles and am proud to drive so.
That was a problem with the gearshift indicator, not the transmission. It looked like it was in park, but it was really stuck in between park and reverse
My dad bought a new 69 XL white with black top that looked very similar. I think the XL was maybe a more stripped down sport model? Either way, the car in this video looks great compared to the 69 Impala video.
I had a 69 ltd with a 351 in it! 4d. blue with white top.
@cadrolls1 So sad those days are long gone!
I had a 68 for my 1st car. Loved that car !!!!
I love that "a reasonable degree of control" is a positive.
this year LTD enchants me, the elegance sure, but its an arrangement that feels reliable and dependable to me. 1969!
I had two of these in high school in 79 one a station wagon,the other a 4 door sedan. both had 390 2 bbl. They sure were torquey engines. blew the headgasket on the stationwagon broke my heart. lol
I prefer the look of the 68 LTD, but I like the improvements made to the 69.
It's amazing to think that you spank this car's ass with a a lot of today's 4 cylinder cars.
On the other hand, you could tow a monster trailer over a mountain pass with these old cows. Try that in your WRX.
Fuck todays 4 cylinder cars
No1 right no 1
Aziz: what are you trying to say ? Right no 1 ?
Que pasa,esa?
What now
I remember these old Ford's except the 69 El-dorado I had made these look mid-size!!
my friend in High School, mom had a 69 XL, it was like a LTD, same front, but a bit sporty for the time, had kind of a fast back design, with a 390 engine. She traded it in for a new 72 Monte Carlo and my friend said the XL was faster than the 350 Monte Carlo.
My 69 torino ran low 17 in the quarter mile, with a 302 2 barrel . in which we still own .i had a 69 t bird with suicide doors a 9 inch air locker rear installed with the 429 4 barrel that would run low 15 all day. And at 60 mph would pull away from 454s. Something must have been wrong with this car that was tested!
What a machine!! Please, Ford, do a year of Retro Hot Cruisers!
I had a 1970 LTD with a 429. You wanna talk about literally watching the gas gauge move down under full throttle? Oh but it did. However, because of all the weight, (a 2 door brougham) I could floor it and the back wheels would smoke almost to the 1st-2nd shift point at 54 MPH. Yeah, I killed a few tires in the rear to say the least. Great on the highway and passing was never a problem as the kickdown gear was always there to give a major boost and away I went. I miss that car. *sniff*
My parents had a 69 ford wagon (country squire)
Lots of memories
It took us across country and up into the Rocky Mtns in Colorado pulling a pop up camper. But my dad let mud get up in the rear quarter and the frame rusted out. It got pulled apart one winter after it got stuck... sad
1St car. My father gave me his first car he bought brand new. It had a 390 2barrel, c6 tranny, and 190,000 miles. The motor wore out. I replaced it with a 390 eliminator motor balanced and blueprinted with only 20,000 miles on rebuild. I got it out of 66 sport Fairlane with a broken A frame...
Body roll was not too bad? Wow!
True. Much of that had to do with the fact that Ford gave unusually long spring travel so, the Fords and Mercurys tended to hit the bottom of the car when going over large dips and humps in the road. Those areas that scraped the road were very prone to rust as the paint was scraped away.
In 89 I bought a 77 Grand Marquis in HS it had 460 4 bbl and 280 rearend it could go if manually shifted 70 in 1st when you popped that thing in 2nd it really pulled hard. Honestly with my buddies Honda 1100 along side we saw 125 my speedo went to 85. Engine was rated at 220 horsepower I believe 8 to 1 compression. I’m pretty sure this 429 had 10 to 1 compression and possibly same cam and I know same carb, better heads, better gas but points ignition. My Merc was 4752 in pounds if I remember correctly I raced a lot of cars on the straightaway heading out of town I usually got them in the top end. From 70 to 110 it was quite fast for a 12 year old land yacht with a 100000 miles. I was surprised that it did well against a 1972 Grand Prix with a 400 4 bbl nice shape I caught up to it at about 95 and edged by it, it seemed looking back I had a solid runner for what it was and I completely and utterly beat the living hell out of that 460. My 1977 Lincoln MK 5 that was a quicker and faster car that 460 really ran exceptional. 3.00 rearend and true duals it would top out 130 I had a duel with a 1990 Mustang 5.0 a roll on to top end hung with him pretty well. I think a 1969 Linc MK3 with a balanced and blueprinted engine would be the hot ticket before the engines lost compression I read that Ford balanced and blueprinted some of the 1969 Linc 460s per Lee Iacocca to really show that they could hang with the Caddy Eldorados 472.
Great show
As smooth as liquid velvet!
when cars weren't microwave ovens
@SmidgenPC ford used a 2.80:1 rear end and a three speed auto for economy.
today we have V6 with 5 or 6 speed automatics with a 3.3:1 rear and 30 mpg
big jump in technology
I have watched this film more times than i can remember. Must be something to do that i own one just like this.😅
Ford built the best vehicles.......IMO
Did it come standard with a mark levinson 14 speaker stereo?
@SmidgenPC These were Gross Ratings back in the day. From 1972 all engines were quoted Net horsepower. Let's say that 90 to 100 HP drops were fairly common between 1971 ratings and 1972, on the same engine. Besides, this car weighs 2 tons and has 2.80 gearing (very bad for acceleration, good for cruising with the top gear in the box being direct, no overdrive), lousy tires and brakes, soft sprung suspension. You can see how it struggles in cornering, but for the day this was the standard.
I had one but without the flip headlights. Red with black vinyl top. My wife hated it when going up a hill the earth disappeared and all you could see was sky!
i drove 69 Xl fastback to hi school in 1974 ..blew away plenty of muscle cars .. ( i shaved the heads .040 ) and put in 3;91 gears ...
I covet an 1969 XL GT 429, a relatively unknown seinor/full size muscle car. I think they are much more interesting than a lot of other cars that are over done.
hendo337 i sold mine in 1981 for 200 bucks .. wish i could buy it back for that ..
Last time I drove sideways in my LTD I ended up off the road😬
429 cubic acres? LOL. No wonder the thing is the size of a tank.
That 429 pulling a 2 tonne luxury car must have had the tach linked into the fuel gauge so when you rev the engine the Needle move towards the Empty reading .
lol. yea.. I caught that one too. But we have to remember back then, the car companies really were competing for cubic inches.
I've got 17 mpg out of my Mercury Marquis, same 429 engine.
Based on the other bullshit you've posted on here and the absurdity of your claim, I have to say there is no way you got even close to 17 mpg.
I got 17 mpg out of a 1970 Mercury Marquis, 429, 2 barrell. Re-read it if you have to, or check a dictionary for anything you don't understand. I've been working on cars for over 30 years, and know how to drive.
when the speed channel had good content.
I'm grateful for all the technological advances of today but man I would have loved to pick this up off the show room floor.