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)!
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.
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 😆
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
'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.
+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.
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.
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.
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
"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
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.
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!
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?
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.
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!
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...
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.
A pack a day of Winston 100s could be the culprit. That's what I smoked back then as a teenager in my LTD. But in my defense, I was smart enough to buckle up both my lap and shoulder belts while driving and smoking 🚬. Thought I looked mature.
@@bradparris99 Love it. I had a powder blue ‘69 Mercury Marquis. What a dream drive. My Dad back in the day had seat belts installed when they weren’t standard in the early 60s. He didn’t want any dead ducks while he was driving us. 😂 I smoked Marlboro for 30 years. Quit when I was 45. Nearing 60. So far so good.
@@larkatmic Hope you were buckled up in your 69 Merc with your Marlboros like me in the LTD with my Winston's. I'm 59 so we are in the same category, only I haven't quit smoking yet. Thought about it but..... I was the teenager that got in the car, turned the key, pushed in the lighter, buckled up, lit up and drove off. 43 year routine.
Sounds like you're family wore seat belts back in the day. My family didn't and when I started driving and wearing a seat belt my father couldn't believe that I was going through all that "hassle " with the two --- --- separate belts to buckle. However, after my accident, he immediately started buckling up and hounding the rest of the family to do so. I remember that he went somewhere with me and I kept telling him to put on his belts. He did th the lap belt and finally the shoulder belt. It would have been easily to buckle up a wet cat. We both laughed about it years later, over a smoke.
@@bradparris99 What a funny story. Thanks for sharing that 😂 Yeah my dad always wore his and had them installed in his late 50s and 60s cars. Family thought he was crazy. My mom never used them unless she was in Dads car. It wrinkled her clothes. Back when moms were dressy. 😂 Shes reluctantly started wearing them when it became law. I once flew off Mullholland here in LA back in ‘83 with my friend who lost control of his car. We landed upside down 60 feet down. That seat belt saved my life. The cops told us that this happened close to 5 times a month. We were lucky he said. Most come up dead or maimed for life 😱 Can’t imagine driving without one. Btw. I loved smoking, especially while driving. Quitting smoking took me 10 years to finally be rid of them. Never too late. Just keep trying. 👍
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.
Power ratings were a bit misleading before 1972. Manufacturers used SAE gross power instead of SAE net power raiting. Basically, HP figures from the big three were cheated like crazy. Motors dyno'd at the time often had long tube headers, larger carbuerators, etc. than what was put on the car for production. This allowed them to make big HP claims. If that motor was tested today with current SAE standards, it might loose 100 to 150 horsepower and torque from what it was rated for in 1969.
Yeah, if you think that one was bad, the video on here with the 1974 Mercury Cougar is frightening. It stopped from 70mph (not in a straight line) in something like 206 feet. All I could think was I would be changing my underwear after such a maneuver. I have to admit I am spoiled by ABS and such and the only car from the 1970's I ever owned was a 1973 BMW Bavaria with four wheel discs, so its braking performance was not too far behind other cars when I owned it in the 1990's.
@@kevinpatrickmacnutt My very first car was a 1974 Cougar XR7 351 2 barrel. I was 16 yo and my parents bought it and I loved it and on my 16th birthday, they said it's yours. It was actually given to my sister and me but my sister went off to college and couldn't have a car for her first 2 years. I then went off to college and by that time I got a new Mercury Capri RS.
My cousin had one like that-he bought it brand new. That was a good highway car, you could drive all over europe and the USA on all the highways and never tire out in that big heavy car. Put that engine in a 2010 Crown Vicky and you would have a plush super musclecar! or put that motor in a modern Ford Mustang!! It would beat the hell out of those Shelbys!!!
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 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!
Loved Gator McCluskey's 71 Ford Custom 500 4 door sedan in the movie White Lightning. Looked like a plain Jane unmarked police car but had a hot rodded 429 under the hood. The ultimate sleeper
@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.
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.
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.
@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
You would have thought they could have at least given the car a bath before the filming. Shifting like "Liquid Velvet" BWAWWAWA! The braking was hilarious - The brakes were smoking so much we had to shut it down. No wonder - did you see how long the car was sliding and sliding, and sliding? Body roll NOT TOO BAD? It almost ripped the front wheels off!
@RickinFLA07 I owned a 1972 Chrysler New Yorker for 5 years (and would still have it had I not run the PISS out of it, but, what did I know, I was 17 when I bought it and thought it was cool back then to drive like a bat outta hell, but, hey with a 440 4-barrel, that's what was expected of you LOL) and I agree, it ran circles around GM and Ford! The only car that was faster than my Chrysler was a 1970 Buick Skylark, and that's only because it had a 455 4 barrel !
I counted myself so these results might not be dead on.. but i got 0-60 in 7 seconds at maybe a 5mph rolling start on half throttle. Mines got a 400 V8 under the hood with a worn out 273 rear end :D soon to be replaced.
Way cool car I had a 72 ltd that was stolen I miss that car. By the way the track thay are at is grattan raceway by Belding MI. I go thare a lot it is a GREAT track!!!!!
You are correct. Back then people had a choice to have a sports car for handling and big cars like this LTD for road trips. I never drive anything newer than 1979 for cars and trucks, but new cars just do not do it for me. I had a couple newer cars and I just could not grow to like them. The ride and comfort in these old cars will never be matched with a new car. And you can actually service them yourself. Today's cars are made to be used and thrown away. What a waste.
I'm surprised it took this car over 9 seconds to reach 60mph, I've read somewhere that a 390 2bbl Ford LTD's 0-60 time was pretty similar to the car they've tested with the 429 4bbl
The traction and gearing wasn't there. I'm sure the XL GT model with fatter tires, stiffer springs, 3.70 or 4.10 gears and a 4 on the floor would have done much better.
The host stated that this one had 2.80 to 1 gearing. A bit steep for off the line acceleration; however, considering the torque output, I think it should have been a little quicker.
I have read somewhere that a 1969 Mercury Marquis with the same engine went from 0-60 somewhere in the low 8 second mark yet the Marquis was a heavier car.
.This car also came from the factory with a 4-speed. However, I have only seen one in my entire life with it. It was in a Burt Reynold's movie titled "White Lightning".
Many 2 door XL GTs were made with a 4spd Manual. The White Lightining car was a 1971 Custom 500. The only manual ever sold in 4 doors was the 3 on the tree. The movie car was a gimmick the scenes that show him shifting are filmed inside a different car, from the outside when he parks the car you can see him put the column shifter in park :D
@4gasem Yes that's true, but I don't count that. That pretty much comes under the heading of the last 42 years has been a variation on the same theme which has led to the most complicated cars ever, and in five different colors no less: black/white/gray/gray/blue. No one will ever be able to restore one of today's cars because of all the electronics, plastics and sensors/computers, but who would want to anyway.
@TheEldweebo I agree with most of what you said except gas guzzling I had a 1969 Ford XL 390 v8 and it got 16 mpg ( you can google it) yet my 2000 Nissan Frontier with a V6 get just 15......30 years newer tech and less power ....but much safer
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
Back in the day when the tires sidewall was part of the contact patch! lol
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 !!! : )
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.
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
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
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
These cars were enormously popular when they came out.
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 😆
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
'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.
My late great uncle had one of these in a light yellow-green. Rode like a dream.
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
1:40 429 Cubic ACRES??
Maybe that was a joke about this being a land yacht!
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
I wish it was 1969 all over again. With today's technology of course. Bring these great cars back.
@Embargoman
Amen.
I love cars like this, hope to own atleast one in my lifetime.
Those poor polyglas sidewalls are crying UNCLE! UNCLE!
The LTD was always step up from the impala, with nice smooth ride and nicer design. My father rented one New in 1974.
Say what you will, these were great looking cars....Would be proud to own one today....
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😆
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."
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
thanks love to see that big old iron put through their paces
"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
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.
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.
just bought a 1968 ltd and I love it. ..real classic
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!
2.80 rear end ratio. Just the right ratio necessary to get the smooth acceleration you expect when driving your living room.
when cars weren't microwave ovens
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.
"Smooth as Liquid Velvet "!!!!!!! I gotta write that down!
Oh yeah that and the body panels too man it was unreal, I remember as a youngster watching cars disintegrate.......
drove my 68 ltd in the rain today and oh my how fun it was lol
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
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.
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?
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.
My sister had a '70 LTD and it was body on frame. What did this guy mean by unitized body?
Those brake tests make you very thankful for the advent of anti-lock brakes.
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.
What a machine!! Please, Ford, do a year of Retro Hot Cruisers!
I remember these old Ford's except the 69 El-dorado I had made these look mid-size!!
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!
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...
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.
....felt, big, strong and solid.....THOSE are values!!!
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.
Damn. You don't hear many smokers voices anymore. This guy had to be a 2 pack a day-er.
A pack a day of Winston 100s could be the culprit. That's what I smoked back then as a teenager in my LTD. But in my defense, I was smart enough to buckle up both my lap and shoulder belts while driving and smoking 🚬. Thought I looked mature.
@@bradparris99 Love it. I had a powder blue ‘69 Mercury Marquis. What a dream drive. My Dad back in the day had seat belts installed when they weren’t standard in the early 60s. He didn’t want any dead ducks while he was driving us. 😂 I smoked Marlboro for 30 years. Quit when I was 45. Nearing 60. So far so good.
@@larkatmic Hope you were buckled up in your 69 Merc with your Marlboros like me in the LTD with my Winston's. I'm 59 so we are in the same category, only I haven't quit smoking yet. Thought about it but..... I was the teenager that got in the car, turned the key, pushed in the lighter, buckled up, lit up and drove off. 43 year routine.
Sounds like you're family wore seat belts back in the day. My family didn't and when I started driving and wearing a seat belt my father couldn't believe that I was going through all that "hassle " with the two --- --- separate belts to buckle. However, after my accident, he immediately started buckling up and hounding the rest of the family to do so. I remember that he went somewhere with me and I kept telling him to put on his belts. He did th the lap belt and finally the shoulder belt. It would have been easily to buckle up a wet cat. We both laughed about it years later, over a smoke.
@@bradparris99 What a funny story. Thanks for sharing that 😂 Yeah my dad always wore his and had them installed in his late 50s and 60s cars. Family thought he was crazy. My mom never used them unless she was in Dads car. It wrinkled her clothes. Back when moms were dressy. 😂 Shes reluctantly started wearing them when it became law. I once flew off Mullholland here in LA back in ‘83 with my friend who lost control of his car. We landed upside down 60 feet down. That seat belt saved my life. The cops told us that this happened close to 5 times a month. We were lucky he said. Most come up dead or maimed for life 😱 Can’t imagine driving without one. Btw. I loved smoking, especially while driving. Quitting smoking took me 10 years to finally be rid of them. Never too late. Just keep trying. 👍
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.
when the speed channel had good content.
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
Body roll was not too bad? Wow!
I prefer the look of the 68 LTD, but I like the improvements made to the 69.
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😬
Power ratings were a bit misleading before 1972. Manufacturers used SAE gross power instead of SAE net power raiting.
Basically, HP figures from the big three were cheated like crazy. Motors dyno'd at the time often had long tube headers, larger carbuerators, etc. than what was put on the car for production. This allowed them to make big HP claims. If that motor was tested today with current SAE standards, it might loose 100 to 150 horsepower and torque from what it was rated for in 1969.
The braking part of the video made me almost piss my pants.
Yeah, if you think that one was bad, the video on here with the 1974 Mercury Cougar is frightening. It stopped from 70mph (not in a straight line) in something like 206 feet. All I could think was I would be changing my underwear after such a maneuver. I have to admit I am spoiled by ABS and such and the only car from the 1970's I ever owned was a 1973 BMW Bavaria with four wheel discs, so its braking performance was not too far behind other cars when I owned it in the 1990's.
@@kevinpatrickmacnutt My very first car was a 1974 Cougar XR7 351 2 barrel. I was 16 yo and my parents bought it and I loved it and on my 16th birthday, they said it's yours. It was actually given to my sister and me but my sister went off to college and couldn't have a car for her first 2 years. I then went off to college and by that time I got a new Mercury Capri RS.
My cousin had one like that-he bought it brand new. That was a good highway car, you could drive all over europe and the USA on all the highways and never tire out in that big heavy car. Put that engine in a 2010 Crown Vicky and you would have a plush super musclecar! or put that motor in a modern Ford Mustang!! It would beat the hell out of those Shelbys!!!
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 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!
Loved Gator McCluskey's 71 Ford Custom 500 4 door sedan in the movie White Lightning. Looked like a plain Jane unmarked police car but had a hot rodded 429 under the hood. The ultimate sleeper
@cadrolls1 So sad those days are long gone!
@Embargoman Amen brotha! My 74 LTD was made in Los Angeles and am proud to drive so.
@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.
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 love that "a reasonable degree of control" is a positive.
Um, the announcer made a boo-boo...this car did not feature "unitized" construction...it was body-on-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.
@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
You would have thought they could have at least given the car a bath before the filming. Shifting like "Liquid Velvet" BWAWWAWA! The braking was hilarious - The brakes were smoking so much we had to shut it down. No wonder - did you see how long the car was sliding and sliding, and sliding? Body roll NOT TOO BAD? It almost ripped the front wheels off!
@RickinFLA07 I owned a 1972 Chrysler New Yorker for 5 years (and would still have it had I not run the PISS out of it, but, what did I know, I was 17 when I bought it and thought it was cool back then to drive like a bat outta hell, but, hey with a 440 4-barrel, that's what was expected of you LOL) and I agree, it ran circles around GM and Ford! The only car that was faster than my Chrysler was a 1970 Buick Skylark, and that's only because it had a 455 4 barrel !
a jazzy setup indeed
@1:26, I had one of these hubcaps once, they weigh like ten pounds!!
Lindeman needs a double and a Camel, filterless. My friend’s ma had a dark green LTD 4 door. They had it for 15 years
I counted myself so these results might not be dead on.. but i got 0-60 in 7 seconds at maybe a 5mph rolling start on half throttle. Mines got a 400 V8 under the hood with a worn out 273 rear end :D soon to be replaced.
Great show
YANK TANKS Shout out from NZ
Imagine that: I had to wax that car as a kid. Look at the wheels... I still have nightmares and pain in my hands/arms when I think of this car.
the perfect job in those days!..."we had the car for a while"...I heard that I would hav driven 100,000 in that quickly!....love the car!
Way cool car I had a 72 ltd that was stolen I miss that car.
By the way the track thay are at is grattan raceway by Belding MI.
I go thare a lot it is a GREAT track!!!!!
I kind of like that radio design.....
TheFarmerfitz Except the only person who could operate it was the driver. Maybe that was a good thing.
john macleod that was my point....lol
At 4:25, those tires sliding under were reminiscent of an ice skater with weak ankles.
You are correct. Back then people had a choice to have a sports car for handling and big cars like this LTD for road trips. I never drive anything newer than 1979 for cars and trucks, but new cars just do not do it for me. I had a couple newer cars and I just could not grow to like them. The ride and comfort in these old cars will never be matched with a new car. And you can actually service them yourself. Today's cars are made to be used and thrown away. What a waste.
I'm surprised it took this car over 9 seconds to reach 60mph, I've read somewhere that a 390 2bbl Ford LTD's 0-60 time was pretty similar to the car they've tested with the 429 4bbl
It may have taken 9 seconds but it would pull a trailer up a mountain road better than anything on the road at the time; aside from a big rig.
The traction and gearing wasn't there. I'm sure the XL GT model with fatter tires, stiffer springs, 3.70 or 4.10 gears and a 4 on the floor would have done much better.
The host stated that this one had 2.80 to 1 gearing. A bit steep for off the line acceleration; however, considering the torque output, I think it should have been a little quicker.
I have read somewhere that a 1969 Mercury Marquis with the same engine went from 0-60 somewhere in the low 8 second mark yet the Marquis was a heavier car.
Maybe the Merc had a limited slip and this car didn't...hard to say. I still want a 429 LTD like this...BADLY :D
Man, that looks like fun
Hang on Ethel were not gonna stop in time!!...Eeeeerrrrrrrrttt...BANG
a startling interior! AHHHHHH!
.This car also came from the factory with a 4-speed. However, I have only seen one in my entire life with it. It was in a Burt Reynold's movie titled "White Lightning".
Yea that's my favorite year 1971. For ltd
Many 2 door XL GTs were made with a 4spd Manual. The White Lightining car was a 1971 Custom 500. The only manual ever sold in 4 doors was the 3 on the tree. The movie car was a gimmick the scenes that show him shifting are filmed inside a different car, from the outside when he parks the car you can see him put the column shifter in park :D
hendo337 Thanks, never notice.
hendo337 thanks man I never noticed that myself I have seen it 2 or 3 times and never seen it thanks again
9.2?? That's 1 helluva boat!
@4gasem Yes that's true, but I don't count that. That pretty much comes under the heading of the last 42 years has been a variation on the same theme which has led to the most complicated cars ever, and in five different colors no less: black/white/gray/gray/blue. No one will ever be able to restore one of today's cars because of all the electronics, plastics and sensors/computers, but who would want to anyway.
@TheEldweebo I agree with most of what you said except gas guzzling I had a 1969 Ford XL 390 v8 and it got 16 mpg ( you can google it) yet my 2000 Nissan Frontier with a V6 get just 15......30 years newer tech and less power ....but much safer