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I took some flack for the minivan we featured a while back, but I figured this not-that-old station wagon might be better received. This Crown Vic is claimed to have only covered 1,400 miles before being parked in this garage sometime around 1995. These dates may seem recent to many of us, but remember guys, we are all getting older. These are the kind of barn finds that still present a bargain too. The car is located in St. Louis and is listed here on craigslist for $5,500. The photos do look convincing, so let’s just hope the tin worm didn’t get to it. Thanks goes to Joe C for the tip!
Ok, so this is interesting. Not my favorite but the preservation is amazing. Look at the inside. Wow.
“Family Truckster” from the Vacation movie. Ugly car, why anyone would want to preserve it is beyond me.
Steve, you have to remember that if someone doesn’t preserve it it will be lost forever and in 60 years time it will be an excellent piece of US family motoring history, the ‘oldies’ that see it in a museum can all say, “I remember those when they were new” or “my Dad had one of those”, and the kids just won’t believe that cars that size ever existed when you consider how small they’re getting these days!
TC
Good, bad, beautiful and ugly are in the eyes of the beholder… I don’t see why anyone would want to waste time and money on a Camaro or Firebird that had been raced and / or jerked around a lot by some young hooligan when a Crown Victoria or Caprice wagon would be more worth saving. But to each their own, and nothing but all the respect in the world for those who restore muscle cars, so don’t dis the “Family Trucksters”… a 1978 Ford LTD wagon, for example, might mean just as much to my crowd as a 1969 Chevelle SS means to you and YOUR crowd
cool an 1987 ford wagon // not bad demo cars
WOW. These had the HO motor?
@Mya. Nope – that’s just a regular non-HO 5.0. About 150hp or thereabouts.
Bought a 1959 Jeep pickup from a little old grandpa once. Been garaged most of it’s life. Beautiful condition, very very low miles. Every rubber seal and every joint and gasket leaked. Finally got tired of trying to stop up the hemorrhaging and sold it. It’s sure better for a vehicle to get some use occasionally. :-) Terry J
It does seem an odd choice to preserve, but to each thier own. My parents owned one of these in the day, except it was a Country Squire which included the wood grained vinyl sides. It was a decent car, but nothing that screamed preserve me. It was an oil burner from new until the junkyard. It got recalled for faulty ignition switches that were causing vehicle fires about a week after a neighbor’s ford wagon burned his garage to the ground. The car ran 181K miles and than it died a natural death. We said a couple of kind words to remember its life then watched the salvage man haul it away feeling lucky the price per pound was up at the time. Of course I have no to criticize. I bought an 82 Trans Am that is preserved. I am not sure what to do with the car. It is so original, that I don’t dare modify it. It is such a slug, that it’s lack of performance is both embarrassing and funny. I think that the next owner of this wagon will experience the same thoughts. How about a Trans Am coffee table?
trans am died in 82 when they went to the chevy engine 305
They died when they used ONLY the 301, plus they already used the 305 in them in80 & 81 in CA
love the manual crank windows! need a PI but if the miles are correct and no rust this would be a nice driver. more photos of the inside would help. great find.
Cool wagon.. Can haul a lot of plywood and kids.. Just needs tires and a few odds and ends to be a great driver.. Lots of potential..
I like it..
1400 miles over an 8 year period makes no sense. So the car was driven an average of just 175 miles per year before being parked for good?
There has to be a deeper story here if it actually is just 1400 miles.
Rex
In about 2012 a 1982 De Lorean sold on Ebay for $25,000 with 480 miles on it.
The owner went to town and bought it and in the 200 mile drive home decided he didn’t like it, his wife drove it a couple of times and it ended up in a dry shed until 2012. The miles were correct and whoever got it got a bargain at that price, the car was brand new albeit about 30 years old! The owner now is laughing his head off. I put bids on it and would have brought it out to Australia, go find another one that’s that new but still old in years!
TC
I would love to own that wagon.
Add a set of nice wheels and have great daily driver or weekend cruiser.
Looks like a real 1400 mile car that is almost 29 years old. Even for those first 8 years that it was on the road, it was hardly driven. Car went for $14,000 new, a loss. This may be the lowest mile 87 LTD Wagon in existence. Don’t think Jay Leno would want it in his collection and I can’t see myself driving it unless I upped the HP or swapped the engine for higher HP (it does have the down spoiler roof rack to keep the rear end on the pavement!!), but I am sure it will find a happy home.
I saw an earlier ad about an old Plymouth and one of the posters pointed out how the digits on the odometer did not line up correctly. It looks strikingly similar to the 1 and 4 alignment.
Just an observation not an accusation
I don’t think Jay Leno would be interested in this. In fact I think the rational thing would be to get it running and make it a daily driver. If this were a similarly low mileage collector car driving it would just devalue it. I wouldn’t worry about that for this rather run of the mill wagon.
Oh and I don’t think anyone was trying to “preserve” this. I suspect an elderly person bought it and became incapacitated and unable to drive. Then it just sat. Maybe that person died recently.
Ugly car in an ugly color, bottom trim level, hasn’t run in 21 years, needs lots of work. This is a good deal for $500.
Chebby, how on Earth did you figure this car is worth only 500? If you saved a brand new car in storage for 30 years and someone came and offered you only 500 bucks, where would you tell the lowballer to go? How many new big full size full frame rwd V8 wagons like this could be left in the world? Maybe this one? Just from the look at the photos, it’s clear this car is original and the miles are correct. It’s just like that light blue Oldsmobile Omega that was posted here back in the summer with only 160 miles, it was so very clear that the miles were original on that car too. Cars like this are worth what someone is willing to pay and I would think a wagon like this would be wanted by alot of people, boring color or not. When these were new, they flew off the dealer lots.
Okay, maybe it’s worth $1,500.
IMO, this is near top dollar for this car IF it was in perfect driving shape. It is not. It’s old, but hardly rare or a classic. It hasn’t been preserved, it’s been ignored in a dirty garage full of junk, uncared for for 21 years. This one is the base model, cloth seats, crank windows, hubcaps not those nice turbine wheels.
It could have 101,400 miles, we don’t know. Looks like maybe some poorly repainted body damage on the left rear flank. Even if the mileage is real, so what. Someone either has to do a bunch of work on this car, or pay to have it done.
This is something great to buy to take a camping trip across the US, or haul stuff from Home Depot on the weekends. But you could find one that’s ready to go for this price.
You’re right, it’s worth what someone is willing to pay, and if this car excites you, have at it, but I’ll bet no one here praising this car is going to buy it.
I’m with z1rider..A elderly person owned it, got to the point they couldn’t drive it, but it was kept in the garage for the “just in case”… The person passed and now it’s up for sale. While it is certainly not the most sought after car, it is basically a new car. Even if you had to put $2000.00 in it to clean fuel, check brakes & new tires, where are you going to get a “new” car for $7500.00 ??? I like this old boat a LOT better than the crusty Porsche’s that you get a 5 gallon bucket of rust for $75000.00.
Great car and decent price!
I agree with z1, people generally don’t preserve cars like this. I’d love to know the story. While the car is pretty clean, it’s hard to imagine 1400 miles.( although, too nice for 101,400) Like Jesse sez, 1995 is 20 years, and that’s a long time for brakes, fuel system, and electronics. Shame, as this was and still is a nice car, just not sure how many people really want one.
How about create a “Woody” and Country Squire-ize it and add some nice wheels?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Country_Squire#/media/File:Ford_LTD_Country_Squire-2.jpg
http://www.automobile-catalog.com/photo/1987/1489865/134814.html
Hmm. Tilt wheel but cloth interior and roll up windows. Odd. Looks to me like those 1400 miles might have been hard won, and the owner (elderly or not) may have ragged this car out and had an ailment that put the car into the barn. Don’t like it with those wheelcovers either. Amazing to see what looks like rust on the chrome front bumper but nowhere else on the car. Somebody offer $3000 for this car and take it home. Drive it like you stole it!
Alexander, what would you rather have to sit on when you got into a car that had been out in 110 degree heat for a couple of hours in the middle of summer? There’s a lot to be said for cloth seats in that scenario.
TC
All the body lines are tight and true.. Bumpers are dirty, but no rust.. I believe (if my memory is right) the bumpers were stamped aluminum on these cars and then plated, so no rust..
The floor pans show original Ford shield coat in black.. This could have been a car that the dealer had on the lot which was ordered by someone, but the buyer backed out at the last minute.. Could be why it has options but without power windows..
The engine compartment components are clean and appear to be in factory semi gloss black with no accumulation of dirt and grime on the intake manifold, aprons and the attaching parts all appear in normal finishes..
I really like this wagon..
I should have mentioned that my suggestion to make this a daily driver is also due to the fact that this is a Panther platform Ford, i.e. used for New York taxis, and the Lincoln Town Car. If cared for these could easily go 500k miles.
My suggestion still stands. Buy it and use it. Use it up.
My 83 Lincoln Mark VI had over 600K miles on it. A very reliable and comfortable car . It’s still on the road with a new owner and a new engine.
I am sure there are thousands of case where someone said in the 20’s 30’s 40’s 50’s “Why would yo want that old car? Nothing special, base model etc etc. Right now we are glad some people saved old station wagons and trucks etc. I think this is a great car and will only generate more interest as it ages. The classic case of “my dad owned one of those”, I did have one of those and drove the sedan as a police officer back then. I love it. only thing to make it better would be the Country Squire package.
…..if its finish was another color (gunmetal grey) it would have greater appeal for me… just not crazy about the flesh-tone paint job…but that’s just me…someone else may love it in its present state…
I wholeheartedly agree with you, Carl W.F.!!!