38K Mile 1986 Ford LTD Crown Victoria

Midnight Canyon Red Metallic! Ford was kicking it up several notches on their color names in the mid-1980s. They were also kicking up the luxury as seen in this nice 1986 Ford LTD Crown Victoria four-door sedan. Yes, they still offered a two-door version in 1986, but not for long. This one can be found here on craigslist in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and they’re asking $5,700. Here is the original listing – this one won’t last long, being this nice and at this price.

With around 38,000 miles, this car looks like new to me. I’m not a bright red vehicle person, but I love this deep red, along with the red half-vinyl top and wire wheel covers. The 70s and 80s are my era, and I was a holdout on vinyl tops. I still like them, but I’m not sure how they’d look on a giant black SUV or four-door black pickup, since that’s what almost everyone drives today. Here’s a fun brochure on the ’86 LTD Crown Vics.

Ford offered the LTD Crown Victoria for a baker’s dozen (13) years, from 1979 through 1991, and it was about as nice a car as you could get from the Ford division in this era. It was close to Mercury and Lincoln in quality, luxury, quietness, smoothness, and other descriptions, but was cheaper and probably a bit less ostentatious for folks who didn’t want to appear too showy or showoff’y. They say this car has been garage-kept, pampered, and maintained, and it has no rust.

The seller took a bunch of vertical photos, which is always a bummer, but man, am I tired of complaining about the weather, if you know what I mean. Clearly, vertical photos of vehicles aren’t going away, as most people take them with their smartphones and must not realize that you can actually turn your phone 90 degrees to take photos of horizontal things, like a Crown Victoria. In any case, this matching Canyon Red velour interior looks as close to new as anything a decade old, let alone a car that’s four decades old. This is an incredible survivor.

The engine has a grape juice can on it for some odd reason. Kidding. This is Ford’s 302-cu.in. OHV fuel-injected V8, which was rated at 150 horsepower and 270 lb-ft of torque when new. Power passes through an AOD (automatic overdrive) four-speed automatic and sends power to the rear wheels. They say it’s like new throughout, and it sure looks like it is. For $5,700, you could do a lot worse than this nice LTD Crown Victoria. What are your thoughts on daily driving a car that’s four decades old?