At 19-feet in length, the license plate says it all: BIG BLEU. This 1977 Ford LTD II Wagon is one big, beautiful blue car. This unusual-to-see-today haulin’ machine is listed on Hemmings with an asking price of $4,600 or offer. It’s located in the capital of Nebraska – Lincoln – and it’s a one-owner car, believe it or not. David Frank just showed us a super cool 1978 LTD II Ranchero, are there any LTD II fans or collectors out there?
The seller says that this 134,000-mile all-original, one-owner car is from eastern Nebraska and has been there its whole life. It sure looks great from the photos that they provided, but does the rear quarter look a shade lighter to you? It could be a shadow or something since they say about the exterior: “exterior body original paint, some scratches.” This car is a one-year wonder as 1977 would be the only year that Ford offered the LTD II in wagon form. Wagon fans and collectors, here’s your chance!
The seller is pretty stingy with photos, yes, you guessed it, these are the only three photos in the listing! It was such a nice-looking and unique car that I couldn’t resist showing it, despite what would be illegal under my presidency: not showing a full bank of photos in an online car sales ad! Scotty G in 2020! (crickets).. The seller talks about the package options on this car: “A/C, luggage carrier, speed controls, rear 3rd seat. Power rear windows, bumper protection group, back up alarm. WSW, wheel covers rear defroster.” It sound fantastic, BUT HOW ABOUT AN INTERIOR AND ENGINE PHOTO?!.. They do say that the interior is “in excellent like new condition”, so that’s a good thing. The engine, of which there are no photos of either, is a 400 cubic-inch V8 – it’s sounding great so far! – with around 173 hp, ok, I’m losing people now. The seller sums it up: “This car is a man magnet. Heads will turn. You will feel like royalty.” Boom, that’s all you need to know, I think? Thoughts on this big blue/bleu LTD II wagon?
I drove one from Orlando to St Pete and back in 1990 that had no brakes….like none only the ebrake. You do stupid things for nookie when you are 18 years old.
I’m 45, and still do stupid things for a nookie…
This LTD II in # 2 cond is worth about 3850!
It’s worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it.
I had an inkling this was a very rare beast. Typed it in the BF search box and only one came up – this one! Consider that there are probably ten sedans for every wagon and that 99% were scrapped due to ZERO collectibility, and you have one rare hauler!
Didn’t Ford cheap out on the styling on these wagons? Seems like that is the exact same styling as the Torino wagon it replaced.
It is a Gran Torino with a nose job … just couldn’t resist that one with a snoz like that.
The entire rear portion, other than the front clip, was from the Merc Montego wagon to save money on a total redesign. The LTD II also used the Elite hood and front fenders to save money. It’s hard to believe that they only made the wagon for one year, it seems like they would be fairly highly sought after but not at this price if it’s still for sale.
Ford did a lot of hanky panky for 1977 with its mid-sized line. The Elite got tarted up with new rear quarter windows, full width taillamps and concealed headlights and was rebranded as the Thunderbird. The Torino got the Elite’s front clip, a restyled rump and was renamed LTD II. Mercury added similar styling revisions but said “bleep it” and simply called everything Cougars.
Seems superficial, and it was, but the public bought it and sales exploded, at least the Thunderbird. Not sure how the LTD II did. They were quite popular as cop cars, though the wagon vanished after ’77 due to slow sales.
I have a metallic green one in mint condition, stored in my basement…in a box. It’s a Matchbox ;)
I think that would be a Mercury Villager not an LTD II
I believe you’re right, horizontal headlights on the diecast. Villager had same body with different front clip.
I remember riding in a light blue one owned by the US Embassy when I was a kid in the late ‘70s (my dad was able to borrow it – long story). It was a US Government special with blackwall tires, dog dish hubcaps, blue vinyl seats, two facing seats in the wayback, and ice cold A/C.
.. long story worth sharing! If you’re riding in US Embassy vehicles you had one heck of an interesting life growing up, David.
Yes, my dad was US Foreign Service, and this was Honduras in the late 70s – we borrowed the government car while waiting for our ‘71 Delta 88 to show up on the boat (representing the USA :-) ).
I also remember light blue bulletproof Chevy Celebritys when we were in Italy in the late ‘80s. Hazy thick glass that made you carsick. Easy to pick out the US Government cars in Rome traffic, due to procurement rules. We had dumped the Olds by then and were taking the bus!
Once you’ve gone through it, this would lake a great tow vehicle to haul your weekend warrior to the dragstrip. Imagine that ’68 Falcon Gasser on your trailer heading out for a Sunday of fun.
It certainly is big – but not “Beautiful”.
I love old wagons,but this one doesn’t do it for me.
Have to agree- it’s probably the closest thing to the “Vacation” wagon driven by Chevy Chase. But you will turn heads.
Can we take this to Wally World for vacation ? Okay the real one was a Chevy but geeze to big for my taste
No – it was a Ford.
This might be closer to the Family Truckster.
72 Mercury Colony Park
Big hit at the Christmas Parade.
nice!
’83 – ’86 I’d B on it as they’re downsized fox body.
I used to work on one of these at my shop, it was green. It was like an ocean liner! You could shove just about anything from the building supply into the back of it! Took 225/70/14 or 225/75/14 tire size.
We rented the Mercury Cougar version of this on a snow skiing trip when I was a kid. Two families of four and all the gear headed up the mountain from Denver Stapleton airport.
We rented the Mercury Cougar version of this on a snow skiing trip when I was a kid. Two families of four and all the gear headed up the mountain from Denver Stapleton airport.
No thanks. Learned to drive in a ’79 LTD II. The interiors of these cars were a total disaster: Seating was low and the small side windows made for awful visibility as well as a cramped-in feeling. Three of the four dash vents (on A/C cars) were way over on the passenger side of the dash. Some switchgear was an awkward reach around the steering wheel.
These cars were also very prone to rust back in the day, especially the ’77s.
At least this one has a 400.
Learned to drive on stripped down 1973-74 Torinos, just as bad visibility and gross interiors. Had a job as a courier in 1984-85 with a company that gave us all Fox platform LTD wagons! That was a nimble car and felt downright sporty compared to everything that came before (my family owned 1966, 67, 68 and 71 Galaxies all of which were lumbering barges that got distressing gas mileage).
Had a Gran Torino wagon that looked exactly the same as this (from memory) bought in the UK as an ex U.S.A.F vehicle. Think it was about a 75ish I got it about 79/80.
It was enormous but its economy came by hauling about 8/10 guys with all our diving gear and a boat all over the place !, I would buy this now if only it wasn’t so far away !, even if it was to just relive some of my misspent youth.
This was a reliable car it never broke down as I recall, but did eventually have to rebuild the motor (400 Cleveland) if memory serves ??.
If the owner would care to ship it over I’ll buy it.
I would LOVE to buy this car!!! I had a ’77 LTD II S Brougham that I bought in the fall of ’85 for $500 with 77,000 miles on it, and I drove it for 3 and a half years and 44,000 miles. It had the Canadian-built 351 Windsor V-8. It’s long gone now, traded in for a used ’85 Monte Carlo. Huge mistake! That $500 Ford was far better than the $8000 Chevy. I still miss that LTD II to this day, and have always wanted another. Plus, I love station wagons!