Today’s station wagon find, courtesy of  Lothar, is a bit of a different twist in that it’s a full-size Ford, but it is not slathered in faux wood paneling. It’s also of a vintage that isn’t featured here often. Many station wagons from the fifties to the early seventies have reached collectible status, but is that true for this 1978 LTD? Dunno; let’s review it and find out. East Troy, Wisconsin is where you’ll find this standard of suburbia, and it’s available here on Facebook Marketplace for $5,300.

The year 1978 marked the end of the road for the traditional full-size Ford; the new Panther platform would take over in ’79, helping the Blue Oval to better compete with the General’s shrunken fullsizers as their weight loss program had commenced in model year 1977. As the big Ford’s size was about to change, the individual model names already had. For years and until 1974, a full-size Ford station wagon, sans the Dinoc “woody” treatment, was known as a Country Sedan (or by the moniker “Ranch Wagon” in the case of the budget entry trim level). By ’78, the names in use were the “LTD Country Squire” for the plank-sided variety and the “LTD Wagon” for the more restrained trim level – such as our subject car. Ford moved 72K+ station wagons 47 years ago, but the breakdown between the two trim levels isn’t clear. This 104K mile example still shows rather well. The silver finish has obviously vacated the hood and roof in places, but the remainder, though flat, is still very presentable. There’s no detection of rust, and the chrome plating, the most obvious component being that big federal front bumper, still shines. The seller mentions the presence of some dents but they’re minor.

A 145 net HP, 351 CI V8 engine powers this rig. The seller refers to it as a “Cleveland” powerplant, but I recall that Ford employed the 351 “M” from ’75 forward, though the Windsor, too, was still in the mix. The seller adds, “New carb and fuel pump,” but there’s no mention of this LTD’s running and operating capabilities. A three-speed automatic transmission was the only game in town with this model/engine combination.

I like the red cloth and vinyl interior – it’s a pleasant departure from the somber black or gray shades, which are pretty much the only choices in a modern ride. The environment is claimed to be clean, and the several included listing images bear that out. In the wayback, you’ll find dual-facing seats that can accommodate two riders at best, perhaps four if they’re very small (tiny). Interestingly, Ford still boasted about its “Three-way Magic Doorgate” tailgate in its ’78 sales brochure. It was quite the feature when they introduced it in ’65, but by ’78, it wasn’t really news anymore; both GM and Mopar had been offering it for years as well.

So, collectible? Probably not in a big way, as full-size Fords from this era were rather ordinary commodity cars. But, being a station wagon, especially one this size, it will have a draw for some. And, considering what used cars sell for these days, one could say that this LTD Wagon is reasonably priced, right?