Entering the market in 1977 and going away three years later, Ford’s LTD II was the biggest mid-sized car, if that makes any sense. It was an interesting experiment when the Thunderbird looked similar but had an arguably more handsome face. The seller has this 1979 Ford LTD II listed here on eBay in Brooksville, Florida and the current bid price is just $1,525, but the reserve isn’t met.
My best friend’s parents bought a new LTD II to replace their Mercury Monarch (they must not have wanted everyone to think they owned a Mercedes) and it was like riding on a cloud. It had no road feel at all, which isn’t a bad thing when you’re looking for a smooth vehicle. It was red with a white vinyl landau top, or officially a “rear half-vinyl roof”, so it stood out, to say the least.
This Light Medium Blue (the official color) example looks like it’s in nice shape for having almost 100,000 miles. There’s no vinyl top and it’s a two-door, so those of you who aren’t into four-doors or vinyl tops should be happy, even though the LTD II was never really that popular when it was new, let alone in the used market decades later. The seller gives one of the best descriptions I’ve seen, well done!
There are a few nicks and chips in the paint but the interior looks almost like new – the seats look perfect both front and rear. Evolving from the Ford Gran Torino and the unusual and cool (in a white shoes and white belt way) Ford Elite, the LTD II was a nice intermediate car in its day. It’s a bummer that there wasn’t a second-generation version to see what that would have looked like.
The monotone engine compartment houses a Ford 351-cu.in. OHV V8, which would have been factory-rated at 151 horsepower and 270 lb-ft of torque when new. Backed up by a three-speed automatic sending power to the rear wheels, the seller doesn’t say how it runs but I have to believe it runs well. Have any of you owned an LTD II?
Rare sighting. Handsome coupe.
Ford got a lot of mileage out of this platform, from 1972 to 1979 in various model forms. Think about how the big-brute muscle-car-themed 1972 Gran Torino Sport and the glitzy 1979 Thunderbird Heritage are pretty much the same car underneath. In this array, the LTD II was kind of a forgotten iteration.
This example looks good. For a relatively routine model, it has the cool full instrumentation. And, it has that commonly-seen Ford baby blue paint.
LTD II 2-doors are pretty rare because the Thunderbird was basically the same car, but with fancier trim and more prestige back then. I don’t think there was much of a cost difference either. But pretty cool to see one still intact.
This is in very nice shape, and that is truly a 70s color. Someone is going to get a very nice car.
Never figured out who Ford was marketing to with these however!
Why did Ford have the LTD 2 coupe when it had the T Bird? Because Gm did the same thing with it’s middle sized cars. Malibu coupe vs the Monte Carlo? Lemans vs the Grand Prix? Dodge Coronet vs the Charger in the late 1970’s. Just another way to peddle cars.
And, the other side of the coin was rare too. My friend had a ’77 Cougar 4 door. I have not seen another one since.
Very basic car too, nothing really sporty or luxury about it.
PRA4SNW, I have a ’77 4 dr. Cougar with the same 351W this car has. Thought they were boring when new(they were), but now I see it differently.
Wademo, maybe they weren’t as uncommon as I thought?
My buddy and 2 other guys drove it to the ’80 Winter Olympics and slept in it.
It’s a nice car, but it’s priced too high, it’s doesn’t have much of a following so it’s dependent on price and must compete with every other car without a strong following in similar condition and there are a lot of those available which keeps the price down. This is the 4th time it’s been run through eBay, each time receiving a lower high bid. The first time it was bid to $7,825, second time the high bid was $4,967, the last time the high bid was $2,146. There isn’t a price on the dealers website, but there are a few cars that were featured on this site months ago that still haven’t sold.
Steve R
My friend had one of these in high school in the early 1990’s. His was a 1978 model in dark blue with a tan landau top and a dark blue interior. 2 door, too. His had a 351 Midland engine (not a Cleveland and not a Windsor- the Peter Brady of Ford engines) probably the same engine in this one. He totalled it after falling asleep behind the wheel which allowed him to survive a car crash where he veered off the road into a concrete culvert crumpling that land yacht into an accordian. A few stitches and some bruises were all I recall. He got lucky.
I wonder if the hidden headlights were troublesome on the t-bird.
Midland? Never heard of that one. I’ve heard of Modified, Michigan, and the M only being a letter designation. Learn something new everyday. I wasn’t expecting to see a 351 under the hood. Most of these seem to have 302s.
My friends dad had an LTD II sedan as his company car, red with a white vinyl top. It replaced a full size LTD sedan. The family had a 22 ft boat so he put the hitch on the company cars. His full size LTD had the 400 and no difficulty with the boat. The LTD II however had a 302 that couldn’t pull the hat off your head. We towed the boat down to the Florida Keys with the II, it took forever as we couldn’t pass anyone and since car was not equipped with the Trailer Package the cooling system struggled with the summer heat in S Florida. We could slow down more and run the A/C or a bit faster with the windows down. We elected AC and drove at about 50 the whole way .
Watered down. Couldnt get out of its own way
Easily rectified.
The 2.47 final drive is not helping matters!
Some earlier Torinos came with quadrajets – might help here.
Blue interior,but black seat belts??? Come on now!
Auction update, this one made it to $3,549.99 and no sale.