A few years ago, my brother got the wild idea to buy a huge Dodge Monaco station wagon. He quickly surmised, on the drive home, that this was a poor purchase. Does everyone feel that way? Not necessarily. But similar to a vintage VW Type 2, the waves of nostalgia floating over you may soon be replaced by regret once you actually pilot a beast like this 1975 Ford Country Squire station wagon. Or, perhaps some serious road wallowing will set your mind completely at ease. Find it here on eBay with a $5,200 Buy-It-Now.
Now, handling characteristics aside, my brother’s remorse was also due to the sheer volume of work needed in a vehicle he was quickly not excited about. We all get this, where one moment we’re excited beyond belief at the “potential” of a vehicle, and the next the painful realization sets in about the major project we’ve just acquired. Fortunately, the list of needs for this family hauler seems quite reasonable.
The seller notes when it’s running strong, it’s running great; however, due to some poor calibration between the new carburetor and the choke, the 460 V8 will cut out, leaving you with a dead wagon half the time. It’s likely a reasonably simple fix, but the seller hasn’t been able to figure out a solution. The good news is the cosmetics are outstanding and the interior looks way better than any family chariot should.
Even better, it has rear jump seats. To me, you sort of need these to justify parking such a huge vehicle in your driveway. It’s like buying a Mustang without a V8 – what’s the point? No offense to four-cylinder owners, of course. The rear window doesn’t go up or down at the moment, but at least the A/C works. The current bid is at $900 with the reserve unmet, but less than $5K seems like a fair deal to me.
My best friend’s mom took about 20 of us to Chuck E Cheese in a ’76 CS for his 8th or 9th birthday. That 460 lugged us around like it didn’t even know we were there.
Is it just me, or would it look better if those center covers on the wheels were placed behind the wheel instead of in front?
Ok so plunk down the coin, and woops it wont stay running, choke calibration?? WTF is choke calibration??That 460 will put you in the poor house. Guy needs to get it sorted out before he sells it. Lots of things to go wrong on this boat. Good luck to the new owner. The 351m engines were also a dog–low end oiling and bearing problems. 460 would be great tow engine but like I said it will pass anything but a gas station.
Cheers
GPC
Miles of vacuum hose on these cars. My guess is that it all needs to be replaced before “choke calibration” which is not a thing.
Mid 70’s Fords are hideous. Ugly, smoggy, slow and thirsty. And tiny inside to boot. This one is nice condition, a set of Lincoln turbines would look much classier than the beige faux rat rod wheels.
These smog era 460’s are well known for their retarded cams causing poor fuel economy and low power. A good aftermarket camshaft kit should really wake it up.
When it dies dump some cold water on ing module if it starts replace module. Common problem with these fords.
I had it happen on the 77 F150 I owned. Lucky for me that Hills department stores carried them in blister packs. From then on I always carried a spare.
That was my guess too. Carry a spare Duraspark module. Just like I carry a spare TFI module for the 5.0 in my Bronco.
This lovely lady would look MUCH better with the correct wheelcovers. Those trim rings, & center caps look awful
Too many negative posts here…. I love those station wagons… reminds me of great times when I was a kid in the ’70’s.
Yea Steve sorry about the negativity. I saw all the bad things about them working as a mechanic in a small town that was predominantly Ford. Sharp looking and would accommodate a lot of family. I hope this finds a good home. I had a bunch of wagons myself- 68 caprice, 73 Malibu that was totaled and I rebuilt, then a 79 Malibu that was headed to the junkyard, I put a 300 horse 350 in it, was a superb tow vehicle, and great family car, very reliable. Sold when the rear crossmember rotted out and couldn’t tow anymore. had lots of life in it and 212k on it when I sold it. Sorry off topic but thought you would appreciate the experience.
Cheers
GPC
My Dad quit buyiing new Fords in mid 70s. After 30 years of doing so. Unreliable.
He went Chevy next and no more problems
This car had a chronic problem with stalling around corners. My friend had one in college. It was a beast!
The seller of this car…as well as many of the sellers on Barn Finds , should fix , adjust, remedy ,,,whatever …these problems..i.e. Carburetor, calibration …on and on…ad nauseum. Many sellers seem to love to sell these vehicles which require too much work..and unknown expenses therein. Not all of us are stupid.
I used to buy these LTD wagons all the time in the mid 80s for demo derbies – Since everyone was buying econoboxes ,I never paid more than 50 bucks for them .I liked using them because the gas tanks were up by the rear diff – you could tear the whole body off the rear frame and these babies would still run !
We had a new 1968 Country Squire. POS Ford junk. So what does dad do when it rotted to oblivion by 1973? He buys a used 71 Country Squire. I think it had a 351. I was 17. Can’t recall. Drove that 4 years after it fell apart. Bought a 76 Chevy wagon with no wood 350 Quadrajet. Ran like new for more than 180,000 miles.
Looks like the car John Cusack drove in “Better off Dead” before fixing up the Camaro