Williamson, New York isn’t exactly the Wagons-Ho idea of the wild west, but it’s where this car is located. This 1969 Ford LTD Country Squire is on eBay with less than three days left on the auction and a current bid price of $2,325.
1969 was the first year of the sixth-generation Country Squire and it was probably the generation with the biggest changes in store for the decade that it was made. 1969 to 1972 Country Squire wagons looked like like this one, but in 1973 the car changed dramatically. I love this generation of Fords, especially the LTD line, and a Country Squire is better yet! This car would look fantastic with some new 3M woodgrain on it. It was originally a southern Mississippi car so it’s faded a bit. I’d want to redo that woodgrain, but I know a lot of people would take the woodgrain off completely.
This car has 85,000 miles on it and it does look good, I think. I don’t see much rust at all. This is a big car, but the 1973 update, even though it was built on the same wheelbase as the 1969-1972 Country Squire, added about six-inches on account of the newly-mandated bumpers. I love the hidden-headlights on these cars, and these appear to work as you can see from this photo.
Again, it’s weird to not see power windows on a “luxury” car, or at least it is for me. I grew up in the ’60s and ’70s and we never had a single vehicle with power windows so it’s not like they’re something that I grew up with. It’s just a general observation on what has become so commonplace now that buyers would gasp if they saw a new vehicle with manual-crank windows! This car does, however, have a power rear hatch window which would be handy for sure. That’s something that you’ll probably never see again on a vehicle, why is that? Now they’re usually a full hatch or a split hatch. The interior looks good in this car, right down to the original hump-spanning floor mat! The seats look absolutely perfect, front and rear. The cargo compartment looks good with just some normal wear from a few decades of light use.
This monster is Ford’s 7.0L 429 V8 with a two-barrel carb and around 320 hp and a walloping 460 lb-ft of torque! Yes, you can most likely do a heck of a burnout with this car even though it weighs 4,500 pounds. The four-barrel car had 360 hp and 480 lb-ft of torque, that’s crazy, I love this era! This car is factory equipped with a 5,000-pound towing capacity with special springs and a special cooling system. It also has a period-correct electric trailer brake controller but it’s currently not working. This is a factory AC car but it’s also currently not working and the car needs an exhaust system. But, even with those things, it sure looks like a great cruiser to me. Have you ever owned a big Ford wagon? What do you think this one is worth? I would love to have a car like this to haul Barn Finds home with!
Had one just like it, minus the woodgrain. It was a beast, the only reason I had to put it down was because of rust. Not unusual for cars in New England, though.
My dad was a Ford lover (I’m more of a Pontiac type, but I’m no purist), and had a bunch of them up until I was in my mid teens. He would literally run them into the ground. There wouldn’t be a panel/door/fender that didn’t have some damage to it, between older sibling’s, dad, or another driver causing it. This one looks sharp with the hide a ways! This time I would be tempted to remove the wood grain, and go for a slicker look vs. the woody style. If I had the funds, I think I’d be in on this one!
As a teenager I absolutely hated my parents for making me drive the “winter beater” wagon. Now I would love to have a wagon.
My Dad bought a new 69 LTD. He got upset with it because they had
defective neutral safety switches that year. You sometimes had to pull
up on the shift lever to get the starter to engage.
I own two 69 Galaxie wagons currently, and yeah, both of them do that. You have to lift up on the column and pull toward you slightly to get them to start. Think of it as an unintended theft deterrent.
Fords solution to this was to put a sticker on the clock face that said to pull up on the handle before starting. Good fix guys. :/
Be careful about leaving them idling unattended also! I will never forget seeing a 69 galaxie convertible making circles backward in a parking lot while the poor owner tried to chase it down! Apparently they were also prone to falling out of park.
I drive a 70 F-250, auto, simple fix adjust the linkage so your gear selector is center of the N or P 5 minute fix,that’s it.
I don’t think you understand. They were ALL like that.
Would pop out of P at the drop of a hat! It was a bigger
problem than just neutral safety switch adjustment.
1980 bought one a yellow with the wood grain off a crysler dealer lot. On checking it out ( needed for family for my transfer from Norfolk,va to San Francisco, ca) it was smoking real bad transmission did not do anything. Pulled vacuumed tube off carb it was oily inside, vacuumed shift diaframe on transmission bad engin was sucking transmission fluid . Dealer said it had a bad motor said he would take 50.00 and 25 for title paper work to get it off the lot. I said ok a told wife to go and get me a case of transmission fluid. On further check I found an a arm bushing missing also but with no damage to the shaft. Dealer finished with paper work and I paid before wife’s return. Dealer wanted to know where to tow it. I put 8qts of tran fluid then drove it off the lot stopping at a wrecking yard that was down the street for the a arm bushing, on replacing that with alignment seeming ok. Drove it home smoking like a steam train.
On replacing modulator it took 3days to stop smoking. Then drive it back to dealer for the plates. He said how did I rebuild both transmission and engine so fast. I informed him what the problems were he said he was going to fire his dead mechanic.
This wagon only had 27000 miles on it and it had been garrage kept before it was traded in looked like new
Best 75.00 I ever spent
Never less it made the trip cross the country and gave good service for 5 years before I traded it off.
I am in awe. You are a true American Hero.
‘Merican Can Do!
I’ve got a similar story. In the early 80’s my dad and I bought a 70 that was the same color as the one in the ad for $25. It had power windows and power vacuum operated door locks. I’d leave the main button on the door locks down and it was guaranteed that no one would be able to break in.
Shortly after I got it the transmission started acting up so we took it to the local AAMCO. They had it on the lift and the pan off then started giving us a real run around about how much it was going to cost. We really didn’t want to have to have them rebuild the trans. While this run around is going on we wind up under the car with the manager and the mechanic. My dad looks up and says “where the hell is the modulator hose?” After a search it turns up and it has a huge crack in it and the mechanic starts to look sheepish and the manager starts back pedaling. My dad made them put in fresh fluid but the SOB wouldn’t give us a new hose. As it is coming down on the lift the mechanic slips me a new modulator hose.
We put on a set of used tires and a new battery and I drove it for 4 years while I was in college. After that I gave it to my brother to use as a winter car in upstate NY. It took me and my buddies from NJ to Ft. Lauderdale for spring break twice only stopping for gas along the way. I loved that car!
What ever happened to the good old Ford Wagon?
These always bring back nostalgic memories at car shows. So many of us went on family vacactions in station wagons as kids, long before minivans.
In the 80’s and 90’s so many were parted out and crushed. Good to see a survivor!
Jay,
In 1966 my dad drove his 1957 Chevrolet 210 station wagon from Huntington WVa. to Miami Fl. to visit my grandmother. My dad, mom and my three siblings made the trip. At the time, most of the interstate system wasn’t completed so, it was a lot of small town scenery along the way through Virginia and the Carolinas. Stopping only for gas, we ate bologna sandwiches my mother made while on the move at 60 m.p.h. Nothing to drink as that increased the demand for restroom stops. That was the only “vacation” our family ever took but, I remember it like it was yesterday.
i had one with the wood , brought it at concord auto auction in acton mass for $275.00 had the 390 with factory ac excellent heat and ac was ice cold fixed the frame rot for $125.00 drove it all winter in the blizard of 78 with a set of studed snows i never got stuck once ,then come spring i sold it for $850.00 ,then the car got hit hard in the nose never seen it again
Sound buy – 7 litre wouldn’t be run in – btw – not uncommon for wind ups in LTD wagons
I was 12 years old in ’69 and my dad was due for a new car. He picked a light blue 4 door LTD with no air. I had fun playing with the hidden headlights and he let me drive it up and down the driveway, which included an open chain link gate. All was fine for a few days but one day a friend rode by on a Honda Trail 70. I turned to wave while backing up and proceeded to scrape the side of dad’s new LTD on the gate post. I get the heebie jeebies today just thinking about it.
My dad had one of these in the early 80’s with a 427 cobra jet under the bonnet.
It came from the airbase in Arbroath.
sadly it wasn’t UK registered and at the time he decided it was too dear to pay the import duty’s and registration process so it was broken for parts. the cobra jet engine ended out in a boat
I had forgotten these cars had the curved dash. That was a nice touch on a family car. As much as I hate fake woodgrain, this car would look great restored to stock appearance…..just no stick figure families in the rear window.
Stick figure family should be replaced by water transfer state and national park decals :)
Best wagon…EVER!
“Some rust” on a New York car is like saying that there’s a couple of cockroaches in your house.
Owned a ’69 Ranch wagon, bottom of the line, 302, automatic transmission, crank up windows, tail gate opened down, or to the side, great reliable basic transportation for young family, eventually would not go in reverse, always had to park so I could either coast backwards, or just go forward, sols it to a guy who commuted 40 miles each way on the interstate and wanted a lot of metal around him. He “never had to back up” except to roll back out of his sloped driveway and drove it a couple more years. And yes, you had to pull the shift lever toward you for the starter switch to engage. But it drove well, and the 302 was bulletproof.
Station wagons in the 1960’s were the covered wagons of their day: ‘See the USA, In Your Chevrolet’ and the ad on the My Three Sons TV show would show a Chevy wagon with four kids and a dog. Don’t remember if the Cleavers had a wagon. My father’s first wagon was a ’62 Chevy Belair, then a ’64 Chevy, then a ’65 Plymouth Fury I and finally a ’68 Plymouth Suburban. All over the northeastern US and eastern Canada. My brother and I sat in the rear-facing third seat, no seat belts. Never felt that close again.as a family. Had a blast. Great memories. Historical note: why was that style of car called a ‘station wagon’? Answer: the first ones were designed to pick up passengers and cargo at a train station. Thus the name.
I had a new 69 LTD 2 dr. hardtop with 351 Windsor. Loved the car, had a 68 before that with the first year 302 and it was a slug.
Turretman1st – that ’80 LTD wuz 1/2 the length as this 1.
7L 2v, holly 45!t !!! Mights well throw a holley 750 4v on…
Only owned station wagons myself since early ’80 (3 amer, 2 europ & 1 jap).
I like it, covet thisun!
ours was in the family a 1969 champagne gold with gold interior, 390 ran like snot andthe water pump blew out at 22k miles, car would die on road and only restart after sitting for 15 mins turned out to be the bulkhead connector on firewall making bad contact tightened up no problem
Ever seen this era of Ford that had a clothes pin on the fuel line ? Supposedly, Fords were prone to vapor lock, and the clothes pin was a cure. How could that be ? I also think this era of Fords, with the automatic, could be push started.
1969 was a good year for lots of American cars. Before the country squire my step father bought a new 69 Boss 429 (Royal Maroon.) My mother hated that car especially since it had no air conditioning,hot in Houston. After he was done with racing that and ruining the engine traded it for the squire with 429 and 4 barrel carb., hideaway headlights. my favorite thing was the quadraphonic/ multiplex stereo listening to Led Zepplin and the Who. Fords always had the best a/c, ice cold.