29,500 Miles: 1976 Ford LTD Brougham
The seller purchased this time machine from the original owner’s family when they decided that it was time for the 95-year-old owner/driver to give up her keys. No, it wasn’t the classic little-old-lady-in-Pasadena story, this 1975 Ford LTD Brougham is in San Diego, California where I should have moved after high school. This fantastic looking big Brougham can be found here on Hemmings with an asking price of $5,900.
If a person were looking for a mid-70s Ford LTD Brougham, this is it. I couldn’t imagine finding a nicer example and being an options guy, this one is loaded which makes it even more desirable to someone like me. I know that a lot of people lament the fact that vehicles have gotten far too coddling with power everything and heated and cooled everything and air bags everywhere and high-tech bouncing off of every leather-lined surface. But yeah, I like options and this car has them. This car is gorgeous and the seller says that it’s all “original including the paint. I could not find a single panel that showed signs of paint blends. Dry, rust free throughout.”
The second-generation LTD was made for the 1969 to 1978 model years on the old, big (BIG!) platform and the next generation Panther platform cars would be about 400 pounds lighter and 15-inches shorter yet had about the same interior room. I remember my dad wondering why American cars had so much sheet metal just seemingly used as length for length’s sake. Literally just to make cars longer, as if by adding several inches of bent sheet metal onto the front of a car would make it ride better or be better in any way other than to be longer than the competition.
1976 was the last year for the LTD Brougham trim level and it appears that this car is almost loaded to the gills with power options, including “power seat, windows, trunk release, AM/FM stereo, tilt steering wheel, air conditioning.” It would be a couple of decades before most of us would expect to never roll up our own windows again, the humanity! Rolling up our own windows, and you thought the pioneers had a rough life! Full disclosure: I only have two vehicles with roll-your-own windows, the rest are power windows.
This is the optional 400 cubic-inch V8 with 180 hp and 338 ft-lb of torque. I bet that even in a 4,500-pound car it moves things along nicely, more than being able to keep up with modern traffic. It “. Runs and drives like its 1976 all over again. New tires and recent service from Ford.” This looks like a really great car, are there any fans of these big LTDs out there?
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Comments
Didn’t much care for the very large, square design back when these were available for cheap money back in the ’80’s, but I have to admit that this one appeals to me in a big way. The condition is fantastic and while it’s not as powerful as some of the earlier Galaxies I’ve had, the 400 should be adequate for comfortable highway cruising and tooling around town. Love the blue on blue colors and it has low miles and A/C. The price seems more than fair, too. I’d love to have it and wouldn’t mind a bit paying for two parking spaces downtown.
There’s one of these running around near me. Yellow on saddle or brown . Looks even longer than it is. As for this car I love the blue-on-blue and would probably run that odometer up a bit more on dry days.
Always laugh at the “modern traffic” statement. It isn’t like today’s jellybeans go 700mph and shoot lasers. Anything from about 1955 up with a strong six, and earlier with an 8, can do fine as long as you plan ahead for stops of both the braking and fuel variety.
Old cars stop fine as long as they have disk brakes
Most cars from about 1973/74 have them
As far as keeping up with traffic no problem just don’t challenge any modern car to a drag race or try to take off ramps too fast
I enjoyed, and fully agree with your comments. I was furnished some very nice drivers, in the 70’s and early 80’s.. including a couple of beautiful Ford Galaxies with the Brougham
option upgrade. This would look very
nice in my garage, but something else
would have to stay outside…
As for driving on today’s Highways,
their are Disc brake conversion kits
Available today, for almost all popular
60s and 70s automobiles 👍
I really need a larger garage again.
I know I’ve mentioned this before but everytime I see one of these big LTD’s it brings back the memory of a time, back when I was a kid and I worked at a rustproofing shop in Burlington, ON. We had a contract with a Ford dealer in Oakville who was the ‘pass-through’ dealer for FBI cars ordered through FMC in Canada. Us kids would go to the dealer and pick them up 3 or 4 at a pop, drive them back and shoot the bottoms then return them for 3 or 4 more.
They were absolute rockets on the road, super heavy duty everything, quiet except for the growl of the 4bbl opening up. And as kids, yes we did put them through their paces for the 10 mile or so trip
Nice memories. Would that dealership have been Kennedy Ford on Lakeshore Road?
It absolutely was, @Stu!
Great ride! With my 10 mile daily round trip commute it would make perfect sense. Fill up every 12-14 days but California smog cut off date is 1975, so this one is subject to smog inspection every 2 years. The State goes out of its way to make inspections much more stringent from year to year, something to keep in mind when buying this.
I had to chuckle at this 4500 lb behemoth producing 180 hp. My Ducati Streetfighter produced 155 hp in stock form and weighs under 500lbs! Of course, it doesn’t have 338 ft-lb of torque, but then again that additional torque is all used up in getting the extra 4000 lbs off the stop and down the road. Not comparing the two, just the numbers are a bit mind boggling.
My dad was a detective around the time this car was around. I remember him picking me up from wherever in a black one with dog dish hubcaps. In the summer, the interior was always frigid. Good times.
My dad also had as a police detective. That thing was a monster. I remember he would turn it off and it would sputter for minutes unless you flooded it with the ignition off. Would love to have it for memories sake but not because it was built really well.
Not one ioda to complain about on this LTD!! Cleaner than my bedroom, I could pack 3-4 friends comfortably and no one has their knees in their nose, power everything, No hideaway headlamps to malfunction, and people actually move over when they see a barge this size in the rear-view mirror. I learned to drive when EVERY full-size car was this big or bigger, and the ride alone on these is velvet smooth. I’d buy & and make it my non-winter driver!
a lot of police forces used these …. they stood up well
My Mom drove one of these for many years (late seventies to late eighties). These cars are very well constructed and solid in most every way. The 351M (same as 400) was the weak link in her case. At 100k miles the engine was so sludged up that it smoked and wouldn’t go faster than 35mph! She had already had one rocker shaft replaced because it had broken in half. I pulled and rebuilt the engine for her when I was 19. To this day I have never seen an engine so sludged up (looked like a barbecue grill under the valve covers). Had to replace a cracked head, another rocker, rebore 30 over….and it ran great for many years. I know she changed the oil regularly but the 351M and 400 are prone to sludge.
If I didn’t have to transport it to the opposite coast I might very well take a shot at it. Nice, complete car and would make a nice driver.
I might be tempted to bring her back to Canada where she was built, sweet ride!
For a Brougham, this example is not very well equipped at all. There were dozens more options/electronics/power stuff you could get on these. I’ve owned eight of these over the years and would describe this one as minimally equipped. It’s in nice condition, and sure has low miles but similar examples for half that money are still out there (from the original family owners usually). The 351M/400 motors we’re not “prone to sludge”, that’s nonsense. Nice car, I’d offer them $3,500-$4,000 if I had to have it. Pic is one of my previous 75-78 LTDs.
Very pretty Galaxie, thanks for sharing the picture.
These things rode like your ass was numb, you never felt a thing. I don’t think there was a car buildt that was more bullet proof. I learned how to drive in this car, and if you could parallel park this you could parallel park anything. Great highway cruiser, you saw these cars for years after they stopped making them. This one is a little pricey, there is nothing special about it. Nice car though.
Being a Brougham, I would want the covered headlights and the upscale Brougham interior.
That base vinyl seat does nothing for me.
Hideaways only available with Landau trim, not for Brougham. But ya, me too.
Pic is another one of the eight 75-78 LTDs I’ve had, this one I bought in the mid-2000s for $1,500 with 48k original miles. I drove it to work everyday for about three years, never needed anything.
Had one like it except mine had cloth seats. I loved that car.