1968 Ford LTD Brougham

[electra225]

I hadn't seen one of these cars in 50 years. This is the top of the top of the line model from Ford. Anybody who sprung for one of these could spend a few more dollars and own a Lincoln. One of my gas station customers, Mr. Hedden bought one new. His was a dark gray with dark gray interior and a black vinyl top, 390, air, full power. The thing that amazes me then and now is how ugly the hubcaps were on Fords in those years. I loved the hidden headlights. This is one of the rarest cars we have talked about on the forum. Ford didn't build that many. Mr. Hedden's wife was named Dimples. She was a rotund lady and drove a new Cadillac every year. I thought the '68 LTD Brougham was a better car than her new '68 SDV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK8R-LhM1LM

[walyfd]

I honestly can't remember ever seeing one. Thanks for sharing this.

Interesting how it closely mimics chrysler in the fuselage style.

My aunt and uncle had a 73 or 74 LTD. It was his brother's last car so, when his nephew traded it in on a new Pontiac, my uncle ran to the dealer and bought it. Can't remember what car he traded in for it.

It was triple green with manual windows. My aunt said it was like driving a football field.

I think they traded that in on the 72 SDV.

[electra225]

I think the Brougham was basically a four door hardtop version of the XL. Most of the ones I remember had the XL hubcaps, which sort of mimicked mag wheels. There was a local John Deere garage foreman named Puss who had a '70 Brougham that had a 429 and bucket seats in it. The '70 was prettier than the '68, but they were both quiet, solid cars that belied their Ford heritage.

[Firedome]

My parents got a new Ford LTD Country Squire in Spring of '68, had those hidden headlights and all the bells & whistles. According to my Standard Catalog of American cars 1946-1975 it was the most expensive Ford short of a T-Bird. The beige color looked very nice with the DiNoc wood on the sides and the lighter wood-grained fiberglass surround, quite classy. Had the 390 4bbl and would really burn rubber. I got the family '63 Country Sedan (Wimbledon White, 352 2bbl, Cruise-o-Matic) as my 1st car to take to college that Fall as a 5 year old car was considered old back then. Dated my girlfriend, now wife, when I had it and we went all over the Eastern USA in that thing. But it was utilitarian: V8, PS, automatic, radio, heater, that's it, it even had manual brakes and rubber floor mats, and compared to the '68 Squire with nice carpet, A/C, and power everything it was bare-bones. But many fond memories of both those Fords, especially that '63.

[electra225]

Ford built the 352 and the 390 in "round valve cover" and "flat valve cover" versions. I don't remember now what the difference was. Two-barrel vs. four barrel? Plant they were built in? I remember all us teenage boys coveted the flat valve cover version. I never understood why car manufacturers built cars with big engines and single exhaust. Or why you would buy a big car without power windows. And a rear seat speaker! The silly things we remember from youth......

[Firedome]

It seems to me the 352 had rounded-ish valve covers, while the '68' 390s were sort of angular, but it's been a looong time. I never knew or thought about that differentiation. In '69 Dad got a new Co. car (Bethlehem Steel), a '69 Galaxie 4 dr hardtop, nice looking car, 390 4 bbl also and it had those same angular valve covers. It would also burn rubber quite nicely. Factory provided tires were always sort-of undersized and nothing great so easy to break loose.

In '71 Dad got another Galaxie Co. car: 400 engine, and it was unbelievable the difference between it and the '69. The '71 was very quiet but less powerful, rode softer, had worse handling/cornering, and the hood and front fenders felt like they were actually flapping when hitting bumps or potholes, the car had a loose feel. They had to have weird struts tying the front fender bottoms to the lower cowl to control the flapping. Oddly the new big GMs (B & C body) for '71 were similar in seeming much less solid, I'm told in their case it was due to eliminating torque boxes on the end of the frame near the cowl ? and making the frames themselves more flexible and softer mounts to absorb road impact. My mid-70s full size GMs definitely had more flex than my M-I-Ls '68 Caprice and the one I later owned. Like my friend's '71 Cad mentioned earlier, after '70 they had lost that solid feel.

[electra225]

Mrs. Gastineau came into the filling station with the first Ford LTD I ever saw, a 1965. It had a flat valve cover 352 in it. Mr. Hedden's '68 had a flat valve cover 390. The truck 331, 361, 391's all had flat valve covers that I ever saw. I'm thinking the difference was the heads, intake and carburetor. The flat valve cover models tended to have dual exhausts. Possibly four-barrel carburetors and higher compression/output? Ford advertised the LTD as being quieter than a Rolls-Royce in the middle 1960's.

[Ken Doyle]

One nice thing about the '68 full-size Fords is that they're not quite as huge and heavy as the 1969-1978 full-size Fords.

[electra225]

Ford also built a Torino Brougham. A four-door hardtop model, much in the same theme as the LTD Brougham. My father-in-law bought a 1971 Torino Brougham brand new. It had a 429 in it, but it was a sedate 429, not a Cobra Jet 429. It had dual exhaust and Positraction (or whatever Ford called their limited slip differential) and had all the power goodies. It was a nice car as well. Not as large as an LTD.

[walyfd]

I'm sure it was also in response to the rare Thunderbird sedans of the same era...

I'm still waiting for all the aging boomers to want a cadillac brougham, a buick park avenue,... etc...

Can't keep selling to one young demographic forever.