Junkyard Find: 1972 Ford LTD Brougham Coupe
We’ve had quite a few Ford LTD Country Squire Junkyard Finds, but just a couple of regular non-wagon LTDs. This ’71 LTD Brougham and this ’69 LTD were about it prior to today, and both of those cars were four-doors. Today we’ve got a big green LTD Brougham coupe, which I photographed in the San Francisco Bay Area back in March.
Some junkyard customer had already grabbed the engine, but the air-cleaner lid indicates that this car had a 351 Cleveland or 351M engine. Power was down in 1972, partly due to new emission-control hardware and partly due to the switch from gross to net horsepower ratings.
Car buyers in 1972 had a vast selection of Brougham models available. In the 21st century, we suffer from an acute brougham shortage.
The seat upholstery is extremely Broughamic.
I estimate that this clock ceased functioning in 1974.
Why buy the $9,000 car?
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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My college girlfriend's parents always had at least two mid-70s LTDs around for about ten years, and one was always a Brougham. This is early 80s and with five drivers in the house they always left the keys in them (just like they left their credit card at the gas station for whoever was driving and needed gas). On more than one occasion, I needed a car late at night and took one of the LTDs. More than anything, however, they were great road trip cars, with plenty of room and power on the freeway.
I needed to throw in my 2 cents. The car shown had a 429 4v, based upon the motor mount frame brackets that are still there. The C6 could've bolted up to a 400, also, except for the mount difference. The decal on the air cleaner lid shown was was last used in 71. It's not original to this car. If it had been a 351, a 2v Windsor was the only choice. The Cleveland was never available in a full sized ford. And the M (basically a destroked 400) came out in 75. Torinos had Cleveland's and windsors, but big fords, no. The seat upholstery is definitely not original. The previous poster described it accurately. For the people who roll their eyes at any post that has anything nice to say about these cars, either wasn't born yet in 72, or has forgotten that these really were as decent as anything else offered at the time. If they were in a region that caused them to rust away in a few years, so did the other cars. Yeah, it's easy to compare these to modern cars and scoff, but 42 years ago, these were reliable, comfortable, and as economical as any other full sized beast of the era. I presently own a 72 LTD squire wagon with a 429. I drove it to Ann Arbor, MI, last summer and bought a camping trailer. I took it on 26 mile trouble free round trip, averaging 17mpg. Car will cruise at 80 all day long. With a trailer behind it. Still smooth, quiet, and comfortable. Capable of pulling a 7000# trailer or carrying a stack of 4x8 sheets of plywood in the back. I've owned a lot of cool cars. This one is cool in its own right.