1979 Ford LTD

The OPEC oil embargo of 1973 went into effect in October, just as the '74 model year cars were hitting showroom floors in the USA.

The full-size Chevy sedans, on a 121.5" wheelbase and weighing right at two tons with a 350 V-8, had been out since the 1971 model year and were due to be replaced in a couple years. The Dodge Monaco (122", 4300 lbs, 360 V-8) was all-new for that model year, though. In an even worse position than Dodge was Ford, whose 1974 LTD (121", 4400 lbs, 351 V-8) was on the last year of its model cycle and due to be replaced for '75 model year by a new design, already finalized, that was an inch longer and a hundred pounds heavier.

Needless to say, the full-size 1975 LTDs moved off of showroom floors with the speed and enthusiasm of a condemned prisoner headed for a firing squad. Ford went on a crash program, re-badging a midsize Torino variant as the "LTD II" while scrambling to come up with a downsized version of the full-size car that would hit dealerships as a '79 model.

Built on the new Panther platform for full-size FoMoCo products, the body-on-frame 3rd Generation LTDs featured angular, creased styling reminiscent of the new mid-size Fairmont.

The one in the picture above, a Medium Jade Iridescent 2-door sedan, is a base 1979 model. (The glitzier Landau would have had a half vinyl roof and quad headlamps.)

The tall-sidewalled 78-series rubber on the skinny 14" rims looks positively twee by today's standards, and would have wobbled noticeably before giving up and letting 3400 pounds of Dearborn's finest understeer right into a ditch.

Fortunately, shenanigans were limited by the fact that the base 5.0L smog motor V-8, sipping gas through a Motorcraft 2-barrel carb, only sputtered out 129 SAE net horsepower.

This one was photographed in August of 2024 using a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV and, coincidentally, was on Barn Finds just a couple years ago.