1978 Ford LTD Country Squire BAT

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1978-ford-county-squire-2/

Looks like same dealer 60Mercman just bought his 72 from..

 

Wow that’s a really nice car. I always liked the covered headlights on these. Not crazy about the yellow color though. Unfortunately they forgot to check the box for power windows

 

uhhhhh.... it doesn't Have powwer windows

 

Nope…and I seem to see that a lot with 70’s Ford wagons

 

Yeah same dealer. This ones in Ada. The ‘72 was in Grand Rapids. Like this car too. I’d swap out the wheel covers and presto, you in good shape. It is interesting that it too has an Illinois title. Wonder if it’s the same guy that had the ‘72. Good eye Jsafe.

 

7/78 build date so this is a very late 1978 model.

And those are Mercury wheel covers.

 

It seems to me that power windows became much more common on the '73 -'78 Country Squires -- and especially after '73 -- than they had been in previous years. At least, I see them more often in this generation than in earlier ones. I figure that just having a full-sized car after the Arab oil embargo became a luxury, so most buyers treated these as what today are termed near-luxury automobiles.

 

In 1978 the omission of power windows may well have been a deliberate choice for someone with small children. Back then, there were stories of children being strangled by pws. Not saying the stories were true, but they were definitely out there.

 

I think the big thing is that these are still Fords. I don’t mean anything by that other than I bet there was a much larger percentage wise of Colony Parks with power windows. Most of these Fords I see have crank windows. I don’t find it that uncommon on the Wagons. Much less on Landau models. Those were probably 50/50 power versus crank. But quite confident that most base LTD were Armstrong powered in 1978. This ‘78 is actually nicely equipped. It has the nicer split bench seats with arm rests and a passenger recliner. little skimpy on bumper rub strips and guards, but the cruise and Am/Fm are nice features as well as the intermittent wipers.

 

True, Fords were the entry-level cars much like Chevrolets were in general motors. More colony parks have power windows just like more Buick and Oldsmobile wagons do. There were a lot of people back then that did not want power windows because of reliability issues. I remember this from within my own family. My grandparents bought a brand new 1967 Thunderbird, which I still have, with power windows. I remember my grandfather being frustrated because he had to have them repaired quite often. My grandparents never owned another car with power windows until 2003 when they bought a Taurus station wagon that I believe they could not buy it without them.

 

Add in the fact that most wagon buyers back in the day had kids to haul around. My father did not buy a Chevy wagon with power windows (other than the rear window) until 1977. The year the last kid moved out of the house (me) until then I was the power window option for the 3 other side windows in the car!

 

I like the Mercury hub caps better than the same year Fords, but incorrect hub caps drive me crazy for some reason. Drives me crazier than say Cragar's or other type rims.

 

Reserve not met on 12/27/21 at $17,500