1970 Ford Country Squire

1970 Ford LTD Country Squire for sale on BaT Auctions - ending May 11 (Lot #72,982) | Bring a Trailer
a year/design i always liked

 

12,000 miles? Think there are some things here that tell me maybe not. But it is a pretty car.

 

I always thought that was a clean front end. But I am suspicious of that woodgrain pattern.

 

I agree, it does not look original. I’m not sure what year Ford started planking them, but I’m sure 71 was planked because my grandfathers Torino was.

 

I think 1955 was the first planked Squire. Through the ‘50s and into about 1960 the planking could be black, or like on the ‘56 and ‘60 light planking color. Think they planked pretty much each year after that. Maybe it stopped into the ‘80’s. Maybe like ‘84 was the last year. Think that seems right.

 

That was kinda my first brush. Then that dash pad seems too much. Kinda puffy, maybe replaced. Also not totally 100% on the seats. Love ‘70’s as well, but think it’s gone on a diet, or it’s been around the block maybe once.

 

There is a company that you can send your dash pad to and they will redo it. For some reason they come back puffy looking. Probably because material is stripped off then new material is applied which is a different process then the vacuume mold process that created the original pads. I remember speaking to a guy at Carlisle about this issue. He represented a dash pad company that was making the molds for various more popular dash pads and his pads looked identical to the originals. He said the problem is you need a mint original pad to make the mold and it is destroyed in the process…but then he is able to make new pads. I can spot one of those “restored” pads a mile away.

 

So yes…I noticed the “puffy” pad too. I just couldn’t live with it

 

Not to play pile on….. is that steering wheel leather wrapped? Looks like it’s pushing up the right horn button. Eeek.

 

OK, here's my Ford 'planking' research...... (This is Ford only - didn't look up Mercury)
First year for the 'planking' effect on the side paneling was 1955.... 'Yes' means there WAS planking; 'No' means there wasn't
The left column is the full-sized Country Squire. Other types are noted in descending size....

1955 - yes
1956 - yes
1957 - no
1958 - no
1959 - no
1960 - yes
1961 - yes
1962 - yes...............Falcon Squire - yes
1963 - yes............Fairlane Squire - yes; Falcon Squire - yes
1964 - no................Falcon Squire - no
1965 - no................ Falcon Squire - no
1966 - yes ...............Fairlane Squire - yes
1967 - yes .............. Fairlane Squire - yes
1968 - yes .............. Torino Squire - yes
1969 - yes .............. Torino Squire - yes
1970 - yes .............. Torino Squire - yes
1971 - yes .............. Torino Squire - yes
1972 - yes .............. Gran Torino Squire - yes
1973 - yes .............. Gran Torino Squire - yes ............ Pinto Squire (Unknown - probably no, if there was one)
1974 - Unknown - most likely 'no' on ALL models - hard to see details in the brochure pages for this year.
1975 - yes ............... Gran Torino Squire - unknown (probably 'no') Pinto Squire - no
1976 - yes ............... Gran Torino Squire - no; Pinto Squire - no
1977 - yes ............... LTD II - no; Pinto Squire - no
1978 - yes ............... Fairmont Squire - no; Pinto Squire - no
1979 - no ............... Fairmont Squire - no; Pinto Squire - no
1980 - yes ............... Fairmont Squire - no; Pinto Squire - no
1981 - yes ............... Fairmont Squire - no; Escort Squire option - no
1982 - yes ............... Granada Squire - no; Escort Squire option - no

From 1983 on to the end of the wood paneled Country Squire in the 1991 model year, there was no more planking effect on any of Ford's 'wood' paneling.

 

Yes, aftermarket wrap on wheel.

 

Agreed on the planking question Krash. Instead of me saying pretty much each year. I should have said intermittently throughout the ‘60’s amd ‘70’s. I did however look at the ‘74 Squire. Think those were planked as well found a picture of a supposedly 1,400 squire and it looks planked.

 

The brochures online can be deceiving. The way the actual grain of the transfer shows up can look like the plank lines.
None of the Gran Torino Squires had the simulated plank lines. None of the Pinto Squires -- and yes these did exist in '72 and '73 -- had plank lines. In fact, from '72 through '82 only Country Squires had the plank lines.

The decal on this car is not authentic, and I don't think the repro stuff I was able to score for my car is available any longer.

As many have noted, the dash pad is a problem. Not only is it overstuffed, but the grain and the color appear "off" as well, although this may be an artifact of the camera or my monitor.

It's very much a shame that someone cut the door and cargo area trim panels for speakers. The door panel cardboard is scored for a speaker on this car and NOS and good used grilles are available, so it would be easy to make speakers look like a factory installation. The cargo area speakers would, I admit, be more difficult.

Nice, extremely clean car overall. I expect the bidding will go pretty high.

 

Oddly enough, not that I need it, but the “stripe man” has a complete set available for ‘71-72 including gas door wood grain. They also have the rosewood dinoc for Colony Parks. He has several samples available. You should check him out. $700 but if you needed it, nice to get pre fit pieces. On the cargo speaker area I believe in ‘70 they were black. I don’t think they got color keyed until ‘73. But you’re right, sad he cut all that up.

 

I think I got the transfer for my '70 from Stripeman, but it's been 15 years, so I can't remember for certain. I do remember that it is very authentic and is supposed to have UV protectants incorporated into it. It's held up very well on a garage-kept car with very limited use over those years.

When I checked his website, it showed the '71/'72 kit at $900, but, of course, not all the precut pieces would fit a '70. I think I recall that whoever I got it from showed it as authentic for '69 - '72 -- it was bulk, not precut -- and a very close approximation for the '73 - '78.

As for the rear speakers, these cars used 4 X 8 speakers -- the same as early Mustangs. Coaxial speakers of this size are available from Retrosound, and the wagon specific grilles show up occasionally on ebay. I'm surprised that whoever had the Retrosound radio installed didn't simply have the original reworked with upgraded amp and components. There are a number of shops that will do this, and I don't think it would cost much more than that aftermarket unit. For me, it's very conspicuously non-original.

Another point: the non-original engine call-out. Not used on '70s. This looks like the '65 - '68 badge, and to me looks out of place on this car. To confess, I once wanted to put a call-out on one of my former '70 CSs, but I wanted to use the 429 rocker panel mounted badge from a Torino. I never got around to it, and I'm now glad I didn't.

There are enough modifications and non-original "restoration" parts on this car to have serious point deductions at a judged car show. For my tastes, the kind of money that I figure this car will sell for is a lot to pay for cruise-ins and a cool car to ride around in, but I'm sure there are plenty of people much more affluent than I am who would pay that much for that type of car.