The other night, the wife and I were out, top-down, enjoying a sunset cruise along Lake Road in our 1991 Corvette when she spotted that 1969 Corvette I blogged about last weekend. I, of course, never saw it. I was too distracted by the 1967 Ford LTD parked several cars away.
Obligingly, I swung back around for another look at the Corvette. While I was snapping photos of it, though, my eyes kept wandering back to the big old Ford.
Mid-to-late-'60s Fords like this '67 LTD were everywhere when I was growing up on Long Island, just a stone's throw from Kennedy Airport; they were as common as potholes and litter. Corvettes, on the other hand, were almost mythical. At least where I lived, you rarely—if ever—saw one. They might as well have been Apollo rockets.
Ford's full-size lineup was completely redesigned for 1965 and received a substantial facelift for 1967. The updates included more sculpted sheet metal with pronounced "Coke bottle" styling, a redesigned interior, and a host of new safety features. Among them were an energy-absorbing steering column, four-way hazard flashers, dual-circuit hydraulic brakes, and other improvements introduced as the first wave of federally mandated safety standards began taking effect for the 1967 model year.
The LTD debuted in 1965 as the top trim level of the Galaxie 500. It proved so popular that Ford promoted it to a separate model series for 1966. The LTD remained a fixture in Ford showrooms through the 1991 model year before being effectively succeeded by the Crown Victoria.
The LTD was such a game changer that Chevrolet responded by introducing the Caprice as the top-of-the-line version of the Impala midway through the 1965 model year before spinning it off into its own model series for 1966. It was essentially the same formula: add a healthy dose of luxury, make standard what should have been standard in the first place, sprinkle in a generous helping of marketing fugazi, and voilà—an automotive icon was born.
Plymouth wasn't about to be left behind, either. For 1966, it introduced the VIP—short for "Very Important Plymouth"—its own attempt to lure buyers looking for affordable luxury.
I've always had a soft spot for the 1967 big Fords if for no other reason than they look like something a GM stylist drew up. Their styling flows better than the '65s and '66s, at least to my eye. A big Ford this Chevy girl could love? I wouldn't go that far, but it's as close as I think it could get.
Ford lost me with the fussier 1968 redesign (my father had a '68 Ranch Wagon) before hitting the reset button with an all-new generation for 1969.
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