Ford LTD
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{{Infobox Automobile
|image=Image:LTD Crown Vic.JPG
|name=Ford LTD
|aka=Ford LTD Crown Victoria
|manufacturer=Ford Motor Company
|production=1965–1991
|class=Full-size (1971-1982, 1983-1991 For LTD Crown Victoria)
Mid-size (1983-1986)
|related=Ford Fairmont
Ford Mustang
Ford Thunderbird
Lincoln Continental
Lincoln Mark series
Lincoln Town Car
Mercury Capri
Mercury Cougar
Mercury Grand Marquis
Mercury Marquis
|platform=Ford Panther platform (1980-1992)
Ford Fox platform (1983-1986, Ford LTD Only)
|similar=Dodge Diplomat
Chevrolet Caprice
}}
The Ford LTD is a car model name that has been used by the Ford Motor Company both in North America and Australia.
The origins of the name are obscure. Some believe it to be just a contraction of Limited, but Ford Australia is said to claim it means Lincoln Type Design.
Contents |
North America
Image:1971 Ford LTD convertible.jpg
A luxury range of large cars wore the LTD badge from 1965 to 1991 in the United States. The LTD name debuted as a high-line option package on the Galaxie 500, but became a separate model for 1966. The Ford Galaxie name continued for the lower levels. In 1975, the LTD name took over completely, although the long-standing economy line, the Custom 500, remained available through 1978 for fleet sales in the US and as a full line in Canada. The LTD often shared its grille and trim pieces with the Galaxie XL sport coupe and the Country Squire station wagon. An even more upmarket model with Lincoln-like hidden headlights and fender skirts was marketed as the LTD Landau from 1975 to 1978. During this period, the model was also sold in Mexico.
In 1977, the name was split and used on two different car lines. The full-size LTD continued, but a rebodied version of the Ford Torino was sold as the LTD II. Both offered coupe, sedan, and wagon body styles. This arrangement continued until the standard LTD was downsized onto the Ford Panther platform in 1979. An LTD Custom 500 model was available in Canada from 1979 to 1981.
In the early years of this body, two grille designs existed: a lower-line one with single square headlights and a more premium design with duals. The single-light design was most commonly seen on police cars, a market which this LTD and its successors came to dominate. In 1980, the top model became the Ford LTD Crown Victoria, easily identified by a targa-like chrome band across the roof, usually paired with a landau vinyl roof.
From 1983 to 1986, the LTD nameplate was used for two separate cars, kept on the full-size sedan as the LTD Crown Victoria and placed on a midsize car based on the Ford Fox platform as the LTD. The LTD continued in sedan and station wagon forms through 1986, overlapping slightly with the first model year of the Ford Taurus in 1986, the car that became its successor.
The LTD was a very successful car, being the third-best selling car in the United States in 1983 and 1984. The final LTD Crown Victoria coupes were produced for 1987, and sedans and wagons only continued through 1991. When the car was reskinned for 1992, only a sedan was produced as simply the Ford Crown Victoria.
Police Usage
Because of the build quality of the LTD/Crown Vic, the marque is the standard for police work, not only in the U.S., but abroad as well.
Brazil
The LTD was also produced locally in Brazil between 1967 - 1983, based on the 1966 Ford Galaxie. A locally-produced stretch limousine was also produced (the film Wild Orchid featured an early 1980s LTD limousine).
Australia
Image:Ford LTD (1999).jpgIn Australia, the LTD name adorned a luxurious, long-wheelbase version of the Ford Falcon from 1973 and is favoured by government officials there. There is a related downmarket model called the Fairlane, which is still a luxurious car.
Originally, the LTD was offered as a luxury sedan and a vinyl-roofed hardtop coupé called the LTD Landau, based on the Falcon Hardtop Coupé. (Unlike the US version, the Australian Landau was never offered as a sedan.) Both models were notable for their concealed headlamps, which would be revealed when their vacuum-operated grille sections were activated. The technology was similar to that found on an option offered on an earlier Ford Thunderbird.
A facelift in 1976 saw an even more flamboyant grille with four round headlamps, apeing Rolls-Royces and other luxury models. The Landau was dropped.
In 1979, a squared-off LTD was launched, based on the XD series Ford Falcon of the time. The third generation LTDs came on stream for the 1989 model year, based on the EA26 series Falcon.
Currently, the fourth generation LTD, built on the EA169 platform, is Ford Australia's top model and is exported to New Zealand and in small numbers to Coleman Milne of the UK. It received its first major facelift in 2002, as part of the 'BA' series updates, though it began sharing its tail lights with the lesser Falcon.
Unlike some lesser Fords, the Fairlane and LTD were never assembled in New Zealand.
In fiction
Sci-fi movie Men in Black starred on screen a re-vamped version of this car painted all black, used as the primary transportation vehicle of the main characters (played by Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith).
Characters Sal and Annie Boca from the 1971 film The French Connection also drove an LTD.
In the movie National Lampoon's Vacation, the Family Truckster largely is based a wildly modified (or uglified) LTD Country Squire station wagon.