Before the Crown Vic was the LTD. I owned a ‘75 LTD for years, best and favorite car I ever owned, rode nice and crushed econo boxes with ease.
“Before the Crown Vic was the LTD. I owned a ‘75 LTD for years, best and favorite car I ever owned, rode nice and crushed econo boxes with ease.”
Yes, the huge LTD of 1969-78. When GM downsized their big cars in ‘77, Ford scoffed at them, saying that they would never sell and that buyers wanted “road-hugging weight”. The smaller Caprice (and its cousins) sold in huge numbers, and Ford was obliged to follow suit. Thus the Panther platform LTD was born in 1979.
Chrysler’s financial troubles prevented them from following a similar path. They got rid of their 1974-vintage Monaco/Gran Fury/Newport/New Yorker in 1977-78, but were left without a full-sized car when they were selling well (600,000 Caprice/Impalas in 1978). Since Chrysler was unable to afford a totally new design, their only response was to simply take the midsized Monaco/Fury and give them a new body. The R-body Newport/New Yorker/St. Regis/Gran Fury cut a poor figure against the Caprice and LTD and was laid to rest in 1981.