Travel back to the 80s with this Ford LTD Country Squire

Originally published at: Travel back to the 80s with this Ford LTD Country Squire | Boing Boing

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Only 46,000 miles on it, so it was driven an average of just 1100 miles a year. My 2007 Honda has about 6 times that mileage. Maybe it really is one of those mythical used cars that was just driven by an old church lady to pick up groceries once a week.

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Could be worse; I seem to remember that we had the GM / Chevy version of that when I was growing up that would have fallen under the modern Lemon Laws. To no one’s surprise, it was built during a union ‘work action’ | Monday | Friday | [insert other excuse for crappy build quality] because it saw more time at the dealership during it’s first year as the family run about.

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My Gal in high school drove on of these, 1960 Chevy Station Wagon, never met a gas station it didn’t like, but you could fit like 15 teenagers in it…

1960_Chevrolet_Parkwood_Station_Wagon

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We had a mid-70’s Country Squire. It was dark green with wood paneling and dark green vinyl interior.
Looking at Wiki, this was part of the 7th gen of the car and had a 121 inch wheelbase. I don’t know how that damn thing even fit in the garage, but I remember it did.

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Does it have the pop-up rear-facing seats in the back? Riding back there was fun as a kid…before the days of fully restrained seat and booster requirements. And on trips on long winding roads sure to be vomit inducing.

Also:

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My childhood through college friend had the 4-door 197-something LTD sedan hand-me-down during college. We took that car to a concert after a pre-party and it fit eight college students. Good times!

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Ah, fun times.

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Both my brothers would get carsick, and our grandparents lived in Murray, Kentucky. Straight through the Ozark mountains, every other year.

Still, I loved the Town & Country we had when I was a kid. That little seat well in the rear was awesome on long vacation drives.

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You know, well you probably know this, the seats in the rear of a station wagon lay flat, makes for a big roomy area to, ya know relax, and stuff. Gosh, station wagons sure were fun. Good times!

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You’re right, the Family Truckster actually is based on a ‘81 Country Squire! And pretty cheap for a famous movie car:

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This Country Squire is offered at no reserve with a clean Carfax report and Utah title in the name of the seller’s trust.

Mormons. That could explain it. :wink:

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I picked up a 76 Impala Wagon for $400 in the mid 80’s.


I was in Northern Maine at the time, and let me tell you, that land yacht could move in the snow like nothing else, right up until it couldn’t. Newton’s Laws of Motion were never so clearly demonstrated.

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Nothing stopping you from buying one now

Even electric:

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Have I ever mentioned my freshman college year classmate who drove a Hearse? She was pretty awesome for a student at a Quaker school.

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Better than a pickup truck at the drive-in, because you have a roof and less sound reverb from the cars around you. Parking in reverse, of course. :+1:

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Except that none of them have a genuine fold-flat level loading area when the rear seats are down and none have a vertical tailgate, limiting the height of long things that can be put in there.

Hardly anyone makes a proper estate car any more - they’re just SUVs with a bit of extra length (= raised-up, over-sized hatchbacks with larger boots/trunks).

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A shame that auto designers don’t listen to Jason Torchinsky:

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I don’t think European hatchbacks station wagons ever had fold-down tailgates. And the modern ones made by Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, Opel, etc. aren’t SUVs, they’re based on limousines/sedans.

I’ll grant you, though that you usually can’t lay the rear seats completely flat. However you can lay them flat enough for most transport situations.

ETA: I see you write vertical doors. The Dacia Logan was the only consumer model I am aware of (besides the Mini Clubman) that used to have those

Unfortunately this model was discontinued.

There were two tiny side-facing seats in the way back that folded up from the floor. We had one. The air conditioner was always wonky and smelled weird.