JP’s A to Z Challenge – L is for LTD

We are now 12 weeks into my A to Z Challenge. To refresh anyone who has forgotten or who wasn’t here at the start, I have decided to comb through my photo archives to find pictures of cars with names that associate to every letter of the alphabet. Today is the day for the letter L. As the title says, L is for LTD. But the bigger question: What does LTD stand for? The answer to that question is that nobody knows. Or if someone knows, he (or she) is not saying.

For those who have forgotten (or for those who never cared) the LTD was introduced  as the top tier of Ford’s massively redesigned 1965 full-sized car line. It was sold as a luxury car at a popular price, and one of the advertising slogans was that it was “quieter than a Rolls Royce”.

Ford hit a sweet spot – middle-aged people who thought they deserved a little luxury even if they might not be able to afford a Lincoln. Ford gave them almost Lincoln-like levels of trim and of interior quiet. It turned out to be a winning combination and those early LTDs sold quite well. And, I’m pretty sure not coincidentally, at a profit margin far better than a normally-equipped Galaxie 500.

I think I am like most people in assuming that it stood for “Limited”. But then why would it be in all caps? Some have claimed that it stood for “Luxury Trim Decor”. Others “Lincoln Thunderbird Design”. Or maybe “Let’s Top a Delta 88”? “Lean Times for Dodge”? I made those last two up, but they are probably as accurate as any of the first three.

This 1967 example is notable for a couple of things. For starters, my first car was a 1967 Ford. Mine was not an LTD, but a Galaxie 500 convertible. Second, this was my very first attempt at taking photos of an old car on the street with the express intent of writing about it online when I was first invited to contribute to CurbsideClassic.com. I shudder at that piece now (and at the quality of these pictures), but it was the start of my online writing that has continued from 2011 to this very day.

Lee Iacocca, then the head man at Ford Division, was always good at identifying market niches and putting a new model right in the middle of them. The Ford LTD soon beget the Chevy Caprice, and that batch of Luxury Lite cars began the unraveling of the old assumptions about how normal people could not afford nice things.

Photos by the author, taken Indianapolis, Indiana, May 21, 2011

This car and these photos were previously featured on CurbsideClassic.com

16 thoughts on “JP’s A to Z Challenge – L is for LTD”

  1. One of my buddies had an LTD, a “hand-me-down” from a relative. I remember it being big and roomy, big enough to put people in and go on excursions to the hip side of town for movies at the art house theater. I don’t remember it being particularly troublesome, just the usual tune-ups and oil changes. He had just finished a terrible number of months with a complete garbage Chevy Vega, so this was probably a relatives “gift” to get him transportation while he was licking his wounds. We always thought LTD was exactly what it said: Limited, as in limited edition. Never knew there was any controversy about the name.

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    • Yeah. I think the name just sounded good. Big Fords of the 60s and 70s always kind of reminded me of old hound dogs. They were not high-strung, but just went about their business without much fuss.

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      • Ditto, one of the two cars I learned to drive on was my Mom’s 1965 Ford station wagon. I don’t ever recall it needing any kind of extensive surgery. We had a corner gas station mechanic that kept the gummy carburetor clean, and that was about it. It took a lot of engineering malfeasance to get to the level where I decided to buy Japanese, and never look back. These were what we used to call “runners”.

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  2. Another Ford that drove a nail in the coffin of GM’s Sloan Brand Ladder. If a garden-variety Ford could be optioned up as nicely as a Buick or Oldsmobile…what was the point of buying a vehicle from one of the medium-price brands?

    Ford is still at it, offering buyers high-level trim options for the Explorer, Expedition and F-Series.

    The 1965 and 1967 Fords are my favorite full-size Fords from the 1960s.

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  4. I remember the name LTD, but could not have pointed out an LTD in a parking lot. I do remember our neighbor bought a used LTD after selling the family station wagon when the kids got older. This neighbor did all his own car repairs, but he said they had to be Fords. He bought them all used. He was disappointed when he had to finally take one of his cars to a dealership because he did not have the tools to replace or repair a headlight … the one and only time that happened. (P.S. – I guessed Lincoln Towne Car JP – I might have to quit guessing for the remaining 14 car names.)

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    • I will confess that I had a handful of Lincolns to choose from, but at the last minute I stumbled across these shots and decided to run with them.

      I remember those old folks, who would be satisfied with one (and only one) brand of car, whatever it might be.

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      • I’m sure you could do a few more alphabetical lists of cars and not run out of names, nor pictures.

        That was Mr. Elmore – he was a Ford man all the way and his cars lasted forever as he worked in Downtown Detroit and took the bus to work his entire working years. His wife only used the car for taking the kids to school and grocery shopping.

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  5. I forgot about the LTD and further, forgot it was the full name of the model. Today you have so many spins on models (ex. “Ford F-250 King Ranch”) that I assumed the LTD was a variation on a model. Maybe “limited” is a subliminal thought with those letters. All caps certainly gives it an air of superiority.

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  6. Perhaps LTD could also stand for “Living The Dream” or “Lido’s Touch of Design”. Or something like that. The ’67 Ford is a great looking car.

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    • I agree – the 67 is a favorite of mine, and still would be even if I had never owned one. Mine was 10-12 years old at the time and I would still see big 67 Fords multiple times a day back then. Then suddenly they all went away.

      Living The Dream is my new favorite of these!

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