Over the course of about 20 years, the LTD name filtered through dozens of family Fords. It started as an unexpected Luxury version of the regular Ford, but beginning in 1968 it began to gradually take over the whole big Ford universe. The LTD, being a family car, is less well remembered than the Mustang or Bronco today, but the idea kick-started the “Brougham” concept, a regular car that was gilded like a luxury machine and priced within reach of mass-market buyers. The first LTD debuted in 1965, and by the time this ‘68 was built, had inspired imitators from GM, Chrysler, and even AMC. The original #FordLTD of 1965 had come as a surprise to both buyers and critics. A new top trim on the Galaxie, it was not substantively different from the other big Fords in any mechanical respect. Nor was it the most expensive big Ford, that honor fell to the mighty Galaxie 7-Litre. But it was about $400-500 more than the regular Galaxie, enough to buy a good used car in those days. Tor that money buyers got lots of differences they could see and feel - namely special cloth, deep carpets, vinyl tops, special badges, and lots of gear. There had always been loaded big Fords, but the LTD, sprung from the market-reading mind of Lee Iacocca, was specifically sold on “luxury,” with Lincoln-like extras. Costing little more to build than the humble Ford Custom it was a low-overhead, high-profit recipe, like GMC’s Yukon Denali today. More than 100K were sold in ‘65, and it became its own nameplate in 1967. By then it had inspired Chevy’s Caprice, Plymouth’s VIP, and AMC’s Ambassador DPL. The LTD would evolve quickly in the late 1960s as Ford moved to expand the concept. In 1968, the car was heavily restyled even though a complete redesign would be introduced for 1969, and the LTD started to branch out, with some formerly standard bits being reworked into the “LTD Brougham” package. The ‘68 look previewed some of the changes for 1969, but as a result of that new design, the 1968 models are rather unique, with some of the older elements and some of the newer ones, like hidden headlamps. Future LTDs would splinter into many more variations, and by 1976 all big Fords were LTDs. (at Juanita Beach Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLhqq3vli_S/?igshid=11w13ci3jfczz
