Have you ever wanted to share the experience of a select few? Yes, that’s right, the experience of stunt drivers on shows like Simon & Simon, The Rockford Files and Hart to Hart, struggling to remain seated on cushy bench seats while forcing their asthmatic V8-powered, rental-spec sedans into oversteering. And of course, hubcaps flying off, a thing that really happened, at least based on experience with the formative (and wholly unrelated) RustyButTrusty VW Rabbit back in about 1986. If your answer to this compelling proposition is “yes, please!”, open up the listing for this 1975 Ford LTD Brougham for sale for $3500 in Columbus, NE.
Offered in Silver Blue Glow with a matching vinyl landau roof, this 4-Door Pillared Hardtop (oxymoron anyone?) is in pretty amazing condition. The seller states a mileage reading of 25,000, but it’s on a 5-digit odometer. So take a look at the condition of this car, and you’ll have at least one question – how would a middle-of-the-road sedan survive 40 Nebraska winters and look like this? Sure enough, it looks like it’s been stored indoors. The question is, why would you go to that trouble? With such features as fingertip speed control, Duraweave simulated-cloth seating, and an AM radio with instant warm-up, it’s hard to fathom leaving it undriven, no?
The interior does look in excellent shape, suggesting the low mileage is accurate. The only indication of the actual condition of the car, besides the low miles, is that it’s said to run and drive well. And if it doesn’t, there’s surely lots of space under the hood for you to work on it, or at least to get entangled in all the emissions hoses. With 243 lb.-ft. from the 351M V8, you should also be able to provoke some good tail out slides while sliding around on the front bench.
That bug guard is amazing, as are its likely effects – significantly raising the drag coefficient and fuel consumption, but more importantly, hitting every bug with a satisfying splat you can only produce with a vertical surface. Tired of bugs bouncing off your windshield, still half alive? This guard will induce sudden deceleration trauma, or in the case of a particularly hard shelled beetle, thwack it all the way to Omaha. Kidding aside, this is excellent value for what’s effectively a 2-year-old car. Flash back to the 1970s for a year and resell it for the same price with 37,000 miles.
Rusty But Trusty 
January 14, 2016 at 3:43 pm |
My sister gave me her beater ’74 Galaxie 500 before she moved to LA in ’83; what a sled,, and that railroad tie front bumper could do grievous harm to a forgotten shopping cart left in a parking lot. Btw, the link connects you to a Studebaker ad.
January 14, 2016 at 5:13 pm |
Link corrected, thanks!
January 14, 2016 at 11:19 pm |
What a great old barge. It sure looks like it has a lot of life left in it.