Cult Ford – 1985 Ford LTD LX

March 13, 2014

Update, 3/14/14: Revisiting a cached version of this listing today shows the same seller listing what appears to be the same car, again with different plates, fewer details, and a couple of higher resolution but older photos, at $3400. So perhaps the demand was enough to prompt him to increase the price by $550, but the changing details and photos are enough to make the sensible buyer approach this one with caution, even if the rarity won’t make you shy away completely.

Original post, 3/13/14:Here’s an interesting car. Supposing you liked the performance of a Mustang/Capri or Thunderbird 5.0 (well, as it was back in the mid-eighties), but you needed four doors, or your driving record required you to appear as if you’d just rolled off a rental car lot. That very thing is possible, because while the Ford Fox platform is most well-known in its Mustang guise, it was also offered as the Ford Fairmont/Granada and Mercury Zephyr/Cougar, as well as the Ford LTD/Mercury Marquis. And there were also the Lincoln Continental sedan and Mark VII. So as you can see, most of the cars on that platform were painfully boring and/or forgettable, but for a brief run in the mid-1980s, Ford decided they wanted to try to annoy BMW by dropping the 302 V8 in their plain-jane sedan. They also threw in bigger brakes, stiffer suspension, 4-speed automatic and limited slip differential. You can find this 1985 Ford LTD LX for sale for $3950 in the Dublin/Pleasanton/Livermore, CA area.

1985 Ford LTD LX right front

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Anti-Neue Klasse – 1968 Rover 2000TC

March 12, 2014

As proof that you can sell any kind of car in the coastal states, even if in limited numbers, there’s a not-insignificant supply of Rovers (primarily P6 sedans) living in northern California. Every so often, one pops up for sale as a reminder that these are significant cars, taking much inspiration from Citroen’s DS, and adding some of their own ingenuity. If seeing these cost-no-object innovative manufacturers (like Lancia, Saab, and Alfa) die out doesn’t make you just a little sad, you should probably remove this page from your bookmarks and shut your browser down. You can find this 1968 Rover P6 2000TC (that’s twin carb, not twin cam) for sale for $3000 in Sacramento, CA.

1968 Rover 2000TC left side

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Tipo 119 – 1984 (ish) Alfa Romeo Alfa Sei Quadrifoglio d’Oro

March 12, 2014

Recent listings on eBay, albeit for 5-figure prices, inspired a quick little trip to Europe to see what’s available there in the way of the Alfa 6. Alfa’s first six-cylinder car since the inline 6 2600 of the 1960s, the Alfa 6 was merely related to the Alfetta platform cars, but with a front-mounted transmission (making it the only rear-wheel-drive V6 Alfa Romeo with a front-mounted transmission). It did use the same front torsion bar, rear de Dion set up that contributed greatly to the roadholding and balance of the Alfetta range. Of the roughly 12,000 cars produced, less than 2000 were built with the fuel-injected 2.5-liter V6, which had an output of 156hp. Intended as Alfa’s response to family-size BMW, Peugeot and Mercedes sedans, you can find this 1984 Alfa Romeo Alfa 6 Quadrifoglio Oro for sale for €2800 ($3890 at the current exchange rate), somewhere in Belgium.

1984 Alfa Romeo Alfa 6 left front

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