1970 Ford LTD Country Squire

429 V8.

1970 Ford LTD 1970 LTD Woody Wagon 429, new woodgrain, PS, PDB | eBay

 

What do you think the reserve is? 30k?

 

That is a good looking wagon

 

I wouldn’t be surprised. ‘70’s are very popular. We saw a light blue one recently fetch in the 40’s. That one was a lower mileage car, and was extremely clean, almost near perfect. This one has a couple of things that are a little off. The wood grain first off isn’t quite right and the interior as stated has some things going on with it. Don’t know what all the explanation about the AC is but I guess you could replace the original hoses and get it back. It does have a couple of minor body things, but the 429 is sure desirable, and it looks like it has power seats. The other little issue, albeit small is the AM/FM “stereo”. There aren’t any door panel, or rear speaker covers which would have been in position from the factory. Not to get granular, the dash needs some work, and those 70’s AC knobs were pesky staying on even when somewhat new. I remember on our 70 they pulled off if you man handled them. I’ve still not figured out what penalty, if any 6 versus 9 passenger holds, but that could be a consideration for some. I think it is safe to say that these wagons in any kind of good, and rolling condition are getting serious notice from potential buyers, and are getting even greater follow through with big money. I have quit trying to make book on what these wagons will haul in money wise. But, if the right two people latch onto one car, the bidding can get into the stratosphere. Buckle up, and I guess within a week we’ll know what a not totally perfect 429 squire is worth on the open market.

 

I would guess, that this one will go 2 ways. It'll stall at $18,000 and not meet reserve, or 2 guys will bid it up to $35k

 

https://www.mainlymusclecars.com/copy-of-1969-bronco-1-2-cab-6

 

Good job Fabian…I guess if it could be had for 14,900 that’s not too bad considering the market these days. Mercman…while I was studying the pics I did notice the stereo speakers in the rear cargo area. Also, do you know what’s going on with the black panel below the radio? Is something missing? I remember as a kid a neighbor of ours has a 70 sedan and as we were riding in it he was telling my dad that he liked the car but his biggest complaint was that the headlight switch was mounted so low that it was hard for him to find in the dark. Something I will always remember about 70 full size fords.

 

Yea, the speaker deal looks like the setup for AM w/ rear seat speakers, maybe the FM was shoved in there after the fact. Isn't that hole in the dash for the A/C vent ? And a blockoff for the blower switch?

 

Ooooooops Ed I stand corrected on the back speakers. They also look correct as far as the covers. Wonder if the front door, or lower panels had been replaced? The Factory stereo would have included front door speakers as well. Agreed. Fabian, great sluthery. Not sure that’s a word, but it seems to fit. Also yeah Ed the stereo bar on the radio, or something seems like an ill fit or not right at first brush. It is a J code car so I would think being built in LA it’s spent it’s life pretty much in the west ergo little to no rust.

 

I would guess you’re on to something County Sedan. It’s strange though in the later Ford’s ie ‘71 -‘72 the radio panel had a special 3rd knob if you got the “rear” speaker option on the full size Ford. The stereo cars just came with the two knobs. Balance and fade were the done through the selector knob, and slide bar below the radio. I also found it a bit interesting that the selector knob was to the left of the volume on/off knob. Seems like a left to right flow would have been more in keeping with human nature, but that’s probably naval gazing. All in all I think if $14,900 could buy this car, there’s a fair amount of wiggle room to fix up the flaws.

 

I’ll take your word on the speakers… I just don’t really remember many cars in the early 70s having door speakers. Remember, stereos were not that common back then because dealers wanted like $350 for one. I know the Chevrolets much better and a full size B body Chevrolet never got door speakers until the 1991 redesign. About halfway through the 71 to 76 design, around 1973 or 74, Chevrolet would add two speakers at either end of the dash for stereo equipped models. This practice continued up until the 1980s when finally at some point the center speaker grill disappeared for good. The 73 to 77 Monte Carlo was a strange duck. It had a dual speaker set up underneath the single grill in the center of the dash and then you got two speakers in the rear. I never understood how it worked until I took one apart and found that there were two speakers underneath the grill in the front. Car companies did a lot of weird things as stereos evolved into the cars. I’m sure you guys remember the short lived factory CB’s!

After sending my last post about that blank space under the radio that seems blocked off, yes, that probably was a dash vent. The ad mentions underdash air conditioning, I did not notice if there was a unit hanging under the dash. But, it is obvious from the photos that someone actually removed the factory air conditioning from this car. The three remaining dash vents are still there but yes, I did notice that cap over the fan switch! I find it very strange that a car like this that looks like it has always been cared for and not butchered up or hot rotted, why an owner would choose to remove the factory air conditioning. They removed a lot from under the hood and that left side dash vent!

 

Yeah my folks had an ‘84 Caprice Estate with the dash mounted speakers. Always thought that was a much cleaner design. So many of the Fords and Mercs had the door speakers with missing teeth from kicking the door open. Interesting that they totally removed the AC as you say and did knock out plates etc. including the fan knob knock out. Couldn’t they have just hung a bottom unit, with a reroute? Seems like a real lot of unnecessary work to decimate the factory stuff.

 

There are A Lot of things going-on with this Squire ! Even the rear tail-gate area spare tire cover is the Wrong one.
The Woodgrain. Yikes ! However, Not a Crazy price. The engine compartment looks Scarry........ They are
seeming to dry-up. So, this one could get put back together correctly. But, some money needed to do so corectly.
Nice looking.

 

This car presents really well at first glance, but, as noted, it has a number of niggling little (or in some cases, maybe not so little) issues.

You're correct: the woodgrain is not authentic. It's a generic aftermarket. As to the plank lines, I don't know whether to applaud whoever applied them for even making the attempt -- most who replace the woodgrain don't even bother with the plank lines -- or fault him for getting it so far off the mark. The lines are thicker, fewer, and further apart than the original decal.

As to the radio, you made another good catch. As I recall, both available factory stereo systems for the '70 Ford came standard with 4 speakers (with the possible exception of convertibles). As you noted this car has no door speakers, and, while there do appear to be speakers in the cargo side panels, the grilles appear to have been installed a little lower than would have been in a factory original installation.

When it comes to the AC, I don't know how easy it would be to get the hoses, but I suspect getting them routed as they would have been from the factory -- if that's important to you -- would be a bit of a challenge. I read somewhere that getting the compressor for these is very difficult, but I don't think that's accurate. I think this was a York compressor that was used on many Fords for many different years. I don't see the bracket for the compressor, however, and I suspect finding one of those will not be particularly easy. I just noticed that the left-hand AC vent is blocked off.

You also noticed the cracked dash pad. A number of years ago, it was $1,000 to get one of these restored. By now I expect the cost to be considerably higher. I don't think the buyer would have any luck in finding an NOS one, and, even if he did, at this point it probably wouldn't cost much less than restoring the original. Prediction: if the car sells for anything approaching reasonable money, the buyer will slap on a dash mat and try to flip it for twice what he paid.

The front seat trim puzzles me. It looks more like what would have been found in an LTD Brougham that year than in a Country Squire.

I've had four 1970 Fords and never had any trouble with the dash knobs coming off. I have seen what I consider to be some pretty unreasonably high prices on NOS knobs -- both the little knobs for the levers and the rotary ones for the radio and fan. It looks like the fan switch has a block off plug, and the knobs on the radio look like they came from a Torino. They're definitely not the correct ones for a full-size Ford.

Note that there's a good deal of surface rust on the valve covers, water pump, the coil and bracket, and the thermostat housing. The valve covers are just a little unsightly (at least for show purposes), but the other three would worry me. I'd recommend replacing the battery ground cable, too.

Notice the rocker switch 0n the right side of the driver's wraparound section. That should be to operate power door locks (the matching one on the left side operates the tailgate window). There appears to be either some damage to the plastic or some kind of adhesive residue around this switch.

And then there's the spare tire compartment cover. This one looks like it's from a Fairlane/Falcon/Torino. It certainly is not the correct one for the big Ford. Again, I suspect the correct one will be very difficult to find, since there can't be very many of these wagons in junk yards anymore.

I suspect that 8 passenger wagons would bring a little more than 6 passenger cars, but I wouldn't expect there to be a huge difference between them. The 429 is definitely desirable but note that it's the 2V (320 HP) version. There are definitely some who would prefer the 4V (360 HP) version as the "top of the line", but for the practical minded, the 4V carb has a reputation for being a bit troublesome, while the 2V carb is considered simple and bullet proof. I had one of these with the 429 2V and can testify that it will scoot. The 4V may make more total torque, but I think the 2V's torque comes on a little lower in the rpm range. Both are 10.5:1 compression and the buyer might have a little trouble with pinging with the octane rating of the available fuel. I ran mine with no issues on 94 octane Sunoco gas, but that's no longer available in my area. Octane booster might be in order here.

I wouldn't say that any one of these issues would be a deal breaker or would reduce the value very significantly, but considering the sheer number of them and what addressing them would cost, this shouldn't go for anywhere near the $40K figure the other one reached. If these were reasonable times, I would say this one shouldn't top $10K with its issues, but, of course, the whole world seems to have gone insane. And I say this with the '70 CS being my absolute favorite car. On Thursday, we'll see just how insane things have gotten.

 

If Anyone here " Pulls the trigger " on this Mishmosh of a car, I've got 9 Rolls of NOS Ford Woodgrain to re-do the Entire car Properly. I was gonna hoard them , but they would Really do this car justice ! Steve