1967 Country Squire

Not Mine but thought this looked good


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ford...5023205?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item1e736514e5

 

Yeah, we had that one up a couple of weeks ago. Looks almost identical to our member Dr. B. Smith's '67 Squire - right down to the color. He did a complete body-off restoration and rebuild on his.
Here's his project thread:

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1380

 

This one bid to around $10k last time around with reserve not met. It's a great looking Squire, but the seller may have unrealistic ideas as to what it will bring.

 

I know it's insignificant but whenever I see an ad that totes 10 passenger seating, I always wonder where the "10 passenger" connotation came from. I believe the marketing material of the day says 8 passenger plus the seat belts and shape of the seats in the third row support that as well. Plus, has anyone in recent history really tried to squeeze four kids in the third row? Yikes!

 

I think it would be a tight fit, even for kids, but the dual-side-facing third-row seats in a Country Squire did come with four sets of seat belts.

 

I believe that when the DFRS came out, the wagons were advertised as "10 passengers" (with an asterisk that the 4 in the back were children). Unfortunately, I can't find any proof of that right now. At least in model year 1969, or earlier, they were only advertising them as 8 passengers. Maybe somebody else cane chime in here on this subject.

Did anyone have a DFRS Ford product with 4 seatbelt units in the back?

 

Ok, I may have to retract my statement about the dual-side-facing seat belts. My 1970 was a 6-passenger originally, and I added the extra seats from a junked wagon, which if memory serves, was a '72 or '73 Colony Park. Again, if memory serves, that car DID have the belts in the back. I remember because I wish I'd taken them when I took the seats.

In any event, I checked my factory repair manual, and there is no indication of belts in the way back. Likewise, I looked at the dealer brochure, and it says "front and rear lap belts for all seating positions." I guess that could be interpreted in various ways.

Anyway, I have a couple of friends who also have 1970 Country Squires; I'm not sure if those are 6-passenger or 10-passenger, but I'll ask them about the belts, if they have a 10-passenger.

It might be that the Feds didn't start requiring belts in the way-back until after 1970.

 

Also, the 1970 Ford wagon brochure describes the dual-facing rear seat models as being for 8 passengers, not 10. So, perhaps I just remember families cramming four kids in the back.

 

I recall there being a single set of seat belts (per seat) in our '72 Ford Country Squire with DFRS. Squeezing four kids in those seats might have been possible, but not advisable.

The only way I could see one of these wagons being a "10 passenger" is if you strapped two kids on the roof rack. But if Mitt could do that with the family dog, why not?

 

Why not two kids in each side facing seat and three more facing rearward sitting on the cargo floor legs crisscross applesauce, four across per bench seat middle and front, driver can pretty much only use his left arm to drive. That's 15 passengers. Hope you got power steering, air shocks, and an automatic transmission. Been there done that as a kid. What's more fun is piling 12 people in a '77 Caprice wagon to go to a drive-in movie. There was me, my sister, 3 cousins, my parents, two uncles, two aunts, and grandma!

 

OK - I found the proof - in the '65 (big) Ford brochure. Look at the description under the pic of the Country Squire with the Little League kids in it..
"Country Squire with dual-facing rear seats - seating for a family of 10!"

So sometime later, between '66 and '69, they dropped the capacity rating from 10 to 8.

http://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/ford/65ford/14.html

 

I sure hope Grandma got to sit in the front. Although I guess if she in an in-law than she can squeeze into the back with the dumplings.

 

Did a little more research on the "10 passenger" vs. "8 passenger" DFRS issue. The DFRS first came out in model year 1965 with the big Ford re-design. It appears that Ford catalog and print ads showed the DFRS wagons as 10 passenger for '65 and '66. In '67, the catalog only mentions "for additional passengers..." For the '68 model year, I couldn't find anything definitive, although the catalog pic of the DFRS only shows 2 kids in the back. For 1969, they officially rated the DFRS wagons as 8 passenger.

So...... I would say somewhere along the way, some issue came up with Ford on the passenger rating for the DFRS, and they had to change it.

 

Nice detective work! So '67 is the transition year, at least for marketing purposes.

 

Back on eBay with a buy-it-now price of $11,750, starting bid price of $9,500:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1967...5?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item1e73a82b59#v4-42

Seller is a bit too optimistic, I would think.