1969 Ford Country Squire

https://hartford.craigslist.org/cto/d/69-ford-ltd-country-squire/6416102923.html

 

That’s a good one for under $3000. Might also be a secret rust bucket

 

Wow, I'd buy it just for the bumper sticker! WIXY was one of the great Cleveland Top 40 stations of the late '60s and early '70s.

This says that, while the car might be in Hartford now, it certainly wasn't back when it was new. It's too bad the photo isn't close enough to read the dealer sticker on the lower left side.

 

The only old car dealer in Cleveland I know from that era is Spitzer. That sticker looks like it says Harold Kent which appears to be a defunct Ford dealer in Chicopee Mass.

 

The surround rails have been painted. These may be difficult and expensive to restore correctly, if so desired.

The dash pad doesn't appear to fit correctly. Either it's been removed, and it's just sitting on the dash, or there's a serious problem with it.

You'd have to put some money into this one, but, considering the price, if it's not a rust bucket, there should be plenty left in your budget to do so.

 

No third row

 

According to the '69 Ford Wagons brochure, there wasn't a third-row option. Rear compartment seating consisted of two seats facing each other, making for an 8-passenger wagon.

 

How do we know there's no rear compartment seating, anyway? No photos of the interior rear of the car are shown, and he doesn't say anything about this in his description.

 

No rubber steps on the rear bumper. That's usually indicative of the extra seats.

 

Correct. Ford used dual facing rear seats (DFRS) for its "3rd row seating" in its full sized wagons from '65 through '91. Note that for the first few years they called these 10 passenger cars -- I think they were one-upping the 9 passenger GMs and Mopars.

 

While Ford went exclusively with the Dual-Facing Rear Seats for the all-new big Ford wagons for '65, Mercury apparently hedged its bets and for at least '65 and '66, offered BOTH types of rear seating arrangements, standard rear-facing, and the DFRS.

 

You could also get them that way in '67 too Krash. I've had both! I'm not sure about 68 though.

 

This was my thought, too, but I checked the brochures, and it appears that '65 & '66 big Mercs offered only rear facing seats (no mention of DFRS), while '67 & '68 offered both types.

 

I was looking at an illustration in the '66 brochure that seemed to indicate a lady seated in a DFRS. I guess I didn't look at the pic close enough - she was in a rear-facing third seat.