1975 Ford Custom 500

https://abbotsford.craigslist.ca/cto/d/1975-ford-custom-500-station/6606784679.html\\

 

Looks good. Ya know when your trying to make a deal and the guy just keeps talking....it might be well enough to pass up

 

You could drive that on Halloween looking for Mike Meyers.

 

Read ad. Has issues. Door weatherstrips dry-rotted from Arizona heat. Interior got wet.

 

Don't know about Canada, but in the U.S. the Custom 500s in '75 were fleet-only except for about a 30 day period in March, when they were available to the general public. The special sale was primarily for the purpose of being able to advertise a low priced full sized car to get traffic into the showrooms and, hopefully, upsell people to the LTD. I came across dealer literature detailing the scheme.

Interesting car and a great price, but, just about anywhere in the lower 48, a little too spartan in its lack of AC.

 

I never heard of this downscale model before, TBH.

 

As late as the 1974 model year, the Custom 500 Ranch Wagon was a regular model.
(1974 Ford wagon brochure)
http://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/ford/74fwgn/74fwgn.html

I think Ford was trying to simplify their wagon lineup a bit. The full-sized low-line model did not get a lot of sales by this time. If people were budget-limited, they probably downsized into a Torino or Gran Torino wagon for about the same price as a Custom 500 Ranch Wagon. Smaller wagon, but nicer inside.

 

In 1974, Ford offered to the general public 4 subseries of full-sized wagons -- the Custom 500 Ranch Wagon, the Galaxie 500 Country Sedan, the LTD wagon, and the LTD Country Squire -- and three of mid-sized wagons -- Torino, Gran Torino, and Gran Torino Squire. In '75, they kept all 3 mid-sized subseries, but for the full-sized wagons dropped the Country Sedan, restricted the Custom 500 to fleet sales (except for one month) leaving only LTDs and Squires.

I suspect this was more than just simplification. After the oil embargo of '73 (whose effects were not really felt until the 1974 model year), the expense of owning and operating a full-sized car in essence moved it more towards the near luxury range (although that term wouldn't be coined until years later). More of what were then considered luxury options were offered and, the full-sized models were loaded with more of them more often than had been the case before the embargo. You see a greater percentage of the full-sizers with power windows, power seats, etc. after '73 than before.