1977 Ford Country Squire

Originally a California car. Looks pretty solid. Has had a repaint. No engine or underside photos. $8,500

https://spokane.craigslist.org/cto/d/oldtown-1977-ford-country-squire/6988016808.html

 

These were great wagons in their time. What we see looks pretty good but we are shown very little. Always leary of mismatched tires, too few photos and pawn shops. Ad says 9 seater but I thought you could get 4 kids in the back.

 

Indeed, never have a pawn shop as the backdrop to your car pics. Unless you’re the owner of the pawn shop and are looking for some free advertising.

My family had a Squire with the DFRS. You could only get two kids in the DFRS seats, one each facing each other. I suppose if you had some really, really *skinny* kids though ...

 

These are actually 8-passenger, since each rear seat bottom has a short half to accommodate the opposite passenger's legs. The ones with 50/50 front seats are more like 7-passenger, as the two front seats can be adjusted such that one couldn't comfortably ride in the middle. That car looks to be plagued by the all-to-common peeling of the light oak moldings.

 

I guess you could get three in the back if one sat on that little shelf between the DRFS, and back seat. That one looks a little tired even with a 4K paint job. No mention of mileage either.

 

I think the only number that matters in this "number of seats" thing is how many seating positions have seat belts. You might have been able to squeeze four kids in the rear seat, but did they each have a seat belt? I don't think so. So let's put 10 kids back there and call the car a 16-seater!

 

I like this in the ad:

Well hell's bells! If tapes are included, who cares about whether we can see the engine or that the car is parked in front of a pawn shop? It's worth every penny!

 

I think I have a Who "Tommy"(my late brother's) and an Englebert Humperdick(was my mom's) 8 track laying around somewhere - if we want to test the 8 track player......

 

If this was a Calif. car from new it should have the original BLUE plates on it and it doesn't. Makes me think it came from another state sometime in it's life after 1979 and was plated as a Calif. car. I would look this one over top to bottom.

 

From what I've read about California license plates, the blue plates were discontinued after 1981, and the plate that's on the subject car now became the official California plate. The plate design was changed again in 1987 with the removal of the sun image behind the name of the state at the top of the plate. So the car may not have been born in California, but, if the plate is correct, it's been there since no later than 1987, which is most of its life.

 

If it is registered in Washington, the place that it is being sold from, then those plates are mealy an aesthetic decoration.
At what point did California implement the practice of having to get new plates every so often? I know that Washington has done things of that nature on a number of different occasions.

 

My point was it's claimed to be originally a Calif. car and it's not.

 

Is that a smog/mileage sticker in the rear drivers side window? I know through the ‘70’s California had those in that placement. My thought is that it was probably born there left and came back in the ‘80’s where it was re-licensed. Or the license could have lapsed. The other thing I find disconcerting, along with the already mentioned issues is the back area. You can’t clean the corners behind the DRFS? People have no thoughts about asking top dollar, but they have a $1.98 presentation.

 

This would have originally had blue plates. I have an '85 & '86 that have they have their original blue plates. The "art deco" plates on this car were an extra cost plate during the early '80's. The owner may have liked them at the time and opted for a change.
So the smog history of any california vehicle is available on-line:
https://www.bar.ca.gov/pubwebquery/Vehicle/PubTstQry.aspx
you need the vin or plate number. Punching in the plate number for this wagon, 2AHC981, results in a smog history up until Feb 2018 where there were multiple smog attempts, all resulting in failures. At that point an astute owner would have filed a non-op. This can be filed up to 90 days after the reg is due. A call to the CA DMV (800) 777 0133 would verify the registration status. I've made this call on past vehicles I considered purchasing. The conversion goes something like this: " I'm considering buying vehicle ..., it's plate number is xxxxxx, what's the reg status?
Getting anything pre 2000 smogged here in CA in my area is getting difficult. A lot of smog shops won't touch them. The guy I go tells me that he'll only smog my OBD1 vehicles cause I've been a long time customer. Now you've got a pre OBD1 that's failed smog ... good luck finding someone to work on it. That's why this is now up in WA where it doesn't need a smog check.

 

Are you basing your assertion solely on the license plate?

I'd say this is a more likely scenario.