1973 Lincoln Continental / Ford LTD reliability and longevity.

[Bill7]

1973 Lincoln Continental / Ford LTD reliability, longevity, and parts availability?

I've bought the box set DVD's on Amazon for some old detective series from the 1970's: Cannon and Barnaby Jones.
Both drove large luxurious Ford Products (Cannon: 1973 Lincoln Continental, Barnaby Jones: 1977 Ford LTD?).

I really like those smooth riding ultra quiet large Ford sedans from the 1970's. I rode in a few as a kid.

I see them on Craigslist for about $5,000 in decent shape.

Just wanted to ask if anyone has experience with those large Ford Luxury sedans from the 1970's.

Back in the 70's and 80's, from what I can remember, cars usually didn't make it to 100k miles. They usually went to the junk yard around 80k for various reasons.
The decade of the 90's is when cars started lasting 150k to 200k miles.

Just have a few questions about these 1970's Large Ford luxury sedans, as I'm considering buying one.

[1] Is it still possible to get parts for these. I would imagine very little salvage yard support and very little after market support.
[2] How many miles did one of those cars typically last.
[3] What kind of gas mileage would they get. I would image 8 city and 13 highway (with those huge V-8 engines)?
[4] Would buying one now in decent condition be a possible daily driver, or would it likely turn into a huge money pit.

Please let me know what you think.

 

[dishdude]

I'm sure mechanical parts are still available, body and trim pieces might be difficult to find. I've been watching this guy's YouTube channel, you might find it interesting.

 

[vwmaniaman]

I had a 1974 Plymouth Fury III and it was a beautiful bench seat sedan and had a 318 LA engine. got 17 in town and 23 highway. Trunk would hold half a Rick of wood. Got rear ended turning in my driveway one night. Three cars behind me were totaled.and I had a broken backup light lens.

 

[Bill7]

Thanks for the link. I'll definately check it out. There is something about the styling of these cars this is abscent from the mundane sedans today.
Sure, today's sedans are front wheel drive, nimble, get high gas mileage, etc (all the things you should want), but they've lost something in personality and also lost the old cushy rides and lost the silky smooth power sterring wheels you could turn all the way around with your pinky which is what those old Ford sedan's have.

 

[Bill7]

I had a 1974 Plymouth Fury III and it was a beautiful bench seat sedan and had a 318 LA engine. got 17 in town and 23 highway. Trunk would hold half a Rick of wood. Got rear ended turning in my driveway one night. Three cars behind me were totaled.and I had a broken backup light lens.

How many miles did it have on it before it got totalled. Just trying to gauge how many miles cars from the 1970's could last before they ended up in the junk yard?

 

[carviewsonic]

Those old Mercury's and Lincoln's have their retro appeal, but a mid 2000's Marquis or Town Car would give you a similar full size RWD cruiser experience, with better reliability, fuel economy, and handling.

 

[PontiacHO]

Probably has the 351/400 Medium block which is a good engine. May need a timing chain. These had some aggravating issues with spark knocking but surely by now previously taken care of. FMX or C6 trans which both are reliable.
They get about 21mpg on the road at 55mph. Around town not good.
If you came across one with a 460 it will drink your wallet dry…

 

[mrsilv04]

Now I have the theme music from Barnaby Jones tearing through my head...

 

[Eddie Hudson]

i have ;
1972 Mark IV - 112K milws
1972 Continenal Sedan - 92K
1977 Grand Marquis 460ci Sedan - 90K
1978 Mark V Cartier - 135K
1978 Mark V - 116K
1979 Mark V Bill Blass - 116K

The 460s got about 15hwy/11 city
The 400 got 16/12
The highest gas milage I got was 18.1 hwy on a 375mile trip in the 72 Mark.

Mechanical parts are pretty easy to get but body parts are expensive. You'll go broke using one as a daily driver, and forget about getting a parking spot in the city.

 

[bullwinkle]

I had a few bigger GM products in my youth-I may be a biased GM guy, but my experience with the big older Fords wasn’t very good, seemed extremely rust prone & a fair number of carburetor issues (in fairness, since E10 came along, most carburetors gave issues sooner or later).

 

[bullwinkle]

Those old Mercury's and Lincoln's have their retro appeal, but a mid 2000's Marquis or Town Car would give you a similar full size RWD cruiser experience, with better reliability, fuel economy, and handling.

The MGM in my sig regularly hits 25 MPG highway with a light throttle foot, and doesn’t have the annoying issues of older cars (carburetor, non-OD automatic, wallowing like a boat in rough seas)!

 

[law3500]

Mechanical parts are pretty easy to get but body parts are expensive. You'll go broke using one as a daily driver, and forget about getting a parking spot in the city.

This right here, great cars if you like the style.. put the year and model into Rock Auto's catalog and you can get an idea of what mechanical parts are available and what they cost... If you love them go for it..

 

[Cujet]

I drove a '70 and '72 LTD with the 390 and 429 engines. Neither really had much power and both got 14mpg highway and about 10 around town. They handled terribly, but did ride nicely if you could take the rattles. Transmissions were Ford C-6 3 speed units that would last about 80K miles.

Probably the strangest green color I've ever seen too. Not sure what to call it. It looked a lot like this:

 

[meep]

Keeping them running today will be half “art” since there won’t be many places as comfortable working on them with daily familiarity with the model. The longevity as a DD won’t be there. I watched a friend try to restore a 73 ltd convertible. Fun weekend car! Good luck keeping the AC working reliably…. Parts quality and the conversion factor and parts availability… all hinder. How about a 90s Lincoln?

 

[Paco Pena]

My first car was a 1972 Ford Ltd Country Squire wagon. 21 feet of wood grained goodness. 400cid, C6, 9 inch rear end. Eventually the frame was so rusted a cat could crawl through the holes. Fond memories. What you paid in gas, you saved on hotel rooms.

Paco

 

[Bill7]

i have ;
1972 Mark IV - 112K milws
1972 Continenal Sedan - 92K
1977 Grand Marquis 460ci Sedan - 90K
1978 Mark V Cartier - 135K
1978 Mark V - 116K
1979 Mark V Bill Blass - 116K

The 460s got about 15hwy/11 city
The 400 got 16/12
The highest gas milage I got was 18.1 hwy on a 375mile trip in the 72 Mark.

Mechanical parts are pretty easy to get but body parts are expensive. You'll go broke using one as a daily driver, and forget about getting a parking spot in the city.

Wow - thanks for showing us your fleet of Lincoln Mercury luxury sedan's from the 1970's. So they can easily exceed 100k miles as the cars in your fleet have. Your gas mileage is better than I was expecting. But a potential blocker could be your comment "You'll go broke using one as a daily driver". What are the common problems I would face if using one for 5 years as a daily driver. What were the typical repairs you had to do on yours?

Do the engines typically burn oil? I remember in the 1970's they had the gas station gas pumpers always check your oil, so I would guess that cars from the 1970's typically consumed oil. Are oil leaks common now due to the age of the engine seals.

 

[Bill7]

Keeping them running today will be half “art” since there won’t be many places as comfortable working on them with daily familiarity with the model. The longevity as a DD won’t be there. I watched a friend try to restore a 73 ltd convertible. Fun weekend car! Good luck keeping the AC working reliably…. Parts quality and the conversion factor and parts availability… all hinder. How about a 90s Lincoln?

My independent local mechanic has 40 years experience. I'm sure he would enjoy working on one of these. What would be the common problems I would face if I wanted to use it as a daily driver, driving about 70 miles a day (highway miles).
Would the age of the car come into play with unreliability and high risk of a brakedown and being stranded?

 

[Bill7]

My first car was a 1972 Ford Ltd Country Squire wagon. 21 feet of wood grained goodness. 400cid, C6, 9 inch rear end. Eventually the frame was so rusted a cat could crawl through the holes. Fond memories. What you paid in gas, you saved on hotel rooms.

Paco

Yes, those huge heavy super quiet cushy ride station wagons were the best. Their motto at the time was: "Quiet, because its a Ford" which meant that Ford's were super quiet inside (you couldn't hear any road noise). Those were one of my favorite vehicles. Remember the "Brady Bunch" show where the father had that Ford station wagon from the early 1970's.

 

[Bill7]

I drove a '70 and '72 LTD with the 390 and 429 engines. Neither really had much power and both got 14mpg highway and about 10 around town. They handled terribly, but did ride nicely if you could take the rattles. Transmissions were Ford C-6 3 speed units that would last about 80K miles.

Probably the strangest green color I've ever seen too. Not sure what to call it. It looked a lot like this:

That's a good piece of info: Transmissions last about 80k miles. In modern cars, transmission typically last 150 to 200k miles.
Do you know what horsepower the 390 and 429 engines had?

 

[Bill7]

The MGM in my sig regularly hits 25 MPG highway with a light throttle foot, and doesn’t have the annoying issues of older cars (carburetor, non-OD automatic, wallowing like a boat in rough seas)!

Which years are the good years. I had heard about engine issues with Ford's 3 valve V'8's