got to drive a 79 town car

[1990LTD]

Only got to drive for a couple of minutes but a buddy had his '79 out last night. Only car I've ever driven that makes mine feel like a go cart when I get back in it.



length difference




the 400 barely turns 1200rpm to get you down the street at a respectable speed. I wouldn't wanna gas the thing up but it sure drove nice. Effortless power, but racing it would be kind of entertaining

[Merc3517]

Dark pics= fail. Nice car though I love the old land yachts.

[tjc78]

I had a 79 Town Coupe. It really was a barge. I enjoyed it though. The 400 really wasn't that powerful. I had duals put on it and it was a bit snappier. Eventually it had practically no oil pressure at idle in drive. Drove it for 30K miles like that and still ran when I junked it.

A Nissan Altima rear ended me pretty good in that car. The Nissan was a total loss, airbags blown, fluid everywhere, the hood pushed up to the windshield, etc. He pushed my bumper in about an inch. The cop on the scene asked what did he hit?

[1990LTD]

Yeah, it was like 3 A.M and I was out for a cruise when I ran into him. No camera except my cell. Here's his pic of his car;











It's all stock except the straight pipes (no H) and glass packs.

[Piece-it pete]

Nice car!

I owned a 79 4 door briefly, the grille got to my destination 5 minutes before I did

It was a 400, I drove it from Buffalo to Cleveland, averaged 10

Pete

[edit: summit has 28 spline ford racing trac locs on sale for $195]

[1990LTD]

It was big enough that when I took a ride in the back seat, I couldn't reach the driver if I wanted to


Earlier in the day I saw the guy that owns the barge coming out of the mall parking lot stopped at a red light. Turned left when the light went green, he couldn't have been doing more than 10-20kph and it looked like it was ready to lift the outside tires. Can you say body roll?

[1990LTD]

I think this might be the only carbureted car I've ever driven. A first!

[tjc78]

That's a Collector's Series, top of the line in 1979. I always liked those, no opera windows. The turbines should be color-keyed blue to match the paint. This model only came in two colors the navy pictured above and white.

[1990LTD]

oh yeah? Didn't know that. I've never seen a back seat as large as the one on this car...full size OEM spare in the trunk and about enough room for a family of 4

[gadget73]

The 400 is a pig in stock form. Its a nice car, but if I owned one, it would either have to get some work done to the 400, or be ganked in favor of a 460. The suspension on those is definitely not nimble at all. They float down the road, but do not expect to go around a corner at any kind of speed. The chassis is basically a bigger form of the Torino with its goofy single point control arm and the strut rods and all that BS.

[79lincolnlover]

That's a Collector's Series, top of the line in 1979. I always liked those, no opera windows. The turbines should be color-keyed blue to match the paint. This model only came in two colors the navy pictured above and white.

I know a guy here that owns a blue CS model. It's in showroom condition! There are old pics of it in the Multi-media forum that I took last summer when he brought it to the Home Depot car show.

[tjc78]

The 400 is a pig in stock form.

Mine was basically stock with duals running no H pipe. I would say that it moved along about the same as my 89 TC with factory duals.

[gadget73]

and how much more fuel was it burning though? I'd actually like to soup up a 400 a bit in one of those cars. I know they can perform, but I suspect that a warmed over 400 would not only have more power, but be better on fuel too.

[ford man]

I got a 76 Gran Torino with a warmed up 400. Runs strong. Lots of torque. Longest stroke of any Ford motor, even 460.

[tjc78]

and how much more fuel was it burning though? I'd actually like to soup up a 400 a bit in one of those cars. I know they can perform, but I suspect that a warmed over 400 would not only have more power, but be better on fuel too.

It was terrible on gas. 9-10 was not uncommon. Once in a while it could settle in at 14 or so on a decent highway run at 65-70. This was in 97-98 and gas was cheap then. My 89 TC (in much better shape) blew it away in terms of gas mileage.