1976 Ford LTD

[79lincolnlover]

I can only get 95 at the airport.

Special membership required to buy gas at the airport?

[Mainemantom]

Last time I bought, I just had to call them first, go to the fuel farm, pay their price. Only some of the hot rodders do it, as it is expensive. You have to catch them when they are not out fueling. PITA. There is a Citco nearby that sells 92 which many high octane buyers use.

[RyPow]

Nice find! +1 on the plastic door armrest structure, look at the inside rear corner of the switchplate, they like to crack there although it is not as bad on a 4-door as a coupe (shorter assembly). Does it have auto climate control? If so, the vacuum setup can be a bit daunting but not rocket science if you have a vacuum diagram. The system up to '76 was fully automatic including vent selection, it works extremely well if the vacuum lines are in good shape. All accomplished vacuum-electromechanically with no computer

Apparently a 4-barrel intake and carb really helps the 400. I'm trying to track down a link for the full writeup done by Dan Szwarc over at thelincolnforum.net on his '77 Continental, lots of pictures and info. Also do yourself a favor and throw a MSD box in there instead of the Duraspark. Super easy to do (uses the factory Duraspark distributor and most of the wiring) and really helps idle quality and responsiveness. Fun fact: MSD's original distributor design was actually based on the Ford Duraspark unit.

You'll really enjoy this car. I love Panthers as much as anyone here, but there's nothing like rolling around in a barge!

P.S. I'll have to dig up the photo I have of my grandfather's LTD Landau when it was new. His was green with white vinyl roof, '76 or '77.

[DerekTheGreat]

Nice find! ...Does it have auto climate control? If so, the vacuum setup can be a bit daunting but not rocket science if you have a vacuum diagram. The system up to '76 was fully automatic including vent selection, it works extremely well if the vacuum lines are in good shape. All accomplished vacuum-electromechanically with no computer

Really? Why'd they move away from this set up? I sometimes find it laughable that while all other Fords got the gadgetry and optional digital/pushbutton controls the boxes were left to rot with the crap introduced in 1979/1980, aside from the stereos & powertrain, which was at least upgraded to EFI, unlike General Motors stuff that still used carburetors up until 1990. Would've been nice if Town Cars could've been ordered with the HO 302 or a hopped up EFI 351. I'm sure if it was offered they'd be out there and now sought after by collectors.

[RyPow]

Really? Why'd they move away from this set up? I sometimes find it laughable that while all other Fords got the gadgetry and optional digital/pushbutton controls the boxes were left to rot with the crap introduced in 1979/1980, aside from the stereos & powertrain, which was at least upgraded to EFI, unlike General Motors stuff that still used carburetors up until 1990.

Likely to cut costs and warranty repair time. By '78 the system no longer determined the vent position, only the discharge temperature. I belive they lost automatic fan speed control for a while too, until the early '80s (my '85 TC has auto fan spd but my '78 Mark V did not).

Keep in mind that use of the same technology for years and years can make for a very refined product, cheap parts and ease of servicing (widely known repair techniques). I used to frown on Ford milking the same tech/platforms for long periods of time but it does have its advantages. Take the GM 3.8 V6 ("3800") for example. Introduced in the late '70s and refined to a pinnacle by the late 2000s. Arguably their best engine after the SBC.

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[slack]

Thanks for the further info guys... Unfortunately I don't have any good news here.

The guy was unable to be around the weekend I was suppose to see the car. The weekend after that, It just so happened I was in the area of where the guy lived for my friends Bachelor party weekend shenanigans. We set up to meet on Saturday but again he had to cancel due to being called into work.

I'm on vacation starting this Friday until Jan 4th (which is freaking awesome) so I let him know if he's available anytime during that break and I should be available to head down and check the car out. I haven't heard back from him since so it might just be a lost cause at this point.

...oh well, there's always the next one I guess.

[DerekTheGreat]

Indeed, more cars are around and there's just not enough money or time to spend on them all...

[Toploader]

Or, you can contact Wild Bills Corvette and purchase real TEL: in qt cans.......the only reason my Avanti runs as good as it does is due to the TEL I add when I get gas.....10:50:1 compression is not helped by today's pump urine.

You need to move down here... 93 is our premium.