At $18,500, Does This Custom 1985 Ford LTD Offer Unlimited Value?

Yahoo

13-03-2025

When it comes to LTDs, the short-lived early-'80s edition like today's Nice Price or No Dice LX often get forgotten. This one hasn't been forgotten, and, in fact, has a number of updates that make it all the more memorable. Let's see if it's priced to keep it front of mind.
In The Princess Bride, Wallace Shawn's Vizzini character informs Cary Elwes' Westley that the latter has "fallen victim to one of the classic blunders - the most famous of which is, never get involved in a land war in Asia — but only slightly less well-known is this: Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!" A third, and perhaps most dire blunder is buying a very complex German car outside its warranty period. Coincidentally, that's just the scenario we faced yesterday, as we had a 2012 Mercedes-Benz S550 on our docket. Once a six-figure car, it's chock-full of fancy features, and while its seller claimed all to work as expected, the car's heavy mileage didn't bode well for a problem-free future. That impacted opinion on the seller's $13,800 price, with the end result being a 57 percent No Dice loss.
Read more: Even SpaceX Would Apparently Rather Use A Ford F-150 Lightning Than Tesla Cybertruck
The 1985 Ford LTD LX we're looking at today represents the last of the line for that hallowed nameplate. Introduced in 1965 as a brand-topping trim level for the Galaxie 500, the LTD became a model unto itself one year later. It continued as Ford's top dog until the late '70s, when it adopted another name change, becoming the LTD Crown Victoria. In the early 1980s, that model soldiered on with just the Crown Victoria nameplate, while the LTD badge moved down market, replacing Granada on Ford's mid-size class entrant.
There's more name play with this particular edition as the Granda it replaced was a massaged version of the Fairmont, which was the OG Foxbody car. The Foxbody LTD carried over all of the Fairmont's strengths—a MacPherson strut front suspension with separate coils that allowed an engine bay wide enough for a V8, a central transmission tunnel that affords a manual shifter, and light-enough weight to make the most of the era's tepid horsepower outputs.
When it came to power, things were better by the time the Foxbody LTD hit the market. It arrived right at the cusp of the post-malaise period of the American auto industry, and the car benefitted from Ford's newly-regained interest in performance, sharing a ton of parts and features with the company's leading performance model, the Mustang. Ford massaged the LTD to make it, in many ways, better than the Granada or Fairmont that preceded it, bolting on larger brakes, gas struts and shocks, and bigger wheels. This all gave the LTD Mustang performance in a family-friendly package.
That package was short-lived, however. The Foxbody LTD was intended as a stopgap car, serving only four model years until it was replaced by the wildly futuristic for the time Taurus. The introduction of that model spelled the end of Ford's mid-sized RWD models and the LTD nameplate in one fell swoop. For the model's swan song, however, Ford gave the LTD some performance creds in the form of the LX model, which borrowed heavily from both Mustang and the model's police package edition.
That all makes this LTD an old-school survivor. Not only that, but it's been modded to make the most of its Mustang relations. First off, this car has a 5.0 under its hood and a T5 five-speed manual behind that. Ford offered the V8 in the LX and a manual transmission in lesser models, but never this combo. Not only is the engine the one we all would want in the car, but it's also been built with better-flowing GT40 heads, a hotter cam, and a lighter flywheel. A custom three-inch exhaust feeds dual outlets in the back.
Other mods include a five-lug swap, Cobra discs up front, and an 8.8-inch limited-slip rear end rocking 3.73 gearing out back. The suspension has been given a complete rebuild with tubular arms, fatter anti-sway bars, and coilovers that lower the car purposefully.
Aesthetically, the car is straight, but shows plenty of patina in its black paint. On the hood and front fenders, that's worn down to the primer which can either be considered wicked cool or a visual blight depending on how you feel about such things. In the plus column, the aftermarket alloys look good, and the car is as clean as a whistle inside, outside, and even under the hood.
Speaking of the inside, it features bucket seats up front and cloth upholstery all around. Extra gauges festoon the otherwise factory dash, and join a leather-wrapped steering wheel and 7-ball-topped shift arm as aftermarket add-ons. Niceties include a more modern stereo, power windows, and plenty of room for all your friends.
According to the ad, the car has an oddly specific 123,456 miles on the clock, has a clean title, and comes with boxes of additional parts that should help keep this old horse on the road. The asking price to scoop that all up is a cool $18,500.
What's your take on this LTD and that asking? Does that feel fair given all the work that's gone into making it what it is? Or are both the patina and the price off-putting?
You decide!
Nice Price or No Dice:
Facebook Marketplace out of Oregon City, Oregon, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Bill Lyons for the hookup!
Help me out with NPOND. Hit me up at [e-mail] and send me a fixed-price tip.
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