(EXPANDED FROM 7/5/2023)
The LTD was one of the Ford Motor Company’s biggest successes in the 1970s because it attacked General Motors’ hierarchy of brands in multiple ways.
After failing to beat the popular Impala at its own game, Ford played one-upmanship by placing an emphasis on this top-end series beginning in 1965. Not only did the LTD throw Chevrolet on the defensive, but it also put pressure on GM’s premium-priced brands as Chevy moved upmarket to maintain its sales leadership.
Ford’s strategy worked brilliantly. By 1973 the LTD was outselling the Caprice by almost two-to-one. This went a ways toward neutralizing the Impala’s sales lead — and presumably gave the full-sized Ford a more profitable model mix.
Rise of LTD part of growth in higher-end big cars
One might assume that the increasing popularity of top-end versions of the big Ford and Chevrolet eroded the rationale for premium-priced cars such as the Pontiac Catalina, Buick LeSabre and Oldsmobile Delta Eighty-Eight.
However, big-car buyers increasingly gravitated to high-end models across the board. As a case in point, you can see that in the graph below of big Ford production. The LTD’s share of total output rose from roughly 28 percent in 1969 to more than 48 percent in 1973.
The LTD does not appear to have undercut sales of the Mercury much, if at all (go here for further discussion). Perhaps one reason why is that Ford’s premium-priced brand was such a marginal player in the full-sized class. Even at its peak in 1969 it captured only 2.1 percent of total domestic production.
This helps explain why the Ford Motor Company had more to gain and less to lose by pushing its low-priced brand upmarket.
In addition, the LTD does not appear to have undercut GM’s dominance of the full-sized, premium-priced field. Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick saw their share of the total domestic market decline less than 2 percent from 1969 to 1973. That was slightly less than the big Ford, which dropped by 2.8 percent. Chevrolet fell the most — by 4.6 percent.
The primary value of the LTD may have been to cushion the decline of the big Ford, but it still arguably made inroads into GM’s hierarchy of brands. By 1973 the LTD’s output was running ahead of the big Pontiac, neck and neck with Oldsmobile and only slightly below Buick. That strikes me as a meaningful achievement.
Good strategy backed by solid design and marketing
The LTD was arguably so effective because Ford aggressively championed the “brougham” look, both in its exterior and interior styling. The car came off looking more luxurious than a top-end Chevrolet or Plymouth.
Ford was also more effective in marketing the LTD — particularly beginning in 1969. One reason why is that the photography in ad campaigns was unusually sophisticated for that era. This served to give the LTD a more luxurious persona.
In addition, the look and feel of the ads had similarities to those by top-end Mercury and Lincoln models. That bolstered the LTD’s stature while also reinforcing the Ford Motor Company’s hierarchy of brands. This was arguably a more effective ad strategy than that used by GM and Chrysler, which made few connections between their brands.
1969 Mercury Marquis and 1968 Continental Mark III. Click on images to enlarge (Automotive History Preservation Society).
The advertising for the Chevrolet Caprice didn’t operate at the same level as the LTD’s. As a case in point, for 1969 Chevrolet tried to substitute bravado — “Match this, you other 69’s!” — for actually displaying the Caprice’s upper-crust qualities. Even the photography was rather uninspired.
This strikes me as truth in advertising. The 1969 Caprice wasn’t as luxurious of a car as the LTD. Nor did it help that the styling for the 1969-70 full-sized Chevrolet was undercut by “clown pants” fender blisters. The rear fender skirts on the above-shown Caprice accentuate the weirdness of that feature.
It is thus not surprising that 1969 was the year when the LTD began pulling away from the Caprice in sales.
Even after the big Chevrolet was given a major restyling in 1971, the Caprice continued to fall further behind the LTD in production. In 1973 the Ford surpassed 413,000 units whereas the Chevy produced under 213,000 units.
1973 Ford LTD (left) and Chevrolet Caprice ads. Click on images to enlarge (Old Car Advertisements).
A spike in gas prices ends for good the big car’s reign
An oil embargo in late-1973 would decimate sales of low-priced big cars — and they would only partly bounce back in the second half of the 1970s. GM would reassert its leadership in the low-priced field with a 1977 downsized design, but it was a rather hollow victory.
The rise of the LTD could thus be classified as naught but a short-term tactical win for Ford. In the grand scheme of things, it was not a huge deal except to begin showing the downside of GM fielding too many entries in the full-sized field.
Ford’s success would not have occurred if management had stuck to the usual strategy of matching GM model for model rather than trying something different. Ford essentially turned what had been one of GM’s greatest strengths — a three-brand dominance of the premium-priced field — into a weakness.
Yes, but Paul Niedermeyer disagreed . . .
In fairness, I should note that a while back Paul Niedermeyer of Curbside Classic dropped by to say that this article made an “apples-to-oranges” comparison because the base LTD was downgraded so it became “essentially like an Impala.”
Indie Auto doesn’t often get a visit from such an esteemed automotive historian, so I took the time to write a detailed response (go here). As always, my goal was to cultivate a deeper discussion rather than engage in barstool philosophizing.
NOTES:
This story was first posted on Jan. 24, 2022 and expanded on July 5, 2023 and Feb. 11, 2026. Production figures, specifications and prices were drawn from the auto editors of Consumer Guide (2006), Gunnell (2002) and Wikipedia (2020).
RE:SOURCES
- Auto editors of Consumer Guide; 2006. Encyclopedia of American Cars. Publications International, Lincolnwood, Ill.
- Gunnell, John; 2002. Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1946-1975. Revised Fourth Ed. Krause Publications, Iola, WI.
- Wikipedia; 2020. “U.S. Automobile Production Figures.” Page past modified Oct. 4 (no longer available).
BROCHURES & ADVERTISING:
- autohistorypreservationsociety.org: Chevrolet Caprice (1969); Ford LTD (1969); Lincoln Continental Mark III (1968); Mercury Marquis (1969)
- oldcaradvertising.com: Chevrolet Caprice (1973); Ford LTD (1973)
- oldcarbrochures.org: Buick (1978); Chevrolet (1978); Oldsmobile (1978); Pontiac (1978)
In Canada, it’s interesting to mention then the smaller dealership network then Ford have, had gived a Canadian line of models who offered a low-price model to Mercury-Lincoln dealers named Meteor who was in 1969, Mercury bodies with Ford interiors and was one reason why the Monterey wasn’t sold in Canada during that era.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_(automobile)
http://oldcarbrochures.org/Canada/Ford-Canada/Meteor/1969-Meteor-Brochure/index.html
http://oldcarbrochures.org/Canada/Ford-Canada/Mercury/1971-Mercury-Meteor-Brochure/index.html
With respect to LTD vs Caprice advertising in 1969, Ford’s ad agency clearly had the jump on Chevy. Inspired by earlier T-Bird ads, the dramatic angle, lighting and poses of the people (no humans to be found in the Chevy ad) highlight the LTD’s styling to great effect. I can still remember seeing a brand new 1969 black-over-black LTD 4-door hardtop, driving by me, gleaming in early evening summer sunlight, and thinking wow, what an impressive looking car it was. And I’m a Chevy man, lol!
I love the styling of the 4 door Hardtop of the 69 and 70 Ford LTD’s. I wish they would bring the hardtops back. Just a far better looking car than these ugly 4 door sedans we see all over the place.
Here in Australia where we only got one trim level of big Ford (and no Mercuries or Lincolns) the LTD made perfect sense – if you were in the market for a big American car you would expect all the goodies.
What effect did the LTD have on Mercury sales?
Good question, Peter. Let’s hope Steve can provide some data on that. In the meantime, I can imagine Mercury executives having an “Et tu, Brute?” moment upon learning of the LTD, especially as they had been struggling wtih brand identity since Mercury was demoted to sharing Ford chassis and bodies in 1961. Mercury had the reverse-slant Breezeway roofline from 1963-66 but by then it was no longer contemporary or popular. They then went further upmarket with the Park Lane Brougham (4-door sedan) and Marquis (2-door hardtop) in 1967. However, in 1968, LTD was available as a formal-roof two-door hardtop while that year’s Marquis was forced to stick with the fastback roofline it had shared with the 1967 LTD coupe. Perhaps as a consolation, the 1971-72 full-size Mercury did get unique 2-door hardtop styling but after that, all rooflines were shared. The LTD was very good for Ford, not so good for Mercury, I’m surmising. Despite division sales of almost 670,000 cars in 1979, from the mid to late 1970s, full-size Mercurys became much more Ford-like. Even though Grand Marquis became Mercury’s 2nd best-selling nameplate (Cougar was #1), when the last one rolled off the assembly line in 2011, it had been a virtual carbon copy of the (former LTD) Crown Victoria for years which makes one wonder why Ford even bothered.
I guess what saved Mercury’s full-size Marquis’ bacon was these ads aired in the early 1970s and the Cougar roaring at the top of Mercury-Lincoln sign with the announcer mentionning “at the sign of the cat” didn’t hurt either. The jeweler one was also once parodied in Saturday Night Live.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC-YJffPqq0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8It6KFhlsBo
Besides these ads, the remaining line-up Comet, Montego, Cougar, Capri and later Monarch, Bobcat, Zephyr, Lynx, Sable, Tracer also helped Mercury to stay afloat a bit longer. And interesting to note then until 1968, Ford F-series pick-up truck was also sold as Mercury models in Canada as the M-series.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classics-mercury-trucks-we-do-things-a-bit-differently-up-here/
I well remember Mercury trucks. Yes, the marketing certainly helped Mercury, but ultimately Ford lost interest. I don’t see why a Grand Marquis couldn’t have been moved up a notch to cover the Lincoln market under the Mercury brand and then: A) produce a Town Car version for livery services; B) have a new Continental introduced a decade ago to compete with the S-Class Benz and 7-Series BMW. Mercury could possibly have survived this way albeit with a reduced model lineup.
Mercury was killed because Mulalley and his whist kids didnt know what to do with it.The Mercury even at the early 2000’s were popular cars with a place in the market – if mostly seniors. But they got the money right ? And can be stepped up to Lincoln right ? I long admired the Mercury and a few months ago saw a 1965 red Mercury Parklane convertible. It wide gleaming grille and classy lines were incredibly Lincoln like.
To think – they canceled the Grand Marquis only to bring out the hideous Lincoln MKT ? which there was no MarKeT for .
At the same time Olds and Buick were dying . Buick got the nod and is currently enjoying a new golden age. Buick was obviously dreaming big dreams. For cris sake Grand Marquis finally out sold LTD.
Take the Aviator – restyle it and call it the Lincoln- Mercury
G.M. lost focus, and for that I blame Fred Donner and the “car guy” he bullied, the brilliant engineer, John F. Gordon. Ed Cole kept trying to reinvent the automobile while Ford sold less technically “advanced” cars. The L.T.D. and the Marquis addressed Ford’s biggest weaknesses against Chevrolet and the B-O-C cars: Quiet, good ride and luxurious interiors.
!969 was a wonderful year – cars movies music. That it ended with the Manson madness was a typical 1960’s dream – turned nightmare.
I too admired the LTD and Galaxie and frequently walked to the back of the Ford dealer and sat in all the Ford LTD’s. Obviously I veiwed them as elegant middle class cars – exactly as Ford wanted you to.
But there was such as thing as Chevrolet Caprices and Impalas. These vehicles never went without an admiring glance. The Impala was much more frequently seen than the Caprice. But the Impala Custom Coupe was the real star. I had a ride in one – I deemed it finer in style and ride – than Ford LTD.