Not El Tedious Anymore: 1985 Ford LTD LX 5.0

The Ford LTD (pronouced el-tee-dee) was first built in 1965 on the Galaxie platform as a top of the line for Ford’s full sized offerings. In 1979 the LTD was downsized to Ford’s Panther platform and in 1983 it was turned into a midsized thing on Ford’s Fox platform…which was a good thing for people who enjoyed a fun driving experience. The new rack-and-pinion steering, unibody construction, and drivetrain/suspension parts shared with the Mustang meant the LTD finally went from making its drivers sick to making its passengers sick. Find this 1985 Ford LTD LX 5.0 offered for $6000 in Berkeley, CA via craigslist. Tip from Rock On!

From the seller:

1985 Ford LTD LX
VIN: 1FABP39M4FG183548
condition: good
cylinders: 8 cylinders
drive: rwd
fuel: gas
odometer: 250000
odometer broken
paint color: white
size: mid-size
title status: clean
transmission: manual
type: sedan
Finally getting rid of my 1985 LTD LX, it’s smogged and ready to go!

It has a stock 1985 non roller 5.0 H.O. with low miles, I installed a new water pump and thermostat.
There’s a remanufactured Holley 600 CFM carb on a stock 4v Ford dual plane manifold with BBK shorty headers and some Mac Pro Dump mufflers.
I ran a stock Duraspark ignition system with a MSD Blaster 3 coil, the distributor is brand new.
I did a 5 speed conversion with the trans tunnel hump and a world class T5 out of a fox Mustang.
The trans is in good condition, shifts and feels good.
The engine runs great with no issues, there’s still lots of power, cooling system is optimal.
The exhaust sounds really good. It’s very loud when at higher RPM’s but the idle is nice and smooth.

Here’s a video of the engine running:
https://youtu.be/gSJ4zNzHlC4

The body is good condition, up close it has some small scratches and a few small dents. It has some rust on the rear upper corners on the trunk on the body. They were sealed but it needs to be treated again and resealed.

Things that don’t work:
Air conditioning
Cruise control
Rear RH power window
Speedometer

The body and rear end have about 250,000 miles on them. I’m unaware of the actual mileage on this car as I swapped the speedo a few times in the past 10 years that I’ve owned the car. The front control arms were replaced about 40,000 miles ago. It also has the bigger 87-93 GT front brake conversion with good brakes/drilled and slotted rotors. All of the doors and trunk weather-strips are newer, changed in the last year. I can’t think of anything else free to ask any questions.

This LTD LX is built on the Foxbody platform, so all aftermarket suspension and engine parts for a Fox body Mustang can be bolted on with no modifications, with the exception of subframe connectors.

I just had the car smogged last month on 11/24/2020. In California a buyer has 90 days from the date the car was smogged to transfer the title to keep the smog status.

The LTD is located in Berkeley. Hella Clean, $6000

See a better way to drive an LTD? tips@dailyturismo.com