As requested, my LTD. I had spent 7 years living away from Perth with work and finally got a posting to WA. I was getting married, so the HQ panel van I had bought mainly as somewhere to sleep when driving interstate had to go eventually. I had had my fair share of dramas and good times with it....... but it really was a "Monday" car - I had had all sorts of dramas with it - worst being the bellhousing shatter at Eucla and the gearbox drop out - but that is another story. I was sick of it anyway - and had always wanted a ZF/ZG Fairlane. I liked the Fairlanes as they had "some level of interior." The thing I couldn't get over was the base Aussie cars lack of fittings. The interiors were so bland and had NOTHING in them. My HQ looked very plasticky and unfinished. My Dad had an old 69 Toyota Crown he got for almost nothing 7 years old, and the dash was amazing compared to local cars. Mum had a Hillman Hunter GT that cost little - full instrumentation. HQ had a fuel gauge and acres of plastic. I added every gauge I could think of to the HQ. So - mid 1980 while looking for a ZF/ZG - saw a 1973 LTD at a yard in Fremantle for $5000. About $1300 trade for the van. The LTD had a great interior. Yes, the woodgrain was plastic - but looked better than the ultra cheap looking black plastic in the XA/ZF's. All I added to the LTD was a mech temp gauge, and a tacho (in place of the clock). And so many of the fittings were very good, solid, and had a quality feel to them. Like the heat/cool/vent slides. And the leather was REALLY good quality. So off I went. And immediately felt the fuel cost. :-) Like every car, the LTD was a mix of good and bad. I don't mod things because "everyone does"; I do it to make them work. And in Perth in summer with aircon on - it just didn't work. Early on I was put onto some "experts" (as didn't know much about Ford V8's), and quickly realised their knowledge was "Davo reckons...... and Jonno has had...... pub lore". If you asked anything specific, it was "why do you/well, he reckons......." I bought some HP books, and in ten minutes, knew more than the so called "experts." (In those days, HP books and the manuals were the go.) There were experts around, but ordinary people like me didn't have access to them. The problem was that the LTD had some mods to make it quiet (luxury). The cooling system was BRILLIANT. I am not a fan of engine driven fans/shrouds; but this one was GREAT. HUGE fan and efficient clutch that slipped completely unless hot in traffic. I had had an elec fan on the HQ, so put twin elec fans on the LTD. It ran hotter. I went back to the engine fan. It really was that HUGE and very good. But my car in 40 degrees with aircon on was cutting out in traffic while temp was at 85 degrees on temp gauge. The problem was with the induction. While the Cleveland was a superior engine to the small block (Windsor) in many ways (huge breathing/valves etc); the W had one huge advantage - water heated manifold. So only get to 100 degrees max. My LTD had an exhaust heated manifold (What the?) which is GREAT in the snow in Chicago - but useless here. A blowtorch on the carby and wonder why vapour lock??? Ford added to that with a HUGE air cleaner that was bigger to silence induction noise - so it completely covered/shrouded the carby - and held the heat. I tried blocking off the exhaust heat like the performance books said - but lousy vaporisation. So - I made a 1 inch thick mica spacer, added a 600 4BBL Holley, and cut the outside off the air cleaner to make it like a sports one. (I was married and poor - couldn't afford aftermarket.) From then on = perfect. The induction noise wasn't a problem, as I had twin sports exhaust. I added XAGT bonnet scoops as well. Subtle, but looked ok. It was a love hate car. So many amazing things. So many surprisingly cheap/flimsy things. Good. Ultra heavy duty driveline. Rear ventilated discs - first on an Aussie car = brilliant (but lousy park brake arrangement.) But this shows how people's "I don't understand = must be stupid = bad rep" comes about. The brakes when I got it were terrible. The rears didn't work, so the fronts locked up. So to stop, you had to let off the brakes, and re-apply carefully. NOT what you want in a panic stop. Had huge brakes, didn't work. Made no sense. I went to three brake places, all said same. "They don't work/are a failure/Ford's first try/given up on them/get brakes off a Falcon." Hmmm. I removed the rear brake relief valve (same as a GT) - it had some black stuff in it. Cleaned it - PERFECT!!!!! Brakes were GREAT from then on. When I got it, it had done 70,000 miles. It was already on it's second engine. Book in the glove box for a "Ford engine" (like you get for a plant engine for a generator etc); so I assume the guy had bought a "new" engine from Ford - when most would go recon. So 7 years old and on second engine??? First trip away I had a core plug rust through. Then the heater tap "dissolved" (pressed tin). I replaced all the "tin" fittings with copper or stainless steel. (Offcuts in tube from work). Replaced the original wheels (15 inch - hardly ANY tyres that size around then) with 14" chrome wheels. Went to get wheel alignment. Guy couldn't do it. Ball joints all worn out. Snail cam bolts stripped. After I fixed the ball joints and got alignment, guy said "Tack weld those if you can - otherwise first pot hole, they'll move." Ultra light front end. The weird. Had the biggest wheel bearings I had ever seen on a car - and one failed, very noisy. Book says you HAVE TO REPLACE ENTIRE AXLE as "bearing not serviceable." Took it to my bearing place, and they said that was sus. They pressed it off/replaced. New axle was a fortune. I changed mine to a manual. Bought a box and everything from an XYGT - then sold my FMX to another XYGT guy who wanted to fit an auto. Used my tailshaft. I happened to mention it while I was at the bearing place. I asked where I could get my tailshaft cut/welded. Old guy next to me said "Mustangs did that - just get an adptor uni". Universal joint where one side is LTD shaft size, other is slip yoke size. He gave me an old one - which was great, because every place I went to and said I needed that, they said "No such thing!!" Had to show it before they would believe it. That came with an 11 inch clutch. While everyone raves over the twin 9 1/2 clutch of GT fame; Ford used the twin 9.5 in the F100 6's. They used the 11 inch in the F100 V8's; so I figured it was heavier duty. While the 2.75 rear was very tall - in those days before overdrive, it gave me about 27mph per 1,000 RPM cruising. Loved it. Once you got it mobile, it was great for towing. I had a huge heavy boat, and it handled that no worries. I towed my Uncles 55 Chev on a car trailer to my Dad's place - passing a truck up a hill on the highway - plenty of power, no worries. I added lights to the red filler strip between the tail lights and other little bits and pieces. The LTD engine was the first of the "4V with 2V heads." Originally, ONLY GT's had the 4v large valve/port heads. The smaller heads were called "2v" because they ONLY came with 2BBL manifold. So - 2V manifold/2V heads - 4V manifold/4V heads. Easy. Problem was, as cars got "softer" after the "GTHO scare", progressive updates got the 2V (V = venturi) heads and 4V manifolds - so confusing. I wonder how many people bought a "4V engine" and found out that under that 4V manifold were 2V heads? The LTD was the first engine I know of to use the "small port (2V) heads with a 4V manifold." By the time the last XB GT's came out, they were doing the same; and so many cars ended up with 4V manifold with the small port heads. But that was ok; they were Clevelands, and the "small" ones were very free flowing anyway, as Cleveland design started big; unlike the W that started as a 260 and stretched to 351. I had it until 88 and I separated from my then wife. I left it with her so she would have something reliable to drive the kids around. It seemed reliable, but the body had just fallen apart. Rust in bad places. It wouldn't start one day about 2 years later. On those engines they fitted plastic teeth to the cam sprocket to make them quieter (what the?) and the plastic had broken up. I bought it back not going for $1,000. Went around and fixed it. Drove it home - clutch slipping badly - only JUST made it home. When I got there it slipped completely and refused to budge. I fixed the clutch. I sold it to a mate of a mate for $2000. I drove it to work a few times to make sure it was ok - but by then I had a 1969 XJ6 Jaguar - and the LTD felt very primitive by comparison. He apparently blew it up and then wrecked it after doing burnouts. :-( So that is that. I will attach some pics. Some of the glove box book. I think the corner was torn off for privacy of owner. The car was originally black apparently. Resprayed blue. Cheers. :-)