This is a large format dealer piece for the 1972 Fords, 18" x 11". I've only found this one folio, consisting of the front and back covers, featured here, and the inside covers featuring a page for the Pinto and a page for the Thunderbird. I have no doubt the rest of the interior pages fell out and are probably in another of my brochure cartons. I have 7-8 large cartons full of dealer literature, and will get around to totally organizing them at some point. I've scanned these two images large enough to be able to read and to enjoy the illustrations. This is an early promo piece, with a litho date of 8/71. The Pinto Wagon and Squire were introduced in February of '72, too late for this piece.
This is the year my dad bought a new LTD Brougham 2 door coupe in Light Gray Metallic with a black vinyl roof and a black interior, with the optional high-back "Twin Comfort Lounge" split front seats. My dad was 6'3" and my mom was 4'10" so they always tried to have either bucket seats or divided front seats like the LTD's. This is the car I drove to my high school proms, otherwise totally forgettable evenings for me, lol.
• For the Wiki on the Pinto click here, Most of the information seems correct to me, except for the price. Wikis states it was "close to $1,850" but I remember distinctly it was $1,919 for the 2 door base coupe.
Thanks,Casey
ReplyDeleteLook at all those wonderful car colors on the cover !
The two tone green Maverick hood is downright elegant.
Didn't the Pinto and Maverick colors options have fun pun -like names ? Or was that Chrysler ? Who offered 'Thanks Vermillion?'
The bright ,early 70s hues in the clothing make for great eye catching accents.The red shirt in the back, over to the white boots,then the purple jacket and the super blue collar,then up front to that incredible head scarf. Gold and, is that Ultra Violet?
I have a few vintage coats in a similar cut to the
one worn by the man at the Gran Tornino .I love those collars .The jackets were cut long and tight!
A real treat for the eyes, Casey ! Just the thing for a cold, rainy evening.Thanks.
AP
Malibu
Hi AP. Yes, Thanks Vermillion was a Ford color for the Maverick. Chrysler had great names for some of its bright "youth"colors too, like Tor Red, Hulla Blue, In Violet among others. AMC had what they call "Big Bad" colors, such as Big Bad Blue, Big Bad Orange and Big Bad Green, very bright hues. I don't remember GM ever following that trend though. Even the bright orange paint used on the first GTO Judge was called Carousel Red I believe, not exactly "punny" Of course, the car itself, was the youth reference, referring to Laugh In's "Here Comes da Judge" skit.
ReplyDeleteI wish this cover wasn't as marked up as it is, but at least it's still here after 38 years, most of those cars aren't. It still shocks me when I think that 1972 was 38 years ago, almost 39.
Hi Casey,
ReplyDelete"Tor Red, Hulla Blue "! Fantastic .
The names of those colors were very light hearted and fun . A marketing approach I don't think we saw again until the revival of the Mini Cooper.
Here Come Da Judge- of course. I remember clearly ! It was everywhere that year- i wonder if GM ever paid Dewey ' Pigmeat ' Markham a royalty ?
38 years ago I was in my first band doing cover versions of songs by "new artists" like Led Zeppelin , Black Sabbath and all-the-young-dudes like Lou Reed and Bowie .
To me, back then in 1972, 1982 looked like the far, far end of time.
This was a great era, though, for cars. 71 was the full sized restyle for GM and 72 for Ford, correct ? Little did we realize this was the beginning of the end of the big American car!
AP
Ford/Mercury full sizers were restyled for '71, just like GM's large cars. They kept the 121" wheelbase from '69 and '70 (123" for Mercury I believe). The '72s were facelifted slightly.
ReplyDeleteThe '72 Torino/Monteo lineups were brand new, and changed to a 2 wheelbase format, like GM had been doing, but slightly longer. Ford's intermediate coupes were 114" and the sedans were 118" as opposed to 112"/116" for GM. Chrysler's intermediates were new for '71 also, and they switched to the two wheelbase format too: I think 115" for coupes and 117" for sedans. GM was very influential in those days!
I was never a fan of Led Zep or Black Sabbath, but I'm still a huge Lou Reed and Bowie fan. Well, a fan of their music 'til about the mid '80s. I listen to Heroes quite often.
In that same era, our cat Kitty Jo had four little kittens: Elmer (calico stripes), The Bobsey Twins (yellow and white stripes) and The Judge (black with a smidgen of white) he was the runt and when he wobbled down the hall we would all yell, "Here comes the judge" ...
ReplyDelete...music, cars and cats (from out of left field)...
Ah! I stand corrected . 1971 !
ReplyDeleteBetween 69 to 72, each US luxury maker got a major restyle,one right after the other. Correct? And here you point out the sweeping changes in the standard lines and intermediates -So much at once !
Black Sabbath ! My high school band members were into Black Sabbath . One had to compromise back then if one wanted to be in a band . Play nice with others, right? Personally I thought Sabbath catchy,but kind of silly with all the bad rhymes about bats and wizards and blood and witches and that sort of Halloween thing. Still, this is how we learn the craft ...
I loved Bowie . The Hunky Dory record was an incredibly aggressive acoustic work that really wised me up as a teen .
Heros !! What mood ! Ambiguity. Imagery . Beauty. The song itself seems so simple and yet bafflingly complex . Most musicians and songwriters I know stands in awe of that composition .
When I was in the SF punk scene in 78 , Heros was "our' song. That was our record for romance!
Annie,in 1971 my mom was too broke to get the cat fixed so we had litter after litter after litter !
AP
PS
ReplyDeleteAnd Casey, thank you so much for all the information regarding the 1971 Ford restyle..
AP
let's see, Luxury cars:
ReplyDelete1969 saw the Imperial completely restyled, basically using the regular Chrysler bodies, which it hadn't done since the mid '50s. I think by '70 it was actually marketed as the Chrysler Imperial, instead of Imperial by Chrysler, a small distinction, but Imperial was no longer a separate marque. In '72 it was facelifted heavily, with new lower body and new rooflines for the coupes. Then in'74 it received a new body and died in '75 to be replaced the New Yorker, which used the Imperial body.
Cadillac, as well as all of GM's large cars. was competely redesigned for '69, and then '71.
Lincoln started using Ford's separate body and frame in 1970, instead of the unibody platform it had used since 1961. BTW, the '58-60 was a unibody as well, the largest ever I believe, but it was massively downsized for those classic '61s. In '70 Lincoln lost its suicide doors forever. Its a shame they did!
OK, time for coffee!
FOMOCO held new car preview shows every summer for their employees on the design studio campus in Dearborn. Needless to say, once I became aware of them they became an annual event that we didn't miss! The 1972 preview show was the first (to my recollection) that I attended. You jarred my memory with the brochure illustrated here - this was the Ford division brochure available for everyone at the show. Of course all the Lincolns and Mercurys were there too. 1972 introduced the new intermediates, the Gran Torino & Montego, as well as the new Thunderbird and Mark IV. I loved all four of them. IMHO, at least at that time, they were massive improvements over the preceding models, and of course, they were the stars of the show. We also spent quite a bit of time pouring over the 1972 Pinto, my Dad intending to buy one later that Fall.
ReplyDeleteI can't describe how cool these shows were. They were like a private little auto show in a perfect setting. The last I recall attending was in 1977. I don't know if it was my age, 18, or if Ford had discontinued the shows, but I don't remember the 78 show. (It was probably the former)
Nevertheless, the 72's started it all. Thanks for taking me down memory lane.
Wow. You do pretty great before coffee! It was a great era. Things changed rapidly. Abundantly .
ReplyDeleteDo you have any insight as to why the suicide doors were abandoned? They were such a strong characteristic ! It always struck me odd they got rid of it. Were they a victim of the new safety consciousness or aesthetics?
Those big coffin nosed 1970 Lincolns would have looked great with suicide doors!
AP
Oh yes, those 70 Lincolns would have been great with the suicide doors. I think rather than a safety issue it was a marketing issue -- just like Chrysler's abandonment of push-button automatics. It was just too different. Although all the 60s Lincolns were wonderful, sales really started to take off in the 70s when they became more mainstream.
ReplyDeleteThe early 70s were the heyday of colors both for paint and for interior choices. We may never see their like again!!
Paul, NYC
Thats a good point,Paul.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about your reply today and guessed the following: It was probably the Marketing Dept. in conjunction with Accounting. They must have figured it was more profitable for Lincoln to share door design with the big Mercs .
As you point out, the sales numbers proved they were "right."
You are also right about colors and interior choices.
I guess I cant buy a CTS-V with brocade seats these days!
AP
Malibu
My uncle bought a '72 LTD Brougham, 2-door dark brown with dark brown vinyl roof and the 429 4-barrel V-8. He put mag wheels on it and dark tint for the windows (he lived in Florida). I believe he still has it after a few hundred thousand miles on it.
ReplyDeleteForgot one thing: It also had the OPERA WINDOWS!
ReplyDeleteNo, here's why the suicide doors were abandoned. They saw the movie "The Seven-Ups" ('70s cop movie -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070672/), where the bad guys locked the doors of a '60s Continental with handcuffs in a car wash so they could take a suitcase filled with money out of the trunk. Or something like that.
ReplyDeleteI loved our '72 LTD Brougham coupe, so tasteful, so elegant!
ReplyDeleteIf your uncle's had opera windows it had to be a '75 or newer. They had slim vertical opera windows in the B pillar, as they had moved away from pillarless styling after '74:
http://www.motorspain.com/coches/Ford/1975_Ford_LTD_Landau_Coupe_f3q_B_W.jpg
Maybe they weren't "opera windows" -- they were oval (shaped like the Ford logo, now that you mention it) in the C pillar. It was either a '71 or '72.
ReplyDeletehmmm. those sound like the ones on the '72 and newer Mark IV. Maybe your uncle had them added along with the tinted glass and mags! The C pillar was VERY wide on those LTD Brougham coupes.
ReplyDeleteWell, there's at least one other out there: http://img1.classistatic.com/cps/po/100914/998r7/1307n05_27.jpeg (My uncle did not have THOSE mag wheels, I would point out.)
ReplyDeleteYears before that, he owned one of the Fords with the retractable hardtop.
yeah, that's aftermarket. Ford kept the ovals for Lincoln. When they used similar windows on the Tbird and Gran Torino, they were sort of parallelograms, with hard corners. Or small dual opera windows on each side like the Elite used. Remember the TRIPLE windows on the Charger SEs? I have a couple of Matchbox-sized Johnny Lightning's of those disco-era Chargers. They make awesome little cars.
ReplyDelete