1981 Ford LTD Crown Victoria Sedan
1981 Ford LTD Crown Victoria Sedan

There are two devious things hidden in the words and images of this seemingly innocent print ad for the 1981 Ford LTD lineup. First, there were actually eight LTD models available in ’81, not six as depicted here. And—and this is important—though the six trim levels depicted seem equally important, in truth, the buying public vastly preferred two LTD variants above all the others, but you wouldn’t know it from the happy-family portrait seen here.

1981 Ford LTD

First, about the missing models: In addition to the standard sedan and coupe, the premium Crown Victoria sedan and coupe, the standard wagon and premium Country Squire wagon, Ford also made available a pair of bargain-basement “S” offerings, one a sedan, one a wagon.

Why aren’t the S models seen here? We don’t know for sure, but suspect that the cheap LTD offerings were meant to help retailers close deals with buyers on very tight budgets. There’s a good chance that most dealerships ordered just a few S models for the year, and kept them on the lot for just such situations.

But were the S models popular? And which LTD trim level was most popular? Let’s break this down. Per The Encyclopedia of American Cars, we have learned the following:

 

1981 Ford LTD ad
1981 Ford LTD ad

Crown Victoria Sedan

Base price: $8384

Inflation Adjusted: $28,800

1981 sales: 39,139

Percent of 1981 LTD sales: 30%

 

Standard Sedan

Base price: $7718

Inflation Adjusted: $26,500

1981 sales: 35,392

Percent of 1981 LTD sales: 27%

 

S Sedan

Base price: $7527

Inflation Adjusted: $25,900

1981 sales: 17,490

Percent of 1981 LTD sales: 13%

 

Crown Victora Coupe

Base price: $8251

Inflation Adjusted: $28,400

1981 sales: 11,061

Percent of 1981 LTD sales: 8

 

Standard Wagon

Base Price: $8180

Inflation adjusted: $28,100

1981 sales: 10,554

Percent of 1981 LTD sales: 8

 

Country Squire (wagon)

Base Price: $8640

Inflation adjusted: $29,700

1981 sales: 9443

Percent of 1981 LTD sales: 7

 

Standard Coupe

Base Price: $7607

Inflation adjusted: $26,200

1981 sales: 6279

Percent of 1981 LTD sales: 5%

 

S Wagon

Base Price: $7942

Inflation adjusted: $27,300

1981 sales: 2465

Percent of 1981 LTD sales: 2%

 

Interestingly, nearly 60 percent of all LTD sales in 1981 came from just two models: The standard sedan and the Crown Victoria sedan. And, only 15 percent of sales came from the cheapo S models. As the S sedan, for example, was only $191 (about $650 today) less expensive than the standard sedan We suspect that the subtracted equipment and lower-grade cabin trim found in the S made it an unappealing option for most car shoppers–especially given the modest cost savings.

Contrary to how many of us remember things, station wagons did not make up a very large percentage of overall Sales. Sedans were most popular, accounting for 70 percent of LTDs sold in 1981. Wagons came next at just 17 percent, and coupes just 13 percent.

All told, Ford retailed a total of 131,823 1981 LTDs, and now you know the secrets behind that number, hidden in this very misleading ad.

1981 Ford LTD ad
1981 Ford LTD Crown Victoria Sedan

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1981 Ford LTD Pictures

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