
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:

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.

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1981 Ford LTD Pictures
Click below for enlarged images