Collectible Automobile’s June 2024 issue does an unusually good job of discussing why low-priced big cars took a nosedive in sales during 1970-74. However, the magazine’s article by Sam Fiorani (2024) didn’t say much about one of the most important stories of that time period — the rise of the Ford LTD.
Fiorani draws upon production data to paint a picture of a marketplace going through dramatic change. “Where the senior Chevrolet and Ford commanded more than 21 percent of the market in in 1969, those same offerings held just 11 percent in ’74 and there would be further losses” (2024, p. 54).
That was a huge drop, and Fiorani rightly notes that it began well before a gas crisis in 1973. He adds the journalistic tidbit that John Z. DeLorean stated that declining big-car sales in 1970 would be only temporary. Yet DeLorean later bragged that, just prior to moving from heading Pontiac to Chevrolet, he had championed a lineup of much more space-efficient mid-sized cars that top GM management ultimately refused to build (Wright, 1979; p. 182).
What’s curious is why Fiorani doesn’t discuss how Ford used the LTD to undercut the sales dominance of Chevrolet’s Impala. Instead, he notes the steady decline of the Galaxie 500. That’s certainly part of the story. From 1966 to 1974 the mid-level Ford saw its output fall by a whopping 79 percent.
However, another part of the story is that Ford more quickly responded than Chevrolet or Plymouth to shifting buyer preferences for luxurious big cars by expanding its LTD lineup in 1970. One result is that by 1975 total big-Ford sales were running neck and neck with Chevrolet’s (go here for further discussion).
Buyers moved away from economy and sporty models
The LTD’s success is one indication of how the priorities of buyers substantially changed as the big car devolved from dominating the U.S. market to becoming a niche product. The graph below sheds light on this shift by breaking out the production of 1965-74 big Chevrolet, Ford and Plymouth models by series.
Let’s first talk nomenclature. “Entry-level 1” refers to the the bottom-end Chevrolet Biscayne, Ford Custom and Fury I. By the same token, “Entry-level 2” is the Bel Air, Custom 500 and Fury II. “Mid-level” is the Impala, Galaxie 500 and Fury III. “Sporty series” is the Impala SS, XL and Sport Fury; and “Luxury series” is the Caprice, LTD (in base and Brougham versions) and VIP/Gran series.
The proportion of entry-level models fell from a third of total output in 1965 to under 8 percent in 1974. Meanwhile, sporty models disappeared by 1972. Wagons saw relatively stable production prior to the oil crisis, although their proportion of total output increased from 16 percent in 1965 to almost 27 percent in 1974 due to a decline in the overall sales of low-priced big cars.
Ford had smallest output decline primarily due to LTD
Mid-level models gyrated from a peak of 60 percent of low-priced, big-car production in 1968 to under 53 percent in 1974. The biggest winner was luxury nameplates, which rose from under 4 percent of total output in 1965 to 34 percent in 1974. From 1972-74 Ford hovered around 60 percent of that segment.
Primarily because of the strength of the LTD, Ford saw the smallest output decline from 1965-74 — almost 53 percent. Plymouth was off by 59 percent and Chevrolet by almost 62 percent.
Also see ‘The 1965-73 Ford LTD may not have impacted Mercury very much’
Perhaps almost as importantly, Ford presumably generated higher revenue in 1974 from its big cars because LTDs made up 52 percent of its production. That was more than twice as much as Chevrolet’s Caprice (25 percent) and Plymouth’s Gran series (15 percent).
Simply put, Ford was crushing it — but you would have to do your own calculations from the production tables in Fiorani’s article to figure that out.
NOTES:
Production figures and specifications came from the auto editors of Consumer Guide (2006) Fiorani (2024) and Gunnell (2002).
Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.
RE:SOURCES
- Auto editors of Consumer Guide; 2006. Encyclopedia of American Cars. Publications International, Lincolnwood, Ill.
- Fiorani, Sam; 2024. “1970-74 Chevrolet Versus Ford: The Full-Size Car Reaches a Turning Point.” Collectible Automobile. June issue: pp. 43-55.
- Gunnell, John; 2002. Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1946-1975. Revised 4th Ed. Krause Publications, Iola, WI.
- Wright, J. Patrick; 1979. On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors. Wright Enterprises, Grosse Pointe, MI.
ADVERTISING & BROCHURES:
- oldcarbrochures.org: Chevrolet Caprice (1972); Ford LTD (1972); Plymouth Gran (1972)
Interesting to note then the Impala for 1975 was available with high back seats in Mexico. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ifhp97/39485550534/in/photostream/
Then another factor who could have played a role at Chevrolet was the rise of the Monte Carlo and the Oldsmobile Cutlass who could have attracted some Caprice/Impala buyers.
Informative and enjoyable article, as always. I would note one correction: the picture of the interiors offered by Chevrolet, Ford, and Plymouth is mislabeled. The top picture is the Chevrolet, the middle picture is the Ford, and the bottom is the Plymouth. I point that out only to provide further justification for why buyers were drawn to the LTD, the most attractive interior of the three offered. Keep up the good work, always look forward to reading it.
Yup, moving too quickly. Thank you for the heads up, Kurt.
Stephane Dumas is absolutely correct: Why buy an Impala SS with a 454 when you could in 1970 buy a Monte Carlo with a 454 and / or an Oldsmobile Cutlass with a 455 with luxury equal to the bigger cars, if the right options were selected. Although the Torino GT was not, in my opinion, as luxurious as either the Monte Carlo or the Cutlass Supreme, one could order the Ford, the Cougar and the Montego GT / Cyclone with a 428. The 1971-1976 G.M. full-size cars were too big and only the 1971-1973 Chevys and big Oldsmobiles were winners as the Pontiacs and Buicks (after 1972) lost their styling mojo. The 120-inch intermediate station wagon wheelbase could have been the new basis for full-size Chevrolets, Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles while Buicks and Cadillacs could share both a 124 and 126-inch wheelbases. (I guess the Sixty-Special and the Model 75 limo span could be either on a 129 or 133-inch wheelbase.) The 1971-1976 G.M. cars and the “halo” cars: Riviera, Toronado and Eldorado painted G.M. into a corner by 1974. For Ford, 1973-1974 showed the error of Lee Iacocca’s product-planners with the exception of the Ford Granada / Mercury Monarch, the Fairmont / Zephyr and Iacocca’s beloved Fox-platform Mustang / Capri. I have never understood why it took almost four-years for Ford to down-size the full-size cars until the fall of 1978 when G.M. launched the down-sized full-size cars in late September, 1977. Chrysler, of course, was out of money.
Actually, GM showed its downsized full-size cars in late September 1976, September 1977 was the turn of its downsized mid-size line-up to be shown with the ill-fated fastback sedans for the Buick Century and Oldsmobile Cutlass.
I saw a running ’73 LTD 4 door hardtop in Oklahoma yesterday. Not much rust and it looked like a daily driver. They’d stripped off the vinyl top and painted over it. That’s what, a 51 yr old car? That would have been like me seeing a Model A daily driver on the street as a teen. Made me miss my LTD a bit.
By the early 1970s, traditional big cars were what your parents – or grandparents – drove. The stripped versions were mainly sold as fleet cars or police cars, while retail buyers went for as much luxury as their car budget could bear. It thus makes sense that the low-price marque that did the best job in offering “low-cost luxury” would also do the best at weathering that change. It was during this era that full-size cars stopped being “all things to all people.”
That same dynamic was spurring other changes in the full-size market. During the 1970s, sales of the medium-price big cars – particularly after the first gas crunch – remained strong. For example, the downsized 1977 Chevrolet was hailed as a big success for selling about 600,000 units. That was less than half of what the full-size Chevrolet had sold in 1965. Meanwhile, if I recall correctly, sales of the big Oldsmobiles and Buicks (including both the B- and C-bodies) held up well in the late 1970s, even when compared to their 1965 sales figures.
Over at Chrysler Corporation, the C-body Chrysler staged a modest recovery in sales after 1975, while the big Dodges and Plymouths had their sales decimated by the first fuel crunch, and never recovered. A large part of full-size Plymouth and Dodge production went to taxi cab companies and police departments after 1975.
I believe the same thing happened at Ford Motor Company. The full-size Ford staged a modest recovery after 1975, but still sold in numbers far below its mid-1960s heyday. Meanwhile, full-size Mercurys sold well, even after Mercury abandoned the cheaper Monterey series in the U.S.