Buyer’s Digest of better ideas for ’68 Fords
The Original Ford Guide for car buyers who want all the facts before making a purchasing decision. Options and features for 48 models, 5 car lines.
’68 Fords – Mustang
The original designed to be designed by you.
For 1968, The Great Original does even more to make your life livelier. Three great versions — hardtop, convertible, fastback.
All the great standard features you’ve come to expect from Mustang, like a sporty floor-mounted stick shift, all-vinyl upholstery and trim, deep. padded bucket seats, wall-to-wall carpeting.
Four great engines, up to a 390-cu. in. V-8. And dozens of great options that make Mustang the car designed to be designed by you-practical, sporty, or luxurious. All Better Ideas from Ford!
The world’s best-selling station wagons: 12 models for 1968
Wagons are big business at Ford — they’re a complete automobile line in themselves.
This year, see three sizes from the Wagonmaster. 12 models: 7 full-size Fords, 3 intermediates — the Torino Squire and 2 Fairlanes; 2 compact Falcons — the only compact wagons offered by a Big Three car manufacturer.
And Ford’s Magic Doorgate (swings open for people, flips down for cargo) is standard on all Ford, Torino and Fairlane wagons, and a low-cost option on Falcon.
Whatever you’re looking for in a wagon-luxury, low price, real room, true economy — you’ll find at your Ford Dealer’s!
’68 Fords – LTD: Luxury, elegance in 3 styles
LTD by Ford. Luxurious. Finely-crafted. Built solidly and strong. These are the successors to the LTD that a few years ago showed itself quieter than a Rolls Royce.
There are three styles of LTD by Ford for 1968. The 2-Door Hardtop, 4-Door Hardtop and 4-Door Sedans feature rooflines that are distinctive, formal.
Standard interiors are remarkably rich. Satiny cloth-and-vinyl trim. Simulated wood-groin applique on doors and instrument panel. Loop-pile carpeting. Handsome appointments throughout that add up to a level of luxury you might not find in cars costing hundreds of dollars more.
Behind the beauty and value of the LTD by Ford is the solid weight of better ideas, like a new standard 302-cu. in. V-8. And what may well be Ford’s best idea of all-a ride that has been proven so quiet and strong, year after year, test after test, that it makes driving the LTD pure pleasure.
Better ideas in options, too. Like Ford’s SelectShift, the automatic transmission tho! also works like a manual — three forward speeds and reverse. Optional power front disc brakes on all models.
THE QUIET PROOF OF QUALITY
Traditionally, the way to achieve unquestioned quality in o car was to build it by hand … like a fine watch or a piece of custom furniture. Some world-famous examples of handcrafted cars come to mind… Hispano Suizo, Rolls-Royce, Bugatti, Duesenberg.
But, hand-built cars like these cost so much that only the very wealthy can afford them. Some time ago Ford engineers set o tough goal for themselves; to come as near as possible to the standards of quality set by the ultra-expensive luxury cars.
They knew that one characteristic above all separated the world-renowned luxury limousines from the best of the mass production cars built up to that time. It was their almost totally quiet ride.
Achieving a ride so quiet that it gives unmistakable and lasting proof of quality isn’t easy. Adding soundproofing materials to an ordinary mass-production car will cut down the noise level considerably. But Ford engineers weren’t planning just an ordinary car.
The quest for truly quiet quality, in a reasonably priced car like the Ford LTD, required a degree of concentration from Ford engineers that the industry just hadn’t seen before.
It meant top quality materials plus the application of exceptional precision to a manufactured product. It meant big things — like a new, computer-tuned frame that locates body mounts at paints of minimum vibration to keep noise from entering the passenger compartment. It meant little things-like fastening body trim with small nylon “buttons” that never rust or rattle.
It meant a new suspension system that not only soaks up vertical jounces through its deep coil springs, but also “gives” to the rear a fraction of on inch on special rubber bushings, thus “rolling with the punch” to absorb vibration two ways at once. Ford’s massive drive for top quality paid off … the new LTD was quieter than the engineers’ fondest hopes!
To pr.ave conclusively the quietness and quality of their cars, Ford put them to some dramatic tests. A new 1965 Ford LTD was checked for quietness under strictly supervised test conditions … side by side with o $17,000 Rolls-Royce! At 20, 40 and 60 miles per hour the LTD proved quieter.
In 1966, Ford took the LTD to Europe, where connoisseurs in three different countries found the new Ford to be quieter than some of the most expensive luxury cars…
’68 Fords – XL full-sized – Sporty. Convertible or fastback.
XL marks the action-packed Fords. XL convertible, and the most distinctive full-sized fastback around.
Both wear the stripes that specially equipped and specially prepared Ford prototype cars have earned in the heat of European and American racing. Both feature rich standard interiors with oil-vinyl trim and upholstery, simulated walnut appliques, full carpeting. This year XL stands for luxury in a sporty, exciting car.
There’s a lot more to building a performance car·thon pointing on stripes and installing a sporty steering wheel and flashy wheel covers.
And nobody knows this better than the engineers at Ford. Because they learned the hard way… by competing at Indianapolis with the Coyote-Ford, at LeMons and Sebring with the Ford Mark IV, at Watkins Glen with the Lotus-Cosworth-Ford Formula I, and at Daytona and Atlanta with specially prepared and equipped 1967 Fairlanes.
Competing like this takes a lot of doing. But how does a big monufcturer of non-racing passenger cars get involved in worldwide automotive competition at the highest level •.. and why?
It started a long time ago: back in 1932 to be exact. That was when Ford had a better idea for costing a V-8 engine all in one piece. Nobody had ever mass-produced V-8’s like that before. The new method made possible o much lighter, lower-priced, mass-produced engine.
People loved that Ford V-8. Performance enthusiasts of the 1930’s discovered that it was so strong that it could be “hopped” up for over 100 percent increase in power. And so they took it to the races.
Nothing proves the stamina and efficiency of automotive design faster than racing does, and before long ford engineers began to take a keen interest in the progress of their engines — and cars — on the tracks.
The single most important thing Ford development engineers learned from racing was how readily much of the basic strength required in racing could be engineered into o production engine-or other portwithout increasing its cost to you. And so it became almost second nature for Ford engineers to make use of race track technology in designing passenger cars.
For example, when the same engineer who builds a perfectly balanced crankshaft strong enough to run at 7,000 rpm for the 24-hour LeMons race also designs the crankshaft for on LTD engine running 3,400 rpm on the Kansas Turnpike, it’s easy to see how better ideas in performanceproved durability find their way into the Fords you can buy.
In a like manner, the Ford body or chassis engineer who watches Mario Andretti or A. J. Foyt doing 180 mph in a Fairlane prepared and equipped for racing at the Daytona 500-miler knows which better ideas had to go into the car to keep it on the track. Many of the same better ideas, like vibration-absorbing frame torque boxes, help make Fords smoother-riding and quieter.
’68 Fords – Torino: 6 new models. 8 new Fairlanes, too.
Ford introduces a whole new series: Torino. New luxury, with six-passenger roominess in the easy-handling size Fairlane invented. Six models: hardtops, convertible, fastback, sedan and the new Torino Squire wagon.
Torino’s wheelbase is longer than 38 competitors’; gives you smooth, big-car ride and room.
Torino is luxury — intermediate-style. Equip your choice with a whole range of exciting options. This year, go to the top of the intermediate class – with Torino or Fairlane!
’68 Fords – Galaxie 500
Convertible hardtops. Fastback sedans. Custom and Custom 500 Sedans.
Galaxie 500s are where many extras come in as standard equipment… which makes them high on value, but not on cost.
Standard equipment includes special Galaxie 500 moldings and trim, simulated wood-grain applique on the instrument panel, a wide choice of nylon-and-vinyl upholsteries, loop-pile carpeting door-to-door. And the Galaxie 500 is built with computer-tuned frame and vibration-absorbing torque boxes that give all the full-size Fords a remarkably smooth and quiet ride.
These are just a few of the good, strong reasons why the Galaxie 500s one the most popular Fords of all.
For unbeatable economy in a full-sized Ford, there are four Custom and Custom 500 sedans. For solid, more dependable transportation, tasteful styling, and big-car comfort, these Fords cannot be beaten. All in all, the better ideas built into these Ford Galaxies and Customs make them more than a match for far more expensive cars.
WHAT MAKES AN IDEA BETTER?
When engineers and product planners at Ford speak of an idea, they are talking about a concept or design that solves some problem involved in the making of a car.
By a better idea, the men at Ford are referring to a concept or design that brings an improved solution to the problem and thus better serves the cor”s owner.
Car buyers throughout the world have appreciated the baller ideas that Ford Motor Campany has been pulling into its cars over the past 60 years … and that’s one good reason for Ford’s position as one of the world’s top automakers. Here are some of the outstanding better ideas that have helped Ford keep its leadership over the years.
The Model T. It was a better idea because it met the need for low-cost, reliable transportation at o time when other cars were temperamental “rich men’s toys.” The Planetary Transmission was a better idea because it solved the problem of bulky, heavy gearboxes by providing a lightweight, compact and clash-free means of gear change.
It also proved the basic principle of today’s automatic transmission. The Model A embodied a whole list of better ideas that combined exceptional durability and ease of maintenance to make the world’s most long-lived and practical car. Its simple, rugged design solved the problem of the continuing need for efficient, low-cost transportation.
Safety Glass was a better idea to reduce the chance of injury to occupants of the Model A-the first American car to offer a safety gloss windshield as standard equipment. This comes as a welcome answer to the increasing traffic density (with greater chance for accidents) on American roods.
’68 Ford Falcon: 7 models. More than any other compact.
America’s all-time economy champ leads the compact field with seven models for 1968. Futura Sports Coupe, Falcon and Futura Club Coupes, Falcon and Futura 4-door sedans, Falcon and Futura Wagons.
All have the kind of room Americans want in a compact car-big enough for up to six adults-and plenty of luggage space 112.3 cu. ft). Falcon engines easily handle the cruising and passing speeds necessary for American highways. And Falcon’s all-time economy record has never been topped.
As the leading maker of recreation and lowing vehicles, Ford has kept close to America’s growing interest in outdoor living on wheels. All the 1968 Fords have been designed with an eye to recreational use, and with the addition of a few designed-for-recreation options, will serve dozens of different recreational needs.
Every Ford passenger car is easy riding and roadable, full of Better Ides That make recreational travel safer and more enjoyable.
Ford, the Wagonmaster, makes station wagon living more fun than ever before, with Better Ideas like the Magic Doorgate that swings out like a door for easy entry or loading, or flips down like a tailgate to serve as a picnic table.
If your fun follows you in or on a trailer, be sure to hitch it ta a Ford. With a few of Ford’s options, any of the 48 ’68s from Ford can be tailored to tow… with the greatest of ease.
If you like your recreation off the beaten path, don’t miss the ’68 Ford Bronco. Its rugged, four-wheel-drive versatility and short wheelbase take you where the fun begins … and the roads end! Bronco’s built to take it … wherever you take it!
’68 Fords – Thunderbird: 2-door. 4-door. 6-passenger room.
The car that is unique in all the world once again outdistances all other personal luxury cars.
This year, the Bird offers you more choice than ever. Choice of models:-2-Door Hardtop, 2-Door Landau and 4-Door Landau. Choice of front seating plans — buckets or new full-width bench seats. Choice of passenger room (4, 5 or 6). What other personal luxury car offers you so much?
