Any Ford LTD Experts Here?

[DWalt]

Last week, I was rearranging the mess in my garage when I uncovered a box of auto trim I have carried around for many years and had forgotten about. About 35 pounds of it. Mainly badges, nameplates, and hood ornaments from all sorts and makes of cars and trucks. It appears most everything dates from the 70s-80s. I am going to attempt unloading most of the stash on eBay as it seems some of those components I have are selling for pretty good money today. Anyway with some help from various websites and eBay, I have pretty well identified and dated most everything except for some wreath badges which I am fairly certain are from some model of the 1970s Ford LTD. I have nine of those. They are definitely not Cadillac wreaths. Problem is that after a lot of searching I cannot find any wreaths like these anywhere. And believe me, I have pulled up about every good picture of the 1970s LTDs I could find to see if anything like those show up on a picture. The LTDs do have a smaller LTD logo inside a wreath on their rear pillar posts, but they all seem to be one piece. Note in my picture, mine also have two small screw holes at about 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock. Also, there is no Ford part number on any of these wreaths that I can see. So can anyone recognize what these wreaths are and where they were mounted on the car?

 

[Buford57]

Trunk lock?

 

[s&wchad]

That's a Cadillac wreath, probably off a Fleetwood or Eldorado from the '70's.
They had them on the wheels, body and interior. I have no idea where that came from.

 

[Onomea]

This one is on eBay and listed as a 1973 Ford Galaxie LTD Shield Chrome Trim Ornament Wreath:



(Try a Google Image search.)

 

[DWalt]

That's a Cadillac wreath, probably off a Fleetwood or Eldorado from the '70's.
They had them on the wheels, body and interior. I have no idea where that came from.

The Caddy wreath design is noticeably different in several important details if you look at them side by side. The picture of the LTD pillar post (aka Roof Sail Panel) badge shown immediately above uses the same wreath design, except the wreath and the logo are on the same casting. I have several of those badges also. My wreath is separate and free standing. Also note that my wreath pictured has two screw or rivet holes. The LTD pillar post badge does not. I guess it could surround a door or trunk lock, which was my first thought, but I have not seen a picture of an LTD showing that. Maybe on a more deLuxe model? Maybe something used on the interior?

 

[Onomea]

1969 Ford Galaxie 500 LTD Roof Sail Panel Wreath Emblem:

 

[Ματθιας]

I'm also thinking it could be ford or mercury brougham. It might be an emblem that's on the steering wheel center.

 

[DWalt]

I pulled up pictures of the 74 LTD Brougham. At least for that year it seems to have the same sail (pillar post) badge as all other LTDs. Also no external wreaths alone are evident anywhere on the exterior. Only on the hood ornament and pillar badge. I will check Mercury again. I did look at some Mercury pictures, did not see a similar wreath.

 

[Oldengineer]

I was in the thick of things during that time period at FoMoCo. I have no recollection of that badge. I'm also old!

Tom H.

 

[TX-Dennis]

Not an expert although my grandparents loved their LTDs. They seemed to alternate every two or three years between LTD and Marquis. It does look a lot like the hood ornament wreath from a 1970 model, though.

 

[nutsforsmiths]

My dad worked for Ford from 1973-1982 and he had lots of LTDs (or as he called them Lovely To Drive) as field cars. I don't remember the wreaths being separate from the LTD badge.

Those look like Cadillac wreaths to me. But I'm surely no Caddy expert!

 

[DWalt]

The wreaths are unmistakably Fords, probably LTDs. Back in the late 70s to early 80s I had two LTDs as company cars, and later a Chevy Caprice. Nothing like having a job which includes a company car. No insurance, gas, or maintenance expense out of my pocket, no limit on personal use at that time. I was very happy with those LTDs. At my company, I got a new company car every three years, and could buy the old car at a near giveaway price. Which I did. The only problem was that the color scheme made it stand out as a company car.

 

[jeffrefrig]

My first car that I bought all by myself was a '67 LTD ( Little Tear Drop) and a few years later I bought my mom's '70 LTD, which I demolished. Both beauties, but I don't remember seeing those emblems on either one. Actually, I don't remember a lot from back then, but I have no pictures anymore. I think someone in her crazy rage tossed them out. Now I'm curious. I do know they had V8s that worked well…until I blew one tranny and destroyed the other one. Yeah, I gotta lookup some'net pictures.

 

[DWalt]

I did go back and check Mercury more closely. There were some sort-of wreaths used by Mercury during the 1970s, but they do not resemble the Ford LTD wreaths as they have a completely different style. I am wondering if my wreaths may have been used for some purpose other than as car emblems.

 

[jeffrefrig]

I did go back and check Mercury more closely. There were some sort-of wreaths used by Mercury during the 1970s, but they do not resemble the Ford LTD wreaths as they have a completely different style. I am wondering if my wreaths may have been used for some purpose other than as car emblems.

I thought of the different purpose also. Depending on the strength of the emblem metal, perhaps put a more substantial grip on the U and put a razor edge on the points. I believe this revelation came to me because of looking at the black jack thread. Even the cheaper emblem metal would work at least once. The'70 LTD had one very similar to the OP photo. At least on the two door models; I'm sure they all did. The thread here brought back some cool memories of a time gone by, mostly good in my life.
TY! JLT