Ford LTD is First Produced

The Ford LTD was a car model name that has been used by the Ford Motor Company in North America.
The LTD designation is considered by some an abbreviation of "Luxury Trim Decor" and by others as a limited body style classification for the Galaxie. There is evidence that, at least in Australia, it originally stood for "Lincoln Type Design." The original "Car Life" review at the time the first LTD was released suggests that it stood for nothing and was just three meaningless letters.
A range of cars wore the LTD badge from 1965 to 1991 in the United States. The LTD name debuted as the highest trim level package on the Ford Galaxie 500, but became its own model in 1967. The Galaxie name continued for the lower levels until 1974.
In 1977, the name was used on two different cars. The full-size LTD continued, but a rebodied version of the Ford Torino was sold as the LTD II. Both offered coupe, sedan, and wagon body styles. This arrangement continued until the standard LTD was moved to the Panther platform in 1979.
In 1983, the LTD was again split into two separate lines, with the LTD Crown Victoria remaining full-size and the LTD name placed on a mid-size car based on the Fox platform. The smaller LTD continued in sedan and station wagon forms through 1986, overlapping slightly with the first model year of the Ford Taurus in 1986, the car that became its successor.

he line was introduced in 1965 as the Galaxie 500 LTD (and for the first year was badged as such), in response to the introduction of the Chevrolet Caprice and the similar Dodge Monaco and Polara. These upscale models had features found primarily on luxury models from these same manufacturers, but were sold with much lower retail prices. The standard upgrades on these cars were power windows, a power drivers seat, power brakes, power steering, air conditioning, a full or half-vinyl top (called a landau or brougham randomly across different models by the same manufacturers). Another list of upgrades we...

The Ford LTD was a car model name that has been used by the Ford Motor Company in North America.
The LTD designation is considered by some an abbreviation of "Luxury Trim Decor" and by others as a limited body style classification for the Galaxie. There is evidence that, at least in Australia, it originally stood for "Lincoln Type Design." The original "Car Life" review at the time the first LTD was released suggests that it stood for nothing and was just three meaningless letters.
A range of cars wore the LTD badge from 1965 to 1991 in the United States. The LTD name debuted as the highest trim level package on the Ford Galaxie 500, but became its own model in 1967. The Galaxie name continued for the lower levels until 1974.
In 1977, the name was used on two different cars. The full-size LTD continued, but a rebodied version of the Ford Torino was sold as the LTD II. Both offered coupe, sedan, and wagon body styles. This arrangement continued until the standard LTD was moved to the Panther platform in 1979.
In 1983, the LTD was again split into two separate lines, with the LTD Crown Victoria remaining full-size and the LTD name placed on a mid-size car based on the Fox platform. The smaller LTD continued in sedan and station wagon forms through 1986, overlapping slightly with the first model year of the Ford Taurus in 1986, the car that became its successor.

he line was introduced in 1965 as the Galaxie 500 LTD (and for the first year was badged as such), in response to the introduction of the Chevrolet Caprice and the similar Dodge Monaco and Polara. These upscale models had features found primarily on luxury models from these same manufacturers, but were sold with much lower retail prices. The standard upgrades on these cars were power windows, a power drivers seat, power brakes, power steering, air conditioning, a full or half-vinyl top (called a landau or brougham randomly across different models by the same manufacturers). Another list of upgrades we...

Ford introduced the full-sized LTD in 1965 as a top-of-the-line Galaxie 500 (same year, incidentally, that Chevrolet introduced its all-new Caprice as a top-of-the-line Impala). In fact, in 1965 the car was known as the Galaxie LTD - it wasn't until 1966 that the LTD became a model of its own apart from the Galaxie. The LTD sedan would have a slightly more formal rear roofline than the Galaxie and Custom models, a trait that would continue until the 1973 model year. The LTD would undergo many styling changes throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, and in 1975 when the Galaxie and lower-rung Custom models were discontinued, it would become Ford's lone full-size model.
The LTD would undergo its first downsizing in 1979 and would continue with little change until the LTD would become a mid-size car in 1983. This mid-size LTD would soldier through until 1986 when it was replaced by Ford's innovative new Taurus that same year (the previous full-size LTD, however, would continue on as the LTD Crown Victoria).
There is, and has been, some debate over the years as to what exactly the initials "LTD" actually stood for. The obvious answer might be that it stood for "Limited", but an article from Car Life magazine stated that couldn't be the case, as Chrysler at the time was already using the Limited name and had a copyright on it. The LTD designation is considered by some an abbreviation of "Luxury Trim Decor" and by others as a limited body style classification for the Galaxie. There is evidence that, at least in Australia, it originally stood for "Lincoln Type Design." The original Car Life review at the time the first LTD was released suggests that it stood for nothing and was just three meaningless letters - a method now being practiced by Lincoln today (MKX, for example) among others. Also known as "Lunatic Transportation Device" in later years.