1978 Ford Futura $7,300 46,000 miles

[B Jake Moran]

Marketplace - 1978 Ford Other | Facebook

 

Seller's Description

1978 Ford Futura original Fox Body. 45k original miles, 302 C-4. New exhaust, tires, rims, and front disc brakes. Have Marti report. I'm posting for a friend and I can't answer questions. Please only text or call Mark at 641/891/6019. Car is in a heated garage in Knoxville, Iowa. Thanks for looking!

 

 

 

 

[suchan]

If someone absolutely has to have one of these, this looks like a good candidate.

I bought the 4 door version new, and it was the biggest POS I have ever driven.

You couldn’t give me one of these, so I won’t comment on price.

[gofasttoday]

I could be wrong but 4 bolt wheels = 255 v8  Engine Information & Specs – 255 Cubic Inch V8 (4.2 L)

[Brooklyn Beer]

Looking at the dash I guess Ford really wanted you to know how much gas you had the tank. Is that the high beam indicator to the left? Did they want you to know how much battery, engine and high beam you had left ?

[roysboystoys]

Would make an interesting pick up conversion.

We had a couple as loaner cars for customers , cheap to buy, costly to keep going.

Junk come to mind to describe them.

[suchan]

19 hours ago, ford40 said:

I could be wrong but 4 bolt wheels = 255 v8  Engine Information & Specs – 255 Cubic Inch V8 (4.2 L)

They could be ordered with a 302. I've never seen them with anything but 4 bolt wheels, usually with either the base wheel covers or "turbine" style (like my car-I don't have photos of it, though; too many bad memories). Those wheels look like the ones that came optional on Mustangs in the early 80's.

[TAKerry]

This car is a fox body. Same platform as the mustang. Alot of similarities even through the dash board. Its funny the first gen mustang shared its platform with the falcon, the ever popular fox body shared with this car, but yet the 3rd gen (guess) shared the platform with the pinto and is the bas*^*&^*& stepchild of the mustang world. They were all based on pretty basic cars of the time.

[B Jake Moran]

Those are Mustang wheels but they may have been optional.  I had a Futura.  A 4 cyl 4 speed car.  It was OK.  My first financed car in 1985.   It had hubcaps. If I recall it had Scottish Plaid buckets.  No console. 
 

These wheels likely came from a junkyard Mustang.  Lots of these wheels were and still are pulled off scraped cars.  
 

It helps the cars looks for sure.  

[John_S_in_Penna]

One of our local members has the very similar Mercury

version in a red-and-white color scheme.  Here it is at

the big Hershey car show several years ago:

 

Edited January 27, 2023 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[JamesR]

On 1/24/2023 at 7:19 PM, suchan said:

I bought the 4 door version new, and it was the biggest POS I have ever driven.

You couldn’t give me one of these, so I won’t comment on price.

I had the Mercury Zephyr version of this car in the early '80's. I bought it used and it looked pretty much like the car in the ad, except it was blue and had a six cyl. My impression was the same as yours. I thought it compared poorly to mid-sized Fords and GM's built 7 to 10 years earlier.

[Leif in Calif]

I think '78 was a real low point in auto history, at least in the US. The smog laws definitely made requirements the manufacturers hadn't yet figured out how to deliver. the result was rotten mileage producing very little power. At the same many cars (I'm thinking of my mother's LTD II) were huge on the outside but a bit cramped inside.  I guess that all adds to collectability!