1968 Squire:
Looks like it's the frequently-seen Wimbledon White color with the Parchment interior. A lot were also sold in Lime Gold with the Ivy Green interior; I personally remember three of them in my neighborhood (these were the Avocado years for cars as well as appliances).
A Country Squire was
the wagon to have in those days; Ford did a better job than any other manufacturer at making wagons that were easy to use. GM tried very hard to play catch-up, always matching Ford feature for feature, but never getting the popularity of Squires. Chrysler made some very nice wagons as well, but again, people really wanted a Squire. This is personal opinion, but to me, the wagon that actually came closest to the comfort and ease-of-use of a Squire was the AMC Ambassador SST wagon. The problem with those was that they were pricier than Squires, and didn't have anything like the resale value. But they were a damn solid deal if you were buying one used.
One of the things people liked about Squires is that they were very well-equipped standard, and if you whipped out your checkbook, they could be optioned up to Lincoln levels of luxury. You could have a 429 c.i.d. V-8 (I had a '70 with this engine), power everything, Astro-Sonic stereo and the same turbine-vaned wheel covers used on the Lincoln Continental Mark III (with unique LTD centers), among other goodies. They were incredibly comfortable on trips, nothing like the wagons that had been made only a few years before. If you went full-house with the options list, the list price was around $5500 in '68.
Here are ad shots showing one in Lime Gold, front and rear. Note the front grille, which is a knucklebuster to restore correctly. It's diecast pot-metal, and in the middle, the design elements are pierced to permit airflow. But on the far left and right, what looks like part of the grille is actually covers for the hidden headlights. The design elements are
not pierced on these; flat black paint was used to simulate piercing. Getting all of this right on a restoration is, I hear, Not Fun: [this post was last edited: 6/2/2014-12:50]
