I love my 89 Ford LTD Country Squire LX but I couldn't help notice the clear lack of a brake pedal interlock on the shifter column, especially after I fixed the vacuum actuated parking brake release!
Yea so danny glover from lethal weapon 2 can use it for police chase the design i will say is better than modern cars today but to younger generation wanting one as a police interceptor dont get it its a piece of shit to use it for pursuits.
I did this in my mom's Ford falcon when I was a kid. Car was parked facing up an incline on the street. She put my sister and I in the car on the sidewalk side because of traffic and walked around to the driver's side. Before she could even unlock the door I had pulled the shifter down and the car was rolling backwards down the hill. It crossed the road and hit a tree in the neighbors yard. Thank God the tree stopped us from going over an embankment. 😂 Ah the good old days.
Mom had a falcon wagon and Grandpa had a falcon truck that I back into a tree that was were the wood I was supposed to get was. Pa the brakes didn't work. They would have if you push them sooner! 🙄 Good thing the tailgate was as thick as my head back then.
Now days you have too have the key in the ignition and foot on the brake to shift out of park. I have a feeling I wasn't the only kid to have done this. I remember thinking what a great idea it was when I came across the first car with that safety feature. When my mother put us in the car she hadn't even started it up yet. She thought she was being safe by putting us in the car first from the sidewalk side instead of from the road.
i take it this was an x series falcon? similar happened in mums ea, dad had a loan of it, he pulled the park brake out but not all the way and i felt it lurch into the park pawl, so i yanked it out some more while he went to close the garage, then i was about to pull it from park into neutral to take the load off the park gear and then shove it back, buuut falcon handbrake had other ideas it started rolling down the steep drive thank fuck i thought fast, i turned the wheel so it rubbed on the small retaining wall and shoved it back in park.. no scuffs on the body, just tyre marks on the wood. got a stern talking to, but dad was thankfull i rescued the situation rather than just letting it end up in the neighbours bedroom. i was about 9
Dang! That thing is Gorgeous! I hardly see those station wagons in that kinda shape anymore. About the Parking Brake thing, That was American Car Quality in the 80s and 90s! Kinda reminds me of my 96 F150.
If it wasn't for the car happily disengaging the parking brake for you with the vacuum system it would probably not be such a big deal. When I originally bought the car the owner had disabled the vacuum parking brake release for I'm sure this exact reason
I worked at a hospital over. There were two very well paid surgeons who were best buds. They went out and bought matching wood panel station wagons that were like 20 years old was hilarious
What's that you say Lassie? Timmy put the shifter in D? Then he drove to the well? Then he fell down the well? And the cattle rustlers are gonna steal the herd? What a smart girl, Lassie!
This car looks like it's in mint condition. My uncle had one of these country squires, he didn't drive it very often. He had another smaller car that he drove most of the time. So anytime we wanted to go on a road trip or camping he would gladly let us borrow it. He still had the country squire by the time I started driving and it was still in good condition. Long story short my oldest daughter was conceived in the country squire. I believe it was a 77 or 78. Anyway fun memories, I haven't seen one running in a very long time. Thanks for posting this.
Oh believe me, keeping it stock has always been my plan. If I had a dollar for every person that told me to either lower it, tint the windows, or do some other street rod application to it, I have enough money to buy another one lol
When we were growing up, we stayed out of the car, till our parents got in first...why you asked..because we got our butts spanked when we disobey our parents 🤔
I remember seeing a video back in the Day of either a Torino or an Elite going backwards and circles in a parking lot while the police were trying to stop it
Had a Ford can do that and it totalled itself out. I was pretty mad but still found it funny. Crashed into the back of a box truck and all it did to it was break a reflector while my van was phucked
That’s why the parking brake would not release until the gear selector was in drive not reverse. The earlier versions on GM and Ford released when the gear shift selector hit reverse. I love the feature on my ‘87 Crown Victoria.
That's an incredibly nice ole Country Squire . I haven't seen one of these in years. I see a few sedans around every now and then but no station wagons.
That’s what I liked about my ranger because it was the only way not to give you whiplash from putting it in first, it was also about the same year but no where near the same shape😂
One of my childhood friends lived across the street from me. Our driveways were perfectly aligned and one day she got in her parent's minivan and shifted it into neutral. It slowly rolled down the driveway and up into ours and put a nice dent in our garage door. I think we were both around 4 or 5yrs old at the time.
Oh I miss the days of just chucking it drive and going. I had a couple of Honda that didn’t need the clutch pushed in to start, pfft, so many times I literally started the car-in 1st-with some added gas pedal and was just rolling instantly off the starter lol
@@DoubleSmackJacksSmackAttack Had to Google it. Key shift interlocks were mandated in 1992. Brake shift interlocks weren't unanimously adopted by American automakers until 2010! There was never any mandate, they all just agreed to do it.
Vacuum operated parking brake that automatically comes off when you shift it into gear in my opinion is awesome everybody has driven with the parking brake on at least once you cannot do it in that wagon.
It's one of the best parts about the car, when I bought it the previous owner had disabled it by shoving a screw in the vacuum line but never removed any of the hardware so it wan easy re-enable.
I guess I drove a big old 78 Ford F250 down the drive and into a creek.....when I was two. I guess when found stuck against the bank I was alternating between jumping to the floor hitting the gas, and standing on the seat hanging on the steering wheel, saying "me drive".
In my household when I was a youngster, "Timmy" and younger brother were absolutely, positively FORBIDDEN to get in the car for any reason whatsoever UNLESS we were going somewhere. And even then we took our appointed places in the back seat. So we never had access to the shift lever or other controls. Thanks, Mom & Dad!
When my mom was 8, she was cleaning out my Mamaw's 1974 LTD when she accidentally bumped the shifter into neutral. It started rolling down the driveway, and my mom, panicked, shoved it back into park. It tore the transmission apart, and the car never drove again.
I have an '89 Crown Vic, though not a wagon. Nice classic. I can tell it's an LX like mine, too. Your car is actually a 1988. I can tell the difference on the speedometer.
When my middle daughter was about 4, she did that to a 1985 Mercedes. She backed it up over the curb into the yard and almost crashed through a fence before I drove in and stopped the car
@@shelbyseelbach9568 Yeah, that danger thing never really kicked for me til I was in 40s. Even after getting banged up, but it finally kicked in and I truly wonder how I survived
The more important thing that you're overlooking is this; Back then people weren't as likely to do the dumb @ss idiotic sh!t they do these days. I'm not saying accidents like this didn't happen, but the reason those safety features will introduced is because there was boom in the birth of idiots being raised by idiots. I spent a lot of time in cars as a kid that were much older and less safe than that one and somehow my parents didn't allow the car to hurt me or my brother. It's amazing that we ever survived.
It's the manufacturers and the authorities responsibility to think ahead. Let's just remember the Pinto!! Always looking for a way to save a few cents disregarding any safety measure.😮
@@DoubleSmackJacksSmackAttack yeah that’s the issue with those parts. They probably have been sitting on the shelf for years aging and becoming brittle. Hard to find good parts now. That was a big issue with the vacuum auto climate control in my marquis as well there would be no heat coming through the vents. Had to rip apart the dash in that car as well as the other to swap over a standard climate control system.
Goodness I can't believe you don't have to at least press the break they still have this feature in towncars but you have to press the brake to get it out of park at least wow
That's NOT how our '73 Gran Torino wagon worked. That parking brake was not a vacuum brake. It was mechanical and racheted into place when you hit that pedal and when you pulled that brake release you heard that "kachunk" as it snapped back
It's like that cause years ago kid got their entire azz beat till it looked like a break light for messing with stuff they shouldn't have been messing with
My uncle pull his camper with one like that. I have the camper now. but little Timmy put a stick in the gas tank of the wagon. Guess he thought if his dad couldn't find it he wouldn't get his back side tore up. Wrong ! He got to pick his own Branch from a bush. 🤨🥴🙀
That would require leaving the car with the keys in it or worse running. Next you would be letting the kid play in the front yard where the cars go whizzing by instead of the safety of the backyard
'90s model Dodge pickup will do this even with a Cummins my 06 Yukon did this it's yet another reason why you don't leave kids in the car while it's running
This is from the era when children listen to their parents it wasn't so much of a worry then dad said don't touch the gear shift you don't touch the gearshift and I mean that you don't touch the gearshift
Yep cars back then they had a disclaimer you had to be smart enough to operate a motor vehicle and another thing we had back then is common sense that something your generation will never be able to find even if you go to coin store.
This is akes me back to '79; a Plymouth Volare Station Wagon, and my three year old ass putting it in gear as my mom went to a customer door to collect paper delivery money. Ten seconds later, I'm sitting back in my seat as the car is bouncing off curbs in the culdesac in a reverse circle, as my two sisters scream and my Mom is being drug along trying to get in and stop the ride.......... Hindsight, I'm REALLY glad she didn't lose her grip and get ran over.........😐😐😐😐😐😐
That's because back then you taught your kids what not to do. Now a days the car needs to be idiot proof because heaven forbid you make your kid put the fone down and pay attention. WTF!
Only in the last few years as far as I know has Ford engineered a hydraulic parking brake that actually works . Well , somewhat ,, if you step on the gas pedal hard enough , it releases 🤦🏼♂️ When somebody gonna finally build a car with a parking brake that holds 🤷🏼♂️
