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Piston Slap: Smoking Out The Ford LTD’s Side-View Mirrors
Timothy writes:
Dear Sajeev,
While this may not be the right kind of question for your Piston Slap column, I’m going to pose it anyway. I was perusing Crestline’s The Cars of Lincoln Mercury, as one does on a cold New England winter night, and stumbled upon an oddity that only you could possibly answer. And perhaps only you could possibly care about?
My question concerns the door mirrors on the 1980 Ford Panther (LTD/Crown Victoria) sedans. Why did this year (and this year alone) use non-pedestal style mirrors?
This question has been bugging me for quite some time now.
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Sajeev answers:
This is a fantastic question, because it’s like throwing chum in a shark tank…and I am proud to be the shark in that particular tank.
But first, a correction: the first year of the Panther Chassis was 1979, and that first year of Ford LTD had the sleek, non-pedestal mirrors you referenced. I suspect those mirrors were inspired by the similarly transformational 1978 Ford Fairmont, as both downsized Fords portended a future benefitting from the Fruits of The Malaise Era. But something in the air changed as the 1979 LTD entered production, because the folks in Dearborn added a more traditional mirror to the mix.
That reason was unclear, so I dug into the part numbers on eBay Motors to learn more. Ford makes it easy to find running changes with their clever naming convention. The partial part number D9AZ-17682 is for mirrors belonging to a 1979 Ford LTD, and a final suffix is placed at the end to account for variances in those mirrors.
To wit, the “B” suffix is the sleek mirror we associate with 1979, while the “E” suffix is the pedestal made famous on later models. But why the heck did Ford feel the need to make a clunky E-code mirror when the smooth B-code is arguably much better for the late Malaise Era?
Because Lincoln Continental, that’s why.
(I really should use that phrase on a regular basis.)
The all-new 1980 Continental came with standard power front vent windows, commonly referred to as smoker’s windows. Whatever the name, those windows mandated a side-view mirror mounted on a pedestal, and unique front door glass. That last bit is important, as Ford clearly spent a fair bit of cash making a power vent window that also mandated a unique main window next to it.
If the money’s already been spent, why wouldn’t you make some kind of vent window optional for the 1980 Ford LTD, especially since you are also re-introducing the posh Crown Victoria trim package at this specific moment in time?
Voilà, that’s how the “pivoting front vent window” for the 1980 LTD and LTD Crown Victoria came to life. While it wasn’t power operated (disappearing cleanly into the door) like the Continental, now Ford LTD owners could enjoy a modest amount of fresh air to go with their smoking recirculated air conditioning. Owners were happier, while accountants applauded the Continental’s tooling costs and unique door glass (probably) being amortized across more units sold to dealerships.
Thank you, Timothy, for noticing the side-view mirror differences. Without you, I couldn’t “smoke” out the truth for lovers of all things Panther Platform. Panther Love makes us all do unconventional things, so perhaps I overlooked something in my zeal to answer your question. If so, I welcome comments from the Hagerty Community!
Have a question you’d like answered on Piston Slap? Send your queries to pistonslap@hagerty.com—give us as much detail as possible so we can help! Keep in mind this is a weekly column, so if you need an expedited answer, please tell me in your email.
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Next question: will this be the least-responded-to Piston Slap column ever?
The early ones actually received less replies than this one, but that has less to do with the subject matter and more to do with activity from our Community!
Well, it’s good to see that you’ve cultivated a more active Community, Mr. M!!! 😊
Hard work pays off sometimes…onward and upward!
I’ve never heard the term ” smokers windows ” being used. Vent sometimes but ” wing windows ” more commonly in my neck of the woods. A smoker really wouldn’t want to use these for that purpose anyway, unless having ashes thrown in your face and leaning forward and putting burn marks on the door panels is your cup of tea. The Crown Vic was plentiful in ashtrays and lighters for passengers both front and rear. Perhaps they should have done a red and white Starsky and Hutch / Marlboro Penske LTD Smokers Edition.
That’s 100% true. I don’t know why I remember people referring to them as smoker’s windows in my childhood…but being young ensures you are far from the arbiter of truth.
As a smoker in my college, military and early truck-driving days, I’ll offer this:
Don’t know about these particular FoMoCo windows, but with the old-style “push to open” wing windows (or even the fancier crank-to-open ones), it is possible to position them in such a way as to create a bit of suction which, if a cigarette is placed “just so”, will remove the smoke and a bit of ash, especially with the famous “thumb flick” at just the right moment. Not done correctly, it results in ash and smoke (and maybe even some lit tobacco) coming right back into the cabin with you. It’s a coordinated move that equates closely to the choreography of Swan Lake or the invasion of Normandy, but in the old days, you could tell who had mastered it by little streaks of ash on the trailing edge of their wing window.
Turns out this one is getting a lot of responses.
I’ve only ever heard them called wing windows or vent windows, and vent is by far the most common hear. I like them a lot in my 80s Ford trucks that all have non-working A/C. I like the hand crank version even better in my 68 Chevelle.
And for that I am thankful. I reckon AI won’t be taking my job any time soon if content like this gets comments!
Has there been any discussion about bringing back notifications regarding comments? It’d be nice to be able to find past articles that I’ve commented on, and also know when replies or more comments are made after I’ve posted one.
Not to my knowledge, sorry.
So, I forgot to say that I don’t think your youthful memories are completely incorrect, Sajeev. I’m much older than you and I can remember them being referred to as such – albeit not by many – more from my dad’s generation, I think. And in fact, I’ve used them as a smoking aid my very own self (many, many years ago) – however, I have never personally called them Smoker’s Windows…to me they’ve always been, still are, and will always be Wing Windows, Baby!
Wow! Thank you for your investigative prowess. Had I spent more time perusing The Cars of Lincoln-Mercury, I might have figured that out myself, since the Panther Marquis and Continentals are right there next to each other.
And for the record I *did* know that Panthers debuted in ‘79, my wording must have been off.
Thank you again! Now if you can help me figure out the name of an illustrated children’s book about bearded man with a flat cap driving a Model T (with his dog) in a giant automotive race, you would truly be my hero.
Thank you for reaching out! That Model T question is a lot harder to answer!
Tin Lizzie by Peter Spier?
I LOVE smokers windows! A panther chassis vehicle may be next in my stable – loved those cars as kid.
Growing up our family car was a 1979 LTD. Had the sail style mirrors. I think I may still have one somewhere in the loft of the garage. I had a 1981 Mark VI and Town Car. Loved the little vent windows and how fast they went down
Timothy- How about something like – ‘ You Can Do It Lizzie! ‘
My guess is that the “smoker’s window” term carried over from when wing windows could draw smoke outside. Whoever called them that kept using the term even when the power version in its place would fail at the purpose. An early example of technology for technology’s sake ruining a feature perhaps?
As a fan of The Movie Vacation, I always noticed the non-pedestal-style mirrors and thought they looked so much cleaner. I never understood why they were switched out until now. Awesome investigation. I never thought about it being due to the flip-out quarter windows. It makes total sense now.