I’m a bit tied up still trying to get the next CC done, so let’s bring on another beautiful car to go along with the others so far today. William Rubano shot this one on a beautiful sunny early fall day in either NY or NJ, and we can’t get tired of looking at one of these, ever.
Now that’s driving in style.
How about some pics of that beauty standing on the other side of that beautiful Lincoln :D?
You’ll have to speak with Mr. Rubano about that. I was wondering if she’s the owner, but It appears that she’s got a camera in her hand too. Maybe Mrs Rubano?
She’s what caught my eye too. My guess is she’s the owner of that 2013 white GL.
Very nice.
Oh, my – I could so own that. I am also a sucker for that mid-1960s shade of dark green, so this car really lights up some of the very nicest areas of my little pea brain.
The 66 is cooler than the 67 because it is the last year of that old-fashioned bolt-on hood ornament before they were outlawed (at least I think they were), and those big Continental stars on the leading edges of the front fenders.
+1 on the Continental stars. This would be my favorite year (although I’ll admit the choice is tough since basically all the Continental convertibles were so nice from ’61 to ’67). The dark green is awesome, though I would happily have one in basically any of the colors they made that year.
The rigid hood ornament still prevailed on the ’67’s, they were gone on the 68’s, but reappeared as the spring-loaded versions on the ’72’s. The large Continental stars on the leading edges of the front fenders on the ’66’s were in lieu of the stars that had previously graced the sail panels of the sedans, although they switched back to the sail panels in ’67. As I’ve posted before, our family had both a ’65 sedan and a ’71 coupe, these ’60’s era Lincolns are still to me the most elegant and distinguished luxury cars to come from an American auto maker. This featured convertible is a stunner.
Perfect fall day today in Omaha for such a car. Wish it were mine today!
I agree completely, JPC. The style and the color mesh perfectly. I could live happily ever after with this Lincoln. This is one of the prettiest cars ever featured here.
This is one of the prettiest cars ever featured here. Wait till tomorrow 😉
It’s the last CC clue I bet!
Kiddin’.
The Fiero trikes??? 😉
I’ll go with the best looking American luxury car ever made. For the entire generation. And I might not necessarily be willing to limit that complement to “American”. Far as I’m concerned, Jaguar is the only other marque that matches it.
This is a 66, I have a 67. The 61 had the most handsome front to me. These cars demand the care of a child.
Anyone else spot the white Maserati GranTurismo way off in the distance?
Does this car have the same wheelbase as the 1961’s? Lot’s of rear overhang!
I know the 1961 was adapted from a Thunderbird proposal, perhaps that is the reason for the extra long tail?
In 1964, wheelbase was increased from 123″ to 126″. but length increased from 212″ to 220.9″, so the overhangs did increase, and likely more in the rear than the front.
Mr. Douglas’ car?
“Oh, Oliver?”
This was taken in Port Washington New York, not far from where I grew up. There are always nice classic cars both domestic and foreign driving around when the weather is nice. I have seen this car in the past, I believe it is local or from the next town over. It looks like the passenger in the white MB GL is directing the woman on the side of the Lincoln for a pic.
Now that is an airy green-house! (Pun intended)
Oh my god, I didn’t even know they painted those cars green from the factory. All shades of green are my favorite car colors. I’ll even take metallic pea with the right interior color.
My grandfather had a Continental in this very color and year, but a sedan. Bought it new. It was driven from IL to Biloxi and also to South Padre Island on family vacations when my dad was a teen.
I agree on the green color on this one; beautiful!
I had a ’66 Lincoln, lets just say they were far better looking cars then they were good cars. Very expensive to maintain. They got better, but except for the Mark III they never again were this elegant or distinguished
I’m curious as to what sort of troubles you had with your car. I’ve always loved the suicide-door Lincolns. I’ve heard that while they were better built than contemporary Cadillacs, they weren’t quite as reliable.
I have a 67 and my car’s problems are always electronics. These cars have more electrical relays than you can imagine to open the truck, raise the top, fasten it down and lower back windows 1/3 when doors are opened. Its a very complicated process for 50 year old technology, but its great when all is working correctly. I have had little to no issues with other systems of the car.
Thank you for the reply. I’d heard that the mechanisms to raise and lower the tops are complicated and difficult to fix if something goes wrong. The drivetrain, however, is supposedly bulletproof.
Want, want, want! And I agree about the color too. That shade of green was used an a lot of FoMoCo products in the late 60’s and it looks good on all of them, from Mustangs to Continentals to Country Squires. My grandmom had a ’68 Galaxie coupe in that color.
I know I’ll get flak for this but 4 door convertibles just look a bit strange to me.I love the colour and it’s in excellent condition.Did they ever make a 2 door convertible of the Mark 3?
Gem I would agree with you to a point – it depends on what you are used to. 1920’s tourers as a 4-door convertible seem normal but late 1930’s versions don’t. These Lincolns are another case that look great as a 4 door.
I don’t believe they did a Mark 3 convertible – well the later version at least. There was a convertible version of the late-50’s one.
Thanks I usually look at cars from the mid 50s to 1971 period(what I consider the golden age of American cars) and miss a lot of earlier cars.
This car is giving me a Zapruder flashback…
I’d feel so creeped out driving it.
I wonder if anyone that owns a Continental convertible in Dallas ever drives the parade route all the way to Dealy Plaza, just to freak people out every once in while.
A friend of mine tells the story that he saw a guy driving one of these once who had a pretty strong resemblance to JFK and he was driving with a 3 or 4 year old kid (John Jr.)in the passenger seat, he wished he would have been able to snap a picture, it was like a Twilight Zone moment.
My uncle had one of these in light blue. ’66 was the only year for the 462 cu engine, if what he told me was correct. It did light parade duty for years and about 15 years ago he listed it for sale and got a call from Carol Shelby himself. He bought it site-unseen.
1966 was the first year of the 462. It was used in 1967 and some 1968 models.
from Wikipeida:
1968 brought some … changes. [snip] The new 460 cu in (7.5 l) Ford 385 engine was to be available initially, but there were so many 462 cu in (7.57 l) Ford MEL engine engines still available, the 460 was phased in later that year.
While I still had my 62 convertible sedan I test-drove a yellow on black 67 counterpart. I got quite a kick out of the salesman – he told me I should show it to my banker who would undoubtedly approve. I thought to myself “Yeah, maybe, but my mechanic would probably agree with me that it has a burnt valve.”
The 67’s lost the close-coupled-ness of the 61 to 63 cars as well as the curved side glass. While I still like the early cars best I’ll certainly agree that this dark green 66 is a beautiful car.
The curved side glass disappeared for 1964-65, and reappeared for 1966.
It is interesting to learn of the changes to these over the years, I had not read that the curved glass returned.
Likewise the earlier discussion re 462 and 460 engines – I expect the 460 would be a better option & noticeably lighter than the big MEL?
Yes. the 460 is about 200lbs lighter than the MEL, as it is basically an overgrown 351 Cleveland, thinwall design, although it preceded the Cleveland by 2 years.
Great photos of a (wild!) 1960 Continental used by the Kennedy Administration –
http://rrauction.k2imgs.com/lists/3306532.pdf
Story about the car & upcoming auction here –
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/10/wheelies-the-j-f-k-lincoln-edition/?ref=automobiles
Definitely one of my favorites of the “gigantic detroit” era. What lines! And a very unusual color. But then, I always visualize them either black or stainless, ever since seeing one of the three Stainless Steel ones at the Crawford auto-aviation museum in Cleveland. [Frederick Crawford was head of Thompson Products/ TRW back in the 40’s-50’s.