Folks, if this isn’t motivation enough to go visit the Cohort, I’m afraid I just can’t help you. I sometimes wish I hadn’t quit smoking, because think I may need one now. What a shot, and what a car!
Thanks to user runningonfumes for the submission!
(Update: This was initially listed as a ’66, but readers have identified it as it is now listed.)
Waiting at the curb to pick up one of the “Mad Men”?
Gosh I never realized how narrow the hood was compared to the expanse of the front end itself.
Another detail of these cars that it took me a long time to notice (and which I can’t not notice now) is how the wipers park on the wrong side.
And now I think I’ll have to notice it forever, too!
I was just about to ask that. The Avanti was the same way. I understood it on low-volume English or Japanese cars, but a Lincoln? As I recall, these cars used hydraulic powered wipers, so I wonder if there was some kind of packaging issue that this configuration solved.
This is also the last Lincoln with the fixed star hood ornament. It was a victim of safety regs for 67 and did not return until the 72 Mark IV as a spring-loaded design.
Oh well. Back to work.
I think that it was more of a gimmick to make the Continental seem more “continental” , they could have used the same head to head wipers that the the Thunderbird used since they had the same cowl.
I was going to say the same thing about the hydraulic-powered wipers. I believe that this feature extended into the 1970s, but I have never once actually laid my eyes on either a Continental or T-bird that had that feature (and I have looked at countless 1970s-era FoMoCos in junkyards in the 1980s and 90s while searching for parts for my 1971 LTD).
OK, Mr. Obsessive chiming in. I think this car is a ’67. That was actually the last year for the stand-up hood ornament (for ’68 it was plastered above the grille). There are no Continental “stars” on the fenders ahead of the front wheels and the block letters sit higher above the grill than on the ’66. Other than these details, the two had identical body shells.
However, the grill on this car looks more like a ’66, but I think it’s just the angle.
When these cars were new, and my parents were at the dealers buying Montereys and Fairlanes, this 10-year-old kid was in the showroom sitting behind the wheels of the Continentals and the Thunderbirds. I still remember the wonderful aroma of those interiors; different from any other Ford product.
That definitely is a ’67. The ’66 grille was all horizontal bars, while the ’67 had several vertical bars added. And as you mentioned, the Continental star on the front fender was moved to the sail panel.
I think this car may be Diamond Blue. My mom had a ’68 Mustang notchback in that color, it was so light it was almost white.
If you look closer, the photo cell in the tip of the driver’s side fender is for the automatic headlight dimmer.
Duly noted and updated.
What a great find. My grandfather had a ’66 Continental sedan in dark green with dark green leather, way before I came along. My grandmother had a ’65 T-Bird convertible, so they used the Lincoln when they went on vacation. He drove everybody from Illinois to South Padre Island, what a trip that must have been.
I can just hear Dolly Parton (?) singing :
“They don’t make cars like they used to…”
And we should be grateful
I knew about the small hood (relative to the size of the front end) because I built an AMT model of a ’64 back in the day (I still have it though). I was always interested in windshield wiper design, so I was also aware of the “wrong way” wipers for a left-hand drive car.
I always had a thing about windshield wipers too, I always liked it when it rained cause as a kid I could see all the wipers in action, I used to like head to head “old style” wipers, as well as the GM “swing arm” late 60’s and 70’s wipers best.
Cool! More people with a thing for windshield wipers. Howabout those units on Mustangs, Mavericks and F-series trucks where one wiper led and the other followed a second or so behind it.
The 69 Pontiac used the head-to-head design, AND each one articulated to the edge of the windshield.
Back to Lincoln – my Dad’s 70 Mark III used (I believe) the hydraulics and offered something like 16 speeds. For all practical purposes, this was like the Mopar design from the late 50s into the 60s that were infinitely variable. I owned a couple of those, and it was more of a curse than a blessing – with infinite choices of wiper speed, I always felt the urge to make them go slightly slower or slightly faster so I was messing with the switch all the time.
I always remembered the 70’s vintage Mercedes-Benzes like the SL’s with the wipers both stacked up on the right, and one would swing all the way over almost 180 and then the 2nd one would stop in the center of the screen.
OMG, I haven’t thought about Maverick wipers in forty years but you’re right! I remember Dad’s doing that.
Check out the wipers on the new Mitsubishi EV.
Fantastic shot and an interesting color that I’ve never seen on these beasts. Love this car!
There was a Diamond Green … which was an even lighter shade of Green than the sky blue they often offered.
It Was a Lincoln and Thunderbird Color, often highlighted by a White Leather and Viynl roof.
Love those suicide door Continentals, Elwood Engel’s greatest design. My Dad’s was a ’64. Those wipers were infinitely variable speed. Speaking of smoking, as I recall there were lighters and ashtrays for everyone.
1988-96 Pontiac Grand Prixs and Corvettes all the way up to C4 had head-to-head wipers, as did the Opel GT, which folded over each other like arms. The C5 was the first ‘Vette with conventional wipers.
Another car that had ass-backwards (except in the UK, of course) wipers: Volkswagen Beetle.
All the 1st generation W-bodies had head to head wipers, the Chevy Volt and Buick Verano have them today.
The 1966-1977 Ford Broncos had the wipers hanging from the roof like a 20’s car.
Most of today’s head to head wipers stack on top of each other when parked, as did the old 60’s era Bonneville especially.
Up through the mid 60’s (1965-66 on), Dodge and I think Plymouth had the older style head to head wipers where they just barely met up at their tips when parked. Even the Chrysler Mini vans since the 1995 redesign also have the stacked head to head design, as do the new Smart if I’m mistaken.
I remember seeing old Fords with one wiper slightly following the other in a sloppy like fashion too.
Loved the old hidden/swing arm wipers used in the 1970’s for the most part but by 1980, they were no longer used on large cars of the day, those wipers tended to only be around during the brougham era of the 1970’s.
Crying out for curb feelers.
Wasting road space.
So far from the curb.
If only modern itty-bitty cars existed there could be two lanes in one direction; if LARGE delivery trucks etc. were excluded.
Have the BIG rigs deliver to warehouses on the hamlet’s edge with small, efficient delivery vehicles (perhaps electrically powered?) entering the burghs, towns, hamlets and even cities!!!!!
Or have room for a 2nd lane for bicycles, moped-type things, small ultra-light vehicles to assist in moving people cheaply!!!!
Why not?
Think of the children and troops and you DO support the USA, don’t yah?
Thanks for posting my photo. I have side and rear shots, but for some reason they won’t upload. The car looked great from all angles. It’s definitely driven on a regular basis. I wasn’t sure about the year, thanks for the correction on that. This was found on Madison Avenue (Seattle), so the MadMen connection kinda makes sense.