(first posted 5/14/2014) I am well known around these parts for my love of Dearborn’s flagship, the Lincoln Continental and its Town Car successors. I don’t think anyone will argue that the 1961-69 Connies are works of art and a true luxury car (’65 Continental CC here), but I also am rather fond of the 1970-73 version. Remember those?
I most certainly do. And a big part of that is due to an old, forgotten 1971 Continental that was sitting in a 1920s-era one-car garage not far from my neighborhood. From the age of approximately five (when I finally learned to actually stop my red Huffy, and not just leap off of it when I wanted off) through junior high, my beloved bicycles (four of them, over the years) took me where I wanted to go.
One of the places I liked to go was to pass this black-over-black 1971 Continental sedan. All the years I checked it out, it never moved. About two feet of the trunk protruded out of the garage opening, with the door snugged down to the top of the trunk lid. Peering below the aforementioned door, one could see layer upon layer of dust and four very flat tires, but the car was clean and complete, and most attractive to the then-nine-year-old version of yours truly. I knew it was a ’71 due to the three triple taillight clusters per side.
I have no idea what that black Continental’s story was. The garage was never in use, and whoever lived in the house had a cream-over-gold 1982-85 LeBaron that sat in the driveway–and the driveway was not anywhere near the garage. Best I can figure is that maybe there was another house on the corner, and it had been torn down, with the house next door (and accompanying driveway) inheriting the garage.
I actually (stupidly, in retrospect) snuck in the garage one time and actually got into the car! What can I say, kids do dumb things, especially when said dumb kid is totally infatuated with a then-twenty-year-old, neglected Lincoln. I remember sitting in the back seat on plush black leather, and being totally smitten with that amazing dashboard and Y-spoke steering wheel. Is that not a great steering wheel or what?
Another time (yes, I was dumb enough to do it more than once!) I got into the car, only, to my horror, see the man of the house mowing the lawn at the head end of the garage–less than five feet from the doorless doorway at the opposite end of the garage.
Oh crap! It never occurred to my nine-year-old brain that I was nigh-on invisible to him, sitting in a dark car in a dark garage on that sunny summer day. So I sat in the rear compartment of that car for what seemed a very long time, but in actuality was probably ten minutes or so. I never did get caught. Such escapades were rare in my childhood, but this car was a special case!
So I had a thing for these cars. Indeed, at a car show my dad and I attended in 1991, a vendor had a bunch of old car brochures. Dad said he would buy me a couple, and of course I zeroed right in on the silvery covers of the 1971 Lincoln Continental and Mark III brochure, with “my” car in it! My second choice? The equally-plush 1971 Cadillac deluxe catalog. I still have both!
And thus to we come to the present, featuring this absolutely gorgeous 1972 Continental coupe. The big Connie coupe appeared in 1966, complementing the four-door sedan and unforgettable four-door convertible that had constituted the Lincoln lineup since 1961.
With the complete redesign of the non-Mark Continentals in 1970, the Coupe returned, despite the fact that the 1969 Mark III’s appearance had substantially stunted the Coupe’s sales. But it gamely hung in there, and retained its classic good looks and lovely pleated premium cowhide.
The 1970-up Continentals have been said to be a bit of a letdown compared to its 1961-69 forebear. But keep in mind, that generation, despite a refresh for 1966, was rather long in the tooth. What should Lincoln otherwise have done? If they had attempted to revise what was in effect a ten-year-old design, would it have been panned as a half-hearted update of an aging platform? Who can say?
A case can be made that the 1970 Continental began the gradual loss of “specialness” that afforded the 1961-69 Continental so much love and honor. But I am of the opinion that the 1970-73 (and its netherworld not-quite-1970 and not-quite-1975 ’74 iteration) Continental was still a nice car, and aspirational car. Could they have done better? Perhaps. But I like these cars for what they are.
It was on a prior post on CC that I became aware of libertyoldtimers.com, a Brugge-based “oldtimer” dealership of classic American iron. I clicked on the link back then and was immediately drawn to this classic 1972 Coupe. Such lovely lines! Such lovely colors! White leather! You know I am a sucker for white leather in an old Lincoln, Caddy or Imperial. So I saved some pictures and promptly forgot about it.
But lucky you, on a recent evening after having a couple of cocktails, I remembered the pics, and my ill-gotten seat time in an old forgotten 1971 Continental. So you see now how nicely I tied the two together! These cars are great.
Tom, you hit me where I live with this car. The 72 Continental was one of my first new car crushes. The 70-71 never did it for me, but the 72 got the details nearly perfect. I was hugely disappointed that my father picked out a Mark IV instead of one of these in the fall of 1971.
The 1972-74 Lincoln is one of my very favorites, but the 72 is the best of all with its petite bumpers. I knew that communism was doomed after Nixon gave one of these to Breshnev. 🙂
These never sold in anywhere near the numbers of the 76-79 models and are much harder to find now. Thanks for capturing this one. YouDaMan!
I think that Nixon gave him a 1973 Continental, after he gave a sable black 1972 Eldorado first.
Imagine a Republican doing that now. Nixon was a great man for a total crook.
Imagine Obama doing that is the real question. How about an Ipod with his speeches given to the QoE? Dems are tight fisted with their own money but have no problem spending tax payer money – and its never enough on social programs (moral hazards be damned).
Um, we’re here to talk about cars…
Thanks, Tom.
I’ve always likened the posting of one’s political opinion to posting photos of one’s navel.
We know you have one, we really don’t care, and seeing yours doesn’t change anyone else’s opinion – at least those on the subject – in any way.
My Dad bought a ’73 T-Bird over a ’73 Town Coupe in 1974. Both had the 460 of course, but to me the TC was the choice he should have made.
On another note, he passed his ’71 Mercury GM Brougham on to my Mom of which is very similar to this ’72 Connie.
Of all my old mans cars which included a baby blue ’64 Connie, ’68 T-Bird 4-door and a boat load of Cadillacs post ’73 T-Bird, the ’71 Merc with high compression 429 was the quickest. And that has made me a life long blue oval man.
I’m a fan of these as well–less formal and more “flowing” than their late 70’s revisions, but still with the hidden headlamps and the grand presence. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one “in the metal” though–these all seemed to be gone, even by the late 80’s.
Great story about your garage-bound “dream ride”!
For some reason, this Continental looks massive. Maybe it’s the petite European scenery.
I like it though. Specially that rear seat and all the accessory gauges.
What is that covering the headlight covers? Reflectors or just as part of the grille?
I think it says the Continental sold…
That’s a cool website, Libertyoldtimers. Lots of classic Broughamtastic eye-candy.
There’s a green with red interior 1970 Eldorado. Weirdest color combo I’ve seen on a Caddy. Maybe Santa was having some fun?
I still like it though, and would love to have it. Unique.
http://www.libertyoldtimers.com/1970EldoGreen/index.html
Quite a few 1978 Eldorados, including this pristine red on red one with 18,000 miles. I salivated with those gorgeous red seats.
http://www.libertyoldtimers.com/1978EldoRed/index.html
And for Carmine, a 1974 Talisman with the crushed velour towards the bottom of the page. Man, I’d love to have one of those.
http://www.libertyoldtimers.com/1974Talisman/index.html
Wonder when the 1979-85 Eldorados will start getting taken overseas.
I’ve driven a ’73 Continental. Trust me, they ARE massive 😀 !!!
I believe you, and when I was a boy, of about 7 yrs old, I felt as though I was riding in a cruise ship on wheels. It was like a Holland America cruiser on wheels! If only I was old enough at the time to drive the car, I probably would’ve enjoyed it.
Mmmm. Talisman.
These Lincolns are huge, those quarter panels have to be 7ft if you took them off the car and stood them up.
The should have kept the suicide doors on this vintage and made that a Continental sedan trademark.
Rik, the proprietor of Liberty Oldtimers, is a great guy. He started out as a collector and gradually moved it into being a business too. I visited him in Bruges about 15 years ago and got to drive a couple of the cars he then had (not for sale at the time), including a lovely ’59 Coupe deVille. If you’re in Europe and in the market, definitely give his inventory a look; he doesn’t import junk. Heck, take a look even if you’re not in Europe. I have occasionally asked him to please leave some of the good ones here for us Americans — so maybe someone in the US needs to buy this and repatriate it!
I had just checked out the link too….wow! What a fantastic collection of cars!
While I think most everyone pretty much loves the 61-68s, the next generation has a lot less respect. But I loved these as a kid, and now, I really like the earliest versions, like this one. The white leather is gorgeous.
It’s interesting that Lincoln (Ford) went in this direction. Obviously, they were going after Cadillac, and it worked, for a while, but they were probably in a better position to head the other way, after Mercedes. The 60s Lincolns were big, but not huge (relative to Cadillacs), and I could see a progression towards a more European style car. Who knows how things would have turned out if this happened.
I appreciate these a lot. Two or four door, the ’70 – ’74 Lincoln was always a bit rare, seeing them just occasionally, they still seem fresh to me. (I’ll second JPC that the ’75 – ’79 refresh sold like crazy and seemed to be everywhere.)
One of my first real recollections of this gen body was probably about 1975. I was traveling western Nebraska with my dad on business, and his company Oldsmobile was acting up. Something about “vapor lock.” A stop at the Oldsmobile dealership was a pretty sweet diversion.
It was dry summer time so most cars and the dealer shop were very clean. It was heaven to stand among a sea of mostly late model higher end Oldsmobiles. Strangely, on a lift was a light tan over light tan Lincoln Continental Town Car sedan from this era. It looked both huge and magnificent.
This could be on a list of cars to own for me.
“I appreciate these a lot. Two or four door, the ’70 – ’74 Lincoln was always a bit rare, seeing them just occasionally, they still seem fresh to me. (I’ll second JPC that the ’75 – ’79 refresh sold like crazy and seemed to be everywhere.)”
I remember a lot of 71-76 Cadillacs, and only a few early 70s Lincolns in my neighborhood, but the 1975s and later Lincolns really took off. I wonder if this was because it took a few years for people to realize that the Caddies of this era just weren’t as good as earlier ones?
Cadillac sales were strong through the ’70s, several record years were achieved, including 1977.
Cadillac’s weaker side in the early ’70s probably left it vulnerable when Lincoln stuck a home run with the ’75 restyle that really caught on.
The standard Lincolns were likely riding the coatails of the Mark III / IV and V that did a lot to move Lincoln from also ran to contender. While Eldorado was successful, you have to wonder if it would have simply owned the market if it were not front wheel drive. That had to be hard for a lot of luxury buyers to get used to.
The luxury brands were relatively lower priced in the later ’70s and expanded their market share. This gave Lincoln more room when they became a player.
When Chrysler gave up on Imperial after 1975, the typical 15,000 or so annual Imperial sales had to go somewhere. It wouldn’t surprise me if Lincoln took most of this market as Lincoln / Imperial buyers were mavricks in a field where Cadillac was king. A mavrick Imperial buyer was not likely to go to Cadillac.
While the ’77 Cadillac improved Caddy’s quality, there was probably some backlash to their smaller cars – masked by the strong seller’s market for the ’77 – ’79 model years. Lincoln made hay with the combination of an expanded, strong, and backlash driven market that had Imperial buyers looking for a new home.
Your idea on the Imperial had occurred to me as well. (The same reason Imperial sales got juiced in 1957 after Packard threw in the towel on real Packards after 1956.) From my experience, there were also quite a few Cadillac owners who switched to Lincoln in the late 70s. Cadillac slowed down its restyles (they got 6 years out of that 1971 body) and also Lincoln came across as a higher quality car at that time. Although Carmine is fond of pointing out the Pinto steering wheel (and he is correct) the rest of the interior materials and general feel of the car were superior to the big Caddys, certainly through 1976. As you say, the 77-79 Cadillac was not going to appeal to a certain subset of their customers either, and Lincoln was there with a “traditional” substitute.
Interesting point on ’57 Imperial. Had never thought of it. The handsome new body arrived at a perfect time to tempt homeless Packard buyers.
Lincoln, unlike Imperial, had the good fortune of not having a quality disaster in ’76 to scare off all their new customers. My dad’s related ’76 LTD gave us good service for about 8 years. It was the first car my dad sold off because he was tired of it and wanted something completely different. An ’84 Grand Prix was his ticket to a new look.
The Eldorado not only faced competition from the Mark, but from within Cadillacs own ranks with the Coupe deVille, Cadillac used to sell 40-50K Eldorados and 90-100K Coupe deVilles. I don’t think the FWD hurt the Eldorado.
I would say that 6 years out of a body style is stretch, 1971-1973’s are essentially the same with the addition of bumpers for 1973. 1974-1976 was an extensive restyle of the entire car in and out, there isn’t a single sheet of exterior metal or any interior panels that are the same as a 1971.
Its not just the Pinto steering wheel, its all the other generic and cheap Ford hardware, the headlight and wiper switches are the same as on my F100.
Some days you have to poke the bear. Good naturedly, though.
You are correct that by ’76 Cadillac had switched up all the ’71 sheet metal. But, it takes car guys to give Cadillac much credit for it. Mild refresh of the basic ’71 theme is probably a fair statement.
GM also used a lot of the same switch gear from compact to Cadillac. The basic power window, lock and seat gear, climate controls, window cranks, door lock plungers, etc. were universal. To GM’s credit, their stuff was usually the best in the business, foreign or domestic, both appearance wise and durability wise. When GM’s basic designs of these items from the early ’70s (even the later ’60s) began to die off in earnest in the mid ’80s, I was sort of bummed out. The stuff you could count on in GM cars was disappearing.
I’m sure I know that wiper switch – it was in the ’76 LTD that I learned to drive in. It looks fine in your F100, the LTD and the Lincoln.
Uh, no sorry Charlie, the “Automatic Climate Control” system that was in a Cadillac with the thumbwheel controls were certainly NOT UNIVERSAL. Cheaper GM cars used the 2 horizontal slide style controls with the fan speed on the left that came out around 1970 and GM used for decades later. But it is NO WHERE near the same controller as a Cadillac.
Window cranks? There weren’t any on a Cadillac, they had electric windows, they only Cadillac that would have had cranks that were shared with a lower GM car would have been a commercial chassis.
The power seats were sort of used across the line, but the power seat control and design mostly originated in a Cadillacs first and then trickled down the line as lower cars started to offer power seats so it was more of a case of a Cadillac part filtering down to lower cars were Lincolns just used the same cheap parts as Pinto or a Maverick with a little more “plood” glued on.
My 71 Riviera had automatic climate control. The temperature was a dial and the mode was a lever. The controls were very similar to the Cadillac’s pictured at liberty oldtimers. What I know about the automatic climate control system is that Cadillac got it first, but when I am not sure. The rest of the full size GM makes offered it as an option by the mid sixties, but whether the controls were similar to Cadillac’s or not I can’t say. In the seventies, a semi-automatic system was offered. Oldsmobile used this on the full sized cars as my 78 Regency 98 had it. In the eighties the automatic climate control went to electronic controls rather than vacuum. With the electronic system, the controls could be customized more easily I think and were changed into a control system that was more fully automatic. One could shut off the compressor while remaining in full automatic mode, just no cooling.
A commenter here bought a 1976 Cadillac Coupe de Ville at that Belgian classic US car dealer. IIRC it’s the blue one with the white top and the commenter’s name is Olivier.
Yes indeed :-)! Hoe gaat het Johannes? When I saw Tom’s pics I thought “Hey, I know this place…”
FYI I still have that 1976 beast. And I still love it. It’s soon due for a visit at the dreaded Luxemburgish “contrôle technique”… Pah! I bet they’ll find something to complain about…
Bonjour Olivier !
Yes, that driveway in the pictures sure looked very familiar to me too. The contrôle technique for my voiture Américaine is in september. Once every 2 year here for older cars, I expect no problems at all.
Good luck with your Cadillac ! (No need to translate that name into French…)
And enjoy the trips, I’m sure you take good care of the beast.
My grandpa had a 1972 four door Continental. Coinciding with his shrinking interest in driving in his late 70’s, I turned 16 and became his driver. A big car for a rookie driver, but I never had a problem. Papa was a patient and kind mentor/passenger.
The car I drove had the white leather seats and black carpet as shown in the photos. I remember the power door locks were vacuum operated, and made a “coon–cha” sound when activated. The steering wheel was the “rim-blow” variety–simply press on the rubber strip affixed to the inner rim of the steering wheel and a VERY authoritative horn would blow! There was also a system that automatically released the parking brake when the shift lever was moved from PARK–a very nice feature, even in today’s feature-rich automotive world.
The 460 engine made the car seem light—the engine was quite energetic, never feeling or sounding unduly stressed. –If there is any “achievement” in American motoring, certainly making a land barge like this feel light on its feet acceleration-wise is quite an achievement indeed!
I was also quite astonished when I looked under the hood of Papa’s Lincoln. While I knew, even at age 16, that a 460 is quite a large engine, the compartment was so wide that the engine had quite a bit of room around it–changing spark plugs or exhaust gaskets would likely be a very simple, un-challenging job. To make a 460 appear “small” is another achievement in American motoring!
For reasons unknown, Papa traded his lovely Lincoln in 1986–for a lowly used 1979 Chevy Malibu with a V6. I never understood that trade, but I still loved my Papa…and miss him dearly!
Lots of these cars aren’t as ponderous as some people think they are, thanks to the miracle of power assists its possible to glide one of these 5000lb biggies with just the tips of your fingers.
In 1972 the big 460 still made 212 hp but made loads of earth-mover torque, which even with the tall rear end ratio made the cars go well. The Lincoln was in my opinion a better driver than the Cadillac of the era because it had a better suspension and certainly better brakes. They actually drove well for what they were, humongous sleds. The 460 is still my favourite big block since it is so darned unkillable, has great low end torque and is smooth. It also drinks gas like mad.
Indeed they did. For a car that weighs in at over 2 tonnes, that’s imperative, how much torque an engine delivers.
That’s a great example you found on Libertyoldtimers. I’ve never heard of that site but I’ll have to check it out. At least now you can say that you own car whose lineage can be traced back to the ’72 Lincoln you snuck into as a kid.
My cousin had a Lincoln Continental when I was a boy. It looked like the car in the pictures, except his was a sedan, brown if I remember correctly. Although it wasn’t very good on gas, it was an awesome car to ride in, quite comfortable. 🙂
I came really close to buying a 4 door version of this car about 5 years ago…copper colored with white leather and black carpets…a kid had been driving it to Holt High School in beautiful Wentzville MO, and had gotten tired of putting gas in it. It had been for sale for awhile, and when I finally called about it, he told me he had just blown the engine…
majestic cars, just lovely
An absolutely beautiful car. If a car were ever to be sculpted by Michelangelo this would be it. Every line so crisp and clear.
Oh, be still my heart! Not only do I remember this car well, I lived the dream, so to speak. Dad bought the ’71 coupe for my mom to replace their aging ’65 Continental. White with a black vinyl top and black leather, it was stunning. I was 24 then, still lived at home, and drove it often. JPC is quite right above, the ’72s got all the details right, the return of the Continental star standup hood ornament, the return of the stainless trim strip running the length of those bladed fenders, the solid triple taillights, the egg crate grille, the petite bumpers. Yes, the car was massive, and hard to see out the rear window of the coupe, but it drove quite nimbly and was indeed light on its feet, as R. Henry notes above. It was a real pleasure to drive. And that 460 engine was not bad on the gas mileage on long trips, as I recall. And btw, I would not place these ’70-’74s in the “broghaminess” category at all, they were the last iteration of classic understated Lincoln taste and elegance, before the designer edition era kicked in. An awesome car, and I loved your story, Tom!
And WHAT does Lincoln have for us today?
A tarted up Ford Fusion???
HOW the once-mighty have sunk
🙁
I refused to buy my wife a Lincoln last year just for that reason. Got her a 300 SRT that she won’t let me drive. 🙂 or 🙁
Tell me about it.
To be fair, was this not just a tarted-up Galaxie?
I can appreciate the car for what it is, but the fender blades make it look like a kid wearing his older brother’s coat. It was definitely a car of and for its time.
Looks like all the cars on the Liberty Oldtimers website are sold – Tom do you know what this one was selling for?
About as much a tarted-up Galaxie as the Cadillac was a tarted-up Impala. This generation of Continentals shared a platform with the Galaxie and Marquis for the first time, but the ’71-’76 Fleetwood/DeVille used the same GM corporate C platform as the Olds 98 and Buick Electra, and the C platform was really just a stretched B platform (Impala/Caprice, Bonneville/Catalina, 88, LeSabre/Centurion). And I’m sure any parts-bin engineering that occured with interior switchgear and trim was probably no worse at Lincoln than at Cadillac.
The Caddy did still have its own engine family in the 472, whereas the Lincoln now shared the 400 and 460 with the rest of the Ford line, so that is one important difference. GM would wait until the late 70’s to start swapping engines between brands.
I’m taking a wild guess here, but I think this Lincoln was selling for 12.000 – 15.000 euros (sorry I can’t be more specific). I used to check that site very often when I was looking for some seriously Broughamastic iron for sale in Western Europe, until I pulled the trigger and purchased the blue & white 1976 DeVille 3 years ago, If I remember well, that’s what most Coupes and Sedans on sale here went for.
Convertibles and, say, exclusive models like this fantastic 1962 Sedan De Ville went for a bit more than that, between 15.000 and 20.000 euros.
I’m not really surprised the cars are sold out for the time being. All the cars I saw at Liberty Oldtimers were in mint condition (the pics tell their own story). The owner – very nice guy by the way, who knows his Caddys and Lincolns inside and out – told me such cars aren’t really hard to sell, but they are getting increasingly hard to find. Still, I suspect there might a few more containers waiting for him at Antwerp harbour soon.
I vacillated between an early 70’s lincoln and an early 70’s cadillac. I finally pulled the trigger and bought a 74 coupe de ville. It’s being shipped to me now. But next time i could go Lincoln…
That is a beautiful example. That car looks like a cross breed between a Cadillac and a Lincoln. It does look a little bloated compared to my favorite. Care to take a wild guess? Not having the big bumpers is a big plus. I do seem to recall that back in the day many people were not happy with the build quality, and these cars had a lot of repair issues. My late Dad’s silver with black vinyl roof and black leather interior 67 Continental will always be my favorite. I have next to my computer the marble base with hood ornament “trophy” that he got from the dealership in 1967, complete with his (misspelled) name on it. The tag on the bottom is kind of worn and hard to read, but I believe the dealership he bought it from was in Portland. It says “Made exclusively for Lincoln Continental” and I think it say’s “Spike Lawrence M/C”. Nice find, Tom. We just closed on selling his and my late Mom’s house last week to some good family friends. And his estate has finally been closed this week. And yesterday I cleaned out my garage of their possessions from the assisted living place where he passed last November. I kept all the family heirlooms and prized possession’s, and spent some time looking at family photo’s dating back 100 years. CC effect is as strong as ever.
Wow, that is a car!
whenever I see one of these, I think of Frank Cannon. That is not a criticism
Strangely, on the libertyoldtimers.com website it shows as SOLD.
Time to tell us more Tom?
No, I didn’t buy it! I already have one Lincoln to feed. 🙂
That would be some detour for the Lincoln! From the US to Belgium and then back to the US.
I’m right with you, Tom, I’ve always had a soft spot for full size Fords – particularly the Lincoln variant. I’d love to have one of these for a summer daily driver as to this day they just drip cool.
Awesome find. Man do I every want one of these…
Nice. Flush bumpers n all.
I’ve always liked the early 1970’s Lincoln’s more than the late 1970’s yet they seem to be overshadowed in favor of the 1960’s and late 1970’s Lincoln’s, of the 1970-79 Lincoln’s the 1972 model was the best looking of the bunch with the 1973 model being close behind, I agree the 1972 styling was perfected compared to the 1970-71 styling.
I thought they looked a lot better than the Cadillac’s of the same time period.
Too big. Ponderously big.
I have not driven the Lincoln, but I did take a 73 Fleetwood Sixty Special (or whatever they called it then) for a test drive. It was about 4 years old at the time. It was ponderously big. At the time I had a 71 Riviera.
I love how they always referred to these types of cars as personal luxury coupes and yet they can fit a family of 15 in them. Go figure.
You are lured by white interiors in Lincolns and Cadillacs? I bet a white interior in a Galaxie or Camaro would capture your attention.
The heck ya mean? 🙂
Ok. This Continental is stunning. And libertyoldtimers? Visiting the link left me speechless. Forget eye candy…we’re talking hardcore broughamography!
Thanks for a great writeup, Tom. You truly managed to capture the excitement of childhood mischief committed in connection with my varied interests in conveyances. To wit: I was positively obsessed with a 1949 35 foot Chris Craft as a boy. It was docked a few slips down from Mother and Dad’s boat, and one day, I uncharacteristically gave in and boarded the vessel, sans permission. The nervous energy of guilt and excitement I experienced while exploring its interior reminds me of your description of boarding that black Continental.
Incidentally, following a repaint in essentially the same shade of blue (over white vinyl seats no less), I used to pretend our golf cart was an early eighties panther Town Car coupe. Where else can one make these kinds of admissions? CC or a therapists office, and this site is a better value!
You know what I really love?
The full compliment of gauges. I miss oil, alt, etc. gauges.
If only all cars had gauges. Most cars at the time used warning lights as gauges. They’re a fine supplement to the gauges, but a poor substitute to the gauges.
I’d have to say, if nothing else, the later sleek Lincoln hood ornament/badges look better.
That’s a sweet website. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many upclose shots of a Cadillac Talisman.
I believe this model year was the first Lincoln Continental my grandfather bought after new Cadillacs every 2 years from ’59 on. He would stick with them for the rest of the 70s. In ’80 he bought a Fleetwood, but switched to box Panther Grand Marquis for his final buys in the 80s.
My ’70 Continental sedan, bought as a solid used car in 1980 was one of the nicest, most trouble-free cars I’ve ever owned. Sure, it floated down the highway, good for 10mpg whether driven with heavy or light-footed. In medium turquoise metallic with matching interior and white top, it cut quite a figure even in those days of large luxury cars roaming the highways. It was in the Brougham Epoch but not so much of it, still had the look and feel of the ’60’s Continentals interiors. These day, I’ve been looking for another one to enjoy. Believe it or not, they’re still out there, in nice condition and at every reasonable prices….maybe I shouldn’t cue others in until I find mine!
Those things are a lot of car, theres a pale yellow one cruising about locally one of several Lincolns that have recently turned up round here.
America made great big road cars like this. 7 mpg. They dominated the market. Then the 1973 Oil Embargo happened, and worse, the Federal Government decided to “fix” the problem by creating CAFE, which killed these cars before they could evolve into today’s fuel efficient cruisers, and killing Detroit in the process. Within six years, Americans were convinced that we were running out of oil and needed to drive Toyotas, Hondas and Datsuns. I remember being told that we would run out of fossil fuels by 1980, so cram yourself into the backseat of that B-210 and pray you don’t hit a deer.
As you can see right now,50 years later – we are all out of gasoline – sheesh.
Today, Detroit looks like Chernobyl and our domestic auto makers are a shadow of their former selves. Thanks Washington! You just couldn’t leave well enough alone. You just had to scare up an crisis that justified gutting American industries. Sheer geniuses. Love those government panics!
These cars could have evolved naturally, just as they always had, into nice American made cruisers, keeping our neighborhoods employed and functioning along the way.
I’d rather not get into an argument, but the late-1970s idea that we were soon going to use up the world’s oil supply (and therefore, that one should buy a tiny lightweight car that sipped fuel) was hardly unique to the USA. Governments have the responsibility to plan ahead. Just because the data on which they base their plans may turn out to have been incorrect in retrospect doesn’t absolve them of the responsibility.
As for the 1972 Lincoln Continental, it ran great on regular (leaded) gas, getting as much as 15 mpg on a straight flat road with the cruise control on. My family had a four-door, Copper Moondust Metallic with black interior, that I sometimes drove as a teenager. Greatest leather upholstery ever – as pictured here, not the later pillow style. Build quality was not the greatest, however; the driver’s door armrest fell off once, held on just by wiring.
I remember being shown an educational film in school circa 1974 warning us we were running out of all kinds of resources, and that we only had enough oil/gasoline to last – what was it? 20 more years? It made me think that the progress and good times were about to end and we’d soon be going back to horse-drawn buggies because there would be no more gas. The film pushed coal as a solution, because we had enough coal to last another 500 years.
So the Continental really only had two basic designs from 1961 to 1979. Even if less distinctive than the ’60s rendition, I still like the ’70 and up version quite a bit, certainly more than the 71-76 Caddies, though swapping the Ford dashboard in the ’78-’79 lessened their appeal. 1976 was the peak of this generation for me, just before they started using the ersatz Rolls-Royce grilles.
It doesn’t absolve them of the responsibility, but government should be held accountable for mistakes and make efforts to stop the bleeding from the stabs they themselves made. The energy crisis itself was started by government foreign policy, far removed from anything Detroit had anything to do with, that led to the embargo. Global free trade capitalism laments the idea of tariffs and chicken taxes, but when policy dictates that in a relative few short years the entire domestic industry must meet targets that only imports already could, IOW “just make what they make”, that isn’t exactly free market either. It would be akin to the Italian government allowing importation of American cars without restrictions and setting a brand new policy standard that heavily favored lazy V8s and land barge dimensions, how do you think Fiat would have fared making them?
We can debate endlessly the social responsibility Detroit had in building large cars up to that point of course, but it also steadily employed a whole lot of people within our own borders, in cities towns that still haven’t recovered from the losses since these 70s policies were enacted. Setting pollution standards and outlawing leaded gas is one thing, we can all be thankful for that today, and notably ALL automakers had to adapt to that, but CAFE was anything but fair. To import companies all CAFE meant to their product planners was “keep doing what you do”.
OMG, this revisionist/reactionary claptrap again. I guess you chose to ignore every fact and statistic in my article “Who Killed the Big American Car?” Dude, it was changing consumer sentiment, not CAFE that killed the big car. They were made all during that time. How many folks bought LT-1 Roadmasters and Caprices? And how many bought Explorers, minivans and such?
Never mind; soothe yourself with your delusions. It’s better than reality.
I didn’t say CAFE killed the big American car!
I don’t believe CAFE was good policy, I object to the rationale of the policy as it was originally written – I’m talking the goal, not the real life results. That the switch in tastes were natural and already in progress (and I do agree that they were) at the time it was conceived, then it goes double. Then what was the point of even implementing a fuel economy standard on a class of car that was statistically dieing off anyway? Why were light truck standards more lax while that segment was statistically growing?
America made great big road cars like this. 7 mpg. They dominated the market. Then the 1973 Oil Embargo happened, and worse, the Federal Government decided to “fix” the problem by creating CAFE, which killed these cars before they could evolve into today’s fuel efficient cruisers, and killing Detroit in the process. Within six years, Americans were convinced that we were running out of oil and needed to drive Toyotas, Hondas and Datsuns. I remember being told that we would run out of fossil fuels by 1980, so cram yourself into the backseat of that B-210 and pray you don’t hit a deer.
Once again, you fail History class. But you get an A in Creative Writing.
The best selling car in 1974 was the Pinto, and CAFE didn’t even exist yet for several more years. And the Vega was a top seller that year too.
There were always big cars available, but the market spoke. I covered this all too well in “Who Killed the Big American Car”. But you chose to ignore the facts.
The big American car did evolve very nicely, into the powerful and efficient RWD cars being built by GM and Ford in the ’90s. How many buyers chose to buy them, instead of a minivan or Cherokee or Explorer? The gubmint had nothing to do with that; buyer preference dictated all these changes. But keep repeating your make believe version of history, as it apparently soothes you.
Not much mentioned about the incredible improvement the Town Car option made in 1972 1/2. The chrome addition around the inside door panel door handles, the carpet up the back of the front seats, the design on the interior rear pillar lights – there’s so much more offered that raised the interior from an “LTD” look to a real luxury Lincoln.
Proud to say my dad bought the 1st available one the summer of 1972 in the Atlanta area.