The Lincoln Mark VIII was truly one of the last of its kind. In just two decades, from the 1970s to the 1990s, the personal luxury car market had gone from one of the hottest segments to one of the tiniest. With the 2002 discontinuation of the Cadillac Eldorado, the American personal luxury coupe was officially dead. Despite the various vinyl and cloth “simulated convertible” roofs that were omnipresent among personal luxury cars, functional convertibles never really gained traction in this segment after they went briefly extinct in the mid-1970s. That’s not to say that there were not aftermarket conversions.
With its elegant looks and classic proportions, the Lincoln Mark VIII was a perfect candidate for aftermarket coach builders to transform into a convertible cruiser. One source says that 23 of them were made in 1994, retailing for an estimated $65,000 each. I don’t know what kind of structural enforcements were made to it, but I will say that the responsible coach builder did an excellent job at integrating the convertible roof into the design – it almost looks like it could be a fake “simulated cabriolet” roof.
Its beautifully designed interior looks just as fine in the open air. I hope those seats are heated though.
I found this particular example on eBay back in March 2010, and have had it saved in my extensive archives of car photos since. The Mark VIII was a proud vehicle to end Ford’s long line of personal luxury cars. Is there a better way to own a piece of automotive history than driving it off into the sunset with the wind in your hair?
Sweet looking convertible. I’ve seen plenty of Lincoln Mk. VIII before, but never a convertible. It’s a shame that Ford dropped the Mark. It’s perhaps the best looking of the Lincoln Mark series cars.
It’s remarkable how close to the fixed-roof version that looks with the top up. Top down, the proportions are a little odd due to the short deck, but I’d still drive it! I always wished my VIII had a sunroof; this is better yet…
American Sunroof job?. They did the Celica soft top as well around that time.
Not bad at all. Imagine if the car had been built as a true two-door hardtop to begin with along with a convertible option. That would have made the car a real standout in L-M showrooms.
A fine effort but it is one of the few convertibles that looks better with the roof up than down. A tweak to give a short cabin area and a longer deck area improves the visual balance a bit.
Dave, that’s exactly what I was thinking of. Helps immensely!
Wonder how good the rear bench foot room is in this convertible?
Probably no better than it was in the coupe, sadly. Don’t know why they couldn’t make the lower portion of the front seats slimmer so that rear-seat passengers had somewhere to put their toes…
Or put the fuel tank in the overhang or behind the rear seat(ala Mercedes Benz). There’s enough dead space in the rear package tray and enough space between the wheelwells and seatback that the whole rear seat could be moved back at least 3″ without sacrifice. That damn tank just takes up so much floorspace in the MN12/FN10
I think why they put the fuel tank in the floor is for the weight distrubution. By putting the fuel tank in the overhang makes it too heavy in the rear, and put it behind the passenger seat has a higher center of gravity. The car handles extremely well even when turning really hard and I think it’s for the weight distrubution too. ( another story on wet surface though ) anyway they were thinking they designed a Thunderbird to compete with BMW 6 series at the time
Hello? Doesn’t anybody remember the problems Ford had with the PInto? About Pintos getting rear-ended and turning into flaming torches?
That was a big reason why fuel tanks aren’t tucked under the trunk anymore.
I get the weight distribution factor (although the 04-06 GTO had a rear seat mounted tank and was every bit as fine of a handler as the MN12/FN10) Other alternative would have been to make the tank smaller, the 89-92s used a 21 gallon tank and rerouting the exhaust for the 93-98s reduced capacity to 18. I wonder how much space could have been freed had the tank been 18 from the start with the old exhaust routing.
@ John Pierce. So the millions of cars Ford made well into the millennium after the Pinto ended production were all flaming torches too? I heard of a few high speed collisions with Police cruiser Crown Vics getting hit on the shoulder and igniting(we’re talking 70mph impacts into a stationary vehicle, not exactly any way to guarantee protection from that) but never with a Fox/SN95 Mustang with their rear mounted tanks, at least no stories I’ve heard. And side impacts can rupture central mounted fuel tanks too, they don’t always explode like a Hollywood movie.
One of the things we all lose sight of when wondering why the lines on a car are not stretched more, or if the interior space could be more accommodating, is that the auto companies are doing a constant dance between consumer acceptance of a product, and complying with CAFE regs. Many decisions are made with an eye to keeping the vehicle’s weight down.
This issue, among others, did a great deal to kill the once popular luxury coupe.
Since this was not a body on frame design, taking the roof off would have weakened the body. Even with some additional support the car is probably not as good as original. Still the car looks good.
I am not quite sure what happened to the luxury personal coupe market. Somehow I think that BMW’s sport sedan concept may have had an impact. With the end of the true hardtop design/style, the large luxury coupe may have simply lost its appeal.
I can see some reinforcement below the rocker panels so the structural weaknesses definitely seem to be addressed.
It looks like a Toyota Solara to me. The only Lincolns that ever interested me were the Mark III, Mark IV, and Mark V. Things kind of went downhill after those.
It’s alot more exciting than what’s in a Lincoln showroom today.The Mk VII and Mk VIII are 2 of the nicest looking Lincolns since the 56.I like this a lot,and have to ask why didn’t Lincoln make it?
Agreed
So many of these aftermarket convertibles look awkward with the top down, top up or both. This one looks like it could have come from the factory this way.
That said, as much as I like the idea of droptops, the lines of this one don’t translate especially well to a convertible, in my view. Maybe I could get used to it, as I seem to be one of about 9 people who like the idea of a modern big convertible.
I prefer the ASC Cougar convertible, the longer decklid really helps the convertible profile.
Yes, it looks so much better by eliminating the Lee Iacocca like vertical rear window at the same time! and the long trunk is the result from the vertical window anyway. Better proportion of Mark VIII shows the problem when the slant rear window is gone
Hey now, the Cougar’s steel roofline works just as well! There’s no Iaccoca top going on unless it’s got a coach conversion done to it.
That actually looks good. The squared off rear deck just works.
Not sure if I like it or not – with the roof missing the rear quarter looks very U13 Nissan Bluebird/Altima-esque. But one thing I do love though is the rear side windows now being able to go down – can you imagine how awesome the beroofed Mk VIII would have been if it had openable rear side windows…
I would love this car in white with a red interior and black top, my idea of a classic convertible color combo.
Every now and then I see a Mark VII for sale on Craigslist. I am tempted by the VIIs, the only Mark I am tempted by, but 99% are VERY tired examples that have received a full “Pep Boys” treatment at some point in it’s life.
It’s not that hard to find a nice Mark VII or Mark VIII when compared to the Tbird from the same time period. A nice Tbird is so rare that I feel it’s just easier to stick to the Mark
Just too bad the convertible doesn’t come from the factory as a production car. The prototype is said to be crushed ( oh and color. I never see that color on the road )
Somehow, these always reminded me a bit too much of the Sable (3rd gen). Why does it also look like it has FWD proportions?
I always liked the shape of the dash and console though.
Could never understand why some automotive journalists, namely those at Car & Driver, called the styling of the generation of the Mark “mystifying” and “LeSabre-like”. This car was gorgeous. Maybe the dash was an acquired taste, but you couldn’t mistake it for anything else on the road. The aftermarket ragtops were especially handsome. I saw one in Philly one warm summer eve in University City, but they were going too fast for me to get a good look.
The last one of these luxe-coupes attempted as convertible properly was the ’82 to ’85 Buick Riviera (and subsequent same body/frame Eldos from ’84 & ’85).
Those were proper full body on frame cars and were made available for sale by GM dealers after ASC breathed convertible magic on them. Most of those cars sat on the dealer lots a long time or until the wife of the owner or GM got tired of the driving the underpowered, squeaky car.
Lincoln knew these facts and, with good reason, never took the silly risk it would have been for the two final versions of the Mark – a prudent decision.
So there’s why Lincoln didn’t try to sell you one and you will rarely see one done as above.
i like the concept a lot. But to me it looks like a Toyota Solara convertible.
My brother had the standard version. What a sweet riding car. Gas mileage wasn’t too bad. The problem with his was the air suspension leaked and he had to let it idle for a couple of minutes to bring it back up.
They all do that eventually–the air shocks are, essentially, a wear item. Towards the end of when I had it, mine would drop overnight, but it would come right back to height as soon as I started the car. The parts aren’t that bad if you go aftermarket rather than OEM, but a popular option is to retrofit the whole car with coilovers. That seems a shame to me as the cloud-smooth ride (without the traditional big-car float and wallow) is one of the hallmarks of the car.