There was once a time when it seemed that one of these 1990-1997 generation Lincoln Town Cars occupied every well-to-do elderly person’s driveway, and populated every livery service’s fleet (now I’m beginning to sound like an old man).
Those days are now long gone, with Town Cars becoming increasing obsolete, succeeded in livery fleets by everything from the Cadillac Escalade to the Mercedes S-Class to the Hyundai Equus to Lincoln’s own generally unsuccessful MKT, and in the driveway of private owners with you name it.
Now full disclosure: I’ve never found the post-1980s Town Car to be an all that luxurious vehicle. Relative to other vehicles from luxury brands of the time, the Town Car was lacking in the way of refinement and noteworthy features. But man did these cars have stately presence, even this one with its rusty fenders and sagging rear air suspension. And I think that’s always been their strongest link.
Photographed, in front of The Linq Theatre, S. Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas, NV – November 2015
They have air springs all the way around, so its not just the backs with a propensity for sagging. But the air springs are pretty cheap to buy these days and are easy to replace, easier than sagging steel springs.
Ford was clever in using ordinary, reliable corporate drivelines in these cars. The 5 liters and 4.6 engines would last forever, unlike Cadillacs aluminum wonders. I would grab one of these in a heartbeat if I stumbled across a cheap clean example. They are like a reliable taxicab dressed in rummage sale elegance. Wealthy people may not find Lincolns move downmarket appealing, but it suits me just fine.
I think Ford was more prudent or cheap than clever; why invest in underhood exotica when few buyers cared about it? And the Modular was OHC, so take that, Euro snobs!
I agree, cost -efficiency was the sole reason behind the driveline decision. Regardless, it was a smart choice to make. Ford has done this driveline-sharing since 1968, and probably found their buyers look for effective results and not technical uniqueness
I still think they should have made the DOHC 4.6 optional (if not standard) when it became available. The take rate probably would have been low, but why not? They had the engine, it would have fit just fine, and it would have added a bit more “premium-ness” to the car. Might have grabbed a few buyers who were on the fence, though I don’t really know how many of those there were… And as time and usage have shown, the reliability of the all-aluminum DOHC engine is close to that of the steel-block SOHC motor. They’re not made of glass, far from it.
Well the SOHC may have been more appropriate in a car like this, the DOHC, especially the 93-98 “B head” versions that would have been available, were very high strung and lacking low end torque, in a Mustang or a Mark VIII or a Continental that application worked, but in a 4200 Town Car it would be pretty miserable I imagine.
I didn’t consider the weight differential–about 500 lbs between the two. The DOHC made 90 more horsepower but only 20 lb-ft more torque, and that at higher RPM, so I suppose it might have been something of a wash off the line/at low speeds. I wouldn’t go so far as to call the engine high-strung though; it’s not like you had to flog it to see the benefits.
But I suppose that it probably wouldn’t have been worth the price to really any of the TC’s clientele if you couldn’t feel a difference in the “butt dyno”.
No it is not a wash off the line, the DOHC needs more gear in the rear to take advantage of its power curve. One only needs to drive a Marauder with the 3.55 gears that the bean counters forced on it instead of the 4.10 it was designed for back to back with a 3.23 geared SOHC Panther to feel the difference.
Or they could have used the 5.4 block as Ford Australia did, to overcome torque concerns! I suppose though it was one thing to have a Ford engine in a Lincoln but another thing to have a pickup engine. The Navigator DOHC version might have made things better, although I agree with Chris it is better to have a plain version as standard. Big wheels and brakes are a good example of this, the cost of consumables can give people a fright.
Bear in mind the 5.4 block didn’t exist until 1997 for the tenth generation F-series trucks, which was the last year of this generation Town Car. The DOHC came even later(the first year Navigators used the regular SOHC).
There is one of these parked at a house about four blocks from where I live, I have regularly walked past it for a good number of years. We have named this particular example the “Jimmy Hoffa Memorial Town Car” because the back bumper is now at ground level. Presumably the vehicle doesn’t run because it hasn’t moved in several years.
My father had a Town Car of this era in the late nineties; I was only in the car a few times but I remember it as being comfortable and quiet. My wife later inherited one of the newer, rounder, Town Cars when he died. We took it on a couple of road trips before she sold it and I was not especially impressed with the vehicle. It didn’t ride or drive as well as my uncle’s Grand Marquis, it may have been a vehicle specific issue but this Town Car didn’t track very well. Driving down the interstate required constant minor course corrections, which would have been more acceptable if the steering hadn’t been so numb. Apparently I’m not a member of the Town Car’s demographic.
Depending upon how old it was it probably had worn-out bushings in the control arms. Our ’97 had a bit of that same thing you describe, but we never got around to replacing them. Odds are good that if it was a rounded late ’90s TC, Ford used lesser-quality bushings that wore out too soon.
No Panther ever had air springs all the way around from the factory. Contentials and Mark VII/VIII did.
The 1983 and up Lincoln Continentals had air springs at all four corners. The 1990-1997 Town Car only had air springs in the rear.
I suspect a lot of Continentals will be showing up at airports very soon. As for private sales its already doing much better than the MKS, which is a pretty low bar to clear, but a good sign it could be successful.
I always loved the massive size and king of the road presence this era of Town Cars made. Especially when a Town Car pulled next say a compact commuter like the Hyundai Excel, Geo Metro.
The size difference was so extreme, it was crazy to look at. The interior was like riding in a living room.
my mom had a 90 Town Car Cartier Series …. at the time I didn’t care for the rounded edges..i was always a squired off edge Lincoln fan … but that car was true luxury and she never had one problem with it ever.
Everything was superlative…. was to date the only car she ever kept for longer than 8 years … (her generation was a every 4 year new car no matter what). She only finally let it go because of a fear of a breakdown on a 8 year old car that never came. Replaced it with one of those frog nose 99 Lincolns…which was a base trim level…yucky car. It had problems. She always regretted giving up the 90 town car… it stayed in the family and eventually my nephew totaled it in a evening college escapade…. her anguish over the car being totaled was such you’d have thought we’d have lost a sibling.
I lived in NYC for 10 years starting in 1995…. the age of the Town Car in Manhattan … nearly every stretch limo was a Lincoln.. nearly every black car (car service car) was a Lincoln. So much leg room in back of those, and such a nice ride.
I was back in NYC this spring and still a few old Lincolns of course in the older service fleets but a few of the new MKTXDS (or whatever letters) were making themselves known a bit, but nothing like the dominance of the 90’s Lincolns.
To me the MKSDXT looks like a funeral coach but oh well.
Back on point…. that 90 Lincoln was one of the “unicorns” that got away…I was busy with life and my nephew needed a car so off it went..as noted pretty quickly getting totaled. Oddly my Mom’s 2 favorite cars were both Lincolns and both got totaled pretty soon after she let them go.. (the other is a 79 but that is another story).
I remember getting the car new and I was sorta upset it was the new body style and not squired off like the 80’s Lincolns…but once you got in and drove and rode in it..it was just pure class. Long road trips were always a joy in it.
In hindsight it was because it was the newer rounded style that it looked so new all thru the 90’s while she had it. Oh well. Maybe someday I’ll find another!
Maybe hers was so nice because of the Cartier series thing..it had REALLY nice leather, I do remember that. sigh..I miss that car now!
JohnR, my grandfather had a 1990 Lincoln Town Car in baby blue. It was a base model, with beautiful velour seats, but, man, what a car. Like your mother, my grandfather, a successful Tennessee dairy farmer, traded cars every four years. But, he kept the Lincoln for eight as well. Every time I got the chance, I drove it. After graduating from college, I lived with my grandparents while I was teaching. And, when they’d leave in their travel van for Florida, I’d drive the Town Car. My grandfather traded in for the re-fresh 1997 model, and sold the 1990 baby blue car. I still regret not buying it. Never a mechanical problem, and as you said, superb build quality. Later, when he developed Alzheimer’s, I bought an MKS in tribute to him, but it just wasn’t the same. Nice car, but not a 1990 Town Car. Before he died, my grandmother gave me the silver key fob that came with the 1990 Town Car. What a ride.
I wonder how Town Car drivers felt about the switch to the 4.6 V8 from the 5.0. It was coming at the time when the Brougham was moving the other way with no more Cadillac engines and 350s from Chevrolet. I think the Town Car was the first car to get the 4.6. Mustang owners noticed the lack of torque compared to the 5.0 but you didn’t hear much from Town Car owners. Probably the car mags were just not connected to the Town Car community. The nineties seemed a time that car designers in the USA seemed to be embarrassed to be designing things for the actual user of the car. Probably a few wondered where was the 351.
In my limited experience the 4.6 was smoother and quieter than the pushrod engines. I’m not sure of the technical explanation, but its better suited for the application. I recall thr advertising for the Lincolns back then. The sedan ads just gave the reassurance the car had “a powerful V8”, but no technical points. I guess Ford felt thats all their buyers wanted to know.
With excitement. The 5.0 in Lincolns was never powerful enough, especially when driving through the AOD tranny. It was OK off the line, but as soon as you hit that 3rd gear lockup (at what, 20-25 mph?) it was bog city.
The 4.6 hit showrooms with a 40 horsepower boost (from 150 to 190). Within another year or two the AODE transmission came to the rescue. Its advantage was that the torque converter locked up a little after the car shifted into 3rd, which made it MUCH more pleasant to drive.
I would take a 4.6/AODE car over a 5.0/AOD version every. single. time.
It would be interesting to drive these back-to-back. I forget sometimes how much even a marginally acceptable car felt good in an era when some vehicles were just dog slow to the point of incompetence.
With friends, we rented a ’90 Town Car and ’90 Ford Aerostar for a football weekend. I was excited to be to be the designated driver for the new Town Car. It did not disappoint. It was the best damn Panther I’d ever been in. While not fast, it put the Aerostar to shame. We had full passenger and luggage loads, and the Aero literally lost speed on moderate grades – in KANSAS! The Town Car behaved like a luxury car for the era.
An extra 40 ponies would have been fantastic.
Where Lincoln really missed out in that era was a failure to put a Mustang spec 5.0 in their cars.
Count me as a fan of these. If I could find one in good shape at a good price I’d love to own one, and that’s saying a lot, as there are very few Ford products that I have any interest in. I always felt that these were styled beautifully, with just enough of the old school American luxo-barge bits, but clean lines and uncluttered elegance. The interiors, while not necessarily opulent in an over-the-top way, were just big, comfortable, well laid out and quiet as a bank vault. And they just keep going and going, with not much more than basic maintenance.
When I moved back into upper Manhattan in 2007 these were still very common as livery cars…TEN years after the last one was produced. Today it’d be pretty uncommon to hail one of these as a “Black Car” in my old neighborhood, but back then, before the new “Green Cabs” were implemented to serve the outer reaches of Manhattan and the other boroughs, and of course before Uber, etc., these were the favored alternative to Yellow Cabs. I always loved it when I was lucky enough to hail one of these babies. It was just a decadent pleasure to stretch out in that big back seat and glide downtown, all for the same few dollars that I’d pay to sit behind plexiglas on a blue vinyl bench in a glaring yellow Crown Vic. Now when I go back there I’m more likely to end up stuffed into the back of an Uber Altima. Ah, the good old days.
I have two fond memories of that generation of Town Car. 1. I remember when I was getting ready to enter 3rd Grade, we rented one in that silvery blue. Hertz originally gave us a Cougar but my dad requested a 4 door and a Town Car was given. 2. One year later on a family vacation. My dad reserved a Premium at Hertz at the Seattle Airport with a drop off in San Francisco. They upgraded us to a dark blue Town Car instead of the usual Crown Victoria. We drove that car up and down US 101 including through the Chandelier drive-thru sequoia. There’s a picture of my brother and I sitting on the front bumper with the car halfway through the tree. We also drove it down Lombard street as well in San Francisco. These cars really seemed to epitomize American luxury at the time. I went to college in The Bronx between 2003-2007 and have many memories of riding in livery cabs of this generation with hundreds of thousands of miles listening to Reggaeton and floating along…I don’t think I’d mind having one of these as a weekend car.
Still one of my favorite generations of Town Car, equaled by the mid-late 70’s version. I know people complained that the interior wasn’t as nice as the 80’s versions; never having actually ridden in an 80’s TC I guess I wouldn’t know the difference. But styling-wise they really nailed it–still an upright, formal design, but a very successful melding of those themes with the aero look that was in vogue across the Ford brands. Somehow those two things together created a look that was rather timeless, with an elegance that doesn’t seem to be completely of its era.
For my money I think the ’95-’97 with the subtly updated nose is the best of this type; the slimmer headlights and more rounded grille work quite well for me. But they all still have a class that’s hard to match in more modern cars, and that the TC never recaptured in its final two generations.
Agree, this was the best-looking Panther Town Car.
Even initial, boxy ’80s version retained enough perceived value that when my father upgraded to a newer one (the final generation), his neighbor across the street (also retired) immediately made an offer for the old one, an example of how the TC was as much a hit with that generation of buyers as the Fox Mustang was with a younger one.
For many years, a white Town Car of this vintage resided at the eastern end of Byrd Park in Richmond. Unlike the profiled car, this one was absolutely perfect, despite being parked outside. Every time I saw it, the white paint gleamed with wax, and seemed to be a mile deep. The wheels and tires always glowed, and the navy blue leather was just plain luscious. And then, after about seven or eight years, it went away, its place taken by one of those ugly Mercedes sport utilities. I guess the owner wanted something newer, with more safety features and all the mod cons, but my reaction was, “What the hell…WHY?” Someone somewhere got a beautiful Lincoln.
I’m still a huge fan of these, and I maintain it was wholly on the merits the 1990 Town Car won all sorts of awards. Mr. X and I had a 1997 example that we bought in 2012. It had 184,000 on it and ran rough on the test drive. I guessed it was something minor and fixable, so I offered the guy $900. I cleaned the mass air sensor and Mr. X discovered that the #8 plug wire had worked loose. Changed the transmission fluid and filter, and boom, we had a brilliant, rust-free (which is rare rare rare in the salted North!) car with working air con and everything! Mr. X drove that car 75 miles round trip every day for over two years with barely a hiccup, and we took it on multi-state drives more times than I can count.
It was supremely comfortable. It rode very nearly as well as the ’78 Continental we have, but drove so so much better. Ours was one of the multitude that was prone to a bit of spark knock, something given a passing mention in the owner’s manual but greatly exacerbated by the age and mileage. We ran 89 in it and it mostly was fine, and the thing still was reliable like a Swiss watch even as we passed 200,000. Even still, we managed 25 miles per gallon on the freeway with four people, all our luggage for a week’s excursion, and the air con set to 72.
Ours was, as the picture shows, cursed with the god-awful canvas roofs they loved to put on these things. And, it looked like shit. Fifteen years in, the stitching was coming undone, so there were lots of loose flaps of canvas we’d occasionally have to reattach with spray adhesive, never mind the long thick beige threads that would sometimes hang down.
At 236,000, the air con quit. By then, it had started to leak a very little bit of oil from what looked like the rear main seal. The oil leak didn’t bother us so much, but within a week of the air con quitting Mr. X was at the dealer trading it in on a 2012 Fusion SEL. The dealer gave us $500 on it. $400 for over 50,000 miles of comfortable motoring is pretty damned good if you ask me!
America’s W126. Both in good condition still exude presence over all the so called luxury blobs made since.
Gorgeous and still worthy of my lust.
I still see a lot of these around. Some look almost pristine and some are just hulking masses of rust and frayed coach roof barely scraping over the pavement, most of them are somewhere in between. They certainly have presence.
I realized reading this that of all the Town Cars I have been in, only one was the standard car. All the others were stretch limo’s. Never dealt with them at used car lot ever. I think they were still too new to enter the Lemon Orchard circuit at the time.
“But man did these cars have stately presence…”
Stately is the perfect adjective to describe this generation of Town Car.
The combination of standard (and very attractive) alloys, plus the contemporary razor thin whites, plus Michelin on the sidewall gave this traditional American design just the right amount of modernity and sportiness.
A rare mix of attributes that really connected with buyers.
Color me different, but when they went flush bumpered on the 86 (?) Town Car, to me it ruined the look. And I definitely don’t like these. So I only care about the classic Lincolns of the 30’s thru 60’s, and the 74-85 ones. For some odd reason, I don’t care about the 70-73 models. Can’t pin it down to a exact reason, but I just don’t.
I still see a couple of these cars around San Diego, and they still look really good. Most of the time, they’re well kept and taken care of, instead of the neglected maintenance deferred hoopties you would expect of a big luxury car. Still like these cars, still would like to own one, but I can’t find one that’s under 100K and doesn’t have some dumb looking dealer installed puffy brougham style roof on it. Still, like a fine cheese, it will continue to age gracefully. Just a shame that Lincoln didn’t stop at 97 and ended up giving us those upside down bathtubs on wheels.
Hey, I have a car just like that parked out front. Mine’s a white ’96 base Executive series though. I’ve always felt that the ’90-’97, and in particular the ’95-’97 was a high point for the Town Car. The ’95-’97 interiors felt surprisingly modern, yet the car still retained its dignified and classy exterior. The fit and finish on the inside is a step up from the early 90’s Lincolns and definitely nicer than the Fleetwoods of the same era. (I can say this as I own a ’94 Fleetwood Brougham, along with a ’76 Fleetwood Brougham). You can really find a lot of them for pretty reasonable amounts too.
I got mine for $1050 a year ago. She was a tired, old car that needed a lot of stuff (the typical whole front-end work, AC, driver’s door hinge, hoses, air springs, tires, and a lot more) but thanks to all the online info on these cars, I did everything but the tires and alignment myself. Easy to work on, plenty of parts in the junkyard and online. What was supposed to be just a temporary project has become my daily driver and road-trip car. Every time I get behind the wheel, it just feels right.
I remember the first time I drove it. Man, the seats were just so comfortable. These Lincoln’s had seat bottoms which were a few inches longer than the Cadillac’s of the same era, and that really made a big difference. Since I’ve done all the work on this car, I’ve taken it on road trips to Washington, Death Valley, and up into the Sierras from SoCal. In the past year, I’ve taken her from 120,000 to 142,000 miles, and I’m hoping to keep going for a lot longer.
I have been tempted by a couple of these over the years. The problem was that I had a perfectly good 93 CV at home in the driveway – so why pay money and go through the hassle of selling to get pretty much what I already had?
But the CV is used up and gone and I would still consider a well cared for version as a daily driver. A 94-97 car with R-134 refrigerant would be the sweet spot. I would just have to be ready to deal with window regulators again.
The pic for this article is interesting as it shows a Town Car with what looks like a Chrysler 300 ahead of it. I was at the grocery store a few weeks ago and parked side-by-side within clear view was a ’90s Town Car and a 300. I sat there in my car for a few minutes comparing the two and marveling at how much glass area the Lincoln had vs. how little the Chrysler had with it’s very high belt line and gun slit windows. I much preferred the Lincoln! I hate the way most car design has gone in the last 15 years.
Blame the regulators. NHTSA revised roof crush standards, which meant bigger beefier pillars to prevent the roof from caving in during a rollover. Of course, less pillar means less span that can fail, so now everything has a “high beltline.”
The shot was instantly recognizable. With family in Vegas, I get there plenty often.
I’m not sure this car is either sagging or rusty. The stance looks about right, perhaps with some passengers and luggage.
A shiny old car like that in Vegas is garaged and out of the sun. There is nothing to rust it out there. There appear to be some sort of additional decorations or something over the aftermarket chrome wheel lip mouldings. When these do rust in rust country, that would be oddly located rust.
I don’t think there is any rust either, as far as the stance goes that right rear tire looks pretty low to me and I think that is part of it. The other part is that it probably doesn’t still have its air suspension and has a full load. The air suspension system doesn’t allow sag. If the leak is small it will keep filling it up when the vehicle is running. If the leak is large then the system will shut down to prevent overheating the compressor and then it will go down to the stops in fairly short order.
There is a decrepit old Town Car frequently parked along a main road not too far from me. When a failed system is parked, the butt end is REALLY down.
Yes if it has a significant leak it will drop to the stops if left parked long enough.
I love these cars. Been looking for a nice clean example for several years; almost impossible to find with cloth seats. Seems like almost all of the well preserved Grandpa specials have those horrible wheelarch trims, as well as some sort of goofy padded dealer installed fake convertible soft top. My girlfriends’ father has a low mileage like new ’94, light blue with dark blue sides, beautiful blue velour interior, that sits in his garage. I know better than to even ask.
My wife’s car (family car) is a 2002 Town Car Signature Series it’s a great car. It now has 205k miles and it still runs great and oil consumption has not changed since day one. It is not perfect but it is a VERY GOOD luxury car. There have been numerous posts with references to cost cutting measures at different times during the Panther TC’s lifetime. When did these cost cutting events take place and which Panther TC has the highest build quality.
I have read that there was a Touring Edition of the Town Car with a monochromatic trim scheme similar to the Mk VIII LSC monochromatic scheme. I have yet to see one in the metal or advertised for sale. Do these things really exists?
I’ve never liked the 90-97 Town Cars. To me the front and the back looked like they were styled by two different designers. The big square trunk box looks at odds with the rest of the car.