Heavily dented and under an East Harlem bridge surrounded by trash is no place for one of the best American luxury coupes ever made. Alas, this Mark VII is looking worse for wear, even by NYC standards. Such a beautiful color and nice wheels, though. I’m sure those dents will buff out.
Ford van, Lincoln Mark 8, Mustang and Ford Van, all at least 10-15 years old in okay shape. In NYC. It’s a Festivus Miracle!
I don’t see a Mustang but I do see what looks like a P71 behind the Lincoln. I think it is aLincoln Mk VII not a Mk VIII
Ah, I’m not wearing my glasses. But they’re all Fords 🙂
That Mark VII is quite a bit older than 10-15 yrs old since its last model year was in 1992 🙂
And I don’t think the turbine wheels were available the last couple years, plus that paint color says “late 80’s” more than it says “early 90’s”.. So that VII is probably at least 25 years old.
+1 …the turbines ended in ’89. The other feature identifying this as a pre-90 Mark VII are the tall headrests. The 90-92 headrests were an afterthought.
Strange to see two Econolines with the low “high roof” conversion in the same spot.
Unfortunately there are certain areas where such vehicles congregate, though in my town they’re more likely to be Dodge conversions.
Could those Econolines be owned by Motorhomeless? That Crown Vic is sharp, wonder if it has always lived in New York City? That Lincoln is quite old by New York State standards and who knows if it is on its last legs or not, but it still looks pretty nice. Photos like these are nice to see since it proves that not all of New York City is densely packed buildings.
The high roof vans are probably church vans which are used for everything from Atlantic City runs to helping the disabled get to church.
Those are not church vans those are conversion vans as witnessed by the aftermarket windows at least in the one. Church vans, if they have a high roof use a high roof not one of these low roof models.
Almost traded my ’88 Thunderbird Sport on an ’89 Mark VII LSC back in 2000. That’s one of the few automotive decisions I’ve lived to regret.
Great car. Rough shape yes, but looks to still be in running condition. New York City is so hard on a car in general, and it is pretty unusual to see a late ’80s car still on the streets seemingly serving daily duty. New or old, native NYC cars tend to get pretty banged up, so I’d say this one seems to have suffered only “average” abuse.
I am also a big fan of these Lincolns and they were definitely a high point for U.S. luxury coupes. I remember in 1989 when my Pop had retired and finally decided to treat himself by getting a luxury brand car (he was only thinking domestic brands at that point). He had always really had his heart set on a Cadillac, so he wound up with a Sedan DeVille (which was an utter lemon and ironically his last domestic car). I tried to persuade him to buy one of these Mark VIIs, and he did consider it pretty seriously. I remember the exact car we looked at and test drove at Benson Lincoln Mercury in New Orleans. It was a charcoal gray LSC with light grey leather interior, and it was beautiful.
The Viccy is the fuzz probably!
But I don’t see a light bar; it could be gov’t surplus. I see a lot around here.
It’s clearly either a current or former government agency vehicle of some sort. Ironic if it was from the Department of Sanitation law enforcement division.
Hopefully someone will save the car and either restore it, or something tasteful with it, before it deteriorates.
There have been 2 different Mark VIIs on my local Craigslist in the last month. Both look pretty beat. One has this very ugly non-functional hood….scoop that looks like a mini Chernobyl (sp?) and it’s all done in primer. The other one looks like the car pictured but after it was pulled from a junkyard.
I think I prefer the styling of these Marks to the same vintage T-bird, but because the Lincoln is heavier it would be a real “coin toss” which one I’d buy if both came my way.
You can firm up the VII’s suspension by swapping in bigger sway bars front and back, replacing all the control arm bushings with poly, and slapping a pair of 1×2 subframe connectors on the chassis. If someone buys a VII today, the bushings should be replaced anyway if they haven’t been – because it’s all jelly by now – so at that point just go with poly. Sway bars are a piece of cake, and subbies can be done reasonably cheaply (if you buy your own steel rails direct from a local steel supplier). It’ll outhandle a stock Bird.
A dark brown Mark in NYC reminds me of the ’70 Mark III they used in ‘The French Connection’. The VII in the photo is on the rough side, but at least it did not suffer what the III did in the movie. For those who don’t know or remember, it was thought to be a drug smuggling vehicle so the narc squad seized it and had it stripped and cut up looking for the drugs. If I recall correctly they never did find any. Poor car.
They found the drugs. Typical cops tore the car completely apart and looked everywhere except in the glove compartment.
You may be thinking of the scene in the short-lived 1982 television series Police Squad! that was a spoof of the famous scene in The French Connection.
In the television series, the police completely tore apart the Continental Mark III. They finally opened the glove box, and found the drugs. After that, they reassembled the Continental Mark III, but told the main character that they had a “few parts left over.” Cut to the car, and it’s now a 1960 Chevrolet Corvair.
Police Squad! starred Leslie Nielsen (“Don’t call me Shirley!”), and was produced by the same people who made the Airplane! movies. It quite effectively parodied 1970s police-detective shows (particularly The Streets of San Francisco).
In the true life “French Connection” case, The car was a 1960 Buick. Not the only time Lincoln stood in for Buick in the movies, Turnpike shooting in “The Godfather”;
It’s a Buick in the novel, A Lincoln in the film.
Leave the gun. Take the cannoli
They found the drugs in the rocker panels…
Doesn’t anyone watch old movies any more ? .
-Nate
I had a beautiful black/black Mark VII that I bought new in Illinois in 1986. Sold it in 1988 to get something different. It served me well and I loved owning it.
I hope it did not go to New York – rather that it was destroyed in an Illinois Toll Road accident than have to suffer like that car. The photo is depressing.
I sense a failing AOD.
+1 😉
It doesn’t look like it has had much love, so at this point everything is probably falling apart. This year alone there was a bunch thrown out in the greater Chicago area, scattered throughout the local pick-n-pull yards, and they all looked like they got run into ground.
My best friend’s dad had a 1986 LSC, black with gold BBS rims. That car was hot! He loved that car, and kept it for many, many years. It was replaced by a 1999 Continental that he liked, but not nearly as much as his beloved LSC.
The highest and best use the humble Fox platform was ever called to. Ideally make mine a ’92 SE, electric currant red with gunmetal wheels, but they’re all good.
Particularly rare are the diesels, as well as the first year or two when there were “designer” editions other than Bill Blass (which quickly became a trim level rather than a designer package). Pretty sure there was a Versace edition.