This 1981 Town Coupe is said to be one of the rarest cars built on the Panther platform. Though very clearly related to the contemporary Continental Mark VI, the Town Car would soon be given more significance after that model’s discontinuation following the debut of the midsize, Fox-based Continental and Continental Mark VII coupe in 1982 and 1984, respectively. That wasn’t soon enough for the Town Coupe, however, as it was discontinued after just one year, making this early Panther-based Lincoln two-door especially uncommon. Thanks to its owner’s diligent efforts at preservation and WilliamRubano’s sharp eye, we get to see it in all its white-on-white glory.
Related reading: Panther Finale: 1981 Town Coupe In Pine Opalescent – The eBay CC Effect
That is just beautiful. The proportions of this car are just so right with the Town Car roof, as opposed to the Mark. It also looks so much better without the tacky fender vents and Continental tire hump of the Mark. I’d prefer black on black with the lace wheels, but this one is gorgeous as is.
Beautiful Lincoln, I love 2 door cars, almost every car I have owned has been a 2 door coupe of some kind, I think we have too few 2 door cars left unless they are really expensive and foreign., thanks for the Lincoln pic, it made my otherwise dreary day better. Also I read a lot of posts on here where everyone goes nuts over a little overhang, I think it looks awesome…I want more overhang damnit……………….
I wanta share this on facebook, where are the icons to do that?????????
Let me see if I can get that feature back up.
Also, the CC Facebook page is still stuck in May–not sure what’s up with that.
I’m aware; each time WordPress software is updated, along with the associated accessory software, the features de-activate and need to be re-activated. This, alongside with running Facebook changes, makes maintaining FB access a bit of a pain.
The FB page had been dormant since summer 2013 when I reactivated it this spring. Now, it’s down again. I just re-established the connection. Hopefully, it’ll be back up after the next few articles on CC go up. We shall see.
It appears that the connection to FB has been re-established!
I just re-booted the facility to share on FB. There’s a “share” icon at the bottom of this article, above the comments thread. If you hover over it, icons for Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr and Pinterest should appear!
Cool. A lot of friends read CC through Facebook, so thanks!
Thanks guys, I appreciate it.
Didn’t those cars have power vent windows that could be lowered without the main window being rolled down?
I like the look of that car. I wonder why it was not so popular? Could the Mark Series stolen sales from it or were Lincoln customers used to buying the Mark Series cars to get a coupe(unlike customers at Cadillac who could get a Coupe Deville for years)? could we at CC be looking at this car with 2014 eyes in which we marvel at this car as a thing of beauty and wonder why it did not make it. While folks in 1981 were thinking this car does not look good. It is the size of a big sedan but with only 2 doors so it looked odd to be called Towncar?
I personally think that the fact that Lincoln was offering the Mark VI at the exact same time(and offered it in 1980) and that they both shared enough of the same look that people thought it was the same car, that the Mark VI poached sales from the TC Coupe. For me personally, when I think luxury coupe and Lincoln I think of the Mark Series. I guess a lot of folks thought the same as the Mark VI coupe had a production of 18,740 while the Town Coupe had a production of 4,935
http://www.lincolnlandinc.com/browseProducts/browse.php/PData/category~536
The cars were competing with each other and I am pretty sure the Town Coupe cost a bit more so that alone probable cost a few sales
Yes. When you pressed the down button, the vent would roll down first. Continued pressing on the button would make the big window roll down afterward. Both the 1977 Continental Mark V and 1987 Continental my grandfather owned had this feature.
The Town Coupe was available on the big Lincolns. The fact that the Mark migrated to the same chassis as the Town Coupe probably accounts for the drop in popularity of the Town Coupe.
Having both the Mark VI and the Town Coupe on the same chassis didn’t helped (and to think then the Mark VI was even available in 4-door version as well). I think Lincoln should had keep the Town Coupe despite the Mark VI, When the Mark VII arrived, it would had bring an interesting alternative for those who wants a more traditionnal coupe and those who didn’t liked the downsized Coupe DeVille who came later.
Also, just imagine what if Lincoln had still made a Town Coupe in the 1990s with the reskinned Town Car body?
For some reason, Lincoln could never really move a big number of Continental coupes, while across the street Coupe DeVilles moved like hotcakes, Lincoln buyers seemed to gravitate to the Mark III, IV and V for their coupe fix. Lincoln was without a coupe for several years between 1961 and 1965, they added a coupe to the Continental in 1966 and then the Mark III in 1968.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these in the flesh but wow! Much better proportions than the Mark VI coupe. The wheelbase is still a little short for it but this might be the only Panther that doesn’t seem to have that awkwardly tall panther look.
I agree it’s better proportioned than the Mark VI but the wheelbase is still too damn short. The Cadillac had 4 extra inches up front and that made all the difference in the world. I bet the front on the Town Car is the same as the Crown Vic.
The proportions are indeed far better than the 2-door VI. Still a little awkward from some angles but a nicer look altogether. Then again I’ve never identified this “awkwardly tall Panther look” but maybe it’s just personal preference there…
Despite it being a nice-looking car, it pales in comparison to the big 70’s Town Coupe, at least in my humble opinion. Perhaps that had to do with the drop-off in sales as well. Though Ford couldn’t have been happy to have spent the money to tool up for a car that sold less than 2000 examples!
The Panther sedans aren’t as bad but the coupes always seemed to have rather tall roofs, and compared to their B body coupe peers it comes off as rather clumsy. The preceding big Fords had very low looking roofs as well, so that to me always was sort of a defining Panther trait to my eye. The Mark VI coupe has a very out of proportion roofline for the body – the funny thing the proportions are almost exactly the same between the Mark V and VI, except for that upright and tall roofline on the Panther Mark VI. I did this photoshop a while back where all I did was squish a mark V horizontally, matching the wheel centers to the VI.
The Town coupe, which I agree has too short of a wheelbase, manages to look fairly well proportioned considering how much is shared between the two, the more formal roofline somehow makes it seem less upright overall
Back in the mid-’90s while riding my bike, I regularly saw a dark red metallic ’80 Town Coupe parked in front of a house. It had a matching dark red top, white leather interior and the luxury wheel covers. It was in sound shape too. It was around for years, and during the first few years I had my driver’s license I would see it in traffic once in a while, looking progressively more worn. I think the last time I saw it was in 2000 or 2001–or about ten years before I started regularly photographing cars around town.
That is the only 1980 Continental/1981 Town Car 2-door sedan I’ve ever seen in person.
Gaaaa. Horrid flashbacks. My father had one of these, a 1980 model identical to this. I might have liked it if I had 30 years to get used to the new Panther platform. But as the car that followed a 460 powered white 1978 Town Coupe, the 1980 car was a cheap, lightweight, underpowered fail.
I have always wondered why Dad would later own several Fox body or Taurus based cars (including 2 Continentals) but never another Town Car. It just now occurs to me that maybe this car put a bad taste in his mouth that never went away.
I thought they made these 2 years, 1980 and 81.
Yes. They were a Continental/Town Coupe in ’80 but a Town Car 2-door (Signature Series replaced the Town Coupe as the fancier model) in 1981. Same car, different name.
Yes, and with the Continental Mark VI being so similar to the Continental Town Coupe being so similar, it made more sense to just drop the “Continental” name, leaving it for the Mark VI.
Reading the old road tests of the down-sized Lincolns, the reviewers always commented how much better the smaller models steered, handled and braked. They seemed to be much better drivers while maintaining a quiet comfortable ride. Other than the smaller size and cheaper interior what else didn’t you like about the the 1980 Town Car? Do you think the later ones (86-89) improved on some of the deficiencies?
The 78 felt rock solid when you slammed the door, and interior materials felt very nice. Also, the structure felt solid and stiff. The 80 felt cheap and thin in comparison. Also, the AOD transmission was miserable for driving characteristics, always keeping the engine lugging way down under the fat part of its torque curve. The 460/C6 was seamless torque where the 5.0/AOD never let you forget that it was trying to save you fuel.
Plus it was just ugly. I like it better now than I did then, but only until you put a 1972-79 Continental next to it. Then I hate it all over again.
As one whose family owned a 1977 Lincoln Town Car with the 460 for 20 years, I’ll second JP’s comments.
There was a big difference between the solid-metal 1970s cars with the crappy interiors, and the tin-can 1980s (and beyond) cars with the crappy interiors. As mentioned, just in closing a door one could easily tell the difference between the two.
My impression back in the 1980s was one of shock at how chintzy the early 1980s Lincolns had become, especially the interiors . . . a B-Body Buick Park Avenue was far better in just about every respect (we were Buick shopping back then but never pulled the trigger).
Interesting, I’m still waiting for my first drive in a pre-downsized big GM or Lincoln.
Would it be your view that the 80s GM big cars were similarly “tin-can” or did this just affect the Fords? (I’m not a fanboy)
Orrin, in my view the 1977 downsized GM B/C body was a much better feeling car than the 1971-76 version. The earlier humongo car had a structural flimsiness that I always hated, in addition to cheap interiors. Powertrains were, however, quite good. The 1977 car (that lasted through the 80s) was a solid car that was decently fitted out inside. The only downside in the 80s was the lack of power.
Until the downsize, the Lincoln had a much nicer subjective feel compared to the pre-1977 Cadillac or other C body. The doors were heavy and closed with a solid authority. However, after Lincoln downsize for 1980, the GM C body was a much better car in almost every respect. Though I am on record as a Panther fan, the ones worth considering really didn’t come along until later in the 80s.
Definitely a great find and the rarest of the Box Panthers. I’d definitely take one. White with red interior please.
Cool Lincoln. If I want to share a story on Facebook I just post it onto my page.
Ford large cars and the Lincoln Brand suffered what Chrysler did in ’74 and more or less again in ’79. Oil price shocks that killed auto sales in general, and large cars in particular. Lincoln scored perfectly on this, introducing new cars for 1980, a bulls-eye as far as hitting a rotten target. That assured that the down-sized Lincolns would initially be utter failures compared to Cadillac’s good fortune with down-sizing in 1977.
I’m completely with JPC on how these cars were also perceived as terrible replacements for the ’79 cars, and today’s perspective is so different. Ford took an incredibly conservative approach by using every possible design cue from the ’79 car and distilling it to a smaller platform that was taller and boxier to preserve interior room. The result was a Picasso painting of the ’79 car, so familiar, but yet so terribly wrong. The proportions and squaring up of every line, corner and angle just seemed awful.
Today, when I see this car by itself, it is not hard to confuse it with the ’77-’79 version of the car, unless you see the two side by side. My brain no longer jumps and says ugh! And, of course, box Panthers ruled the big car road in the later ’80s, so we all got quite accustomed to them.
Like Chrysler with its R bodies, you have to wonder if Lincoln gave up on the Town Coupe just a bit too early. With the Mark versions leaving the Panther platform, and the powerful rebound in full size sales in 1983 and later, this car might have been a solid seller in the mid and late ’80s. I’m almost surprised that Ford didn’t bring it back, much like Chevy brought back the Caprice coupe after a brief hiatus.
There’s one here too
Beautiful car!! I think Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis stayed on through 1987 as a two door. I sure miss large two doors!! Buick needs to build the Riviera and Chevrolet needs to build a 2dr SS. The new Cadillac ATS 2 door looks nice.
Nice but I reckon the Continero is rarer
Talking about over sized overhang, both front and rear. No wonder those cars’ ride were boat like, soft sprung + overhang.
I found a comparison article somewhere online between the Mark VI and Mark V that largely echoes JPC’s comparisons/disappointments. Stupidly I did not bookmark it but as I recall, the conclusion was “well, they made the VI a 3/4 replica of the V, and it still rides softly, and gets impressive mileage…and yet lacks that certain something the V had that makes you feel like you’re at the top of the heap, which is what made the V special. This is advanced, yet somehow less special”. Probably would have reviewed the ’80 Continental vs the ’79 in the same way.
That’s how I see many of these downsized big cars, even though I drive and have always driven them. They are impressively big and imposing until you put them next to their really big predecessors. Then their original purpose as a compromise car becomes obvious, even if some of them were huge improvements on technical points.
The review of the Mk v and Mk iv is at lincolnmkv.com
Surprising it wasn’t more popular, considering the success of the same vintage Coupe DeVille. .
The DeVille had already been around 3 years when these came out and, initially anyway, had a better engine and transmission. 425 and 368 with THM 400 and Rochester 4bbl vs. 302 with AOD and variable venturi. So they were late to the party and underpowered. Also, the styling was a bit less blatantly boxy. By the time Cadillac shot itself in the foot with the 8-6-4, 4100, etc these were already gone.
“Variable Venturi”—That is a term I relegated to H-LL long ago. Never, EVER utter those words again! Shame!
Found the V/VI comparo thanks to T Type above at lincolnmarkv.com.
It does say what I remembered, but interestingly and telling predicts the average buyer age would increase because of the stodgier styling. There’s a lot to that in retrospect. Cadillacs and Lincolns, while losing some ground to Mercedes in the 70s, didn’t begin to become old people cars until the 80s. They were still rich/want to look rich cars in the 70s. JPC’s dad, not old then, drove them. My now elderly cousin, then in his 40s, and at the helm of a booming small town law practice, drove one. True, my grandfather, who turned 60 in 1970, drove them but as a senior executive he didn’t consider a Mercedes.
The 77-79 downsized Cadillacs sold well. They were not slow cars, and they were not crap.
Maybe it was the squared off 1980 models, ushered in along with old man Ronald Reagan, that made these cars “old people cars”, even before the bad engines and the import assault and CAFE.
Confusing to younger car folks, but the ‘Town Car’ name was not used as a full model until 1981. Prior, the standard big Lincolns were Continentals and TC was just a trim level. Wasn’t until the TC sales took off that the name seeped into buyers minds as the standard Lincoln.
When the FWD Continental was dropped, a media writer [Bob Greene of Chicago Sun-Times] were thinking the big RWD Lincoln was cancelled, and had no idea of the difference between TC and Connie.
These look so much better than the Mark VI, they should have just slapped hidden headlights on them and made it into the Mark.