(first posted 7/26/2013) Few automotive rivalries have been as enduring as that of Lincoln vs. Cadillac. The two preeminent American luxury makes have battled each other for decades, usually with roughly equivalent models. However, in the late 1970s, the two brands’ offerings diverged substantially. Cadillac pursued a strategy of “less is more,” with its compact Euro-inspired Seville and its downsized deVille. Lincoln, conversely, might as well have said “Sometimes, more is more” by resolutely marketing its gargantuan Continental right through 1979. By then it was obvious that smaller luxury cars were necessary, but despite its obsolescence, the Continental sold well until the end of its production run, in a testament to many luxury buyers’ appreciation for size and comfort.
When this car was produced, it was the last of its kind. Cadillac had downsized two years earlier, Chrysler had abandoned the full-size luxury market altogether in 1978, and consumers knew that the 1980 Lincolns would be dramatically smaller. Everyone who bought a 1979 Continental did so out of an appreciation for the way things were. Its outmoded design was 100% of its appeal, and that sentiment landed 1979 Continental sedans in 76,000 driveways… not bad for a car in its 10th year of production.
The 1970s are remembered as the zenith of luxury car size, and appropriately enough, Lincoln began the decade with a new Continental. In advertising prose, the 1970 model was billed as featuring an “impressive new size.”
Throughout the 1970s, Lincolns came as Continentals (2-dr. & 4-dr.) and the Mark series cars (2-dr. only). These were distinct models, but the cars’ styling and marketing carried similar themes. Lincoln subscribed to a belief in slow evolution, with press materials often stressing heritage and consistency. It was the 1972 Mark IV (above) that introduced the upright grille, body-colored headlight covers and protruding turn signals that formed Lincoln’s most distinctive styling feature of the 1970s. These features were adopted by Continentals gradually over the following years, and by 1977, the Continental reached the design we see in our featured ’79 model.
Few design changes occurred between 1977 and 1979 – this was the era of the Last Big Continental. Lack of change, though, was itself significant, largely because of what was transpiring at rival Cadillac. GM reacted relatively quickly to the 1973 fuel crisis, which served to indicate that American luxury cars should get smaller. Lincoln hardly reacted at all.
Cadillac’s volume-leading deVille received a dramatic, and risky, downsizing in 1977. Meanwhile, Cadillac’s flagship had become the Seville, its smallest, most agile car. Not so with Lincoln. In 1977, Lincoln’s press release for its mildly restyled Continental described the car as “full-sized in every sense of the term.” It’s hard to envision two more divergent sales strategies.
In the mid-1970s, Cadillac responded to the obvious – that luxury cars had gotten too big and soft. Lincoln, however, didn’t change a bit. Our 1979 featured car, in fact, is remarkably similar to its predecessors from 6 years earlier.
Nothing better illustrates this match-up than period advertising, which reveals each company’s marketing approach. Cadillac ads stress various themes of being “right for today” – oblique references to the car’s downsizing and improved efficiency. Lincoln, meanwhile, repeated themes on traditionalism and the proper definition of full-size.
Oddly, both companies succeeded, as sales boomed for Cadillac and Lincoln in the late 1970s. This was partially the result of a growing overall luxury car market, but it also reflected the public’s appreciation for both brands’ approaches. Simply put, there were enough buyers for both traditional, and more contemporary, luxury cars.
Lincoln had historically trailed Cadillac in the luxury car sales race, but in the 1977-79 period, the gap decreased significantly. During this period, Lincoln sales averaged 51% of Cadillac’s – up markedly from 38% in the first seven years of the decade. Both overall sales, and Lincoln’s competitiveness with Cadillac dipped again in the early 1980s, making the period when the last big Continentals were produced a bright spot from Lincoln’s perspective.
The 1977-79 Continentals changed very little year-over-year, so our featured car is representative of its breed. And over this 3-year period, as the Continental battled the downsized deVille, sales were outstanding. While Lincoln produced on average 35,000 Continental sedans between 1970 and 1976, that number shot up to about 68,000 annual units for both 1977 and 1978 — and 76,000 for 1979. All this for a car that was designed about 10 years beforehand, and which was obviously a relic of the past. Lincoln couldn’t make these cars fast enough.
In fact, that became a problem. The Continental’s popularity (along with the equally high-volume Mark V coupe) threatened to run Ford afoul of EPA fuel economy standards. Ford tried to temper demand by raising the 1979 Continental’s price by 10%, but Lincoln customers displayed a remarkable willingness to pay more for a car that represented their values.
The Continental followed a traditional approach to luxury, which, of course, stressed size. In addition to size, the formula for making a 1970s American luxury car included quietness, power accessories, gadgets, opulent interiors, and prestigious colors and combinations.
Opulence abounded in the Continental. Even in base trim, passengers were treated to a luxurious ride, with features such as automatic climate control, a Cartier digital clock, cornering lights, deep-pile carpeting, plush upholstery, interior woodgrain applique, and an abundance of courtesy lights and other comfort-related gizmos.
This particular Lincoln is a Town Car, which brought a higher level of trim than the base Continental. Standard Town Car exterior features included a vinyl roof, B-pillar coach lamps, and power vent windows.
The C-pillar opera windows, often considered a distinguishing feature of Town Cars, could actually be deleted – but the windows were so popular that it’s rare to see a Town Car without them.
Climbing aboard, one finds the true benefit of the Town Car package. “Comfort lounge” power seats came standard, as did upgraded door panels, arm rests, and other trim pieces.
Our featured car came with leather upholstery (left). A similar Town Car with velour seating is shown at right. Either way, passengers were swaddled in luxury.
This particular car also came with color-keyed bodyside moldings and optional turbine-style aluminum wheels.
It was often said that cars like the Continental were living rooms on wheels. While that’s somewhat of an exaggeration, it’s no coincidence that this 1979 TDK cassette ad used a Continental as its car of choice.
The 6-foot-long hood concealed a large but underpowered V-8. While earlier Continentals received a 460-cu. in. engine with a 4-bbl. carburetor, pressure to meet CAFE regulations necessitated offering only a 400-cu. in. 2-bbl. V-8 for 1979. This change, along with weight-saving measures like using thinner glass, brought the Continental’s fuel economy up from 13 to 15 mpg. The overall diet shaved 207 lbs.
At 159-hp, the 400 V-8 couldn’t exactly propel the 4,800-lb. Lincoln with much haste. But in the 1970s, luxury and performance were not necessarily synonymous. Lincoln buyers were not people in a hurry; after all, this was a car for people who had already achieved their success in life – the world could wait for them as they inched along in their 19’ 5” Continental.
At the other end of the car, a 24.2-gallon fuel tank provided a reasonable cruising range, and that long deck covered a 21.2-cu. ft. trunk.
Continental sedan list prices started at $11,200, though options could pile up quickly. The Town Car package added $1,527 to that price, and the other assorted options seen on this particular car would have yielded a sticker price of about $14,500 – equivalent to $48,000 in 2016 dollars, or about the price of a new MKT.
The party could not go on forever, though, and 1979 was the big Continental’s last year. Whether intentionally or not, Lincoln timed the car’s exit perfectly. With several strong years in a row, the Continental did not go through a period of stagnating sales that could have harmed the brand. In fact, 1979 was the Continental sedan’s best year.
On the other hand, everyone – including Ford – knew that it had to go. The world had changed, and the last of the dinosaurs had stared down extinction long enough. The old formula of luxury needed to be updated, if only just a bit.
Any qualms Lincoln may have had about downsizing their flagship car vanished in the wake of the 1979 energy crisis. Suddenly, with gas station lines and worries about oil supply, no one wanted a nearly 5,000-lb. relic of the early 1970s. By the end of the year, dealers were deeply discounting the remaining ‘79s – the era had ended.
The downsized 1980 Continentals shed 800 lbs. and 14” of length, but design-wise they carried on many of Lincoln’s themes. From some angles, the similarity is striking, such as from the front, where all of the Continental’s trademark styling cues were transferred to the new car. The family resemblance was not unintentional.
Furthermore, many design elements from these 1970s Continentals remained characteristics of full-size Lincolns for years to come. This comparison of our 1979 model with a 1989 Town Car illustrates how the grille and turn signals remained Lincoln hallmarks a decade after our featured car was built.
Late-’70s Continentals are often remembered as the last of their kind. Unnecessarily big, excessive, inefficient, outrageously conspicuous displays of consumption… and very popular. But last of their kind? That’s debatable. History tends to repeat itself – notice the similarities between the above statements and Lincoln’s Navigator SUV. Critics have called large SUVs by the same disparaging names as the luxury yachts were called in the 1970s. Automotive mastodons didn’t disappear, they were simply reborn after a period of dormancy.
What stands out the most about the ’79 Continental was Lincoln’s loyalty to full-size luxury after the winds of change turned into a gale. Was it a conservative, or daring approach – to fly in the face of prevailing market trends? Probably both. Ford’s initial reluctance to downsize its luxury cars gave it a late start, but once one that passed, the company made the best of it. The Continental benefited from being last – it never would have sold in such high numbers had it had competition. So for a few years, More was indeed More.
Photographed in Falls Church, Virginia in April 2016.
Related Reading:
Curbside Classic: 1979 Lincoln Continental Collector’s Series — What A Name; What A Car! Tom Klockau
Curbside Classic: 1978 Lincoln Continental Town Coupe — CAFE Is Coming Tom Klockau
Great article Eric – I have a 78 Town Coupe with the 400. I wouldn’t call it under-powered. While horsepower is only 166, it has 320 ft lbs of torque which moves the mass with sufficient authority (though I would prefer the 460).
When I bought it out of an estate in 2000, it came with the sticker – $14.5K – about right where your average is.
As your pictures note, it’s a car with “presence”…
I may be alone here, but because I was a teenager during the time-frame referenced in the article, I have an affinity for both the full-size and the down-sized Lincoln and Cadillac products of this era.
It’s a struggle with respecting the old guard and appreciating the new ideas of the time.
I absolutely wanted a 1979 Lincoln Continental Collector’s Series sedan. Yet, I could also be as happy (maybe more so) with a 1979 Cadillac Seville Elegante. Two very different animals.
And, even though it gets a lot of “hate mail” today, I really like the 1981-1983 Mark VI sedan.
Oh well.
The 1979 Collector’s Series Lincoln Continental sedan:
Good memories indeed!! That blue beast is the replica of what was in our driveway the year I learned to drive. Mom got the Connie and Dad had an F-100 Supercab. As time went on, I realized that if you could maneuver these beasts around (and park them) without bending them or the cars around you, you could drive ANYTHING!! I still much prefer to have a big car!
I must admit I liked the Collectors Series in that blue. A great color and made the car look much more rich and refined.
“t was the 1972 Mark IV (above) that introduced the upright grille, body-colored headlight covers and protruding turn signals that formed Lincoln’s most distinctive styling feature of the 1970s.”
Go back and do more research. The ‘68.5 MK-III (or ’69, opinions vary) introduced these items. They were well established hallmarks by the time the MK-IV arrived.
I understand your opinion and perhaps I should have been more specific in the text. Those features were introduced on the Mark III, but for me, I see the Mark IV as the design forebear of the ’77-’79 Continental, not just in the front clip details but in other angles of the car as well.
The featured car is gorgeous!
As a small car driving, practically minded individual, I must admit your subject 19.5 foot long, red Continental is flat out beautiful.
I’m not sure I’d want to try to find a street parking spot for it in New York City or maneuver it in a NJ Shop Rite parking lot on the day before Thanksgiving, but wow, just wow.
Someone loves that car; the interior looks mint, the carpets are clean, and it looks like someone waxes that baby on a regular basis and armor-alls the half vinyl top.
Nice write up.
Definitely a special-occasion car, not for the closing-time rush to the shops.
Would TIP be happy driving it ?
Nice to see a pro Ford article for a change.
Ahem: Not Ford–
Lincoln Sir, Lincoln
The confusion between Ford and Lincoln is a great part of Lincoln’s current problems.
Who is the parent company?
Actually the parent of Lincoln was Edsel Ford.
Edsel Ford was The father of the Continental, Lincoln itself had the same father as Cadillac: Henry Leland..
Were the extra seat cushions in the front and back removable?
No, they were like the loose pillow cushions that were introduced on the 1972 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Regency – firmly stitched to the seats.
You could only imagine the things I’d find in the folds when I vacuumed my parents’ cars…
They were also introduced on the 1972 Chrysler Imperial with leather interior.
That side by side ads of the Cadillac and the Lincoln are both stunningly well made ads. They show the respective cars in the best light, made the point of the choice a luxury buyer had to make, and glimpsed a lifestyle that one hopes for when making a luxury purchase.
My father had a 78 Town Coupe that was a very nice car, and my absolute favorite of the several Lincolns he had.
If you wanted the classic American luxcar experience of the 70s, there is none better than these. These did smooth and quiet like nothing else.
It’s interesting how Lincoln seemed to become more appealing every year, something that I never saw with Cadillac in its 1971-76 body. Other than the one major restyle in 1975, the details just got better every year. Much as I love the 72-73, the 78-79 really is the peak of the series.
I do agree. But I have not driven the Cadillac from 71-76, only the downsized from, 1977, and a 1978 Eldorado, who was very plush an quiet. I don’t think the downsized 77-> was so quiet and comfortable as the Eldorado, but I think the Lincoln was even quieter and more isolated than even the Eldorado. The Continental Town car even more than the Mark-series is my opinion.
In fact I think that the 75 and 78 Continental Town Car that I’ve been driven may be the most comfortable and quietest car that I’ve ever driven, including newer S-class, Cadillac Seville (94), Audi A8 and BMW 7-series.
Love these cars, both as the last of the great 70’s luxury land yachts and also as cars that just flat-out look good. There’s something about these big cruisers that seems a little less baroque than the huge Cadillacs of ’71-’76, and they have a commanding presence that the downsized ’77+ models just can’t match. (Yes, I realize I just said “less baroque” about a car with an oval opera window and a Rolls-style stand up grille. I stand by my statement.)
And as to the specific feature car–I’ll echo rlplaut and say that someone loves that car. It’s in quite remarkable shape and is fortunate to have such a caring owner. Red personally wouldn’t have been my choice (on a 4-door I would have gone with the metallic dark blue) but it really works well here and certainly gets noticed!
Oddly the 1980 DeVille “comes off” as less baroque than the 1980 Continental, This would Again reverse in 1990 (Brougham v Town Car).
+1 on the Dark Metallic Blue for one of these. Make mine a Town Coupe or better yet, the Mark V. Bill Blass edition please. ;o)
When these Lincolns were new, I was in awe everytime one drove by. Still am. More than any other car though, if you were buying one, you really had to like the color. There was just so much of it.
There used to be an old adage that you should never buy a green car as they don’t hold their value. (Having said that I really like green cars.)
A friend of ours while we were in our late teens worked at a fairly well paying job and bought one of these in an Emerald Green (or whatever Lincoln called that color) and it was just gorgeous. We asked him, “Why green?” considering the resale value and all, and he essentially said the same thing, that it was his favorite color and that the car had so much of it. His was a Town Coupe though. We were all of course jealous.
Would you say you were green with envy?
Great pun and YES! That car was beautiful and I was a huge Brougham fan in those days.
It looked like the car pictured below, only it had the turbine wheels as on the on the featured car.
I have such mixed feelings about these, going back to when they were new. Of course most of our opinions of cars might come from personal experiences with their owners, and in my case with the 77-78 Town Car that holds true.
In the early 80’s a neighbor and carpool contributor drove a 77 Town Car in silver over red velour. She was the quintessential snooty old bitch, with two homely and rather miserably disposed daughters and an old money husband who kept his mouth shut, his head low and was rarely seen. I dreaded any interaction with her, and therefore viewed that car as “Judgmental Old Bitch Personified”.
On the other hand the matriarch of another familiar family drove a ’75-ish triple butter yellow Town Car from new probably to who-knows-when. Her husband was a jolly and helpful local character who owned an Exxon station and was known as the “Go-To Guy” for all things mechanical. They also had 3 daughters, each prettier and more popular than the one before. That particular Town Car was known for miles around, as its color combo and constant immaculate state, as well as the perfectly presented family who rode in it were both loved and admired. That car was still a staple on local roads well into the mid-90’s, and possibly beyond (I left the area, so am not sure…maybe it’s still in regular use). It was widely known that it had over 300,000 miles on it by the time I was in college, and its owner was lauded by all the local cronies for having had the good sense to buy a quality product while it was still available and hanging onto it in good repair. It served as a symbol of wise investment and conservative smart choices in certain circles. By the time I was in my 20’s I smiled with admiration every time I passed Mrs. R on the road in that car, as it had become almost a symbolic reminder of the time and place where I grew up.
And that’s my mixed-bag history with the Last Big Lincoln.
That non-WASP (African-American) brochure model in the driver’s seat suggests to me that Lincoln was after that demographic, which so far as I can tell, preferred Cadillacs.
I am glad you mentioned this because I was trying to figure out a “PC” way of commenting on this. Notice that the black man pictured exudes an air of success, probably in business, and conveys the idea that he is both established and somewhat conservative in his views. It was a time of aspiration for everyone, when it still seemed possible than anyone could be successful with hard work. But now when I visit Toronto and see young blacks driving a Caddy Escalade with all their bling, I have a totally different impression.
I’ve always liked these big Lincolns, the brand seemed to hit a high in 1979 before a very steep fall. I thought the ’80 full-sizers were abominations and I didn’t really start liking them until the aero restyle in ’85.
I wonder how much it cost Ford to get Sherman Hemsley’s endorsement at the height of his fame?
LOL Used to love The Jeffersons!
The model reminds me of “Barney Miller” cast member Ron Glass.
The ’89-ish Olds 98 got ALOT of advertising from him jumping out of one at the beginning of each episode of Amen. People were always asking what kind of car that was.
There is an historical reason that many well to do blacks preferred Cadillac over Lincoln/Imperial (or Packard) In the 1930s, Cadillac began to target the upscale black market (advertising in black publications for example) when others did not. This loyalty even helped Buick (even if Buick didn’t specifically target that market) The Electra 225 became popular among African Americans who were just below Cadillac money.
I was trying to think back when the various domestic luxury lines had added a more diverse set of models in their ads and I believe all the domestics had by the seventies.
The German luxury makers had very few of these kind of lifestyle shots. Instead it was often an undiverse white coated engineer with a clipboard. A completely different look aiming at a different buyer.
I hate to say but I believe early on, in the US, European car companies targeted Whites. As I said It was in the “black” oriented publications where some companies sought to gain customers (in the US) many were regular priced stuff (Pepsi for example, and Kool cigarettes) Interesting, (to me anyway) is that some brands that were considered “higher end” at the time (Zenith radio and Cadillac for example) went for the black market, realizing there WAS an upscale black market (the stereotype being blacks were ALL poor…) and few were serving this market, had the foresight to get in that market. This garnered loyalty, This changed over the last 40 years, But that loyalty was real! Blacks in my neighborhood would aspire to Buicks and Cadillacs almost to a fault. OTOH, Jewish people in my neighborhood would rather walk than ride in ANY FoMoCo car! By the way, I have no axe to grind, I’m white (but blue collar) “kid” who comes a diverse (we said “mixed” in the 70s!) part of Pittsburgh,PA And mostly favor Buicks and Cadillacs!
Cadillac did indeed have a marketing campaign aimed at the black community but it was for used Cadillacs not new ones. At the time Cadillac had a policy of not selling new Cadillacs to black people.
I’ve read they were the first luxury make to sell new cars to black people in the 30s–when few people of any hue were buying luxury cars. I don’t know if that was nation-wide, however.
Normally I like a subdued color on a really big car, but I must say that red works on this example. These cars, Lincolns and Cadillacs alike, were great for beach cruises. Just pick four or five friends, load up the beach gear and coolers, take a jacket and tie for dinners out, and roll in style.
I remember reading that no less than Buckminster Fuller was incensed that the 1980 Lincoln was going to be downsized. He loved the big Lincolns, and was not going to buy one of the shrunken ones. Since he died in 1983, I guess he didn’t have to hang on to his very long.
Very nice write-up, as usual. These are icons of the end of an era; the last truly large American sedan. A rolling dinosaur.
That’s a funny bit about Bucky, as these were definitely not Dymaxions!
Wise buyers stuck with Lincolns. Cadillac engines entered their nightmare phase hereabouts….the diesel, the V8-6-4, the HT4100, then Northstar. Each engine possessing great engineering concepts but ruined by awful “deadly sin” execution.
Lincoln’s tried and true iron V8s (460, 400, 351, 302) may have been conventional, but they worked!
Actually, Cadillac kept the 425 through the 79 models (for a much better power-to-weight ratio than the Continental with its 400) and a smaller 368 cid version of the same engine for 1980. The V8-6-4 (368 with cylinder deactivation) hit in 1981. The disaster really started with the 4.1 V8 of 1982, which oddly enough made the 5.0 powered Lincoln seem like a tiger.
Count me as a fan of these. Perhaps it was the slab-sided styling, but I felt the big Lincoln Continentals of the 1970s had an amazing presence. The Rolls-Royce grille and Opera windows on later versions just look right to me on a car this large and audacious.
I find the marketing very interesting as well (Cadillac included also), and the way it spoke to a clearly successful audience about making a style and comfort statement. That approach would soon be out of fashion as the “pragmatic” import zeitgeist took over the premium end of the market, but I think it effectively captures the mindset of target buyers at the time.
I also have fond memories of these Continentals, as there were some in my neighborhood and owned by family friends, and I always loved seeing the cars. Through a quirk of fate, all the Continental owners I knew were nice folks who clearly enjoyed their Lincolns, which adds to the aura in my memory bank.
I question whether that was true Automatic Temperature Control, that blade switch isn’t the best way to control a real thermostat.
If it was, Ford must have been desperate not to tool up a new CC head unit, because it’s a silly way to set temperature.
I don’t understand what you mean, unless you’re referring to ergonomics (it’s sometimes hard to get purchase on such controls). The only difference vs. traditional home thermostats is a wider throw.
If you prefer rotary controls, I agree. Cadillac used a horizontal wheel for theirs.
Ford’s ATC was less ambitious than those from GM or Chrysler. The Ford system controlled temperature by controlling hot water flow via thermostat. Other than a cutout that prevented the fan from blowing until the car was warmed up (and thus producing heat) the fan control was purely manual. Being much simpler than the other systems, it has also proved to be less troublesome as the cars aged.
As I recall the non-ATC blade switches actuated some sort of vacuum operated door controlling the volume of hot air circulated. They were never really accurate – the ones I had really seemed to have a hot, medium and cold with little modulation – and prone to failure.
Climate Control systems were one area where GMs of that era had it all over Fords.
I’m in my fourth season now with my ’79 Town Car. Often at car shows I have to convey to people that while a ’79 doesn’t seem old compared to a mid-50s ride, the car was really designed in the 1960s for old money sensibilities of the early 1970s.
Many of the guys at shows are in their 60s and early 70s and as such 1979 doesn’t seem like that long ago.
But, as their cohort gradually gets replaced at shows, there is a growing appreciation for the big unapologetic American full-sizers from this time period. At one of the last shows there was a ’78 G. Marquis, (2) ’79 Mark V, and I see the odd Chrysler New Yorker from the 76-78 period.
When I was interviewed for the local cable access show, I said my ownership of my Lincoln stems in large part for an appreciation of an era that will never come back. The great democratization of automotive luxury has reverted back to the European paradigm.
It almost goes with out saying that the 1979 big Lincolns were the last 1950s TYPE full size luxury cars. Aside from the obvious styling changes, Is a ’79 Lincoln really different from a ’59?
If you could make the argument that the 61-69 Continentals were a step back from the late ’50s zeitgeist, and the 70s cars re-embraced it, then most certainly.
However, I think the glitz (or kitsch is you want to be snobby and pretentious about it) of the late 50s was certainly dialed back in the 70s cars.
Yes, That’s why I mentioned the styling. My ’59-’79 comparison is based on size,mechanics and overall concept. There’s more in common between the 79 and the 59 than either has to the 61-69s.
The 400 in my ’75 Torino Elite was rated at 168hp, 310 lbs torque. I am a Ford guy, and it ripped your heart out going from “Total Performance” to “I Totally Cannot Pull The Skin Off A Rotten Banana” in a mere decade.
By 1979 the 400 was down to 159hp.
I don’t find the 400 in the Continental to be slow except when I’m trying to get up to highway speeds. The torque comes on at 1800 rpm or so so 310 lb/ft are available when called upon.
And like the article said, you’re not stoplight racing in these things, whether it had a 429, 460 or 400.
Simply an outstanding piece, Eric.
Just curious – did you (or anyone) notice on the Whalen Lincoln-Mercury advertisement that:
* It listed the Versailles as a “Continental Versailles”; and also that
* Said Versailles cost about $250 more than the listed Continental?
That’s cray.
I suppose that the price was in response to Cadillac’s pricing/positioning of the Seville at “flagship” levels. However, the Seville was very much its own car, despite Nova platform/running gear. The Vesailles was very much a Granada with a fancy front clip and a hump.
Maybe they thought that since the Versailles had a “Continental bulge” on the trunklid, that it was a de facto Continental!
Before writing this piece and examining Lincoln prices, I had assumed that the Versailles was the cheapest Lincoln, but it appears that its base prices were slightly higher than the Continental’s. Of course, given the real-world options usually ordered, I think prices for the two cars often overlapped, and many Continentals were more heavily equipped, and thus catapulted out of Versailles range.
I think that Lincoln was always confused about what the Versailles should be, and that confusion extended into pricing, too.
In this particular ad (from November, 1979), all 3 of the leftover ’79 Lincolns are offered at 71% of list price. I bet that a year before, the Continental wouldn’t have been nearly so deeply discounted.
The base Versailles was $12,939, the base Continental was $10,985. The list of options for the Continental was quite long, with the town car $1500 extra. There were collector series that were about $16,000 before options.
Only if one ingested some of the more popular illicit 1979 era pharmaceuticals does paying more for a Versailles than an actual Continental make sense! Energy Crisis or not.
The gas shortages were mostly in the summer, but the price was still shockingly high in November ’79, well over a whole dollar!! from the 60 cent range pre-embargo, so big cars weren’t selling. This was when the Cadillac dealers were demanding what became the Cimarron, because sales had dropped so quickly from record highs in the late 70s.
Here in 2022, gas is twice what it was 2 years ago, but the rise was slower, and nowadays we have expectations that it will drop again. Back then, it didn’t really plummet until the Saudis opened their spigots in ’85, helping to collapse the Soviet empire.
I’m going to say that I’m not a big fan of the 77-79 Continental. I love the Mark V to death, it’s my favorite Lincoln car, so my judgments and opinions may be hugely biased, but there was something about the regular Continentals that never seemed to sit well with me. I can’t describe it adequately, whenever I look at one, I think it looks alright, just not great. That being said, for better or worse, these are the last embodiments of true old school American excess and luxury, in that respect, I got to give it the respect it deserves.
I really want to own a Mark V someday, preferably with the 460 rather than the lumpy underpowered 400, so no 79s for me. But, if push comes to shove, I could make do with one of these Continentals, preferably in Black or dark blue. Also, am I the only one who thinks these cars benefit from the standard leather interior much better than the Velour stuff? The design of these interiors benefits leather better, both in aesthetic in practical terms, better than the velour that looks like the cheap throw pillow you would see in a really seedy motel.
Although I was (and always will be) a huge fan of the ’77 GM B/Cs, I might have seriously considered one of these in 1979 – There is something to be said for being the last of it’s kind. And it makes no apologies for what it is. It’s not trying to be what it isn’t.
Mechanical arguments aside, the Cadillac was just superior to a Lincoln – sorry. The interior finishes, plastics, vinyls, leathers, fabrics, woodgrains in the Lincoln were nothing but cheap Ford written all over them. I know someone in the automotive business that said Cadillac was extremely particular about it’s finishes and textures (and that was in the 90s). It shows. Even as a kid, what stuck out to me was Lincolns attempt to make the dash very, very elegant looking but slapped that loud, cheap red/white/blue temperature control on it like the same one probably used in a Pinto. That pre-80s Lincoln was a big sloppy, unrefined mess. And that 1980’s model was almost comical. The proportions where just silly with that high roofline that made it look like a customized diplomats vehicle. Maybe the engineer types can chime in here but what’s with the rear wheels that look like they’re set too far in under the body like a shortened axle was used too? This was highly noticeable. Cadillac proportions were always near perfect and the downsized ’79 Eldorado won awards for that. To this day, GM uses attractive and appropriate offset with their wheels. Then they put in those silly tilt steering wheels that just flipped without the column itself moving in the Lincolns.
I see the talk above about Buick marketing to blacks, etc. so I’ll chime in my observations as a north Midwestern kid. The upscale (or wannabe) hillbilly transplants from the south always preferred their Lincolns and the more refined northerners usually chose Cadillac.
Proof of Fords failed attempt at elegance was that silly Granada they slapped a hump on the deck lid and tried to call a Lincoln. Sure, GM had it’s shared platforms and bodies, etc. but that Versailles was hilarious. My black neighbor and I literally LOL’d when talking about it.
Carmine, is that you?
Great points Eric!
It is somewhat remarkable how sales of this Lincoln Continental peaked in the final years, but I guess as the last “big” luxury car left, it gained some conquest buyers and with its death on the horizon, garnered some extra sales from loyal buyers. I think brand loyalty had a lot to do with why both the downsized Cadillacs and the tried-and-true Lincolns both enjoyed similar gains in sales. Unfortunately the next Cadillac downsizing was just too much for many of its loyal buyers.
As for my personal opinion of this Continental itself, it’s not a car I can ever particularly warm up to. I can always appreciate some Brougham touches for their outlandishness, but this car has always looked like a barge to me – quite literally. It looks like it’s trying to defy the laws of motion. And the interiors are everything I don’t want in a car’s interior. I’ve always thought those extra seat “loose pillows” were added so passengers wouldn’t sink so deep into them that they couldn’t see out.
They added some needed lumbar support, at least when the seats were new.
LOL. “always looked like a big barge”, “trying to defy the laws of motion”. I agree. I like big cars but this one was just a big, clumsy slug. It really had no style, elegance or refinement whatsoever. So, I grew up in a mixed, ahem, “moderate income” type of complex. The hillbilly neighbor pulled up in a slightly used one he just purchased like he had finally “arrived” or something. Kinda like the Beverly Hillbillies. They looked so stupid and that car looked stupid in the parking lot too. The wife he took back with him from Germany even seemed embarrassed sitting in the passenger seat. It wasn’t shortly after that she just up and left. I’ll bet 25% of the reason was that car purchase alone. She was just tha-roo! I remember him rolling around crying in the front yard with his case of beer for about 8 days.
The “loose pillow” style was a brougham era feature, which I think Oldsmobile started with the Regency interior trim. Some loose pillow interiors are quite overdone (the Talisman Cadillac for example) while others are not bad. My 76 Riviera was nice, but perhaps was not quite loose pillow. My 78 Olds Regency was flashy, but I did not find the seats all that supportive, the Riviera was better.
The seats in this (Lincoln) look nice enough, although overdone, and probably are comfortable.
Lovely photos and research.
From a design perspective these cars are so resolutely un-autombile, aren’t they? The oval opera window says “marine” and the exterior ornmentation says a combination of “furniture” and “Victorian architecture”. That takes nothing away from the appeal, note. At the same time RR offered what I can only call a subtly, aristocratic styled shoe-box and even the Swabians had some feature lines and curlicues – though less than Lincoln. What fascinates me is the question of what inspired the interiors of these cars. The inlays and chrome edges seem to be a nightmarush concatenation of Georgian and Victorian styles mashed through an impression of a senator’s office. The rear seats have raised panels where you’d expect recesses – what was that about? The mid-70s Cadillac Talisman probably had a better interior though readers might want to Google the Citroen CX Prestige which showed a decidely Modernist approach to luxury (space).
Thanks for the article!
“A modernist approach to luxury (space).”
What I think of when I think of 1960s modernist architecture and decorating is a sort of minimalist sense of line and space that needs to be executed with the very highest quality materials, flawlessly fitted together so that both the visual and the tactile senses are satisfied. Even today, flawlessly executed 1960s architecture is wonderful to my eyes, but the fitting has to be done perfectly. I get that same sense with 1960s modernist furniture–it’s really incredibly demanding of the woodworker.
I wonder if the hood on one of those Lincolns is longer than an entire Smart Car.
Even if it’s not, I’ll bet it weighs more!
I don’t know about a Smart, but here’s how a ’78 Continental Town Coupe lines up with a 2014 Ford Fiesta ST.
Having owned a ’77. I have mixed feelings about these. On the one hand, the roominess and comfort are unbeatable. The interior materials are much better quality than the 1977-79 Cadillacs which were cheapened in the downsizing (consider the infamous GM Insta-Fall Headliners). For the full effect, though, you should look for a 1977 or earlier, which have a true Lincoln dash. The 1978-79 models adapted the Mercury Marquis dash — showing Ford was not immune to the cost cutting pressures.
All that being said, the problems start when you turn the key. If you are lucky, something starts when you turn the key. My experience was that the Ford starters and ignition electronics did not age as well as the unkillable Cadillac 500/425 engines with HEI. Once you are rolling, it’s best to keep going in a straight line, as cornering is not the strong suit of these cars. Nor is economy — the best I ever could do was 9.5 mpg, as compared to 11-13 MPG in various 1974-76 Cadillacs I have owned and 13-15 MPG in a ’74 Buick Electra.
1977 film Telefon, nice Lincoln crash. This was a brand new car, if the date of the film is correct.
I am wondering if that red on the featured Towncar is the factory color or not…It just looks to be too bright a shade of red to me….like the owner chose their own shade of red when the car was repainted.
It’s hard to tell, but two colors in Lincoln’s 1979 palette look like that on the featured car — either one could be this car’s color, but the hues are too similar for me to figure out for sure:
I am pretty sure that neither of these chips is the color of this car. The cordovan was a brownish-rustish red (they also had a cordovan interior, which was what my Dad chose for his white Town Coupe) and the Dark Red is the regular red found on almost all 70s FoMoCo cars, and is quite a bit darker than this one. I have some shots of one of these in that color, and it is a shade quite close to the vinyl roof on this one.
This car has either been repainted, or could have been a special order. Ford did offer a brighter red on certain Ford models, so the custom color would have been something theoretically available.
Thanks — that’s helpful. I was unsure enough about the color that I didn’t mention it in the article. If it was repainted in a different color, they did a good job; I think the color complements the car and contrasts with the interior well (I’m pretty sure the interior is Dark Red leather).
Ironically enough, I saw this car driving in rush hour traffic yesterday. It was a pleasure to see it gliding along, surround by “lesser” new cars.
I checked, the one I shot was the metallic dark red. But this picture off the net looks more like the factory dark red paint. The one you found is a lot hotter of a red.
The car that is the subject of the article almost looks like it is painted a GM red color. I swear I’ve seen a Coupe DeVille or two from the same era in that exact shade.
I got to ride in a 1977 Cadillac Sedan de Ville once. It was breathtakingly quiet and smooth, and very roomy. I now wish I could have ridden in a Lincoln Continental of the same vintage, but as the verging-on-old guy that I now am. I rather miss the days when isolation from the road and from the wind was a strong selling point. I like our Camry Hybrid very much; it drives so well, and its wind noise is very low. But isolation from the road is not its strong point, and its capaciousness is only that of a mid-sized car.
Modern hybrids suffer a bit in ride quality because of the tires, which are usually chosen for low rolling resistance rather than grip, ride, or quietness. Different rubber helps, although you pay for it in fuel economy.
And some non-hybrids have low-profile tires, which doesn’t help ride either, but experience taught me the risk of changing tire brands (let alone profile) on Hondas. I’ll never understand why my ’88 Accord’s roadholding went bananas on new Bridgestones. And yes, I checked tire pressure, several times. Got a refund & then Michelins.
My father had a ’78 Sedan DeVille, with the “downsized” 425 4-bbl V-8.
Very quiet and the ride comfort was impeccable. After his ’73 LTD, the driving dynamics of the big Caddy were very impressive. It handled very well for what it was, and it tracked straight and true. The 425 had excellent torque, and it would easily cruise at 80 mph all day, in silence. He always regretted selling it, and said it was the best car he had ever owned (maybe because he traded it in on an ’84 Chrysler New Yorker to save gas; that Chrysler was a disaster.)
I’d love to have one; I’m also hankering for a ’78 Lincoln Town Coupe, just to have the last of the great Ford 460 dinosaurs.
Loving that 72. This one, not so much.
Now being familiar with both pre and post downsized C Body GM, I am hankering to take one of these for a test drive. While the 71-76 GMs are curvy and styled (in my view, stylISH as well, but some will differ) these are equally cool because of their massive, formal, bladed look.
I would really like to check out a ’75-’77 version with the thermometer speedo and somewhat less neutered 460. I’ve been fairly impressed how my ’75 Ninety Eight Regency corners and handles for its size despite its soft ride. The ’76 Coupe DeVille I drove was slightly quieter and smoother riding than the Olds but not by much. So I’m curious to see what driving one of these is like…with the exception of my first car, an ’87 LTD Crown Vic, I’ve had minimal experience with bigger Fords.
I love these cars. Love ’em enough that there’s a ’78 Continental Town Coupe sitting in my driveway.
Now, if we’re being fair, it’s sitting in my driveway because it can’t fit in the stupid integral garage of my 1940 house. The Sofa’s companion, the ’77 Thunderbird Town Landau, fits in the garage with two inches to spare: One inch at the front before hitting the step into the house, and two inches at the rear, just enough for the handles on the wooden doors to clear the bumper.
My husband and I affectionately call the Conti the Green Sofa, because it’s like driving a living room couch down the freeway. I often joke that I could drive over a medium-sized child with it and not even know. I wouldn’t see the kid over the hood, and it rides so smooth I wouldn’t feel the bump.
Ours has (we believe) 135,000 miles on it now, and it’s still a delight. We’ve taken it on 600-mile round trips before, and we arrive at our destination feeling as good getting out as we did getting in. Ours has the 460 and the optional shorter ratio locking-diff rear axle, and we’ve still managed 14 miles per gallon with it (one time at 55 for a couple hours with a tailwind we managed 17). Funny thing is, the Thunderbird with the 400 gets worse mileage than the Conti with the 460, despite having over 50,000 fewer miles on the motor and weighing several hundred pounds less. The 460 feels good in normal driving, and that much metal makes a beautiful roar at full throttle, even if the speed and fuel gauges are moving at the same rate in opposite directions.
A friend of ours has several old cars, including a ’75 Eldorado convertible. I was appalled by how the Caddy was inside. Badly faded obviously plastic wood, “leather” that felt like marine-grade vinyl, and a dash cracked open like a coconut. The Lincolns had obviously fake wood, too, but at least Lincoln used a good applique over a metal backing instead of a lump of brown plastic. I also find the Lincoln’s brushed aluminum IP (even if it is a reskin of the Marquis/LTD cluster by ’78) and accents nicer than the ’75 Eldo’s plain black affair that could have come from any car GM made. Hard to compare velour to leather, but I love the chairs in the Conti!
The seats:
Those “sofa” seats still look great with so many years and 135000 miles.
I have many good things to say about floating pillow velour, but one is that it is incredibly tough. It really just doesn’t wear much.
The dash. It’s also worth noting that for ’79, they went with all wood-look instead of the metal accents. I like the ’78 look better.
Very nice cars. I love that light green shade on your Lincoln; I saw one in a similar hue upstate for sale last year. Minty. Drive them both in good health!
Your anecdote about trying to make the Connie fit into the garage made me laugh. Just for fun I recently tried to fit my ’75 Ninety Eight into the garage at my parents’ 1953 colonial. I knew it wouldn’t, somehow, but wanted to see just how badly. The results were laughable. Stuck out a good 6 inches past the door.
Come to think of it that garage must have gotten obsolete pretty quickly after the house was built, considering the cars that came out between 1955-1979 or so. I wonder if even an A-Body could fit inside, especially in the early 1970s (Mom’s 2005 Prius does fit, however).
I live in a house built in 1958. When I bought my 68 Chrysler Newport, I had to rearrange my attached garage to remove everything between the front of the car and the back wall of the garage. With the bumper of the car an inch or two from the wall, the back bumper cleared the lowering garage door by maybe an inch. Not a lot of room for error. And to think that this was nowhere near the biggest car a guy could buy when the house was a mere 10 years old.
Mr. X and I have had a similar conversation. Our house is fantastic, and it was a custom build in an upper-middle/professional-class suburb. Whoever built it spent a few bucks on it. I imagine they had to be pretty pissed that their new car couldn’t fit into their 15-year-old garage.
Mr. X has a 2013 Taurus, which is a surprisingly big car. He has to fold in the mirrors to clear the door, and his car still barely fits. So basically the garage has been of limited usefulness since shortly after the house was built.
My grandmothers 1940’s built house had a rather rare (for the area) large, full brick, unattached 2+ car garage. I remember they had a rubber flap attached to the bottom of one of the garage doors because their large 1970ish Chrysler New Yorker wouldn’t fit it in. So the door was only closed about 3/4 and the rubber rested on the bumper of the car.
Years later I was out in the alley smoking a cigarette (didn’t want grandma to know) and noticed a strange pattern in the masonry work/tuck pointing. I asked her what happened to the entire back wall of that garage. She said, “Oh honey, John was soooo mad!”. Anyway, she obviously drove one of those cars straight through that brick garage. She drove with both feet too.
Friend’s ’75 Eldo for comparison:
I take it the elk horns were a rarely ordered factory option.
I like both, but that isn’t a totally fair comparison, his car looks kind of beaten up, he’s got the wrong radio in there, and has made no effort to seal up the crack. There was a small crack in the dash of my Ninety Eight but I sealed it up. The fake wood on the Olds around the door handle pulls feels real.
That said, to take the other part, I haven’t yet seen a Ford product with a cracked dash. But have seen several big GMs with one.
1st-gen Mustangs filled up Ford’s quota for cracked dashes, which created an aftermarket cottage industry.☺
I wish a manufacturer would bring back cloth upholstery. So tired of leather, pleather, leatherette….
I believe you can opt for cloth interior if you factory order German cars.
chevrolet impala has cloth standard
Yeah….. if only they would stop universally-choosing that most awful VELOUR!!!
My ’65 Lincoln had lovely, soft, quality black cloth interior.
I can’t believe that manufacturers of top-of-the-line American cars would put that truly dreadful VELOUR in ’em!!! That stuff is garbage, inc.!
It’s interesting to see how boxy the Lincoln is compared to the Cadillac. Though the Cadillac might seem to be a simple design on its own, there are actually (relatively) few straight lines on it. By contrast, the Lincoln looks like it was designed with a spirit-level.
This was training for the initial Panther Town Car stylists.☺
Great article, explains the late 1970’s Continentals in the context of their times. Although I appreciate to a degree their late styling, it struck me as having lost a good deal of the finesse and verve found in the initial iterations of 1970-’73. The 1975-onward Fleetwood Brougham-imitative B-pillars, oval opera windows and lights weren’t indicative of fresh, original thinking from Lincoln styling. I’ll admit to being biased, I owned a 1970 Continental sedan at the time these 1977-’79’s were current. Arnot “Buzz” Grisinger, who headed Lincoln-Mercury Styling when this generation Continental was developed, admitted in a Lincoln and Continental Owner’s Club article that the 1967-’68 Buick Electras were their styling benchmark. Not so much for the frontal design but for overall body architecture and specifically the rear quarters and sweeping roof-line. The inspiration is very obvious from the rear three-quarters view of both cars. As an armature for the severely rectilinear restyles by Don DeLa Rossa, it served Lincoln well as the late sales numbers demonstrate.
My 1970 Continental sedan was one of the most trouble-free and enjoyable cars I’ve ever owned. It looked great, drove great with ample power (10mpg but gas was cheap then), was the true highway cruiser it was designed to be. The only improvements I would have preferred were to still have the center-opening doors and B-pillarless hardtop construction. Suppose I could just buy a good 1970 now and make those custom changes…..that’s an idea!
On the question of color, dark hues rendered these both elegant and somewhat menacing-looking. But, one ’78 or ’79 Town Car particularly stands out in my memory. Attending the used car auctions in the mid’-80’s, what should appear but a finely kept one with tan vinyl top and interior….. and pure pumpkin orange factory-applied paint! Assume it was a special order, never saw another one like it!
The early 70s model was also trying to maintain some design language in common with the 60s unibody version. If the unibody version had continued into the 70s in it’s smaller size there might have been room for two Lincoln lines. A larger more formal BOF Town Car similar to the 77-79, and a smaller, more expensive, more continental Continental.. Mercedes was proving there was some volume to be had at higher price points and a higher price would have allowed for things like independent rear suspension and real wood trim. I am sure Ford considered this at the time but probably concluded that Mercedes buyers were choosing a Benz partly to avoid domestic manufacture.
As cars, maybe.But the Seville (for an example) was supposed to “fight” Mercedes and in a few years ended up being anything but an import “fighter”. Lincoln was right for the market at the time. Sales numbers prove that. In the end even if Lincoln (or Cadillac,or Imperial,) had produced the best Mercedes fighter (or even better!) It may have not made a bit of difference: The Volkswagen Beetle sold well after it’s “best buy” date, Outlasting the entirely superior Corvair just on the strength of being “foregin” enough to be exotic. Lincoln, Cadillac ( Olds & Buick too..) made their bread on what they did best. Changing to what they weren’t is what cost Olds and Merc They’re existence.
The Seville and the later fox Continental and even the 1985 Deville were all attempts to bring American style luxury in to an efficient Euro size package. This is devilishly hard to pull off successfully as a full size is a must for many American buyers. ]Yet American style isolation is considered crazy by import buyers. This is true especially it seems when the size is otherwise right.
Where this dichotomy is threaded, such as the first Seville, vast profits are possible. The Seville costing more than a Sixty Special.
I have always liked the 1967 Buick Electra’s styling. I see the influence in the Lincoln’s (early 70’s).
With regard to the demise of Olds, GM’s upper management came to understand what I saw in the 60’s, that Buick and Olds were aimed at the same market, and it was pointless for both to exist. At the end of the 80’s Buick became an “American style sedan”, while Olds was to transform into “European style sedan’s”. Unfortunately, Olds had to use American style platforms to do this. At the end of the 90’s GM’s upper management came to understand that FWD does not work for everything. So Cadillac got the Sigma platform.
Since I vividly recall the 60’s Continentals this model isn’t foreign to me. I truly enjoy them like one would enjoy eating a box of Godiva Dark Chocolate. A very guilty pleasure. Despite owning smaller cars through my life my father did have the prototypical high end full size American cars as company cars. So I did get to drive them and acquire a taste for their luxury and ride which is undeniably mesmerizing.
I am always cruising the local ads for large cars such as these. Interestingly while there are a fair amount of Continentals from the 60’s and from the 90’s in the Bay Area there are very few from 1970-79. Marks, yes, but Continentals, no. It’s competition is against the 1991-92 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham of which I am in love with. Doesn’t hurt to get 25 mpg on the highway.
I have a 79 town coupe that sat on the lot until July of 1980. My original bill of sale says it was sold for 9000.00 cash. Oddly enough, the Chicago dealership it was sold at closed a week and a half after that.
I have both the Lincoln Town Car (a 76 and a 78) and a 79 Sedan de Ville. Both the Lincolns have the 460 four barrel and don’t seem to lack enough power to propel them down the highway at a decent speed.
The Caddy, like the Lincoln, is very comfy to drive and not so noticeably smaller from the outside but sitting in the drivers seat it feels smaller. You notice its narrower and it feels more about the size of my dads old Pontiac Catalina. That massive Lincoln hood is very noticeable from the drivers seat. The Cadillac handles more like a modern car in terms of its steering than the Lincolns. I like the seats, more like couches, in both cars but the finishing in the Cadillac feels a bit cheaper. Both are a bit overwhelmed with plastics and vinyls inside. I guess that was a 70s thing. The Lincoln, however, feels a bit more luxurious inside.
The mileage of the Cadillac is as poor or worse than my Lincolns. Maybe it can use a tune up.
Overall I love all old cars. Im happy with any of them.
Just got this one (1979 Lincoln Continental Town Car) a month ago..white leather, red dash/seat belts & carpet…. really can’t describe how pleased..what a total joy to drive this. Some history: My Mom had a 79 Lincoln 4 door Collector’s Series that I drove thru high school so I knew exactly what I was getting into…. but even then didn’t remember how soft of a ride the 79’s have… she later had a 92 Lincoln Town Car which was ultra nice as well but it was not nearly as soft of a ride as this one….. in very late 90’s she got a new Town Car that was a “business” edition or something..very plain jane and not that nice of a ride but was dependable at least. She lost interest in the “new” Lincoln designs and went to Cadillac but the new 2018 Continental styling has caught her eye so who knows..maybe will be finally returning to Lincoln for a new car after many years. In the mean time the ’79 Town Car in the photo attached is now being used for Sunday drives, special trips etc. What a joy! Now if Lincoln would bring THIS grill back they would really sell some cars in my opinion.
rear view….note the small rear fender skirts…that is the one modification I may attempt..I actually have located a pair of skirts but need to track down the white vinyl insert material. With the cast aluminum wheels perhaps the more open wheel wells looks better, but I am going to attempt the skirts to at least see someday!
interior shot… I was surprised to find this “lipstick red & white” interior in a Lincoln as they were typically the more conservative luxury brand of the 70’s…. but right after I bought this one, a nearly identical one showed up in the same state (79 Lincolns are not rare obviously). Mom’s had a blue cloth interior on her Collector’s Series….this one has leather with the red trim obviously… the one thing I remember on the cloth interior was how you couldn’t easily scoot across it to get in and out ..something somewhat important on a big car where there was a long way to scoot…. all original interior..the previous owner claims it is original paint, but in my opinion too good of condition to be original with 55,000 miles on it..but whoever painted it did a very nice job if it was repainted (perhaps just the hood repainted as I can see on the hood underneath evidence of a repaint at some point).
The only wear is on the steering wheel..the corners of the cheap wood grain trim are coming off where they usually do. Don’t know if there is a easy fix to that or not but someday will attempt to find out. Interestingly this one did get smoked in quite a bit..the rear ash trays were quite dirty..the car ultra clean except for the ash trays…lots of corrosion in the little ash cans..at some point may take those out and try getting them cleaned and repainted?
Original 8 track working great…has been fun going on eBay to find 8-tracks to listen to while going down the road! 🙂
Now that is a gorgeous car! Love the white/red interior specifically!
here is a 79 Town Car “brand new” less than 1000 miles on it: http://newyork.craigslist.org/brx/cto/5722439109.html
You have to love the “black weather interior”. 🙂
a 1977 4 door town car with under 7k miles just failed to sell (I was high bidder at just over 5,000 but reserve not met…so guessing the real market price for this one is probably 1/2 what they are asking. Their value may be creeping up though as gas gets cheaper and cheaper (adjusted for inflation gasoline today is probably 1/2 the cost of what it was in 1979). Just too many saved to ever be really valuable.. BUT it sure is nice…….hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. 🙂
I’m still kicking myself for passing on a beautiful 76 Continental Town Car, one owner with 39,000 miles a couple of years ago. Nothing as nice has been for sale locally since.
My ideal variant is a dark blue Collector’s Edition with the blue cloth seats (to match the cloth-covered garnish moldings) and fixed glass roof.
My dad had a 75 Mark IV & 78 Mark V Bill Blass edition. My uncle had a 78 Lincoln Town Car. The 75 had electrical gremlins that for some reason no rhyme or reason the car would just cut off while driving so dad traded it for the 78. Shortly after getting the 78, the dealer called to tell him that Fors had a recall on an electrical part to fix the stall problem but it was too late. I was 10 in 78 and I learned to drive on this car and spent much time behind the wheel. Loved the 460. I liked my uncles towncar more, it was bigger, spacier, more comfy. One day I’d love to own a 78 or 79 Towncar, preferably a Collector Series if I get a 79. And I want a 60s Lincoln Town Car convertible. I remember when I was 15 & we’d take family trips in the Lincoln, you arrived at your destination not being tired. I hated what they traded it for a new 86 Honda Accord LXi. Do any of you know why the wipers on a Towncar moved swifter than those on the Marks?
But once loyal big car buyers “got used to the size” of the Panther based Town Car, sales went way up. So, sometimes, “more” is too much.
I agree that these last big Lincolns are, like the ’76 Cadillac, the last of the 1950’s luxury cars. My experience with Lincolns, 63, 66, & 69 as well as lots of car lot looking, puts Lincoln ahead in interior quality construction. My experience with Cadillac, 63,70, almost new 77 and 94 Seville, still don’t measure up to these 70’s Lincolns.
While I am a fan of the Navigator, I wanted the baleen whale looking MK whatever, only because the interior was spacious and nicely designed. It also got better mileage than the Navigator. In the end, I found the styling of the Flex to be more to me (and my Wife’s) liking. I would like my next CUV to be a gently used, low mileage Aviator.
Plush, quiet, spacious, and comfortable vehicles, be they SUV or CUV, are great for road trips. Still much better than a cramped econo box or sedan. I’ll be taking my second trip to Oregon in the Flex in a few weeks.
While I still have the Flex, I just bought an amazingly clean, low mileage 2005 Navigator. I like these earlier Navs with the chrome center grille and corner tail lamps. The interior is beautiful, especially the early Continental homage dash. While I love those big old Lincolns, the Nav is shorter with more interior room, fuel economy is similar to my past minivans and current F150. It drives and handles great. I chose this over a 50’s or 60’s car, but the feeling and swagger is similar to me. I haven’t taken any new photos, but here’s one from the CL ad. Candy apple red with a light caramel interior, quite yummy.