Here’s something you don’t see every day. A pair of cream-colored 1979 Lincolns with as-delivered mileage: A 1979 Mark V with 10 miles, and a matching 1979 Continental with just 4 miles on the odometer. They both came up for auction last month in Kissimmee, FL, as part of Mecum’s Low Mileage Collection. As most of us know, 1979 would be the final year for both the Mark V and full-sized Continental, as both would be downsized considerably for 1980. These examples, therefore, make a fitting capstone to the Brougham era at Lincoln.
Let’s take a look at the Continental first. This appears to be a fairly well equipped example, sporting the Town Car package, which includes “Valleao” velour cloth seats in what appears to be Jubilee Gold (leather was optional). Surprisingly, Lincoln’s official name of this exterior color (and Valino-grain vinyl coach roof) is just “Cream,” and not some highfalutin name that starts with the letter “V.”
Further options include the aforementioned coach roof (with coach lamps), opera windows, cruise control, tilt wheel, and an AM/FM radio with a “Quadrasonic” 8-Track tape player. Someone wanted to make sure they sent off the brougham epoch in all its crushed velour, opera-windowed glory. While these brougham-tastic colors may not be appealing to modern eyes, they certainly are period-correct.
Next up is the Mark V, also in Cream. Trying to navigate all of the Mark’s special editions is always tricky, as Lincoln offered no fewer than four designer series and two special editions for the Mark V’s final year. However, this Mark appears to be sporting the Gold/Cream Luxury Group, with cream leather seats and Jubilee Gold carpet and interior trim.
Other options include the Cream-color Valino-grain vinyl Landau roof with opera windows, power vent windows, turbine-style cast-aluminum wheels, and a tilt steering wheel.
But the real mystery is how these cars came to be in the first place? Why buys two brand new Lincolns in 1979, and then promptly parks them, never to drive them again? There are some tantalizing clues in the provided documentation.
On June 29, 1979, Clyde L. Farris purchased both Lincolns from Morristown Lincoln-Mercury in Morristown, Tennessee, about 100 miles from Mr. Farris’ hometown of Arden, North Carolina. They appear to have been special ordered, as the paperwork above indicates only leaving a $100 deposit for each.
Looking at the invoice, Farris appears to have been given a pretty generous discount of 20% off the sticker price of both cars. I guess it really does pay to buy in bulk. Why he traveled over 100 miles to an out-of-state Lincoln-Mercury dealer to make his purchase is a bit of a mystery too, but again the invoice provides a potential clue: No taxes were collected, so perhaps Mr. Farris was trying to avoid paying North Carolina taxes on his purchase?
Adding to the mystery is that the dealer appears not to have performed the usual pre-delivery preparation (perhaps at Farris’ request?). There is still factory protective plastic wrap present in the interior of both cars, and factory grease pencil markings under the hood that normally would have been wiped off. I thought it odd that both cars sport plain air canisters, but this because both cars are equipped with the “Ford” 400 cubic inch V8, the sole engine available for 1979. The “Lincoln” 460 V8 (which did get the decals and blue paint on the air canister), was last available in 1978.
From here, the trail gets cold. Clearly, Farris didn’t drive the cars back to his home in Arden, NC – the miles would have registered on the odometer, so the cars must have been shipped. Indeed, these cars never moved any significant distance under their own power, as even a short drive around the block would have added miles to the odometer.
It is hard to fathom what would motivate someone to spend over $27,000 in 1979 ($97,000 in 2021) for a pair of almost identical luxury cars, only to park them, and never drive them again. More than just park them, actually: Farris appears to have gone to great lengths to make sure the cars accumulated no miles, transporting them whenever they needed moving rather than driving them under their own power. The pair doesn’t even appear to have been registered – they are still sporting the Morristown L-M dealer plates on the front.
Back to the auction: Both cars failed to meet the reserve amount (which was not disclosed). The Continental was bid up to $27,000, while bidding for the Mark V peaked at $33,000, both very good money for 1970’s land yachts, but apparently not good enough.
Sadly, that sedan has not much room in the rear seat for the legs. Too much of the length of this yacht is in the trunk area. Rides a like a dream, however.
I remember reading an Autocar “roadtest” on how the interior space was no bigger than a Cortna and the seatbelt were “designed not to be worn”.
My guess is that being the last of the real full sized Lincoln’s the buyer thought he could garage them then sell at a latter date for a healthy profit. Misguided or what?. Nice cars. Horrible colors. Maroon or silver over blue for me please.
Yeah Mark. I’m sure that’s what people did. Bought an expensive car and put it in their garages to resell at a later date. Yep. Wait, how did they know when they purchased the car it would be the last of the full sized Lincolns? Hmmm.
Whether it was or wasn’t the last full-sized Lincoln depends on how accepting you are that a Navigator is a full-sized Lincoln…
Shows the folly of trying to predict the future. If, in 1979, anyone had said that a very plush Ford version of the Chevrolet Suburban would eventually become the new Lincoln flagship, he/she would have been judged as more than a little crazy.
Actually, Lincoln was encouraging people to do exactly that with their “Collector Series.” The 1979 Lincoln brochure even uses the word “investment.”
But I agree with your point – An automaker is hardly the best place to be getting financial advice.
British car magazines were notoriously anti American (as are some of my British relatives unfortunately). The magazines weren’t always like this but as the British domestic auto industry declined the editorial bias became increasingly defensive and anti -import. American cars weren’t prominent, but when tested, imho, it wouldn’t matter what the design was, it would be trashed as a matter of policy.
That is because you all have such beautiful smiles…. Why wouldn’t the world look to the Brits for the latest in trends & fashion ?
LOL !
So very sad.
Buyers expectations were to high of American imports due to premium pricing. Autocar found the 79 Mustang Turbo had the same performance as the Euro spec Capri 2lt . The Mercury Monarch Ghia was put up along side Jag XJ12 for good sake. Car magazine let the £21000 Seville shoot it out with the RR Silver Shadow and the Mercedes 6.9!. Disappointing compared to the American imports of 10-20years before.World leaders in equipment and refinement back then.
I have a 1979 collectors series and a 2018 genesis g90. When I sit behind myself so to speak I have more knee and leg room in the Lincoln than the g90. That front driver seat is all the way back. I’m 6ft even and I can’t reach the pedals when I do that
I have a 1979 collectors series and a 2018 genesis g90. When I sit behind myself so to speak I have more knee and leg room in the Lincoln than the g90. That front driver seat is all the way back. I’m 6ft even and I can’t reach the pedals when I do that
Interesting investment? strategy. Almost any financial index would’ve seen handsome returns since ’79.
Exactly. The guy couldn’t have done anything to improve the value of these cars. They’ve never been driven! That same cash invested in 79 might be worth millions now.
If in 1979 Mr. Farris had invested his $34K in a conservative stock market index fund, he would have $822,000 today. Hell, if he would have just stuck it in his mattress it would be worth $122,000 today. He can’t get 60 grand for these cars now.
What was he thinking?
Hell, if he would have just stuck it in his mattress it would be worth $122,000 today.
I’m afraid you got it backwards. His $34k cash in the mattress would only be worth $9406 today, in terms of purchasing power. You’re not going to be able to buy two new Lincolns or a modest house for $34k today. Cash loses value over time with inflation.
Right you are. I did get the second part backwards.
I’m still perplexed as to why Mr. Farris thought this was a good investment. I can’t think of any car made in 1979 (or today for that matter) that would have been.
If one puts $34,000 under a mattress or more sensibly in cookie jar, it will always be $34,000 unless the government devalues and recalls all of the cash to be exchanged for some new currency. Gold coins were recalled.
But $34,000 today will not buy the same cars as it did in 1979.
Which is exactly what I said:
His $34k cash in the mattress would only be worth $9406 today, in terms of purchasing power.
Or did you read it otherwise?
What you said is that somehow if you dig up $34,000 in say one dollar bills dated 1979 and take them to a bank to deposit, the bank will only give you $9406 in 2021 dollars. This is not right.
What you really mean is that the 1979 dollars hidden away in a mattress will only buy one Corsair (and not even that @$36000).
What you said is that somehow if you dig up $34,000 in say one dollar bills dated 1979 and take them to a bank to deposit, the bank will only give you $9406 in 2021 dollars. This is not right.
No, I did not say that. Go re-read it again, if you must. I’m not an idiot. Obviously it’s still “$34k” under the mattress.
Do I have to copy and paste it again for you:
His $34k cash in the mattress would only be worth $9406 today, in terms of purchasing power.
I defined those $34k in bills in terms of their current purchasing power, not in terms of the numbers on them. And FWIW, that’s what really counts. They have lost value over time, as has the value of this guy’s Continentals. The inevitable effect of inflation.
But… purchasing power depends on the item too.
Some things become relatively less expensive, some more expensive.
In ’79 the $150 “phone” from which this was posted could not have been purchased for $122,000 or even the optimistically speculative $822,000.
But why wait 40 years for a measly 25x gain, when today “shorts” can get that done overnight. LoL
But, but, but, don’t back pedal…..purchase power is purchase power & you SHOULD know exactly what he means, its pretty obvious.
Just admit you misread or didn’t completely read what the guy wrote & don’t argue the point….you’re making yourself look silly.
I think what you meant was that todays $34000 would buy a basket of goodies the same size as $9400 would have bought in 1979.
This actually was a thing back in the 1970s. The car companies kept hyping the fact they were downsizing their models in a few years and advertised these Landyachts on the premise that “they won’t make them like this anymore”. I read of more than one person who did this exact same thing, buying a brand new luxury barge and storing it because it would be a future classic. Clearly it wasn’t a valid strategy.
Not only that, but there is an alarming number of these 1970s pimp barges for sale today with under a hundred thousand miles from the clock. So clearly this guy wasn’t the only one to collect these. Who knows? They may be a future classic. But getting parts for specially trim pieces will be hard. And of course 1979 was probably the worst year for engine performance of American cars.
It seems to me that the new cars from any given era that became collectible are the ones *the kids* wanted, that they’d buy as classics in middle age. Was market fragmentation still so relatively new that well-off already-middle-aged people who had aspired to Cadillacs and Lincolns in the ’40s thought The Last Convertible or The Last Big Lincoln was worth salting away when the smart money, assuming storage wasn’t an issue, would be on a ’68-72 musclecar then at the bottom of its’ depreciation curve?
A nice original 79 Trans Am is worth real money these days. With zero miles like these Lincolns, it would bring considerably more than they did.
Not all 68-72 Muscle cars would even be a guaranteed good investment either, a E body Cuda handedly eclipses a Mercury Cyclone for example, and there’s not a lot of rhyme or reason to it that would have seemed obvious back then to “hold onto this one”. The most collectible muscle cars are collectible on the contingents of what people determined to have the best styling that “held up” over the course of the decades, most iconicness(movie roles and whatnot, racing pedigree), and desirable rarity. Helps too that many were indeed faster, and easy to make faster than anything short of exotic cars until the late 90s to keep them relevant across a few generations, but who could predict that stuff back then when they were new?
As bad as an investment these Lincoln’s were, or the last convertible Eldorados were I can put myself in the place and see why one would think that, Muscle cars were known for their performance, first and foremost, but performance wasn’t guaranteed dead for good in the late 70s – for as malaise as a V6 Collonade 442 was there was the 930 Turbo from Europe, even if you didn’t expect it to come cheap anymore, performance would always be obtainable for a price – 8 mpg land barges on the other hand? Convertibles the world of safety consciousness and standard AC? You can see why speculative collectors might think they’d be desirable to future generations deprived of them, they’d probably have been right too, if it weren’t for there being plenty of other older convertibles and land barges to find if one so desired one.
What will be sad, is if a buyer starts to drive these cars! After over 40 yrs of being kept in “as new” condition – only to be converted into ordinary driven cars like all of the others. They should go to the Lincoln Museum – by trailer of course!
“Sadly, that sedan has not much room in the rear seat for the legs.”
In the 70’s, the Lincoln sedan had more rear seat room than any other but the Fleetwood Brougham. You’re being deceived by the huge seat cushion depth and front seats leaned backwards. There’s room for a Sumo orgy.
Considering how horrible the steering feels on these, I don’t blame the buyer for storing them. I hope he drained the gas. The weird thing is it took 40 years for them to come up for auction.
The imagery of a “Sumo orgy” really fits the cars.
Reminds me of the story of the guy that bought the Spirit of America Vega, and drove it home in reverse to keep from adding any miles. Then he put it in a special room in his house, up on blocks. There it sat, until. …when ? Maybe it’s still there.
Interesting. Google Maps shows Arden as a high-dollar suburb of Asheville, and Laurel Drive is mountainous with great views. Each commute into downtown would be 20 miles of HARD driving. An underpowered landyacht would get used up fast.
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.4781771,-82.5119385,3a,75y,33.58h,89.31t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s6CUMLwjqtCgZmjU8xoeUTw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Someone spent a lot of money to ensure these remained time capsules so unrepentant Philistines like myself, rather than marvel with appreciation and respect, marvel instead at how much better cars have become.
Very interesting and fun find though, Tom.
Well, there’s a story there, for sure. The cars really are souvenirs of an era–I’m reminded of the 1976 Cadillac convertibles, and the many who bought those hoping to cash in later.
The dealer filed for bankruptcy in 1981, and Google has a paper trail of some court filings, as well as a few earlier lawsuits about this and that: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1909085/in-re-morristown-lincoln-mercury-inc/?q=cites%3A(1865353)
This sounds like an explanation, i.e., maybe there was some sort of ‘gentleman’s agreement’ on the deal where the buyer agreed not to register/title the vehicles for a while, the dealer held up the paperwork, then went belly-up.
So, the paperwork was held in limbo for a very long time. Hell, the vehicles might not even have been paid for and the IRS or Ford has been looking for them over all these years.
I wonder how these type of things get sorted out on cars that come up for auction. I can only assume that a clear title is required to be verified before the vehicle(s) are allowed to be sold. Imagine paying big-bucks for a car, only to find it can’t be registered or titled.
Yes, definitely reminds me of the ’76 Eldorados — classified ads like this can be found that reinforce the notion that some folks thought these cars would actually appreciate in value.
I could think of better investments in 1979, such as.. anything.
Maybe this guy had a lot of illicit cash he was trying to shelter. Or an upcoming divorce. There are a few explanations, but a sound investment probably isn’t one of them.
OTOH, imagine someone having done this with a 1971 Plymouth Hemi Cuda convertible.
“Oddly enough, there was also a 1951 Chevrolet with ‘Power Glide’, rare because it has only 43 miles recorded on the odometer. . .”
Leopold Brown bought a ’51 Chevy new, stored it and never drove it. If you can find the rest of the article, you’ll hear Shepherd’s theory as to why this happened . . .
http://www.flicklives.com/index.php?pg=246&recno=5031
I’d like to know whatever became of that Chevy.
http://www.flicklives.com/files/1971-12_022_Car_and_Driver.pdf
I can’t imagine storing these as an investment, but that Continental is an exact ringer for one owned by the wife of a gas station owner in the town I grew up in. I think hers was a ’77, as I know it had the 460, but Mrs. R. drove that car for at least 25 years. It/she were still spotted frequently on local roads in 2004 when I last briefly lived in the area. Obviously she liked the car, and her husband was a mechanic who frequently did work on some of the municipal fleet, so he could obviously maintain it. I can’t recall the mileage it was said to have on the clock, but it was not a garage queen by any stretch. It served as the family car from the time I was in grade school until well after the three daughters had grown and left the roost. I guess these Lincolns were considered to be “Forever Cars” by more than a few people.
Jeez, in Tom Klockau’s favorite butter yellow color, no less.
I am trying to think which vehicle of any available in the 1979 model year in the US would have fared the best as a “buy and store” vehicle from a return on the dollar perspective? Porsche 911?
You can view these cars and hear a little bit about their history in this video covering when they were initially offered for sale – beginning at 15:30.
I’m not sure what it says about where we are today that most of these cars weren’t even judged to be worth towing to the crusher. A dozen years ago, scrap was so valuable that recyclers were checking titles to avoid crushing cars that had been stolen just for the ferrous scrap price.
I really should put up a post on the 1979 MkV that I souped up into a rat-rod. It has a 434 stroker from Tmeyer, the Cleveland guru. I set it up for torque and reliability, so it “only” makes 272 rear wheel horsepower and 380 lb/ft of torque. Them’s real horseypowers and torques, too, since I had it dynoed. It’s not, “Well, it must be making a billion hp, but I’ve never had it on a dyno.”
The Lincoln MK V is the most difficult car I have ever driven in a city. The huge overhang makes parking in tight spaces very difficult. That said, it is just a hoot to drive because it makes all the requisite rumbly sounds and vibrations, too. I doubt it is any faster than my Golf but the production is really a lot of fun.
I also completely redid the suspension with new heavy duty everything. It handles much better than stock.
I find these “buy it new then immediately store it” stories fascinating. I recall reading one in SIA magazine back in the 70s when a guy did this with a 67 Cougar Xr7. Then there are the ones everyone thinks will become “a collector’s item” like the 76 Eldorado convertible and the 1980 silver and black Corvette Indy pace car.
As noted so well by many others, what an awful investment. But I can kind of understand, as the high-dollar collector cars of the mid 70s were the high-end classics of the 1930s and a lot of people figured that would be the trend going forward. I knew a guy who started buying up Imperials from the early 60s. He later said that if only he had been smart enough to buy Chargers and Cudas instead.
I would have a hard time justifying such a car if I couldn’t drive it. And of all the colors the guy could have picked, this would have been towards the bottom of my list.
A Cuda convertible with a wedge and an automatic sold for $968,000 the other day. I’ve driven one with a slant-six, and the structure was insufficient.
I remember when Caddy conv., Corvettes, and the last of the big cars were touted as “investments”, by car dealers mostly.
And it was a lousy investment.
But, there are a lot of lousy investments out there. People lose tons of money, all the time.
Maybe the buyer should have bought stock in Enron, or hooked up with Bernie Madoff, or bought stock in Sears?
Would he have been better off?
A lot more fun than most “investments”
“Fun”? Having these sealed up in the garage, never once being driven? Spending lots of money to maintain and ship them? Not exactly my idea of fun.
Depends on where they’re stored 😁
https://autoliterate.blogspot.com/2014/09/1958-lincoln-premiere-and-living-garage.html
The ’58 I could almost see. But those two ’79’s? In my nightmares. 🙂
A few months ago a baby blue base Mk V popped up on Facebook for sale, with two-digit mileage, never having been registered.
In my experience the Mk V has a high survival rate. I’m sure a few people held these cars as unused investments, but their value is cut simply because so many fine examples are on the market; cars that were registered and driven, but well cared for by their wealthy older owners.
Those seats in the Continental look so cozy, I couldn’t think of a car I’d rather be in on a long winter roadtrip!
It’s remarkable how “Markized” the basic Continental bodyshell became through the 70s, and nothing better exemplifies it side by side with a Mark V in the same color. It basically started as a continuation of many styling themes from the classic suicide door 60s models and little by little – body colored headlight doors, opera windows, formal grille etc- it completely transformed into a Mark sedan, can see even the old earlier 70s front end in the headlight door placement when you look hard enough.
The imagery of a “Sumo orgy” really fits the cars.
Back when I was involved with the Riviera Owners association there were a few first gen cars that had quite low mileage, usually less than 25K. The cars were used by the original owners very sparingly. Driven on vacations, tours , displayed at car shows and the like. They were garage kept and maintained, the steady usage kept the cars from deteriorating. and the owners actually got to enjoy their cars.
Are the gills on the Mk V functional or just ugly?
Odd how Ford went from all nearly straight lines and flat planes since the ’61 Cont to curves and convex with the Taurus and Bathtubbird.
Not really odd. They’d taken the flat-planes-and-sharp-corners thing about as far as they could. The Mark VI was a horrible example of trying to downsize that theme while maintaining enough space for occupants.
I reckon they were just looking to Europe for inspiration (after all, that’s where an increasing number of buyers were looking), and reverting to the mainstream of world car styling. The whole formal/Brougham thing never really took off elsewhere, except a bit in Japan.
Buyers expectations were to high of American imports due to premium pricing. Autocar found the 79 Mustang Turbo had the same performance as the Euro spec Capri 2lt . The Mercury Monarch Ghia was put up along side Jag XJ12 for good sake. Car magazine let the £21000 Seville shoot it out with the RR Silver Shadow and the Mercedes 6.9!. Disappointing compared to the American imports of 10-20years before.World leaders in equipment and refinement back then.
This is Exhibit A and Exhibit B of why cars are horrible investments, as compared to other vehicles (pun intended). These two cars bid very nicely, but not enough to even make up for half of inflation loss. And that’s not taking into account storage, maintenance, and transportation costs of the past 42 years.
It has to be a super rare car to perform better than the S&P or the Dow Jones.
Don’t buy cars as an investment, unless you have a crystal ball.
Stunning examples.
Too bad they’re not more attractive colors.
Imagine if they were both Collector’s Series!
How does one determine the fair market value on 42 year old luxury vehicles with virtually zero miles and little interest from the buying public (compared to vintage muscle cars or vintage European sports cars)?
In my opinion, $20k for each would be “priced right”.
To me, there is nothing cooler than 40-50 year old brand new cars
I saw these cars back in 2013, I bought my ’60 convertible from Alex. Nice guy with an amazing Lincoln collection, I wrote an article about it in the LCOC magazine in ’13.