“Pull up to the…” bumper? I love the artistry and persona of Grace Jones. Earlier this year, I had gone to see “Bloodlight and Bami”, a biographical film about that iconic actress, model and musician, and I highly recommend watching it. Suffice it to say that our featured long, black “limousine” (please allow me some artistic license) would benefit greatly from another rear bumper sourced from a donor car, but the rest of this car looked surprisingly solid when I photographed it in my neighborhood just over a year ago.
Picture as sourced from the internet.
I was walking from work to my evening Red Line train back north to my neighborhood when I spotted a late model Lincoln MKZ in traffic, heading east toward Lake Michigan and Lake Shore Drive. What caught my eye about this car wasn’t its clean, attractive appearance (the newest MKZ has great lines, in my opinion), but specifically its trick, sliding-glass moonroof that retracted all the way back and partially over the rear window. What a cool feature! With that glass roof retracted, that MKZ reminded me more than a little of a modern interpretation of the Kaiser Manhattan four-door, pillared convertible of the 1950s.
This got me thinking, though. Modern luxury cars of today seem rife with technology that benefits nearly every aspect of the car, from safety, to information, to general enjoyability and comfort. These cars seem designed for maybe up to a four-year run with the initial buyer / lessee before being traded for something newer. How will that MKZ’s trick top perform ten years from now, what shape will the car be in, and how much of its high-tech gadgetry will still be either operational or even fixable for a reasonable price, as the car slides down the chain of secondhand (and third-, fourth-, etc.) ownership?
This Town Car, by contrast, is like a tank. It’s built like a tank, looks imposing like a tank, and gulps fuel (almost) like a tank. It’s an uncomplicated affair – a hulking, two-and-a-quarter ton, four-door luxury parlor on wheels, with 159 horses on tap from its 400-cubic inch V8 that powers the rear wheels. I doubt very much that this particular car’s appearance has changed much over the past ten years.
The contrast in my mind then remains that between the modern, spa-like comforts and conveniences of the MKZ, versus the simple-but-effective execution of the last, mammoth-proportioned Town Car ever produced. That this TC is still looking this good around age forty (a gazillion car-years old) is a testament to its robust, hearty nature. As a frugal man, myself, I like to think that something I’ve spent my hard-earned cash on will last and give me my money’s worth in the long run. As a hypothetical Lincoln shopper in the late-’70s, I might have felt that a new Town Car would be far better bet than a new MKZ would be in 2018, fine automobile though it is.
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois.
Thursday, June 22, 2017.
Well I hope the things, particularly the Panoramic Sunroof, will be working good on the MKZ when it is 10 years old, because I bought one recently and I plan to keep it for several years. That Panoramic Sunroof was one of the key reasons that I ruled out Fusions.
How far back does the panoramic sunroof open? If it goes back far enough to reveal an expansive opening over most, if not all, of the entire passenger compartment (something akin to a real convertible), I’d be impressed. It would essentially be the same as those large, folding fabric tops on stuff like, say, the Fiat 500 convertible.
I’m afraid I’d be substantially less impressed if the opening was no larger than that of a typical sunroof, merely over just the driver/front seat passenger.
One of the bigger pluses for me was the greater width, in the cars with the small hole the edge is about above the center of my head while with this there is nothing directly above my head when open.
As far as the length it is way bigger in that direction too, extending farther forward and much farther rearward, but not to the point that the rear seat passengers are uncovered, but most of that is due to the “4 door coupe” roofline. But I’m not riding in the back.
When it is open it does interfere with rear vision somewhat. However at 50 mph it automatically moves to a mid position to eliminate wind buffeting. That gets it out of the rear view mirror and doesn’t move the panel to where it covers people in the front.
Lincoln lost me as a fan after 72. The Continental had gotten too overbearing, the Mark, similarly. As a kid, I was familiar with the seemingly lither 61 through 69 Lincolns. The newer Lincolns have some fine points. I still own a 2000 LS V8 Sport and am quite satisfied. Kudos to any Vehicle still soldiering on after 40 years. However. I would still pass on ownership. At the time the pictured TC was new, I was deep into Audi ownership. Again. with satisfaction.
I really like the new Lincolns. I had the chance to ride in this car’s spiritual successor, a brand-new Navigator, a couple weeks ago and to me the quality of the interior materials are pretty top-notch.
(aside: used to go to the Double Bubble every so often as I had a friend who lived a block west of there.)
I like the latest Continental, but have trouble distinguishing it from an MKZ from the front.
I agree- but the rear styling (i think) makes up for it.
I’ve probably told this story here before, but I grew up knowing a family with 3 daughters, the middle of which was a classmate of mine. Back in the mid 70’s their father, who owned an Exxon station and did quite a bit of mechanical work for the local municipality bought his wife a new Town Car in triple yellow. It served as the family car long after I graduated from high school, and was in fact still in service after Ronnie’s death back in 2003 or 4. Legend has it that the car had well over 400,000 miles on it by the early 00’s, and I tend to believe it. It was meticulously maintained, of course, and I know of one respray to fight off the rust, but it was indeed built like a tank and proved nearly indestructible. I haven’t been back to the area in many years, but were I to visit I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see Mrs. R’s yellow Town Car sitting in the A&P (or whatever it might be now) parking lot.
A gas station owner is the perfect person to own this car!
I wonder if anything could go wrong with that panoramic roof that the application of several caulking tubes of silicone sealer couldn’t fix? 😉
There is a lot to like about these, although I prefer those from 1978 and before due to the availability of the 460 V8. As I think about it, these Lincolns sort of sum up what Ford was good at when everything came together. They were relatively simple, made of good, durable materials and put together well. And they were attractive.
There was no engineering whiz-bang like Chrysler did (or tried to do) and no out-front styling or great handling that GM was known for by the mid-late 70s.
One confession: I never found any love in my heart for those wheels. I was cool with the standard wheelcovers and was crazy about the turbine wheels. But I never found these attractive at all.
Ford, at their very best, was good at taking a traditional, conservative approach to whatever GM was doing – the overwhelmingly conventional 1960 Ford Falcon trounced the radical Corvair. It wasn’t until GM responded with the Nova (and Chrysler got their act together with a much better looking Valiant) that Falcon sales started slipping.
Sometimes, though, it didn’t pan out so well. A case in point is the 1978 Crown Victoria in response to the downsized 1977 Caprice. By most accounts, the Chevy was a better car.
Weren’t the wheels on the featured car you referred to called forged aluminum wheels? My parents owned a ’76 Givenchy edition Mark IV (Jim Strickland’s demonstrator of Strickland Lincoln Mercury at 5000 N. Keystone.) I sort of liked them but I am inclined to agree with you as they are rather plain looking.
I think they may have been. And thanks, I had been trying to remember the name of the L-M dealer on Keystone. It was still there when I was car shopping in 1985.
I don’t usually plan to keep a car for more than a few years, but now that new cars are (almost) out of reach I am much more concerned about whether the complicated “fixtures” of any new car will still be working when it’s 10 years old.
My current car would be a sort of spiritual grand daughter to this Town Car, a Crown Victoria. It is just about to turn 10 years old, but is holding up well considering it started out as a police car. But then, it is a very simple car, air conditioning, power steering and brakes along with power windows and doors and that’s pretty much it. No cruise control or CD player. Unfortunately, it also drinks nearly as much gas as this Town Car did in it’s best days.
Recently rode in a 2005 or so Crown Vic Police Interceptor that was well into its second career as a taxi. Rode solid, cold A/C, quiet and smooth at 70 mph on an interstate. Not bad at all after 450,000 hard driven miles.
Here in Maryland there are still more than a few CVPI’s in the State Police fleet, not to mention in taxi duty. After a rocky start back in 1979, the Crown Vic soldiered on, getting a bit better each year, outliving all of its rivals.
Mmm, boxy. I have ridden in one of these. You definitely feel like a head of state. Of North Korea or something. But to me there is no tension in the design. Like a stack of bricks. But probably as long lasting. Similar coefficient of drag. Does make me want an MKZ, a superb looker which will be eventually recycled into Chinese TVs while the old car soldiers on. Now I remember that I really appreciate longevity. So never mind, I’ll take the Continental after all…
Wise choice.
The last 10 years of lincoln have not done much for me..I perceive them as nicer fords. But the MKZ taillight/rear make up probably one of the nicer tails of any car today. That nice slice of red with just enough flourish on the outside egdes. Compare that with some of the overwrought japanese cars.
What’s neat is that the Continental offered two glass moonroof options in the late ’70s: a regular-sized retractable and this cool and huge fixed type.
Something is just enduringly special about these Lincolns. Throughout the years, I can’t think of an era when they didn’t seem neat — either as imposing new cars, or amusingly out-of-touch used cars, or as perhaps an almost mythical throwback to the 1970s, which is likely the impression they exude now.
Just last week I saw a ’79 Continental Collector Series parked at a local DMV. I happened to see the owners (applying for new plates, so it was likely a recent purchase), and they were a couple in the 20s… and clearly loving their car. Somehow I have a hard time imagining the same couple showing nearly as much enthusiasm over any Cadillac from 1979.
While clearly not the best engineered car of 1979, the Continental sure has good staying power.
As I have posted before, I had one of these (a 1982 Town Car) as a rental for a day, and it was very plush, comfy, and very much epitomized the living room on wheels moniker. I had occasion to have to push it hard to meet a deadline that day, and it moved alright with that big engine, but it was like navigating a barge. Not too terribly responsive around corners. I found the seats allowed the body lean to move you away from the direction of the turn as well, making navigating a bit like the tanker that it was.
I developed a soft spot for these cars that day, and I do still have the keys to that erstwhile rental.
The 79 Continental pictured above is 14 inches longer, 2 inches wider and weighs 820 lbs more than the 82 Town Car that you drove. They’re not the same car or even in the same class.
Heavily-computerized modern cars will face the same hardware/software obsolescence issues the military is facing already. I heard the Luftwaffe has that problem with their Eurofighters too.
Speaking of tanks, the WW2 M3/M5 Stuart is a good vintage tank buy, lots around and not too costly to own compared to others. The M5 has two Cadillac 346 V8s with Hydramatic; a good gearhead perhaps could swap those out for more modern ones or a diesel. Its successor, the M24 Chaffee, has the same driveline.
The featured Lincoln is something of a time capsule in more ways than one. The missing back bumper was a common feature of Ford built cars of the late 70’s in the rust belt. Yep, in 4 or 5 years after purchase, the back bumpers would rust off. Using the factory supplied bumper jack would often speed up the bumper removal.
That’s a scary thought. How did these not get recalled like crazy over that? When I worked at NHTSA’s recall department in the late ’80s-early ’90s, there were some investigations into factory-supplied jacks that dropped the cars occasionally, and a recall on Chrysler minivans for that reason (don’t recall if the jack, the van, or both needed alteration, or in the jack’s case, replacement)
Ford was not the only manufacturer with rear bumpers falling off. I owned a 1977 Grand Prix and by 1987 the rear bumper inner reinforcements (5 mph) and self restoring energy absorbers were nothing but one big massively rusted blob of steel. I remember seeing many ’76 and ’77 Cutlass Supremes with no rear bumper or a 2 x 6 board as a substitute.
As a classic collector I almost bought very low miles original 77 Lincoln Continental coupe 2 years ago but after some research I bought 78 Coupe Deville the reason being I did read Retro road test comparing the Lincoln to Deville and the winner in handling , braking and overall driveability was Cadillac !!
Ya shoulda bought the Lincoln. Who cares if there’s slightly better handling, braking and drivability on the Caddy? The Lincoln is BIG and that’s all that matters! 😀 → It demands attention be paid to it.
I live in very small country geographicaly Beirut Lebanon very bad narrow and congested roads !! so Bigger is Not better over here I am already having hard time when driving my 78 Deville which is smaller than Lincoln so could imagine whats that like !!
Oops! I thought you lived in the U.S.
I can see now why you chose the smaller of the 2 cars (even tho the Caddy is still pretty big!).
My mother’s parents had a pair of these when I was in high school, a Light Jade ’77 Town Car with a beautiful Dark Jade velour interior (his) and a ’78 Town Car Williamsburg Edition (two ton champagne, champagne velour interior). I did a lot of driving in those cars. And I was gifted a ’78 Town Car about 12 years ago (Dark Walnut Metallic/champagne leather). All were great cars. The Dark Walnut one had sat in a barn for 5 years before I got it. The entire interior was in absolutely amazing shape — the leather was amazingly supple and not a stitch had let go. After putting on a new master cylinder and giving the old girl a good detailing, I enjoyed 2 years of luxury motoring before selling it to reduce my fleet.
One interesting note: both of the ’78s had the optional heated LH outside rearview mirror. Quite something for the day.
One like this in white was stored temporarily on a mates lawn judging from the bubbling under the vinyl toupee it wasnt going to last much longer, yet another running driving import that cant be complied for the road without major repairs