Photos from the CC Cohort by canadiancatgreen.
Easy choice; the Town Coupe looks to be running. Then again, some of you may be willing to go to the trouble of rescuing the Town Car?
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1978 Lincoln Continental Town Car – Best Prom Car Ever
CC Capsule: 1978 Lincoln Continental Town Car – Vast
Curbside Classic: 1977 Lincoln Continental Town Coupé – Couped Up
LINCOLN, What a Luxury CAR should be and ONCE was. My first LINCOLN was a 78 Town Coupe! Luxury on the GRAND scale. Also had an 89 Town Car Signature Limited. Current low mileage 2007 Town Car Signature Limited is the last gasp of traditional American Luxury sedans. Now like most, even LINCOLN focuses on SUVS, crossovers and a few melted jelly beans masquerading as Luxury vehicles. My 2007 will not get away!
That Town Car looks pretty good, I bet the paint will buff right up .
I remember these had a habit of smoking the ignition boxes, I wonder if it’s just a simple thing to get it running then one could enjoy it whilst sorting out the fiddly things .
-Nate
The 74 only and 75 only with the black or green grommet were the worst, well along with the CA only red. But by 76 the blue grommet module that lasted well into the 80’s was pretty reliable.
From my understanding the 74 and maybe the 75 like a lot of other early modules would fry the transistor if the ignition was left on w/o the engine running. That lead to a lot of warranty claims, fixing that issue from the get go with the blue grommet modules and later with replacements for the black and green.
I’m not so certain the Town Car is not running but yeah it wouldn’t surprise me if it was an easy fix if it was dead and will probably clean up nicely.
Oh the white town coupe given these two choices. That Town Car is getting rather crusty, top of front fender, above the fender skirt. That vinyl top is smoked and probably hiding a horror show underneath. If its not leaking yet, it soon will be.
That being said I always found the Town Coupe to be a bit awkward proportionaly. The sedan looks a lot better. If I were getting a 2 door Lincoln, give me a Mark. Mark III probaby, it had the nicest interior and is the best looking one of the 70s era boat Mark IV and V
Tough choice, I do like a 2dr who’s doors are longer than a Geo Metro, but I also prefer my big Lincolns in dark colors.
I’m also not so sure the Town Car is dead but at least at a distance the Coupe does seem to be in better shape.
The engines in each would also play a factor since near the end the 400 was a possibility and I’d definitely prefer the 460 and heck being dead would just be an excuse to swap in an EFI 460 and OD automatic out of a later 3/4 ton pickup or van.
The Town Coupe because if that is indeed a TV antenna on the deck, I wanna watch the Six Million Dollar Man parked in the Webb’s ice cream gravel lot.
I had a mint ’75 once with only 19k miles, around 1990. It was so nice I hated to drive it, the rear seat had never been sat in. So nice I got nervous and sold it to another collector. When I look at them now they look ridiculously long, at least a foot knocked off each end would make it look at least sorta rational. For some reason the biggest C-body GMs, which were pretty much as long, carried the look off better, and handled MUCH better, having had ’74 and ’76 Olds 98s, gold and silver.
the silver ’76 98 we had, it carried the aircraft carrier look much better than the boxy Lincoln… imo
No need to start with a rundown example, 1977-’79 Lincoln Town Cars and Town Coupes appear for sale all over the country frequently. They were produced in high numbers and saved by legions of owners as the ‘last of the large luxury cars.”. Buy the best one you can find for the price and just enjoy it.
Personally, the 1970-’73 Lincoln four-door sedan is my preference when it comes to this series of Lincolns. I had one forty years ago and would still enjoy another one,
That Town Car has been parked there a long, long time, just off Whyte Ave in Edmonton. I know it well.
She’s seen a LOT of winters, just accumulating inertia, mice, and entropy. I fear she’s done.
I used to think that way too, regarding SUVs. I learned to think outside the box. It all boils down to the bean counters. They follow the trends on what is selling. You see, the auto manufacturers are building cars that the masses want. Not the other way around. Bottom line, if you don’t stay current, step aside, and other auto manufacturers will take your place, and you won’t get it back .
All that said, I prefer old luxury. I have three Mark Vs in my garage, I have three Chrysler 5th Avenues, so I know luxury. These luxury cars appeal to a tiny niche market. That’s not gonna keep Lincoln in business.
Everything changes my friend.