Shot and posted by Don Kincl. No comment by me.
Cohort Pic(k) of the Day #2: Lincoln Continental Mark VI
– Posted on February 7, 2021
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Curbside Classics Archives
Shot and posted by Don Kincl. No comment by me.
Two-tone paint, wire wheels, faux convertible top. What a send-off for the brougham era. Wait! Where are the opera lights?
They retract into the roof side panels.
Power-retractable opera lights – the height of luxury!
The background advertising explains why cars like this are no longer made.
One could argue that they are still made, they’re just taller and have 4wd. The billboard’s slogan of “Bigger, Badder, Better” could apply to the Mark VI and its cohorts just as easily as to an F-250 King Ranch.
No Country For Old Coupes.
I’d say the billboard AND the Mark VI explains why cars like the Mark V predecessor is no longer made. The Mark series nearly halved in sales overnight and never recovered to hit the first round of CAFE, where light trucks were virtually unaffected and able to grow in their wake unfettered.
No one switched from the Mark V/Mark VI to a truck based vehicle. The economy went into the dumper; when it came back, European sport/lux cars were the fashionable choice.
The downsized Eldorado set sales records while the Mark VI was reviled, because the Mark VI looked like an LTD with the JC Whitney catalog glued to it.
The Eldorado kind of proves my point. Same class of car, should see the same impact from the recession, right? Yet the Eldorado only lost about 22% of sales between 79-80, the Mark lost 50%, and prior to 1980 the Mark outsold the Eldorado by a fair amount. All Ford did with the Mark VI was shrink the dimensions of the Mark V, every other little detail was carried right over except the large dimensions and big engines Mark buyers seemed to want until it was no longer offered.
Despite many of us (myself included) praising the Mark VII design, it didn’t exactly fix the buyer exodus despite its more European inspired flavor, I wouldn’t be too surprised if a good amount of former or would-be Mark V buyers ended up with nidoc clad Jeep Grand Cherokees in the 80s.
Mark 6 had better engine
These things were abominations.
If ever there was a vehicle that had a complete change in one generation…It went from a car my departed Grandma would love into one I’d still like today.
I was a teen in the early 80s and couldn’t understand the appeal of fake convertible roofs. 40 years later, I still don’t but taste is subjective. It is nice to see a survivor in such great shape.
BTW: for those who can’t get enough of them, the current April issue of Collectible Automobile has a full feature on the Mark VIs.
The roof and two-tone could be avoided, but not the gills!
I’d forgotten they made it to a second generation.
I’d like to see a Mk 3-6, one each, with a metal roof. Did they exist?
I thought it might be one of the Signature series (Pucci, Givenchy, Bill Blass and Cartier), but they didn’t use the colors of this car.
I had no idea there was a Pucci edition. Looked it up and it’s blueish turquoise with a navy top. My mind is confused. Nothing like what I associate Pucci with, way too tame (Used to work high end fashion). So I Google, and found this ad, which seems the inspiration:
I know these cars are against many curbivores’ sincerely-held religious beefs, but I like the lines. Wouldn’t want to put up with one (COAL coming soon), prefer the 4-door, and anything like that kind of phake convertible top is a crime no matter what kind of car is the victim. But I do think this would’ve made a sharp-lookin’ real convertible.
God, I hated that car. Looks like a cook who didn’t know how to cook and so threw everything into his spaghetti sauce.
Nothing says hookers and blow like a Mark VI.
Talk about a coincidence, the newest issue of Collectible Automobile have an article about the Continental Mark VI.
I’ll give them one bit of credit… the fake VentiPorts look more like real ’30s hood vents than any of Buick’s fake VentiPorts.
I believe this subject Mark VI is a 1983 “Bill Blass Edition”. I am comparing it to the article in the April 2016 edition of Collectible Automobile. which features an excellent article about the Mark VI. Page 18 of the article shows the Bill Blass Edition car, painted in Midnight Black and Light French Vanilla, complete with the carriage roof in Black Cambria Cloth.
Does anyone agree?
I absolutely agree.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1983-lincoln-continental-mark-vi-missing-the-mark/
The 1983 Bill Blass let the buyer choose whether the “vanilla” or the black was the primary color.
I am a little amazed nobody picked this up earlier. But then again, who cares enough about these cars to go to the effort? 🙂
It certainly appears to be Bill Blass. So shoot me, I do like the colors. But the top, the wheels, the gills, the size…. Oh no no no!
Ovderhangs R us not really a very big car there was one with airbag suspension on our weighbride tother day getting the tare for certification, surprisingly little people space inside.
Shove the wheels outward three inches front and rear and you’d go a long way to fixing that. Guess someone at Ford really looked the ‘Oops I’m overbalancing’ look.
I thought I recalled the Bill Blass Edition being some kind of dark blue, and cream-y something. But I guess that was the earlier version, like this ’79 ?
https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0118-311305/1979-lincoln-continental-mark-v-bill-blass-edition/