posted by J.C.
I’ve vented my feelings for the Versailles quite adequately here, and once is enough for a lifetime. That was some ten years ago, and I’ve not seen one since. And my appreciation for the love and care owners bestow on their old cars, even a Versailles, has grown since then. So although I’m not going to suddenly take it all back and wax eloquently about Ford’s blatant attempt to ape the Cadillac Seville with a barely tarted up Granada, I will just say it’s nice to know that there’s one out there getting this amount of TLC.
The mark-up for the Lincoln grille, fake rear tire hump, a few external dood-dads, rear disc brakes and a nice interior was…300% of the price of a Granada. You be the judge.
This one is absolutely pristine. Hidden away in a garage for 45 years? Or lovingly restored? Is that even possible?
I’m speechless.
CC 1977 Lincoln Versailles: Pig In A Poke PN
My only real memory of these was that they provided a factory-made, more-or-less bolt-in, rear axle with disc brakes that could be used on many cars that shared the Falcon underpinnings. Those rear ends were gone the moment that a Versailles hit the junkyard, and maybe more than a few cars were stolen and later found dumped on the street minus the rear end.
This. I think that 99% of the times I’ve seen mention of the Versailles in the last 30 years has been about the rear axle swap, for the disk brakes. Not my cup of tea, but it’s still nice to see any 45 year old car on the road.
Rear disk brakes were optional on the Granada and Monarch too, but I’m guessing few cars on the lot were so equipped and probably not the majority of special-ordered cars either. I wonder if people hunting for a Versailles at a pick-and-pay for the 9 inch axle and disk brakes thought to check Granadas and Monarchs too lest they have that option.
Only the Monarch Grand Ghia had the rear disc, never a Granada.
IIRC, the 4 wheel disc brake system ran off a hydraulic pump as opposed to vacuum assist from the engine. I believe the 4 wheel disc were optional or standard on the Mercury Grand Monarch Ghia (MGMG) which predated the Versailles.
Still, score points for the discs on the rear end. They could have just kept the drums. Would your average Lincoln buyer have known?
One of my colleagues from about 1995 drove a Versailles, think it was also one of the earlier ones like this before they reshaped the C pillar to look like the Seville’s, turquoise inside and out. I never drove it or even rode in it, but he let me sit in the driver’s seat for awhile in the garage at work. It too was pristine and he was obviously proud of owning it. It did feel very luxurious and comfortable inside in a way few new cars do, totally enveloping you in luxury, or what passed for it in the ’70s. Thick padding atop the dashboard, very thick carpeting underfoot and on the doors, nice center console over the wide central tunnel, loads of (fake) wood, leather, and chrome. Hard to believe this car was even remotely related to my mom’s 1960 Falcon with bare metal on the doors and dash.
The interior was basically from the top-trim Granada Ghia with the rare optional Luxury Decor Option (LDO), something that oddly seemed more popular on the older Maverick than on the Granada even though nothing could make a Maverick look luxurious. The Granada LDO had unique velour or leather (usually) bucket seats and distinct door panels with armrests that ran the full length of the doors as on big American luxury cars, with separate pull straps. The Granada with the LDO package made the Versailles seem redundant – the Lincoln basically just revised the seats and door trim slightly, made the speedometer silver instead of black, and added the aforementioned dash padding. The outside of the car looked better in Granada guise without the faddish square headlamps, a grille that didn’t rip off Rolls-Royce, and no fake spare tire hump in the trunk lid. Speaking of the trunk lid, that flap that covered the gas cap seemed much more secure on the Versailles than those on the Granada or Monarch which usually broke off by the fifth year of ownership. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Versailles with a missing flap. Yeah, that’s worth an extra $3,000 over a Granada.
gas cap……. which usually broke off by the fifth year of ownership.
Fifth year or fifth week?
Actually, it was more like $10k more with the few offered options. That’s why they didn’t sell well. To say the only differences were cosmetic is totally untrue. Although rushed, engineering did a fabulous job on noise and vibration elimination. Drive one for a long ride and you’d realize what the actual differences were. Was it a great buy? Absolutely not, but, they were indeed a totally different feel and ride. Give credit where credit is due imo.
Chrysler learned from Ford’s Versailles mistakes, with the highly successful M-body based Fifth Avenue. Offering much more affordable pricing and value, compared to the Cadillac and Lincoln competition. As Chrysler has so often competed successfully, on lower pricing. Plus, the cleaner, more generic, less distinctive basic styling of the Lebaron/Diplomat, meant the Fifth Avenue’s styling wasn’t so obviously tied to their family sedan roots. The blatant association to the Granada’s more distinctive styling, destroyed any uniqueness for the Versailles design.
I think the other lesson Chrysler took from the Versailles was that it was essential to do something dramatically different with the roofline to distinguish it from lesser cars. Chrysler’s dime-store hack on the LeBaron’s C pillar was incredibly effective in transforming the car.
Absolutely. Even though, the Lebaron/Diplomat did adopt more formal C pillars themselves, the Fifth Avenue’s C pillar remained genuinely distinctive.
Far too much specific body detailing associated with the Granada, like its wheel arches, roof design, high beltline trim was retained on the Versailles.
Ironically, I find the original Granada/Versailles roof line better looking than the revised Versailles version in 1979. Yes, it’s “different” and what the market presumably wanted, but it looks tacked on to me, and not organic to the original body design, unlike the Seville.
For all my negativity, the basic design of the original Granada/Versailles is quite good.
I completely agree – the late Versailles looked different but not better. It is hard to improve on the basic shape of the Granada for its era and market segment.
What ruins the late-model Versailles for me is that little kick-up in the beltline at the back of the rear doors, which just does not go with the squared-off “formal” roofline. Every GM and Chrysler car from that era that used the near-vertical back window (and there are alot of them) has close to a 90-degree angle at that location, where the bottom edge of the rear door glass meets the C pillar. The thin chrome bar running across the vinyl roof above the rear window (trying to make it look like a convertible?) doesn’t work either, the rear window itself is too small, and the half-vinyl landau roof with mini targa bar just doesn’t jell with the rest of the car.
The Fifth Avenue also benefitted sales-wise by not having to compete with a larger RWD sedan in the same showroom. I doubt it would have sold anywhere near as well had the R-body stayed in production thoughout the ’80s, especially since there was no fuel economy sacrifice in choosing the larger car.
LA673, I agree. In fact, as I think about it, I don’t see a single styling detail on the Versailles (either early or late) that improves on the basic Granada/Monarch.
That little curve/kickup at the trailing edge of the rear door is annoying when I look at it, but they were evidently unwilling to change the basic door structure which was shared with the Ford/Mercury versions.
The other sad thing is that the 1980 model may have been the nicest vehicle in Lincoln showrooms that year. There was a lot to complain about with this platform, but the early Panther Lincolns had a real penny-pincher feel to their bodies and trim. The older cars (including the Versailles) at least felt nice when you closed the door or touched the controls.
It just now dawns on me that Lincoln completely gave up on that segment for 1981. The Versailles last year was 1980 and the Fox Continental debuted as 1982 models.
I will never understand why Ford did not change that C pillar from the start. By the time the Versailles was introduced, there were few more familiar shapes on American roads than that of the Granada. There was no hiding that the Versailles was a Granada with a Lincoln grille and tail hump.
That said, the car would have made a really nice small luxury car – my father’s 76 Monarch Ghia was pretty credible in that role, with its leather interior, alloy wheels and 351 V8. The car would certainly have provided a more satisfying platform to luxurify than that of the Volare from which Chrysler made a lot of 5th Avenues.
I’ve never driven one but if I recall, Ford stuffed the Versailles with about every luxury feature they could easily add, as if to justify the price. A rare disc brake version of their excellent banjo axle, and the first use of base/clear paint systems, IIRC. Apparently they were high quality cars with superior materials and assembly, a testimony to the Fods adage of “an excellent execution of a terrible design “.
I don’t object to the Versailles and I understand it was a quick stop gap measure brought upon by the need to meet changing market demands in the wake of Henry Ford II’s disastrous slashing of R&D budgets in the mid 70s. I looked at collecting an example a few years ago and found nice survivors are rare and expensive. For the money one can buy a nice MkV, which I did.
Ironic, stubborn, and comical, that Lincoln could introduce a car four years later, that visually reproduced much of the exterior look of the Versailles. By adding a bustleback trunk, in response to their main competitor, it somewhat shows the cynicism of Ford. Thinking that’s all they had to do to please their customers. Same formula, just blur the styling roots of their designs a bit better.
A friend had one of these for years, which I drove occasionally. These Fox body Continentals were excellent domestic cars for the day, better handling and performing than their Town Car cousins, and much improved over the Versailles. Everything that made the aero Thunderbird and Lincoln MkVII such an improvement was also baked in here. Some might think the styling was a dead end but they embraced real and meaningful engineering advancements into a conservative market.
The 82 Continental was much closer in execution to the 75 Seville than it was the Versailles, you’d be hard pressed to find any exterior stamping or major interior part on that shared with a Fairmont
It was actually GM who seemed seemed to co-opt the cynicism Ford had with the Versailles when creating the Cimarron – a well equipped Cavalier with a different front end and some trim.
I was referring more to the general old school chintzy Lincoln styling cues in the vertical grille, trunk spare tire hump, all the faux luxury detailing in the exterior style. Even the design of the front and rear bumper rub strips match the Versailles. This to me is what made the faux luxury applied to the Granada’s design more cynical.
Better hiding of their tracks made it palatable on the Continental!
Same familiar Lincoln styling cue formula, just blur the styling roots of their design a bit better! As if Ford learned any lesson.
I fully agree regarding GM and the Cimarron.
I remember the gas flap doors failing on the Grenada and Monarch. My friend had a Grenada but because she didn’t drive it much and so didn’t refuel as often, her door stayed intact. Back then I thought the Versaille was nice but what did I know? I owned a Cordoba.
Often passed by a Versailles parked in the back of a farmhouse, been there for years. Always wanted the 9 inch & disc brakes it had. Stopped one day a few yrs ago, asking if was for sale, lady answered the door, said no, it was her mom’s car, was parked in the early 90’s, promised her mom that it would be there for her when she returned. Still there as of last November…
Coincidentally just yesterday I decided that I needed to see what was in inventory at one of THE most eclectic (by accident) used vehicle dealerships in Pennsylvania. In among the dozens upon dozens of 4wd pickup trucks and SUVs was a Lincoln Versailles. This one was (now, anyway) a sort of copper/metallic ORANGE…from the factory, a sort of 70s Emberglo. The interior was tan and the vinyl roof….was RED. I have no idea what the original color might have been, or if it had either faded or been dyed red. Needless to say, quite striking. And there was another near unicorn parked near it, a 95 Mercury Tracer WAGON, WITH A MANUAL TRANSMISSION.
Both of those cars looked decent enough, but the odometers were into the 200K range.
Why did some of the most American-style of American cars have names from historic European locations? Versailles, Granada, Seville, Monte Carlo, Biarritz etc.
dman: They had beautiful names like that because there were still car people with imagination working for GM, Ford and Chrysler. Today all we have is a bunch of lazy non-car people who are there only for a paycheck. The best they can do is the alphabet soups tacked to the back of vehicles today. The absolute worst (IMO) today is the Cadillac’s with (for example) CT4 350 or XT5 400. Nobody knows or understands what the heck the number stands for and it’s downright tacky.
I sure miss the days when nice cars had names that screamed class instead of screaming I’m a German car wanna-be.
Exactly, they were selling you a dream, beyond what the car even was but where it could take you(even if it physically couldn’t make it there). Now a days they sell you either sterile a stat sheet of numbers and letters, or a made up word nobody in a focus group objected to.
Don’t get me wrong, I like those names and I really don’t like the modern alphanumeric stuff. But I wish more of the domestic Ford and GM luxury models used domestic names, like Chrysler’s use of Saratoga and New Yorker (though the Monaco and Cordoba fell into the Euro-trap), or GM’s later use of Tahoe, Colorado, Silverado etc. Although the Toyota Tacoma always puzzled me … a fine city, I’m sure, but my impression is industrial sprawl and 24 hour traffic on I-5.
I don’t like the alphanumeric soup; I’d much rather buy a Leopard or a Valiant or a Dart or a Caprice or a Sunny or a Crown or a Cutlass or a Zephyr than an XR4Ti or a 420SEL or an ETC or a 200 or a 300 or a 500 or an SR5 or an XR7. But I don’t think it matters very much; they thought they’d fix all of the problems by switching from Five Hundred to Taurus, and it didn’t work. Neither did switching from Cavalier to Cobalt.
As for the nonlexical names: I don’t like them, but I do understand them. They’ve been naming cars for so long, most of the good animals; vegetables; minerals, and place names have been used and trademarked. So have most of the good action verbs. What’s left? Alphanumerics and wordoids.
No. What they had back then was marketers who wanted to keep their jobs, so they marketed their employers’ cars in ways calculated to attract signatures on sales contracts. What they have now is…marketers who want to keep their jobs, so they market their employers’ cars in ways calculated to attract signatures on sales contracts. They do that today the same way they did it back then: figure out what’s going to catch the fancy of the greatest proportion of the target demographics. What they come up with today differs from what they came up with back then not because today’s marketers are lazy, but because we do not live in 1970 or 1960 or whatever year your personal favourite car name was used.
Another thing that’s common to marketers back then and marketers now: they ignore the statistically nonexistent few people shaking their canes and pining for the good ol’ days.
. . . gee our ol’ LaSalle ran great
Those were the daaaaays!
https://youtu.be/GI46_zBGv1A
Daniel: Well, I’m certainly not old enough to be shaking my cane. haha. I’m young enough to know that many no longer want the fantastic names like Fleetwood, yet old enough to understand that the excuses they use are not relevant to today. Example: If Cadillac decided to use the name Cimarron (yes, I’d love it but many would not), how many buyers today would even know about the Cimarron from 30+ years ago? Would they care? Or take the example of this article, the Versailles. If Lincoln dusted that name off and placed it on a high quality and desirable car, would 95% of the buyers ever know of this car from 1977 to 1981? No.
What’s more, who are these “focus” groups that help them decide these things? In my car world, nobody I know has ever been in one including myself and I’m speaking about car people. What I feel like they do is pick the stupidest and easiest names (alphabet soup) they can, hand pick a focus group that will gladly pick on of the stupid names, and move along. The people making these decisions today are lazy and certainly are not car people.
If only repeatedly stating a pet idea as though it were fact could make it so! Just imagine; all vehicles in North America would have, gosh, ten or twelve amber rear turn signals by now.
All European locations are historic from where we sit, and those names have two edges to them. On the one hand: oooh, exotic far-off place with fancy name, where all the best people vacation, ooh!
On the other hand, Americans aren’t famous for speaking more than one language, or for doing well when presented with foreign words and names. “Vur-SALES? Vur-SALLIES? Verra-sills? And what’s this Cadillac say? Biarrity? Buh-RITZ? Huh. Maybe I’ll lookit this other Cadillac, this CON-coursss”.
Monte Carlo’s not bad; hey, it’s even got “car” built right in!
Granada? H’m. Sounds a little or a lot too much like grenade.
(the place Chrysler named their PLC for is pronounced CORRR-d’bah, more or less, not “core-DOH-buh”)
“Great service, great sets, that’s what you get from Granada!”
This site needs an upvote button.
Granada reminds me of DuMont (well, Granada rented TVs, DuMont built and sold them), except more successful in the broadcasting side of things.
I can’t find it, but SCTV had a commercial with Ricardo (Eugene Levy) Montalban literally grousing about how Chrysler made him say cor-DOH-buh instead of COR-d’bah.
And that’s how I learned to actually pronounce the Spanish placename.
Oh, hey, that sounds like a funny sketch. Montalban himself did grouse about that in interviews.
A 4th-grade teacher I recall, one Ms. Cordova, introduced herself by saying it’s ‘COR-duh-vuh’, not ‘cor-DOH-vuh’ like the car.
Ah, the Versailles. I will start by saying that I am and have been cheering for the underdog cars all my life. I don’t really want to stand out (the hey, look at me and what I’m driving people). But I never wanted to drive what every other person is also driving (the sheep who buy Toyota’s). So cars like this, the Cimarron, Seville and 5th Avenue have always been on my radar. In fact, I currently (lovingly) own a last year model red/silver 1988 Cimarron with only 61K on the clock.
With that said, I’ve owned two Versailles in my time. First was a dark maroon 1977 with matching cloth bench seat. I found it in a cars for sale magazine back in the days before you could just click some keys on a computer and find anything you want. I drove from NW Illinois to Kalamazoo, MI with my parents riding along for fun and in case I purchased the car. I picked it up from the original owners who were very old and in bad health. It was nice and I made the deal, gave them a check and drove to the nearest tire store for brand new tires. I couldn’t trust the very old tires for the 300 mile drive. After the new tires, we drove home with zero issues. As I got tired of that one and always wanted the 79-81 with the more formal roof line, I sold the 77 and the search began. By this time, computers were more common and I found a black over tan 1980 in Nashville (TN) that seemed to be quite nice. This time my wife and I made the trip, purchased the car and drove it home with zero issues. That one I had for a few years till my next project, but we won’t go there now.
Overall, I found the Versailles to be really comfortable, attractive, quiet and road like a dream. It was unique and I loved the fact that it had a beautiful name unlike todays alphabet soup. Anyhow, the Versailles may not have been a winner for Ford and it certainly doesn’t garner the respect I feel it deserves, but I loved the two I had and I’d buy another only if I could find a 1980 or 1981 in the light sapphire blue with matching half top in perfect condition. Thanks for the article and memories.
Time is the great equalizer of cars, strip away the baggage of MSRP and fashion and you can easier enjoy them for what they are so much easier. To the first owners of the Versailles, yeah, they kinda got hoodwinked, but to later owners choosing between one over a Granada or Monarch at the bottom of their depreciation would be a much better buy, they may be fundamentally the same but you get some nicer amenities and improvements like the rear discs. The styling aged pretty well too, the Versailles front end largely previewed the Panther Town Car face that would represent Lincoln through much of the 80s, I could see picking up one for a song circa 1985 and feeling like I made it with my Lincoln, few would probably even question the unearned status.
Paul…were these photos taken in New Orleans??
The white cab and street sign (N Rampart) in the 1st photo look very much NOLA.
And the house to the left, the 2 hour parking sign, and the unique street cone in the background in the 2nd photo is typical NOLA as well.
Jazz Fest just kicked off yesterday and many tourist in town.
OK…I think I found it.
Corner of N Rampart Street and St Ann Street (border of the French Quarter).
Who ever owns the Versailles many not want to park there for too long or it will be stollen!!
Very good of you to notice, 3SpeedAutomatic.
These pictures were indeed taken in New Orleans, on the edge the French Quarter, close to where I now have a weekend residence, with secure gated #OSP (Off Street Parking).
The car was parked there for about 10 minutes while I made a quick purchase in Mary’s Ace Hardware store around the corner.
The interior of this car is (in my opinion) as admirable as the exterior is.
Then (as a kid) or now, I didn’t think the Versailles exterior looked like factory work. It looked near 100% like an aftermarket conversion offered for the Granada. Something you’d see offered in a black and white sidebar ad, by some Florida-based company catering to the white leather belt crowd, in one of the car magazines. Along the general lines of Rolls Royce kits available for the Beetle. To me, it looked sufficiently tacky enough, that it couldn’t be factory. Amazingly, it was! Promoting faux luxury being one of Ford’s 70s hallmarks.
In fact, it would have made full sense for some companies looking to make a buck, to quickly offer ‘Lincoln kits’ for the Granada starting around ’75 or ’76. During peak Granada popularity. To compete with the Seville. Missed marketing for sure. It would have been considered as crass as the Versailles.
Ive only ever seen one though the odd US Granada has landed here I recognized it by the fake spare hump on the bootlid grass hadnt quite got that high around it yet, quite the upscale lawn ornament.
It’s a looker for sure!!
I recently had a ride in a Cadillac Escalade. Auto makers are still using the playbook that Lincoln used on the Versailles. Behind the lobster bib grille and the mine’s bigger than yours tail lights, the Escalade is just a tarted up Chevy Suburban with more frosting. The ride wasn’t even anything special. I really wish it was.
They ruined the ride with the giant wheels.
The curved OLED dashboard must count for something. I’ve heard the poor ride comes down to the 22-inch rims. Lesser equipped Yukon SLE’s ride much better.
Other than the wheel covers, it sure looks pretty close to commenter Mark Reimer’s Versailles he posted a pic of in the comments for this article:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/vintage-ads-and-brochures/vintage-ad-the-1978-lincoln-versailles-an-investment-in-badge-engineering/
I changed out the beat-up, curb rashed factory wire wheel covers for the ones on it now. I was never a fan of the Lincoln wire wheel covers of this era anyway. Not enough spokes and resembling all-too-many after market wire wheel covers of the 1970’s/1980’s.
Sharp eyes, VinceC!
Hi Paul,
Thanks for posting pictures of my car!
You’ve made my day.
🙂
The interior of this car is (in my opinion) as admirable as the exterior is.
There was no 1981 model since the ’80 Falcon based Granada/Monarch were replaced by the ’81 Fox Granada/Cougar. So, looks like Lincoln took more time to design the ’82 Fox Continental, which was originally to keep Versailles name, per old car magazines.