If you believe pop star Billy Joel, a true baby blue Continental is your best bet. For Lincoln fanciers near Orlando, Florida, this cheerful, mostly original 1973 Lincoln Continental sedan is still on sale, with an unusual color combination and just 11,046 miles.
In the summer of 1980, seven years after this Lincoln was built, Billy Joel’s single “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” topped the Billboard charts. Written as a retort to L.A. Times critic Robert Hilburn, who’d chided Joel for being “not an artist but a pop star,” the song was intended as an old-school jukebox song celebrating pop music — even styles that were no longer fashionable. (“Hot funk, cool punk, even if it’s old junk.”) The lyrics included the following verse:
What’s the matter with the car I’m driving?
(Can’t you tell that it’s out of style?)
Should I get a set of whitewall tires?
(Are you gonna cruise the Miracle Mile?)
Nowadays you can’t be too sentimental
Your best bet’s a true baby blue Continental
If it weren’t for that song, baby blue — Pastel Blue, if you please — wouldn’t be a color I’d normally associate with a 1970s Continental sedan. A Mark IV, sure; the Mark IV was available in various bright colors, and was about to kick off a stint of rather gaudy Luxury Group Option packages, followed by the extravagant-looking Designer Editions. But I think of the Continental as a soberer, more conservative car, driven by people like businessman Harry Stoner in the 1973 movie Save the Tiger (which I’ve previously discussed here on Curbside Classic).
Still, this 1973 Continental sedan is definitely baby blue, and the trim tag indicates that it left the factory that way.
Let’s take a moment to look at the VIN and door tag codes. The VIN is 3Y82A917362, which decodes as:
“3” = 1973, “Y” = Wixom Assembly; “82” = Continental Sedan; and “A” = 460 engine. The rest of the VIN is the sequence number for this car, which was assembled in June 1973. Under the VIN, we have the following:
- Body: 53A = Lincoln Continental four-door sedan
- Color: 3A = Pastel Blue
- Trim: DQ = white leather seating surfaces with dark blue, standard bench seat
- Trans.: U = C6 automatic
- Axle: 2 = 2.75 axle ratio
- DSO [District Sales Office]: 54 = Omaha, Nebraska
(I say this often, but if you’re looking at buying a vintage car, these tags contain an array of useful information — and if you’re a seller, you really should include the tag data, or at least a clear enough picture that prospective buyers can decipher it themselves.)
If you ordered white leather on a 1973 Continental, it was combined with one of four darker dashboard/carpet/steering wheel colors: Dark Blue, Black, Dark Green, or Dark Tobacco. Judging by the color and trim book, which accompanying color you got depended on the exterior paint code. Dark Blue was specified if the car was white or had a blue exterior (of which there were four choices this year); you couldn’t normally specify, say, a Pastel Blue exterior with a Dark Green dashboard and carpets.
This car has the standard bench seat rather than the extra-cost Twin Comfort Lounge Seat split bench, but leather seating surfaces added $168.80.
A 2-way power seat was standard on the 1973 Continental, but this car has the optional 6-way power bench with a passenger-side recliner, a $148.35 option. Flipping the lever on the right side of the seat base allowed the front passenger to recline their seat back, like an airline seat.
You might have noticed the roof-mounted shoulder belts in the previous photo. I assume this simplified shoulder belt mountings on hardtop cars, but having a separate non-retractable shoulder belt was hardly convenient for passengers. Fewer than 20 percent of Americans of this era regularly wore seatbelts, and fewer still wore shoulder belts, although front shoulder belts were standard on all U.S.-market cars by this time.
The Continental of this vintage had a full set of secondary gauges (plus a clock) and standard automatic climate control. That was commendable, but the logic of having the HVAC and light controls crowding the driver’s knees escapes me. With such a big expanse of dashboard, you’d think there would be room to put the instruments and controls closer to the driver’s eye line.
Lincoln-Mercury now threw in quite a bit of standard equipment on this $7,474 car, including an AM radio with a power antenna. This car has the optional AM/FM multiplex radio, which was $141.96 extra. Otherwise, this Continental doesn’t appear to have any unusual or big-ticket options: no power sunroof, Sure-Track Brake System, or Town Car package.
So, this is essentially an off-the-shelf big Lincoln, with the accent on “big”: 229.9 inches long on a 127-inch wheelbase, with a curb weight of more than 5,200 lb.
The size did pay off in rear seat room, which was generous. Also, a Continental sedan was a bit taller than a typical ’70s four-door hardtop (55.5 inches), so rear passengers could sit upright in a dignified posture rather than having to slouch to keep their scalps away from the headliner.
Trunk space was okay, at 18.1 cu. ft., but not quite so cavernous as you’d think. The trunk was at least well-finished and lined, but my aching back and I can’t help glumly noting that it would be another generation before automakers made an effort to reduce trunk liftover height.
The sole Continental engine in this era was the 460-4V. Power ratings for Ford Motor Company products had become elusive since the enactment of California’s net horsepower law (which required that advertising for 1972 and later cars list only SAE net power), but the specifications reveal that in the 1973 Continental, the 460 was rated at 219 net hp and 360 lb-ft of torque. With 8.0 to 1 compression, it could use regular gasoline, but it drank heavily: I’d expect single-digit gas mileage except in highway cruising.
Despite its array of luxury features, the Continental had a quite decent repair record in this period. The initial 1970 models had had some black marks against it, and Consumer Guide warned of the risk of electrical problems, but Consumer Reports frequency-of-repair estimates rated the Continental much better than average for 1972 and better than average for 1973.
Consumer Guide didn’t relish maneuvering this mastodon in traffic, warning, “You dock it rather than park, and you’ll need plenty of space to do it.” Once the oil crisis hit late in 1973, you’d also need your own oil tanker. However, the same could be said of any big car of the era, and the Continental would at least ensure that you weren’t uncomfortable while waiting in gas lines.
Contemporary buyers, who were snapping up new Cadillacs in extraordinary numbers prior to the oil embargo, didn’t seem to have much enthusiasm for the Continental, which looked a great deal like the cheaper Mercury Marquis. The Mark IV was selling extremely well, 69,437 for 1973, so Lincoln-Mercury was raking in the cash, but the Continental totaled only 58,636 cars, including 45,288 four-door sedans.
Billy Joel lyrics notwithstanding, this car’s unusual color might not be to everyone’s taste, which may be why it hasn’t yet sold, despite its excellent condition and low mileage — it had just 11,046 miles on the odometer when these photos were taken. As of this writing, it’s still available from Orlando Classic Cars, which is asking $26,900 for it.
Related Reading
1970 Lincoln Continental – All-New, Lighter, Faster, But Not Quite Good Enough? (by me)
Car Show Classic: 1972 Lincoln Continental – Making The Case For Peak 1970s Lincoln (by J P Cavanaugh)
Why The 1972 Lincoln Continental Was The Perfect Movie Costar In This Jack Lemmon Drama (by me)
1972 Lincoln Continental Mark IV: Bunkie Knudsen Leaves His Mark (by me)
I was just thinking to myself the other day how baby blue paint is never seen in restored cars, even though the color was perennially available for decades. I looked this color up, and was surprised to find that this exact paint formula was offered on Lincoln and Thunderbird starting in 1958 and finished on those models for 1974, being offered for every year in between. Meanwhile, it crept into other Ford lines from 1967-73, and even Ford Trucks, with 1976 being the last year. There were not many paint colors with that kind of longevity in that era. But it is not a popular color today, so I suspect that more than one of these has been given a color change during a “freshening up” (as opposed to “restoration”, which these cars probably do not financially justify). I also suspect that most cars that left the factory with this paint color got trimmed with navy blue top and interiors instead of white.
I can tell you that my father was a huge fan of baby blue cars, and almost ordered his 78 Town Coupe in a color similar to this one, until my stepmom nixed the idea. It was never a favorite of mine either, but this is one car I would happily adopt in spite of its paint color. This thing is simply lovely.
Also, I think this one sports the optional style of wheel covers that were extra cost over the standard ones.
Yup, these appear to be the optional “luxury” wheel covers.
The contrast between this and the last Continental is stark. With so much length and styling heritage to play with Lincoln served up the back half of a large car mated to the bonnet of a medium sized car. Fwd Audi managed to make their A8 look well. What was in the minds of Lincoln when signing off the last Conti? Self-harm?
The final Continental was basically just a lengthened mKz(nee Zephyr) and its hard proportions were for a completely different design philosophy. Lincoln was desperately searching for a fresh brand identity without investing too much, and the result of those incompatible goals is what the final Continental was.
I’m slightly puzzled by the grillwork on the headlight covers being not level. At first I thought maybe it was an issue with this particular Lincoln, but I see the same phenomenon in online photo searches of ’73 Lincolns. Was this how these cars came from the factory, or do the headlight covers begin to “lean” after 50 years or so? It seems like an odd look (which I can’t un-see now!) for brand-new cars leaving the factory; yet, it also seems like something that should be easily fixable during even a minor restoration.
I never noticed it before but I can’t unsee it now! However I don’t think it’s a matter of the grilles being misaligned, I think it’s an optical illusion created by the door shapes being slightly asymmetrical. With the top cropped out of the straight on picture you’ll notice the grilles are in perfect alignment with the bottom of the doors. They still look a little crooked but I think that is because of the door alignment being out of whack on this example
Had I been the product manager for this boat, I would have insisted on a steering wheel that wasn’t a close cousin to the one used in other Ford products. I would have wanted something unique to this car from the steering wheel department. It’s the one thing (and the seats) we touch and hold the whole time we are driving the car.
Noticed that one too, Moparlee.
That was the same steering wheel I had on my ‘73 LTD.
My grandfather worked his way up the Ford ladder through his company cars. I first remember a dark green LTD. Then it was a late 60s Grand Marquis, also dark green. It barely fit in the garage and he installed one of those GM tilting license plate holders for the front plate to buy an extra half inch up front. I remember him picking up his first Lincoln Town Car after that one, and I think it was 1973 as well. I went with him to get it and he made me think I had picked it out when actually it was just the delivery. I was in elementary school at the time. His car was also baby blue, but it was darker than this car and metallic with a blue interior. I remember the power vent windows and the stereo. I don’t remember if 8 track was available but definitely one of his Lincolns had one because I enjoyed the demonstration sampler tape that came with the car. He went through a series of Lincolns after that – light metallic green, then the Cartier edition with grey and red accents (I don’t remember if the interior was burgundy or red.). His last one was also metallic baby blue. Big floaty boat cars.
The rear door handles look about five inches too far forward to my eyes. It wasn’t like that on the pre-facelift 1970-71 cars, and again wasn’t on the again-facelifted 1975-79 cars (the ’75-76 are my favorite ’70s Continentals, finally looking like a proper Lincoln and not a Marquis)
I remember riding in several cars in the early ’70s with those separate shoulder belts, and not once did I see them used, even by regular lap belt users (including myself). I didn’t even know what those were for; I thought maybe it was an extra harness used to secure boxes or luggage inside the car or something.
Cars in the late ’50s often had bumper-level low trunk liftover height; I’m not sure what happened. Low-liftover trunk lids made a comeback starting around the mid-’80s. They’re necessary now in new sedans since the rear window is so ridiculously sloped that the opening would be tiny with a high-liftover sill.
My family had a baby blue 1960 Falcon sedan, although I recall the shade being slightly different than this Lincoln’s. Somewhere I have a Ford-branded touch-up spray can of this paint, which shows the logos of all FoMoCo marques it will match, including Edsel. Nowadays in my area at least (Montgomery county, MD), this color is synonymous with Barwood Taxi.
I played in a band in the early ’80s and we got to discussing Billy Joel’s recent songs which rocked harder than his typical 1970s fare. One of my bandmates remarked “I dunno, he’s still Billy Joel to me”
“The rear door handles look about five inches too far forward to my eyes.”
Dang It! Holy Moly. I didn’t even notice on my 1st ‘look through’. That looks just plain silly, now that I can’t stop noticing. My eyes go Straight to that handle now.
That Billy Joel song was considered by some to be in response to Elvis Costello and the “new wave”. Both of them were really inspired by 1950s rock-a-billy like Gene Vincent. Everybody’s talking about the new sound funny but it’s still rock and roll to me.
My oldest brother had a baby blue ’54 Mercury convertible. In the fifties guys would pair red wheels with baby blue.
I was very disappointed in the new Lincoln, was a diehard Kennedy Lincoln fan. Now it looks pretty good but make mine a dark blue of maroon.
Clean car
The shade of baby blue on this featured Lincoln is quite subtle — it almost looks white at first glance.
I had a 1979 VW Rabbit (Westmoreland built) that was painted in a slightly more intense shade of this color, and a similar one is available on the current Ford Bronco. In combination with white wheels and grille on the latter, I think it looks snazzy.
I captured this baby blue Continental at UCLA a few years back, in a color more vibrant than that of the subject car. I’m guessing it was a rare color choice for the Mark as well as I’ve never seen another one like it.
It sure is baby blue, but the iconic Continental that resides in my brain has suicide doors. Think of the one parked in front of the Griswold’s house in the National Lampoon’s Xmas movie.
It took a while for Fomoco to settle on the “Town Car” nomenclature for the big sedan.
In the ’70s, the Town Car (or Town Coupé) was an option package for the Continental. In the early ’80s, they decided to split off the bustleback four-door Continental as a rival for the Cadillac Seville and the big Panther-platform car became just the Town Car rather than the Continental Town Car.
Same goes for Ford’s other full sizers as well, with the LTD and Marquis moving down to the Fox chassis like the Continental, the previous LTD Crown Victoria and Grand Marquis trims now became the standard trim for the panthers to the end(with LTD eventually being dropped with the aero restyle).
Our neighbor has an all original ’67 Mustang that has always been in his family. It’s light blue with a black vinyl top. It’s pretty pale like this Continental. I remember seeing light blue a lot on Pintos. (VW Beetles too.).
My dad had a business acquaintance who’s company had folded. He couldn’t get a loan for a car, so dad bought a 74 Continental in pastel green with a dark green interior and leased it to Don. I liked the full set of gauges and the cloth interior but couldn’t stand that pastel green! It lasted two years when Don leased another car from my dad-a 1976 Sefan Deville in dark green.
After that, no more car lease deals were made! For my money, if I were buying in 72-73 or 74 I’d take a Marquis Brougham!
Step Mom had a ’72 Mark IV in the same combo; Baby Blue with a white half roof and white leather. Dad had a ’71 Mk III at the same time. Combined MPG for both was 16mpg. I remember my Dad saying so…
.
I like the color combo.
Yesterday I saw a ’78 Ford shortbed PU with a similar color combo except the blue was a bit deeper–closer to Phillies blue.
I don’t know if the combo was stock, but I thought it looked good.
Not my favorite color for a Big Lincoln. I don’t mind ‘light blue’, but this is SO light. When I search “baby blue” the results are all a darker (yet Brighter?) shad than the feature. Even ‘Powder Blue’ in my search isn’t this light.
I suppose it’s different, and more exciting than White/Gray/Black color choices of today. Although, this Lincoln couldn’t blend in with today’s cars if it tried.
I’d Drive it.. or is it ‘Piloting”, or “Helming”, Conning?, Skippering? Captaining?.. you get the idea.