As CC’s self-imposed Brougham author, you will not be surprised to hear that I love Lincoln Town Cars. Just the other night, I spotted three representatives of the last of this proud and now-defunct line.
On the way home from my folks’ house, I decided to drive through the local Chevy dealership to see if there was anything interesting. There was no CC material, but I liked these dew-covered Town Car Continental Editions. I particularly like the ice-blue one…
Yes, that’s right: Continental Edition. In the last two years of production, 2010 and 2011, the top-trim version was a Town Car Continental. As I recall, they sported standard chrome alloys and an upgraded interior, as well as Continental Edition badges on the sail panels.
So it was that the last 2011 Town Car was available with a Continental package, while the very first “Town Car” was available on the 1969 Continental. Total role reversal. Care to discuss? Anyone? Bueller?
My guess is that the 2011 Town Car was also the last American (er…Canadian) car with a stand-up hood ornament.
Fare thee well, Town Cars. Never fear, you will one day be a true Curbside Classic!
Late Night Town Cars – great name for a car for hire service in a major city that only opperates between say midnight and 6 am… 😛
As an elementary principal let me say that one day 15 years from now 20 year olds will be arguing about this car the way say two 20 year olds in the early 90s might have argued about the significance of a late 70s monster land yacht Town Car.
Huh. I hate to say it but I have never seen one of these Continental Editions before!
Oh, and lest you forget, I am the Co-Brougham around here too 🙂
I do like the blue one.
Agreed and it’s not a very common color or at least I’ve not seen many. One of these days I’ll finally add a TC to my list of Panthers, since I’ve had 2 CVs 2 GMs and 1 MM and a Blue on Blue would top my list.
The 2011 Town Cars are now flooding the used car market down here in Florida as the rental companies are doing their turnover. If 30k miles doesn’t bother you, 50% off of original sticker is a steal. The real benefit of living near Disney World? Bargain basement prices on year old Panthers in your choice of colors as long as it is white.
The last Lincoln that I liked. As long as it existed I could drum up a slight interest in all the FWD Lincolns, but the day it died, ’twas all over. That Ford keeps pushing the FWD Lincolns as the way of the future, yet is probably letting the Australian Falcon’s RWD platform die is just crazy. Mr Mullaly: I respect your business background and knowledge, but you’re not a car guy. Try running Ford and Lincoln like they’re more than a ticket to a healthy pension; try running them like the company actually cars about cars again. (Mustang excluded of course, it’s already great!).
I harbor no love for the Panther, but I have to say this model of Town Cars (and the one before it) are one of the few automobile that just look right. Ironic that these three were found in a Chevrolet dealer…
Looks like that insect is a Panther lover too…
I am embarrassed to say that I had not heard of the Continental Edition on these. Role reversal indeed. I am not sure I have ever seen car names go full circle like this.
I still want one of these. I like the ice blue one too.
Hmmm, now I want to try to find another example…. There was a 1970 Chrysler Newport Cordoba special edition before there was a Chrysler Cordoba model. Was there a Cordoba Newport edition? I don’t believe so.
Drive through car yards?
Had the recent pleasure of a ride in a Town Car, EWR to Manhattan, a role it was born to play. What will take it’s place in the livery business?
Also many years ago while leaving a late night job on a humid summer night, I spotted a walking stick on the rough of my car. When I arrived home after 12 miles and some freeway speeds later it was still there. Quite a durable and focused hunter…
Needs some proper whitewalls, I also didn’t know that they were calling them Continental editions at the end, there were a couple of name shuffles through the end of the Town Cars life, the Cartier series was dropped, and replaced by a another name, Premiere. I think the Signature series was still around.
Sadly I kinda lost intrest in these after the stench of death started to creep in, by 2006-07 you already knew these were a “dead car walking” . Ford deconted these the last couple of years, towards the end, the had the same cheap dash as the Crown Vic, though the seats were much better, very soft and broughamy. Last year they were available, the Lincoln stand at the auto show didn’t even have one on display, sad.
Is that your car in the distance in the first pic? Its unusual to be able to drive through a car lot after hours, though there is a certain serene feeling about a car dealership after hours.
Premiere was the name attached to the top of the line Mercury models starting with the last of the first generation Mountaineer and eventually being used on all models except the Grand Marquis which hung on to it’s LS designation though sometimes supplemented with “Limited” though the Limited designations were only on the seats and floor mats.
Carmine, yep, that’s my car. You can drive through most of the new-car dealerships late at night. The Quad Cities still has a somewhat small-town vibe. I agree on the whitewalls.
The Cartier was replaced with the Designer Series, but it was discontinued when production moved from Wixom to St. Thomas. the Signature became the Signature Limited at about the same time.
Wasnt there an “Ultimate” series too?
Thats nice, down here they’re all locked up, you can walk through some of them, but some have a wana-be Barney Fife on the property to shoo you away.
You’re right Tom, these are the last American cars, American in the general sense.
My love for all things “Town Car” began in 1975 and pretty much died in the mid-2000s, but they will always be a truly luxurious and desirable automobile. Just saying the name slowly…”Lincoln…Continental…Town…Car”…just sounds so rich and elegant.
I think my fave, after the 1979 Collector’s Series, would be an eighties version with the Carriage Roof option…
Owned an 85 and an 86. Thought they were the most luxurious thing going. My ex thought we could afford them. The cars and the wife are all now ex.
Had a ride in a friends low mileage one that he got from an elderly aunt or something. He was real proud of it and it was deserved. It had this (final) style. I think they could probably have milked a lot more time out of this and the crown vic and think they screwed up not doing so. Police departments are really convervative most of the time and they and taxis would have sold a lot of panthers. Old guys like some of us would have continued to buy.
The problem was that it didn’t meet the 2012 safety standards and much of the tooling in the factory was just plain old worn out. Contrary to popular belief there were 2012 Panthers built, but they were only export models destined for Gulf Council Countries where there weren’t new tougher standards to be met.
“What will take it’s place in the livery business?”
I see an opportunity for Chrysler and the 300. I just can’t see the Lincoln MKT filling that role.
Considering how police forces are shunning the once darling Charger en mass I doubt the 300 will get any serious traction in the livery business and if it does it will be very short lived.
Lincoln is offering a MKT Town Car package for livery services, they can also be converted into awkard looking hearse.
Like this….
Might as well do something with them, no one seems to be buying them retail….
I guess I’ve been spending too much time drinking the Panther Kool-Aid on CC and TTAC, but dang, I want one of these. And I’m only in my mid 30′s, not exactly the Panther target market. What’s wrong with me?
There’s nothing wrong with you. You just admire traditional American cars, as so many of us here do. I wouldn’t be parted from my 2008 Mercury Grand Marquis.
Absolutely nothing! 🙂
Have a gander at that new “Town Car” in the picture Carmine posted just above and disavow yourself of the notion that you’ve been consuming Panther Kool-Aid.
Yeah…this is supposed to be “progress”?
I got my first Panther at age 30, fell in love, and for the last almost 18 years there has always been at least one in the fleet. I will be driving one until the day I die, they take my drivers license away, or the outlaw the driving of personal ICE powered vehicles.
So get out there at get the last traditional automobile, you owe it to yourself to have owned at least one, and it might as well be the ultimate evolution thereof.
All this talk about the demise of the last great American sedan now has me going through the classifieds. Thanks for nothing, guys…
Well, the good news is that there should be an ample supply of them for years to come. I hope…
I will always love Lincoln Town Cars. They truly are and will always be the benchmark of American Luxury. No matter where I saw a Town Car, I always thought the car looked important and like it was going somewhere special. Whether a vacation, million dollar meeting, or fancy restaurant, Town Car fits in among the best of the best. Whether crusing down A1A or Madison Ave, Town Car left a lasting legacy of what a luxury car should be.
Stan, I noticed that car fax reveals that most Town Cars that are two years old come out of Orlando Florida from Hertz. They range from 30 to 30 k miles. My mothers 96 Executive can from Orlando but I tracked it down to the MIami area based on the license plate Hertz used. The cars have such an interesting history behind them.
Has anyone sent Ford a letter about bringing Town Car back. I have sent a few and I know others have as well. I have a feeling someday they will bring the car back better than ever.