A couple of years ago, I had stumbled across these pictures of a ’79 Town Coupe I had taken back in the fall of 2016, coincidentally on the same day I had also seen an ’87 Cadillac Brougham only a couple of blocks south on the same street. In the course of one Saturday afternoon, I had seen two traditional, American luxury cars from rival makes in front of two different vintage stores in my neighborhood. Edgewater Antique Mall, where this Lincoln had been double parked, had been open for eighteen years on the northwest corner of the intersection of Broadway and Rosemont before closing permanently in the summer of 2020. I had purchased many great finds from this store over the years, and at great prices. I was sad when I had read the store closure announcement, but had chalked it up to COVID in the midst of that challenging year.
With this being the second-to-last, full week of December 2023, many of us have attended holiday parties which include the so-called “white elephant” gift exchange. This is where participants wrap a gift with no external identifiers to indicate what’s inside, and proceed to see who ends up with what gift through a series of selections that include picks of unopened items and “steals” of desirable gifts that have already been unwrapped. To explain the many variations of game play would probably require another, separate, thousand-word essay, but suffice it to say that some players will end up with nice things, and others will be stuck with what some would consider duds.
It might have been the same year these photographs were taken when the white elephant had taken place at work, and I had selected from the “unopened” pile a dusty, lead crystal mantle clock with a mysterious, brown stain on it. It looked like one of my coworkers had simply found it in their house, stuffed it into a recycled gift bag, and brought to work at the very last minute. Needless to say, no one “stole” that clock from me, and I knew from the moment I took it out of the bag and looked at it, stunned, in full view of everyone in the room, that my possession of it would be unchallenged.
I later ascertained that it must have been one of the guys who had brought it, as I had also found a toothpick in the bottom of the gift bag. Gross. I imagine that my coworker had said something like this: “Dear, I forgot about the gift exchange today. What can we stand to part with?” And then the clock went into the bag with some reused tissue paper. “Hey… where’d my toothpick go?”
Needless to say, I was so disgusted that I left that stupid clock in its gift bag and didn’t even take it home that day. It spent literally years in an unused cubby in my cubicle without moving a millimeter. It was only a few weeks ago that I had rediscovered it while clearing out my workspace in anticipation of a move. My new plan was to re-gift it as someone else’s booby prize, so I stuffed the entire, years-old gift bag into my backpack and brought it home. I thought to at least wash that nasty stain off of it. After removing the clock mechanism, I gave the crystal housing a bath. Then something completely unanticipated happened. What I had originally thought of as a Golden Girls-set reject was actually beautiful, and not too far removed from my aesthetic.
One online purchase later for an inner timepiece, and I have now spent my own money on someone else’s former, discarded household item which I had hated and perhaps subconsciously viewed as a badge of failure, where for years prior, I had wanted nothing to do with it. That’s how it goes with other people’s things once they don’t want them anymore. Many items in vintage stores are from estate sales, but I suspect that just as many are from people who have simply tired of their material things and want different stuff.
We all know the phrase, “One person’s trash is another one’s treasure”, or something like that. How incredible is it that this ’79 Lincoln Town Coupe – a big, luxurious, gas-sucking dinosaur of a car that was also Lincoln’s lowest-selling individual model that year – had survived in such beautiful condition up through seven years ago?
For ’79, even the Granada-based Versailles (21,000 units) had outsold the two-door version of the non-Mark Continental (16,100), while the four-door Town Car moved close to 76,500 units. Fast-forwarding seven years from when these pictures were taken, Lincoln doesn’t even offer any non-SUV passenger cars in 2023. Coupes in general are almost extinct. The only thing about this Town Coupe that doesn’t seem completely unavailable today is its shade of “Jubilee Gold Metallic” paint, which seems a reasonably modern color for a new car. This is a two-door that weighs in excess of 4,800 pounds, with just 159 horsepower on tap from a V8 engine displacing a stunning 400 cubic inches.
In terms of fuel efficiency, you’d be looking at something like 13 miles-per-gallon around town, and maybe 15 miles per gallon on the Dan Ryan Expressway (in the slow lane). Why do I still love it so? It has all the rococo trimmings I like about that era of ’70s comfort – pillowy velour seating, wood-tone trim, substance, and I’m sure a few other things. Still, this is far from the kind of car I would have taken any interest in maybe even twenty years ago. In my mind, I would have put it in the same mental category as a regifted mantle clock: something that may have had some value, but that someone else could have, not me. A funny thing often happens, though, when something is no longer available for us to enjoy.
The former Edgewater Antique Mall. Monday, November 20, 2023.
While doing some last-minute shopping the week of this past Thanksgiving, I saw that the old building that had housed the Edgewater Antique Mall was in the process of being demolished. I had always hoped another business would take advantage of this retail space, or maybe even that another vintage store would go back in there. I can’t say that the sadness I had felt about this was what had prompted me to reassess that clock and give it another chance. (It’s now proudly displayed in my foyer.) What I do know is that I’m always pleased when someone takes an interest in preserving old things that, while nice, may not necessarily be at the top of everyone’s list of desirability. I haven’t seen this gold Lincoln in at least a few years, but I hope it’s still running strong, standing proud, and treasured for its own, unique beauty.
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois.
Saturday, October 8, 2016.
The brochure page was as sourced from www.oldcarbrochures.org.
You’re not going to show us the clock of doom?
Why not…
Maybe it’s the lighting, but it DOES look sort of ominous.
The overall shape of this clock reminds me of the profile of Chief Pontiac that graced so many Pontiacs from the 1930s through most of the 1950s. The clock face is the chief’s fierce countenance, while the feathers of his headdress flow back behind, to the left in the photo.
It’s amusing how many things this clock looks like. I think it’s actually supposed to represent an Ocean Wave. As far as I can tell, it was sold by the dinnerware company Mikasa, and was part of a set that included glass wave-shaped serving dishes. Below is a photo from eBay of a set of the matching dishes:
Bingo. I had researched earlier that it was a Mikasa Clearwater clock, made in Germany.
Looks more like a tuba than a clock to me, but I still kind of like it.
oops, not a tuba but a French horn:
It does totally look like a French horn! Wow.
Very interesting. I really like it!
Thank you, for another great article Joseph. It was small businesses like this, that badly needed help the most, during the pandemic. As many big businesses flourished.
Like you, I wasn’t into ostentatious cars like this. But I did cut them some slack, as I knew their days were numbered. A great example of the breed. I did find Lincoln’s more formal design during this era, perhaps lent a more urban appearance, than Cadillac’s styling.
A timeline memory connection in my mind, between the last days of these ocean liner-sized luxury cars, and the departure of disco music. The second energy crisis in ’79, helped end this type of car. While cultural changes in music, and specific songs like ‘My Sharona’ by The Knack, helped end disco. Both icons of late ’70s lifestyles.
Ironically, a farm owner near my parents, owned a ’78 Town Car. I saw it often, and remember how much road presence it had. Though, it was finished in meek ‘Cream’ paintwork, it always stood out in traffic.
Thanks, Daniel. And I don’t think I have ever drawn a parallel between the sweeping change in tastes in radio and personal transportation in the late ’70s, but I get it and see it. In a general sense, I think the coming of a new decade influences lots of clean-slate thinking.
I do like the downsized 1977 – ’79 DeVilles, but these Lincoln Continentals from the same time period always seemed super-luxurious to me.
That too was my first question after reading the article. “Needs more clock.” 🙂
Thank you.
That clock seems almost certainly to me to have been a wedding present to someone (who was not very well known by the gift-giver) at some point. It may have gone through several households before arriving at yours, toothpick in hand, and securing its rightful fame.
It saddens me to read that “Coupes in general are almost extinct”, but I’m thinking you’re correct. And let’s face it (so to speak), analog clocks are just about equally extinct. The number of people under the age of 20 who can even read a clock (one that can’t – as I overheard one child say – “just tell me the time!”) is probably approaching the number of those who can drive a standard transmission.
So, I’d say that you have a genuine antique there. Albeit one that takes up less space than a 1979 Continental.
Jeff, I normally save commenting for the end of the day, but when AUWM posted that first comment this morning, I realized I needed to add a picture of said clock right away, and I’m glad I did. (Thanks, AUWM!)
When I had first read your comment, it didn’t even occur to me that there are some who can’t read an analog clock. That seems like a basic life skill to me.
This is the last big American new car that I really loved. This brings memories rushing back of my father’s 78 Town Coupe and its starring role in my senior prom. So, where you have come to appreciate these, my love for them never wavered. Welcome to the club!
Thanks, JP! And like the personal context these cars hold for you.
Love the car and the commentary, not quite so much the clock-but I probably would have kept it as well, as a piece of “bling” to brighten up a foyer I can see it being a perfect fit. Good on you for finding its value before sending it off to gather dust in someone else’s space.
I have quite a few items that were to have been cast-offs when older relatives passed on or downsized that have become some of my most treasured possessions. I’ve also done some vintage shopping for Christmas this year courtesy of Etsy, and ironically an inexpensive pair of mid-century rocks glasses that I ordered for a bourbon loving friend showed up at my door last night. I know he’ll be thrilled with them, because when I unpacked them I really wanted to run straight to Amazon and find something else for him so I could keep the glasses for myself. Another treasure moves through the life cycle.
MTN, I have had similar experiences with purchasing things for others that actually ended up being something I would have loved to have myself. That’s part of the coolness, though, of finding nice vintage gifts – they’re unique, have history (to someone, somewhere), and are often much nicer than something one can find at even Crate & Barrel.
There is a clock like that on Esty for sale. $75.00!
Doubly glad I didn’t throw it out! It was in my trash can for about five minutes. So glad I saw its worth and saved it. It has become something of a symbol to me.
The clock makes me think it would have made a good hood ornament for a big fancy 1930’s car. Perhaps with a compass or anemometer (to measure speed) instead of a timepiece. Though the orientation would make reading it difficult for the driver, but function is secondary for a decoration like this. Anyway, I like it … more than the car 😀
Thank you! It is a really cool shape, and I could see it oriented front-to-back as you describe.
Super story that is written in a way that gives the reader (or at least me) a vivid image as I read it.
Car: Love it. Maybe not so much the gold-ish color, but still love it. In fact, there isn’t a Lincoln or Cadillac from the 1974 to 1989 that I don’t like. That Town coupe in the black, dark blue, burgundy, light blue, white or gray would be even more stunning.
Thank you, Dan. I did have a chance to photograph and write up a ’77 Town Coupe in that beautiful dove gray about three and a half years ago. These cars have presence even in a muted shade like that.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1977-lincoln-continental-town-coupe-couped-up/
It looks like they were going for a stylized nautilus thing with that clock. I kinda like it! When my aunt passed away some years ago now, and we were cleaning out her place, she had a few unusual clocks like this, and one of them is now on a shelf in my office at work. While definitely not my style, it’s a nice small memento of her.
As Jeff Sun mentions above, we’ve got a whole generation growing up that can’t read an analog clock (or drive a stick). My 19 year-old granddaughter is such a person, although we had high hopes she could handle a stick. Her father tried to teach her with his Fiat 500 Abarth, but that didn’t work out so well. Her own regular Fiat 500 is an automatic. As to the analog clock thing with today’s kids? It’s like cursive writing. They just don’t teach it anymore. Her name looks so beautiful written out that way, yet she never learned how to do that, which begs the question: If you’re never taught how to write in cursive, how can you develop a signature to sign important documents later in life?
But this is a car site! Sorry. The 1979 Lincoln Town Coupe. My best friend’s brother-in-law’s brother bought one of these in what I recall being triple emerald green, but I must’ve been mistaken, based on the color chart provided. It had to have been the Dark Turquoise Metallic. He was a young guy, but made big bucks as a long-shore-man. Gorgeous car. My wife’s step-father was also a long-shore-man back in the day, and a Lincoln man, but his preference in a big Lincoln Continental coupe was the Mark. As much as I like this big Lincoln, I’d have to agree, but a PLC was always my favorite type of car.
I encountered just that situation last month. My daughter and I attended a course that’s required for teens getting driving learner’s permits in Virginia, and she had to sign a form. She didn’t know what to do. Not only does her school district not teach cursive, but they basically don’t teach handwriting at all. Kids get iPads in 2nd grade, and at that point virtually all handwriting stops. Really pathetic.
Same thing with reading clocks. It’s not taught, and by the time parents realize that, many kids just refuse to learn. Our oldest suffered the worst here, because we were under the impression that schools would teach these life skills. Our younger daughter can actually read a clock – because we taught her.
Is there any requirement that signatures must be cursive? I’ve seen documents signed in detached individual characters. My own cursive signature looks more like a squiggle than readable letters. I also never used the proper cursive uppercase letters I was taught in school, like a number 2 for a capital Q or a sailboat for a capital S – looks all wrong to my eyes so I just used the standard print style letters and connect them to whatever follows.
I actually looked this up, since my daughter ended up writing her name in block letters. There is no requirement for signatures to be cursive – after all, illiterate people have long been able to sign their names with an X, and disabled people who’ve lost arm control can sign their names the best they’re able. It’s just customary to be able to write one’s name in script. But with an increasing number of young people unable to write cursive, script signatures will probably fade away pretty soon.
Even though I have been known to bemoan more than once the loss of some traditional ways of doing things, I’m not so sure that actual signatures are all that meaningful so far as acknowledgement or identification…which is their original purpose. Not in the age of fast and easy biometrics. If someone wants to know if it’s me who signed that check (check? what’s that???) or deed or whatever my scanned fingerprint or retina is much better proof than any scrawl I can put on the dotted line, no?
That said, it does bother me that after a combined 30 (and counting) years of formal education neither of my kids are able to manage more than what basically amounts to an “X” when asked for their signatures. Geezer that I am.
How wonderful that you saved and use your aunt’s clock as a reminder of her. And after having read Jeff’s (and now your) comment about the inability of some to read an analog clock, my mind is still blown. About cursive, the only times I use it anymore is when I send out Christmas / holiday cards at year’s end. The first few cards look like a ten-year-old wrote them, but then it gets easier and clearer. The point is that I still have the skill, even if I use it only a handful of times a year. Huh.
So I’m curious, I haven’t been in a classroom for over a decade, but every classroom I was in up to that point used an analog clock, it wasn’t THAT long ago, so unless every school had drastic renovations in the last 15 years switching to digital clocks I can’t imagine no one young can’t read an analog clock. Even if they were never taught it won’t take too long to figure it out. I know I did staring at that damn thing waiting for class to end.
OTOH, maybe there was a widespread adoption of digital clocks, maybe clocks were taken out of classrooms alltogether for all I know now.
I asked my daughter about this – according to her, most of her high school classrooms have clocks. However, students use laptops all class period, so they don’t have to look at the wall clock to know what time it is.
As someone who spends a lot of time in a lot of different school classrooms, I’ll say that a) increasingly, one does find digital clocks in classrooms and b) that in my experience the number of working wall clocks in classrooms approaches the number of students who can or do read them…zero.
I once worked in a school where the clocks actually ran backwards. Mostly they didn’t run at all, but then every hour or so, they’d emit a painful electronic clicking noise as the minute hand clunked BACKWARDS. The state of infrastructure in our public schools is not so good.
As a veteran of many office white elephant gift exchanges, I somehow had the knack for ending up with somebody’s unwanted “treasure”, which was either tossed once it came home or kept for the following year’s exchange. Not once did the most-coveted gift, a st of lottery tickets, ever make it into my possession, even for a hot second. One year, the winner of these tickets actually won $100 when the numbers were drawn by the lottery commission!
As for this rococo late 1970s Lincoln, I never liked these gargantuan cars when they were new and I was young and very opinionated. Since then, my view has softened considerably. I recently saw a well-preserved 1977 or ‘78 Town Car in a perfect period lustrous metallic mint green with a matching green velour pillow top interior. It seemed so elegant and luxurious compared to the Spartan aesthetic common in modern luxury cars.
William, last year, all of my white elephant good fortune came to visit, as I was the *last* person to have my name picked, meaning I had my pick of everything. It was awesome. I ended up stealing back the thing I had brought, the recipient of which hadn’t seemed too terribly thrilled to have picked it. It was win-win.
Aside from that, it has been 50/50 for me in terms of picking great things or not-so-great things.
That car looks good in gold, and I didn’t think I liked gold on cars. Also, from the color options in the brochure, they offered a great selection. I would choose either Wedgewood Blue or Dk Turquoise Metallic.
That assortment of beautiful colors in that ’79 Lincoln brochure puts any current automaker’s palette to shame.
The font used on the signage in the first pic looks more appropriate for Studio 54 than an antiques store.
That does look like the same font. I will say that the Edgewater Antique Mall was a fun place even just to browse, so it had that in common with Studio.
But was it almost impossible to be allowed into the Edgewater Antique Mall? 🙂
(maybe; it was popular enough that the Town Coupe driver had to double-park)
A rare sight , even when these cars were in production. Remember a blue one sitting (briefly) at our local “L/M” dealer.
A “Zephyr wagon” (green/wood) was parked next to it.
Wow – I wonder how many green Zephyr wagons with the vinyl wood survive today!
I too have a once-discarded clock in my living room (below). In this case it’s a 1930s-era Hammond clock that was in the house that my parents bought in 1976. It didn’t work, and Dad started taking it apart, then lost interest, and the thing spent the next 30 years in a box in the basement. Eventually, I realized that the disassembled clock-in-the-box is pretty neat looking, so Dad and I had a new mechanism put in it, and I’ve used it in my living room ever since. That clock was probably “almost thrown out” numerous times.
Your featured Lincoln seems like the perfect car to be parked outside of an antique store – almost like it was placed there as a 4,800-lb. portable sign for the store.
I had to get an old clock working again a few years back and was surprised at how easy and cheap it was (<$20) to put a replacement quartz movement in, and this was a high-quality one made by a subsidiary of Seiko. Runs on a single AA battery, and for a few dollars extra you can get a sweep second hand that moves continuously and silently, rather than one second at a time with a slight click. There are also high-torque quartz movements for larger clocks with larger/heavier hands. But the mechanism itself is about 2" square and 1" thick, like one of those small travel clocks, no matter how big the clock face is. You can order a replacement movement with new hands already installed, or re-use the existing hands.
Total trivia, and not saying you didn’t know this, but Hammond clocks used spin-start motors. They didn’t start just by plugging them in. There was a knob on the back you gave a twist to get the motor started. I expect a lot of them were tossed as non-working as a result.
Of course, a lot of them stopped working anyway after so many decades due to congealed lubricant.
That’s interesting – actually had no idea, having never had a operable electric Hammond clock. Thanks for the trivia.
Eric, I like your clock and love the story behind it. It looks very stately, and it sounds like yours had to wait much longer than mine to be brought back to life!
And I had the same thought about the Lincoln being double-parked out there that day. What a great attention-grabber it must have been for the store for however long it was parked out there.
Estate sales can be a treasure trove of desirable items, unfortunately the items are probably not considered valuable to the heirs. Family members will pick through the stuff (often resulting in terrible in-fighting) and take what they consider valuable, whether the value lies in sentiment or possible monetary value.
Lots of items will end up being donated to thrift stores, that’s where a lot of those cool finds come from. So many things held onto by old folks because they enjoyed just having them. Some old people will have a houseful of valuable art or antiques, with a garage full of vintage Corvettes. Most will have stuff bought on the Home Shopping Network, gifts from the family over the years, garage sales finds, and Franklin Mint commemorative plate collections.
I often wonder what will happen to my old stuff after I’m gone, most of it of little value. I’ve been through the process of disposing of my Parents stuff. I tell myself that I will start downsizing my horde …soon. Then I think; the kids are going to inherit my house, it won’t kill them to do a little work!
I have found the occasional old car in great shape that was donated to St. Vinnie’s or the Salvation Army. It’s much easier to donate the car then trying to sell an old Dodge Aries!
It certainly is worth keeping an eye on these lots if someone is looking to get into the old car game. I found an immaculate one owner, ’77 Datsun Z 2+2, with a five speed at the Salvation Army lot. Much better to find an example in good condition and just maintain and preserve it. This Lincoln should be saved and cherished because it recalls the glory days of pre War Lincoln. It is the last breath of those old Classics. The perennial problem always remains, where do I park that thing? It should parked in a garage where it will be protected.
Joseph, I also think the clock is kinda cool!
Great things in here, Jose. I also really hope this Lincoln continues to be in this kind of shape, seven-plus years after I had photographed it here.
And I’m sure most of my stuff will go to charity, which is totally fine. Most of my material possessions, while they have value to me, might not have as much value to others. The things I have of real value are mostly intangibles, like in the pictures I’ve taken and the words I’ve spoken and written.
And I am really glad I washed this clock and got a new timepiece for it. Every time I look at it in my foyer, I think of the story behind it and I have to smile when I think of its redemption which had seemed totally unlikely until only recently. It didn’t deserve to be thrown out, which I almost did.
Enjoy your things now Joseph ! .
My son categorically states he wants nothing, not the tools, books, various other crap I’ve accumulated so I’ve made peace that it’ll all go to the landfill when I die .
Such is life .
-Nate
I wasn’t enthralled by these Lincolns when new nor now but I do realize they’re fine cars .
I dig the Art Deco clock, not -quite- enough to want one but it’s decidedly different .
I have a few vintage clocks, they’re nice but one needs to remember to wind them .
One of my old clocks is from Russia and looks like a 1950’s item by the style of numbers .
I’ve never been much good at cursive but I do feel it’s important .
When I sold my ’66 VW Squareback to a man in Guatemala C.A. in 1976 he needed to call home for some reason, I pointed out the dial telephone on the wall and he stared at it for five minutes then said he had no idea how to operate a dial telephone .
Times change and so does the science .
-Nate
Rotary phones! I had a guest over a few years ago with her daughter who was elementary school aged at the time, and when we asked the daughter to try to make a call on it, she got pretty close. We were all impressed.
Change is the constant. I keep telling myself that as I get ready for a move of workstation at my job.
The Bell System/AT&T released this 20-minute instructional video in 1940 to educate phone users about how to use rotary-dial telephones, then a new technology. I shudder to think how long they would have taken to try to teach us how to use smartphones…
Yep ;
There were instructional films for touch tone phones in the early 1960’s (? 1964 ?) and Ma Bell made and donated to the local science museum a bank of dials with large clocks behind them, they had both dial and touch tone pads as as soon as you began dialing the clock would begin running, no matter how much we tried we couldn’t be the touch tone’s elapsed time .
I have multiple rotary phones in my house because I prefer the sound of the bells to electronic chirping .
I have but am not currently using, a few trimlines and princess phones that are rotary….
In rural areas into the late 1960’s you only needed to dial the last four digits to be connected .
-Nate
A friend of mine’s dad used to lease new Lincoln’s. He had a 78 Town car, white over white with black carpet!! But he took absolutely terrible care of any car. His motto was “if there is oil in it, just leave it alone!”
Needless to say, the leasing company quickly caught on and refused to lease him anything more than two years.
By the time 1980 came, his 78 was very tired!
I got to drive it a few times before it was trashed, but I always liked the Town Coup better.