The not-so-pearly chainlink gates of the junkyard do not discriminate, they welcome one and all to the heaven that is laid out on a bounteous few acres of land often near a freeway or under a flight path, and while the inhabitants aren’t able to move about freely anymore, they all seem to somehow hover slightly above the feet of the mere mortals that wander amongst them.
It might sound a pretty good reward but unfortunately it’s not a forever thing. The welcome only lasts between six and eight weeks on average and then it all comes to a somewhat abrupt end from which ones eyes are best averted and there is a trip from above ground to the furnaces below for an eventual rebirth as a Maytag. Or maybe just a Haier.
I’ll have to watch myself with this one, as the car’s beady little sealed beam headlights, all four of them, seem to follow me like the eyes of the Mona Lisa as I move left and right. Watching also will likely be two of our own contributors, namely Tom Halter who himself owns what seems to be a magnificent example of the breed, as well as Jim Cavanaugh, who penned eloquently of the one his father owned, both linked below for your convenience. Although Jim didn’t really seem that enamored of it and that particular car did seem a little bit star-crossed. And it was yellow. But I digress.
Yes, this is a mighty (Lincoln) Continental Mark III, an example of a breed or family that perhaps causes much confusion for those unititated, is it a Lincoln or not, wasn’t there already a Mark III before this one, and between Lincoln, Continental, Town Car, Town Coupe, Mark I through seemingly Mark XMCIIVAEIOUandsometimesY it’s kind of baffling. Perhaps it’s like a shell game where you’re never really sure which the best one really is or is supposed to be and as long as you part with your money it’s all good. For the other guy, anyway.
In this case a 1970, the Mark III (or THIS version of the Mark III) was offered for the 1969, 1970, and 1971 model years. No they didn’t say Lincoln on them anywhere that I can find and were advertised as being sold by your friendly Continental dealer, who though could also sell you something sort of similar named a Lincoln Continental sedan. And is then somehow your friendly Lincoln dealer in those ads. See what I mean? It can be confusing, there was no such thing as an actual “Continental” dealer when these rolled around, it was a Lincoln dealer, and was probably a Mercury dealer as well. Never mind the multitude of Ford logos on the car and engine, although the Continental and Lincoln and Mercury dealer perhaps sold Ford pickups as well as well as other Fords if you went in a different door of the same building. If you look hard enough you might even find the names “Lee” or “Iacocca” scrawled somewhere in Sharpie when the line shut down for lunch.
Differences between years were minor, for 1970 you got orange in the front marker lights and some rear reflectors as the main body tells. The grille seemed to be the same, large and imposing, and reflective enough to check the part of your hair. Those headlights, like eyes, they had eyelids that lost their vacuum, stayed up and then stared off into space sort of panicked.
Or maybe they looked right through your soul when you stood in front of it just like 17-year-old Stacy Kupferberg did when you asked her to the homecoming dance. Yes, the dance that you ended up explaining to everyone you went to with your buddies because the fellas, yeah, the fellas, you had a bond…and Stacy really wasn’t all that anyway, you never really liked her, yeah, you just felt bad for her with her perfect teeth, and perfect hair, and perfect skin, and, wait, where was I? Oh yeah, here I am, in this heavenly field among greatness.
Anyway. The Mark III had these little fender emblems to let everyone laying in the gutter know that you were The Man as you rolled up and splashed them. Yeah, little people, out of the way!
Of course they’d know it anyway since the big 460 underhood would be roaring away.
It’s like a codpiece stuffed in there, heaving mightily left and right as you flex your toe onto the skinny pedal. Never mind that you need to prostrate yourself over the fenders or the radiator support just to check the air filter or whatever else you might want to check occasionally.
But while you’re perhaps checking the oil as it’s quickly guzzling the Premium Gasoline it required at yet another fuel stop and someone from the other pump comes over to check out your ride you can casually look down above the driver’s side headlight and quote all the important specs to them off the data plate that every one of these has as if you knew them off the top of your head. Yeah, peasant, THIS fly ride has 460 cubic inches, 365hp at 4600rpm, a 4-barrel carb, holds 5 quarts of oil, 23 quarts of coolant(!), sports a 26 gallon fuel tank and most importantly if the other guy has a ’62 Beetle, it has a 12 volt negative ground electrical system.
Then you’ll jam the dipstick back into the tube, slam the hood, toss $15 at the attendant and tell him to keep the change from the 26 gallon fillup in 1970, and floor it exiting the gas station so everyone can look over and see the rear end of your car with the new for 1970 reflectors at the bottom of the bumper.
And of course, most importantly, the C O N T I N E N T A L all spelled out neatly in a semicircle around the (faux of course) spare tire hump. You’d get to repeat this not very far down the road due to the prodigious thirst of the 460 at full chat or almost as prodigous a thirst at slight murmur. The glorious patina seen here would still be several decades in the offing for this one at the time, but it was there all along, underneath the glossy black paint just itching to emerge once someone stopped regularly buffing that paint with a (hopefully fresh) diaper.
Someone experimented with a different wheel here on the right rear that changes the character of the car quite a bit. I think I’d perhaps prefer four of these on mine.
Here’s a standard hubcap from one of the other three wheels that couldn’t be bothered to keep itself attached to the car.
Lincoln logos as opposed to the name are all over the car though. Or were these originally Continental logos appropriated by the big name for its own use? In this case it’s on the rear right roof pillar on the vinyl covering where apparently the spirits are clamoring to get out from being trapped underneath but every angle of the car has at least one in view along with every hubcap sporting it as well.
You could spec yours without the vinyl roof although it wasn’t heavily promoted that way as the roof was a multipiece affair and required far more finishing at the factory in order to be presentable when not hidden under the vinyl. I’ll take the snow cover over vinyl any day of the week though.
The trunk is a rather large affair but then again it’s a rather large car.
It’s so large I can’t really get it all in one shot. Here’s the other angle. The spare went up on the shelf like a huge elf, hopefully never needing to be hefted down and back up and over the rear sill.
On top of the trunk is currently resting the large dashboard face. Oy, that’s genuine wood there, mate, in this case walnut. No fake stuff like in the Cadillac Eldorado, no sir. Just six thick slabs of real wood all the way through.
Add a few leaves of holly and a smattering of red berries and this would make a fine if belated Christmas card for all of my Lincoln Luvvaahhs out there! A drier and more varnished version of this is what the passenger would normally be looking at ahead of them.
Speaking of said passenger accommodations, here is the whole shebang, just imagine the wood plank up in front there. This car is actually quite fetching in the black over light tan combination.
Another Lincoln logo, along with seat controls unfortunately twisted away here, all attached to an enormously long door that pretty much requires parking well away from the entry doors at Bergdorf Goodman lest subsequent entry back into the car becomes a trifle embarrassing if another has parked next to it.
On the lavishly piped seat rests the center section of the steering wheel awaiting better days after its release from the bonds of steerage.
Big cars tend to have the smallest storage compartments. There would seem to be plenty of room up above if that vent was canted a few inches outboard for a much more useful space rather than the shinbanger at the bottom.
The back seat is kind of like going to the movies right before the show starts, it’s a bit dark in here and the only view is straight ahead. That nubbin of an elbow rest is a trifle odd too.
At least getting back there shouldn’t be too difficult, especially if the front seat occupants leave their seatbelts tucked up in the rafters where they’ve been since this trundled down the assembly line in Wixom, Michigan all those years ago. Just open the door, fold the seat forward, and dive in.
But not until you note the brightly colored callout in the doorsill still firmly affixed 53 years later making it clear that the Mark III isn’t actually a Lincoln or a Continental but rather really a…Ford. How insecure does the Ford family have to be to insist on multiple upmarket brands and sales channels and yet in one place that every time an occupant enters the car that occupant will gaze at this plaque informing them that they bought a Ford Torino. Well, okay, not really a Torino of course but the 460 was available in the Torino as well so I don’t know, just sayin’…
Still, once you got past that Ford logo (it’s right there on the left next to the seat, I don’t want to keep drawing attention to it but…) that seat looks pretty comfortable, I can’t really fault the materials here. The leather looks good and for some reason I really like the styling on the seatback side with that metal strip surrounding the seatback. And there’s even a button, one solitary button, right in the middle of the seat, exactly dead center under your…well, isn’t that special.
Taking it all in at once, and again imagining the dashboard face in place, it seems to be sort of a two-tiered design and maybe a bit more modern than normal Detroit designs.
That’s a thickly padded dashboard right there! I know many miss the bright and metallic dashboards of yore, and many of them were actual works of art, yet for actually driving they were probably more of a reflective and puncture wound inducing menace. Progress!
The little squiggly center section of the gauge has me thinking of Harvest Gold kitchen appliances and the similar pattern on the knobs thereof. The gauge is interesting in that there are no numerals, in fact these were sort of a multilayer design with this as the base and then another level with the numerals on that with the needle sort of sweeping below it and the clear screen on top.
However, after the walk down this memory lane without a clear name, that’s all the time I can spend with this dearly about to be departed specimen, as there are others wanting of my attentions. I think I’ve made enough of a Mark with this one for now.
(I couldn’t find a commercial for the ’69 or ’70 but the final year had one…)
Related Reading:
Tom Halter’s own 1970 Mark III, what this car COULD look like
Jim Cavanaugh’s Dad’s 1970 Mark III back in the day
Paul Niedermeyer’s Mark III Opus
I wonder how many of these “final step ups” were sold new in Scotland.
Not many, maybe none. They like small cars. The roads in Scotland then and now are quite narrow.
I’m from Finland, and the Mark III has not been sold new in my country. We have a lot of old American cars, but they were sold used from the USA and Sweden.
I had a 1970 Mark III and loved that car. One word describes that car, luxury.
Ah, a 460. Such a wonderful engine (that produces copious heat, thus the 23 quarts of coolant, that amount ain’t just for bragging rights!) that is never at a loss for instantaneous torque. Frankly, I am surprised nobody has snagged it yet (provided the block is okay).
About that seat. See, Ford was onto their Better Ideas at this time, but they just weren’t being so gauche as to brag about it. Anyway, did you notice the indented channels emanating out from the button? That is a ventage system, something woefully lacking in nearly all motorized conveyances of all ages. Yes, that’s with an “e”. Ford had all sorts of delightful little additions to these.
Jim, this was a good catch. My first thought (no joking) was whether that grille found a new home on the wall of your garage.
The good people of Colorado have much experience in finding that a pellet stove is a far more efficient and cheap to fuel heating device than a 460.
Yeah, I’m running out of garage wall. Or more exact, I’m running out of floor space in front of that garage wall to get to the item on the list that describes transferring items from the floor to the wall. And it’s heavy and the car was at the opposite end to the pearly chainlink gates next to which the cashier sits.
The Lincoln and Mark series logos actually were a bit different from each other’s in the ’70s – both had the same basic star shape, but on the Lincoln Continental it was wider than it was tall (pic below), whereas on the Mark it was tall and thin. It remained this way on the downsized 1980-81 models, but things got more confusing when the Lincoln Continental name moved to the Fox platform and got a Mark-style fake spare tire hump; around this time the Conti, Town Car, and Mark stars became quite similar. As for whether these were originally Continental logos appropriated by Lincoln for their own use, I think yes. The first I’m aware of the star logo being used was on the 1956-57 Continental Mark II, which definitely was not a Lincoln as it was a product of Ford’s short-lived Continental Division and assembled in a Continental Division factory. But these were still sold by existing Lincoln-Mercury dealerships and I’m not aware of any edict making them put up separate Continental signs alongside the Lincoln and Mercury signage (as Packard did in 1956 when dealers were told to add “Clipper” signage in a similarly unsuccessful attempt to separate Packard and Clipper into separate marques). The Continental Division was folded back into Lincoln by 1958, although that year’s Mark III and 59’s Mark IV still were badged and marketed as Continentals, not Lincolns. Anyway, back to the logo: Lincolns before 1956 had a somewhat star-like logo but it was set in an elaborate shield shape so looked quite different shape from the later Lincoln/Continental/Mark logo. Also, it started out on the Mark II as a square rather than the rectangle (horizontally or vertically oriented) it later became.
And perhaps the 1970 Mark III’s spare tire hump shouldn’t be written off as “faux of course”, as the Mark II’s trunk actually did have the spare tire where the hump suggested it was. And it made accessing the luggage behind it a real nuisance, which I have to believe dissuaded some well-heeled potential customers from buying. The Mark III’s spare tire placement was much more sensible even if reduced the hump to a mere styling gimmick.
I’ve long been of the opinion that Lincloln should have gone back to the wider, lower star/cross years (decades) ago, it would fit far better on the rear (and front) of their current lineup of vehicles rather than the tall, narrow one they use. It wouldn’t even need to be retooled, just rotated 90 degrees. And then could be embiggened too!
My relationship with these is complicated, but not so complicated as to take delight in this patient in the automotive outdoor nursing home. I look at those photos of the interior and still hear the pronounced “chunk” sound as the automatic seat back release is activated when the door is opened. It wouldn’t do to make privileged children have to operate a manual seat-back release. It seemed right to me at the time because seat-back releases seemed so unnecesary to a kid accustomed to latch-less seat backs in pre-1968 cars.
What, I wondered, happened to mangle that long, long hood so? Could this one have actually been sealed at the factory, as lore at the time suggested could be the case for rare luxury cars like Rolls Royce?
I will join Jason in wondering why nobody has liberated the high compression, premium gas 460 from this patient. A brother in law did such a thing when he put one in a 78 Ford pickup that he used for mud bogging when he was a young adult, to replace the emissions strangled 400 that the truck had originally come with.
“still hear the pronounced “chunk” sound as the automatic seat back release is activated when the door is opened”
That’s such a thoughtful touch, so that if the car is involved in a high speed rollover crash and the seatbelts are carefully tucked out of the way, the door can open, the seatback can release automatically and everyone can be thrown clear together!
“… Or maybe they looked right through your soul when you stood in front of it just like 17-year-old Stacy Kupferberg did when you asked her to the homecoming dance…”
After reading this sentence, my mind started spinning backwards out of control as I re-saw that stare from my own Stacy Kupferberg from 60 years ago and realized how permanent the memory of that stare, and its impact, was to me. So much so, I missed the rest of what I’m sure was a wonderful post.
For that Mr. Klein, that I apologize.
I feel you, brother. Apology accepted.
These were initially poorly received by the automotive press (I remember Motor Trend, I think, said, “It looks like it was designed by 14 different people named Vinnie.” But they sold very well and were hugely profitable for FMC. Hard to believe that RR grille lasted all the way to 1997.
That may be the single best line every written at Motor Trend.
Wonderful post.
I would have brought home that wood dash panel (and then struggled of course to figure out where to put it) and most certainly the little plate that describes “carburetion”, electrical system, and fuel grade.
I’m also fascinated by what I believe is the gigantic mechanical voltage regulator in the dash. I wonder if that worked better than the one I have (had…now that I have replaced it with a solid state device) on my similar-aged Volvo.
Thank you. I didn’t come home empty-handed, you and I appear to have very similar tastes…
Even before I read all the info on the plate, I noted the accessible screws that attached it … did they come out easily?
Very.
Sure it isn’t a relay?
Nowdays voltage regulators are all over the place, since oft-used chips need very clean power to run, but hardly any of that was around in 1970 even in a Lincoln. On the alternator, of course, and probably the radio, but I can’t think of much else back then. That’s part of the allure of older cars, they seem to work OK with less than the cleanest power, where today’s cars really mirror computers they contain, so the power components reflect that. Also everything is socketed, since relays are of course a wear item, the contacts can get burnt also.
I’m also reminded of our ’73 Ford Ranch Wagon, which had really loud turn signals…I think due to the heavy-duty relays since it also had the trailer towing package…you didn’t need lights on the dash since you could hear the loud clicking while the turn signals were on. It also had the electromagnetic power locks which also actuated with a loud kerchunk sound. Our ’73 was more loaded than the previous ’69, despite being a lower trim Ranch Wagon vs the ’69 Squire.
The gas gauge ( and temp/oil pressure gauges if present and electric) would require a constant voltage in order to be accurate. That regulator looks nearly identical to the one in my ’65 Chrysler instrument cluster.
Yes you are right. Usually they connected to a printed circuit ‘board’ on these era fomoco products.
I regularly drive past a dark blue relic of one these all the time. Probably in worse condition.
It is definitely the CVR as used by many mfgs. I suspect there was a single mfg but they arranged the terminals differently for the different customers so that you couldn’t plug the same one in to your Ford, Chrysler, AMC or IH product.
Despite what the name implies it doesn’t provide a constant voltage it just turns the voltage it is supplied with on and off so that the output averages 5v at least at 70 degrees. That makes the gauges read the same whether the engine is running (14.2v) or not (12.6v). Because it and the gauges are thermal it is located near them so that the reading is constant whether it is below zero or 110 degrees.
Boy, that thing just radiates malevolence, even sitting there inert.
High quality construction though, and it sure does take a lot of carpet to fully trim that trunk. If you could mechanically fix it and get it up on 4 of those pickup wheels that would be a sinister cruiser.
Thirsty old beasts, a mate of mine stuffed a 460 into a Aussie P6 Ford those extra 109 cubes really did guzzle through his fuel and the torque kept cracking the paint on the roof he removed the vinyl top Ford fitted to hide some seams it hadnt been an issue with the original 351 4v but it went great,.An Aussie LTD is a lot lighter than a Lincoln
You’ve outdone yourself on this one Jim!
The thin veneer of luxury is very thin indeed on the Mark III. While the air cleaner cover says “Continental,” the valve covers say “powered by Ford.” Talk about mixed messages. The door cards, while fancy looking and sporting real wood veneer on 1970 and 71 models, are still made of cardboard and fall apart readily upon removal (ask me how I know).
The fender liners must have been made from a product with similar biodegradable characteristics. They readily disappeared, and this is why just about every Mark III now sports rusty fenders.
One small correction: the painted steel roof was available only in the 1969 model year, and the take rate was low – probably only a few hundred examples made. After 1970, the vinyl roof was standard. Any 1970 or 71 models you see with a painted roof originally came with vinyl and since had it removed and painted (probably to fix the inevitable rust underneath). Probably true for most surviving 1969 models with painted roofs, too. You need a Marti Report to verify if a 1969 with a painted roof actually came that way.
Thank you, I’m glad you took it all in the spirit in which it was intended. And thank you for the info/clarification on the roof!
Every time I see one of these, I think of “The French Connection,” and then I think about how improbable it is that those motor pool mechanics could have gotten that Lincoln put back together while the baddies waited on it.
Either way, it was a sinister looking ride for a French drug dealer to be driving around.
More realistic take on that scene
One last thing – the rubberized door sills were part of a “protection package” that sold for an extra 30 or 40 bucks, IIRC.
The original ones from the factory still say “Ford” but made do with squiggly loops instead.
Wow, that was nice dash wood! Amazing. And the seats and door panels look very upscale. Nice interior. Though I don’t like the exterior styling as much, which would have prevented me from buying a new one back in the day.
There’s a guy here who regularly drives one around town, not in the best of shape anymore. Seeing it in today’s traffic makes it look very out of place. It’s just so low and wide; it looks like it was stepped on and therefore bulging at the sides.
I was never a fan of the styling of them to start with, but some cars look better with the passing of decades; not this, it looks worse.
“The Chairman of the Board’s Mustang” pretty well sums this car up. But the quality of it’s materials WAS the best of it’s contemporaries. This example has held up quite well. I bet that it was going to be someone’s restoration project and it just sat, and sat, and sat, until the heirs needed to get it out of the garage.
Nice article Jim. I often have mixed thoughts about seeing so many great old cars just sitting there and rotting away, hoping someone will find yet another part from it to help make their pride and joy car just a little better. I feel sad because I think of how nice many of these old cars were and how nice it would be to have them fully restored. Yet I feel happy that other old car people have places to search for that special part then need. I also like that people like you go out and bring back nice articles for the rest of us to read.
Talking about parts: I don’t understand why anyone would remove that dash panel and then just leave it sitting outside on the trunk to rot away more quickly. Why not leave it insdie the car to be preserved just a little more? Final thought, I found it quite interesting that every letter was still attached to the trunk (fake) spare tire hump.
Thank you. I think the story is probably that many of these cars (such as this one perhaps) are or have been sitting for some amount of months or years or decades even and an owner was planning to get to it “someday”, then either something happened or reality set in and it just wasn’t ever going to happen or the budget doesn’t exist etc.
So when viewed in that context the choice is either to keep letting it sit next to the barn or in the back field until it just rusts away and melts into the ground or give it a shot at helping someone else’s project out by bringing it here, which means that this car itself will never move again but some others might that would not have done so otherwise. If it’s perhaps not running it’s very difficult to sell it, there just isn’t a market for cars that will cost far more to restore than they cost to purchase in perfect or close to it condition. While I try to take photos with nobody in frame, the reality is that there are people in there every day taking items away at quite reasonable prices from most of the cars. I tend to focus on cars that have arrived recently, this one for example hadn’t been there very long at all and things are disappearing from it daily, the piles of snow are slowing the process a little currently. The Porsche 928 from the other day ended up being mentioned in a major Porsche forum and local fans are apparently taking it apart to send usable bits all over the country. The enthusiasts tend to get the word out.
In other words, if there wasn’t the occasional “donor” vehicle then there would likely be tens or dozens or more of same-model vehicles that would be in need of something or other to keep them going that might not be able to get what they need and then those as well might no longer be viable…This one will be lost from the batch but in doing so might keep multiple others from a similar fate which is something to celebrate and be happy about.
I think someone took (tore) the dash out because they needed a gauge or something, then used the trunklid as a workbench and then left it there…and then there were a couple of snow storms. Yes, far better to tuck it back in the car, but still better than some people who would just toss it down or leave it on the ground and then it gets stepped on in the snow etc.
I’m surprised at the afterthought-looking relectors in the rear bumper, on what’s suppoed to be a prestige car. Surely they should have been integrated in the main taillight cluster – or weren’t these legally required in the US before then?
On the 1969 model, the rear-facing reflex reflector was built into the lower portion of the taillight lens. It was also seriously tiny. There may have been a regulatory change in 1970 dictating a larger minimum reflector size…US-market VW Beetles also sported auxiliary bumper-mounted reflectors that year, followed in 1971 by a larger taillight assembly.
I remember tacked on accessory type reflectors on early fifties cars here in Australia, but after that they seemed to be incorporated in taillight assemblies. It seemed odd to see them on a car so new. Thanks.
Nice find and great commentary. I still like these Gen 1 models better than all the Marks that came after them.
Yes, but don’t think they’d have needed local regulation for 1970 implementation..there’s still the normal voltage regulator in the engine compartment though not to precise…that’s kind of the point in my previous post, older cars didn’t really require too precise power to run…of course there’s voltage drop in the wiring by the time you get to the gauges, but they’re not too exact themselves, more relative than absolute transducers (in the tank especially). Today’s cars use computers for lots of stuff that used to be totally analog and they require more precise power to run right.
That’s part of the reason I think people get more surprised with weak batteries in newer cars (vs 1970) as computers are very sensitive to voltage deprivation and the demarkation between working and not working seems more sudden than gradual
I’m not saying there’s not a voltage regulator on the dash, it just looked more like a relay to me….of course I don’t have the wiring diagram…I’m just wondering why a voltage regulator would be useful there….maybe for the instrument lighting, don’t know if your Chrysler still had electroluminescent lighting, don’t know if that used transformers or otherwise (not familiar with it) but maybe it needed different power for that, but think the Lincoln had more conventional lighting that just used 12V or so to work.
That being said, in retrospect I’m not sure why there’d be a relay there either, by the dash instruments, since relays are usually used to control large current..don’t think it would be for headlights in that location either. so maybe you’re right. Even luxury cars have a budget for parts, and adding extra ones also can hurt reliability if they’re not essential to some aspect of the car’s function.
That’s a 10 to 1 compression 460 I used to have one. It will pass anything but a gas station.
Very cool indeed. I owned one in HS
Purchased it for $500 (a decent driver) from a buddy’s dad. Brown metallic paint, brown top and Saddle tan leather. Was a great car despite the rust here and there..the constant electrical issues these cars were known for. Windows didn’t go up when it was beginning to rain…didn’t go down when it was 95 degrees in the S.Florida heat. I would just keep the windows in the back seat…they were easy enough to pull out and place them back when needed…we’re they a little floppy…sure, but I didn’t mind..lol! The cowel had a rust out where the drain was on the passenger side..so every time it rained the passenger would get her feet wet…now my wife after 30 years. 😉 Had some cool things for the time. Vacuum actuator door locks, the wipers ran hydraulically off of the power steering pump…so when I would turn into my driveway they would pause if the wheel was cut hard over, overhead information indicators, “SureTrac” brake system!
…that never worked, the rear 1/4 windows slid back….sometimes. Hood flew up on the road once, because the hood didn’t have a safety catch and because I didn’t remember to close the hood when I popped it to check the oil, but was in a rush and never checked the oil that one time..lol Seems like when I come across one’s like this in the photo they seem to have “hood” issues. All in all it was a fun car that I wish I still owned…all I have is a picture and the build sheet that I found under the rear seat as I was cleaning out the mouse nest.
Didn’t you also have aluminum rims from a 75 Mark IV on your car?
Kind of reminds me of the car used in the 1971 movie The French Connection. They used it to smuggle heroin from the French Riviera to New York City. The city was Marseilles
I’ve ownd five of these and still do. This article made my day, man.
That grill was triple chrome plsted and tested for hours in a salt bath. Cost $200 to manufacture each one in 1967. HUGE money by Ford bean count metrics at the time, the engine probably cost only twice that.
When i was about 14 yeaes old i saw my first Continental at a Browning Bryant concert in 1969. I had never befire seen a luxuary car so beautiful in my life. I purchased a Continental Mark 5 years kater and I love it. I Drove it from Fort Lauderdale out to Oregon. I felt like I was in First Class!. Arrived refreshed. No issues. A very well built car!
Where is this car? I need parts off it
A different time.
A different world.
Wishing all a happy and prosperous New Year!
Great find and profile. IMO, styling that’s a bit too serious, and baroque. Factory wheel covers consistently looked too formal. Attractive road wheels and tires, help a lot. A more sophisticated, and masculine look. Having fun, lightening the caricature-styling.
Good-looking custom wheels, can transform a car’s mood. Adding character as well.
For decades, car makers offered many bland and conservative wheel cover and wheel choices on their cars. See, how these bold and dynamic wheels, transform the looks of this Volare. It almost makes the F-Body look like a ’78 UK Ford Granada. A car regularly complimented on its fresh European looks at the time.
The car looks good with the updated wheels. Still, they just look out of place.
Two meek PT Cruisers are this Conti’s neighbours. They sit in wonder at this behemoth they have been deposited adjacent to.
The Ford symbol on the door lip – almost like putting a bowtie on a Cadillac.
At first glance the mangled hood would have suggested a front end collision, but closer inspection reveals no other front panel damage. A ding in the driver’s door could not have meant the fate of this car, any more than a minor mechanical failure. Maybe just a culmination of a number of systems on board needing repair, beyond the (second or third) owner’s budget. We may never know.
For a few years, (roughly “1997-2001” ,best of memory) a “med green” one of these drove around the neighborhood here.
As I recall, (bodywise) it appeared rather well preserved.
Have not thought of it in years.
I recall these cars when they came out. A bit young for them, but IIRC they looked good, they were striking in appearance.
Back in the mid 80s I had my ultimate bad job working at a door factory, the transportation director had I think it was a Mk III. Clean and shinny. While not the car I’d lust over, it presented itself well. In a sea of pickups and asian sh**boxes, it stood out like a beacon. Not head and shoulders above, the rest, to my eyes, and I was already into BMW territory by then, the rest weren’t even up to waist level.
Marketing, Continental etc. They blew it. OK, my W2 form suggested I wasn’t their market even as my age eventually crept in to theirs, but they, and their competitors didn’t do a good job of explaining the subtleties. To me, a Lincoln was a Lincoln Continental. An upmarket brand, but Lincoln/Lincoln Continental, it was all the same. Same with Chrysler, except more vague. I knew Imperial was a Chrysler, but so was a New Yorker. I didn’t have a clue that it was in the Cadillac/Lincoln range and not Ford/Chevy. Cadillac? Uh, there were differences beyond 2 and 4 doors? Oh, if you were new car shopping and test drove them it may have been abundantly apparent, or perhaps not, but definitely not to an outsider.
All that and by the late 70’s I was definitely a car guy, although way into imported cars, not the domestic variety.
Assuming the mileage was 134,812 miles, not much by today’s standards, Wonder why it was retired so soon? Unless it was 234.812. I don’t know if the 460 V8 was known to do so.