I was on the way into work last Thursday morning when I came upon this 1980-83 Mark VI sedan. I am not good at taking pictures from a moving car (especially at 7 A.M. with no coffee in my system) but I still thought this was worth sharing.
Think that first shot was bad? How about this one? When the choice is between taking a bad picture, or taking a good picture and crashing, I’ll take the bad picture, thank you very much.
Hopefully, one of these days I’ll catch this car while parked. Until then, here’s a picture of a stationary Mark VI from the 1983 brochure. Not bad looking in four-door form–the wheelbase on the coupe was just a little too short.
I wonder if its the TOTL signature series? the 1980-1981 versions replaced the diamond jubilees and collector series of the 1978-9
1982-1983 versions lost a lot of standard features
if it has red turbine wheels and red bumper trim then its a real signature series
I kind of feel sorry for the Mark VI. It seemed to have a very short shelf life, either that or no one was buying them. Even though it resembled the Town Car during this time, I preferred the Mark, it just seemed more prestigious especially in Signature Series trim with a digital dash. Another feature I thought was cool was the exterior driving lamps, or coach lamps, or whatever they were called. These were circular headlamp-looking lights that were on the real headlamp covers. I’m not sure if they had a seperate switch or what. Maybe they came on if you just activated the side/tailmarker lamps. Although, isn’t driving like that illegal? Anyway, in 1983, I was dreaming of the Emilio Pucci Edition Mark VI sedan I saw at the Chicago Auto Show!
The 1980 Continental Mark VI Signature Series sedan:
…and here is a coupe with the “driving lamps” or whatever they were called:
Were these factory? I always though this was some sort of dealer-add on left over from the Superfly days?
They were factory. They are shown in my ’80 Mark VI brochure. Kind of defeats the purpose of the hidden headlights!
Yo Dawg, we heard you like headlights so we put headlights over yo’ headlights.
awesome computer wallpaper material
There’s a high schooler that drives one of these past our farm morning and afternoon. They don’t live far away – it’s kind of neat to see it on the road still.
I was killing some time over lunch by checking my local CL. Someone is selling a 1980 Mark VI coupe with a 5.8/AOD. I had never been aware of any kind of box panther with larger than a 5.0. For the first time ever, it made me almost kinda sorta want a Mark VI.
I did not know they did the HO 5.8 in the Marks but they were part of the tow package in some years, more common in wagons, and with the Police package.
The 5.8 (351 CID) was optional in 1980 for the Mark VI, Continental, LTD/Crown Vic, and Marquis, then gone for ’81.
I think this and the Town Car were the first Lincoln’s that were better than Cadillacs.
The 80-81 Cadillacs are better than these, even if you have to disconnect the 4-6-8 on the 81. The Cadillacs are just “more car”, these are still to “Ford-ish” with the same steering wheels and and a/c controls and trim from a cheaper LTD just made nicer, after 82……well…I’d take a 98 or a Park Avenue.
Had an 1982 Park Avenue and loved it
What’s the difference between these Mark Vi sedans and Town Cars? They look so similar. I believe they had a Town Car coupe then as well, which had a different roofline IIRC.
They were pretty much the same car by this point with different styling treatments, the Mark VI was the follow up to the 1968-1979 Mark III, IV and V, which had only come in a coupe, for some reason, Lincoln decided to add a sedan for the VI’s run, which adds to the confusion, the Town Car was the extension of the old standard large Lincoln Continental, which also had a coupe and sedan version.