The Grand Marquis experience didn’t exactly go as I planned, but I’ve heard the lessons learned from hard experience are the ones that stick. So when it came time to add to the old car fleet, I took a bit more care in locating the next car, and I think I did pretty well. I managed to get a car that I wanted and didn’t get financially cleaned out in the process. Yay me, I guess?
I’d been a fan of the barge-like square Town Cars since they were new. As a high-school student I tried to convince my family to get a Town Car, but I wasn’t that successful. I spent a lot of time sitting in them in the Lincoln-Mercury showroom when I was there for service (I got the assignment to take family cars like my mom’s Mark VII for service in the summers when I was, shall we say, not terribly busy). Like with the Thunderbird, I’d thought about buying an old one but couldn’t really find a nice one. A lot of them had been turned into taxis or other car service cars and the ones I could find were pretty bombed out (over 100K miles, torn vinyl roofs, toasted interiors that probably smelled like who knows what, etc.)
However, during my ownership of the Grand Marquis when I was trolling old car sites and dealers and thinking fondly of the day when I could unload that white elephant, I ran across a dealership ad for an ’89 Lincoln “Continental Cartier” online. Now, being a GIANT car nerd, I knew that this wasn’t the Taurus-based Continental as that one didn’t come with that designer package in ’89 – only the Town Car did. I was on the phone with that dealer pretty quickly once I saw a few photos go online that confirmed my suspicion. This dealer was also in Northeast Ohio, and I was planning to make a trip to visit family anyway, so a detour was in order. Learned a lesson about not buying a car sight unseen, to be sure.
The visit to the dealer was a good idea. The car was in better shape than most of the Town Cars out there – the two-tone Cartier silver paint was intact and largely original, the tape stripe between the two colors was still factory, the interior was clean and undamaged (other than a cracked speaker grill on the dash), it had the original Lincoln logo keys, and the car had reasonable mileage (68,000). This was high enough that I had some confidence that I wouldn’t be breaking aged parts on virtually every drive like I did with the GMQ, but low enough that the car still looked virtually new. Besides, the car had a Pennsylvania inspection sticker that showed the car with 65,000 miles on it when the sticker was applied three years previously, so the car had seen some exercise recently. I wasn’t able to drive the car as I was tight on time that weekend, but I did get to hear the engine run and it ran well.
As a result of my quick inspection and desire to have one of these land yachts, I agreed to purchase it for a price that was probably a bit too high. But it was the nicest Town Car I’d run across, and it seemed to need nothing. I did inquire as to whether the dealer would like a nice Grand Marquis in trade, but they weren’t that interested. (And, as it turns out, the Mercury’s transmission woes were occurring just as I’d have been trying to send it to a dealer as the trade. That wouldn’t have done much for resale.) Instead of dealing with the challenge of driving (sailing?) it back home on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, I decided to have this car shipped to me instead. The price was right, the dealer arranged for it, and all I had to do was meet the truck at home.
Unlike the Mercury, my ownership of this Town Car was mostly uneventful. The car was very clean and obviously well-cared-for and everything worked, including the (still R-12) air conditioning that could make your knuckles ache and the original stereo cassette player (those almost never work anymore, as I’d learned with the Thunderbird). I learned through the Marti Report that the car had originally been part of Ford’s company lease program. Whatever executive picked out this car in ’89 set himself up with an expensive ride. With the options it had, my car stickered for something north of $33,000 in ’89 dollars (almost $70k in today’s money, or the price of entry for the newest Lincoln Continental – some things never change). Big money, especially when you consider that a year later one could get the first Lexus LS400 for around $35,000. Amazingly, Ford left out a few options that would have pushed the price even higher – the Town Car could be ordered with a CD player that sat like an old Muntz 8-track deck on the front transmission hump, as well as full leather upholstery (mine only had partial leather), and a power moonroof.
One thing I found amusing as an indicator of quality standards of the time: the two paint colors on the Cartier edition were two subtly different shades of silver (one on the hood, trunk, and roof and the other on the sides of the car) divided by a thin red stripe that was maybe a quarter of an inch wide designed to cover the paint separation. The thin red stripe was a tape stripe, but it wasn’t just the red stripe – it included a half-inch wide strip on each side matching the two paint colors. The red stripe would have been wide enough to cover the break line between the colors, as long as the break line was smooth and narrow. I assume this was done at the factory so that the break between the two paint colors could be a bit ragged out of the paint booth and the wide three-part stripe would hide the flaws.
One challenge that I did run into and never fixed was the speedometer. The car came with the digital instrument cluster, an option that was around $800 at the time. On its first trip to the Carlisle Ford show, I noticed that I seemed to be a traffic obstruction on the interstate when I was rolling at 70-75 mph on the speedometer, and I had to take the car to 80 mph to pass anybody (and it wasn’t exactly happy to be bounding along the highway at those speeds). Curious, later in the trip I opened the stopwatch on my phone and timed my travel over a one-mile distance. To keep from getting run over, I drove at a steady 67 mph on the speedometer, figuring I’d just remember the speed on the dial and calculate my speed from the stopwatch at the next stop. When I reached the mile mark and hit the stop button on the phone, it didn’t take much complicated math to figure out my actual speed. I’d done a mile in just shy of 60 seconds, meaning that the speedo was pretty wildly off. I never did figure out why that was the case…
This car definitely attracted a lot of attention. The car went to two Carlisle Ford shows and received first place in its class in the first show. For the second show, it was accepted into a special “100 Years of Lincoln” display as one of only a half-dozen cars covering that time period. I spent quite a bit of time talking to people at the shows about it, and Town Car fans really were interested in its nice original condition. Even just driving it to work or to the grocery store resulted in at least one conversation with someone about it.
Near the end of my ownership period I got a bit worried that I was seeing Ford AOD transmission replacement #2 in my future as the car was a bit hesitant to engage reverse. Luckily, the problem was solved with some adjustments to the linkage and transmission shift pressures. I really didn’t have to spend much money on this one otherwise, thankfully.
I actually owned this car until roughly 8 months ago – like the Mercury I sold it online, and like the Mercury its financial performance was lackluster. I did receive a lot of attention for the online auction, including a gentleman who contacted me as he’d been one of the previous owner. He was the reason that the original stereo worked, as he’d had it rebuilt during his ownership. I’d also posted the car on classic car classified websites and found that I got a lot of people who were interested in talking at length about the car and learning all of its details, but nobody who brought me a check. I only sold this Town Car to get another Lincoln, but that story will have to wait a few weeks as we’ve got several other good (and bad) decisions to talk about…
Love these. Having been born in 1977 and having come of age when these were thick on the ground (and Cadillac was blundering around with downsizing, 4100 HT fiasco, and a still carbureted Fleetwood) I remember this as the time period when the Lincolns became thicker on the ground and the Cadillacs became fewer.
In fact, even though the little public golf course my dad played at was in no way exclusive, I can remember several box Town Cars and no Cadillacs around the parking lot.
I’ve often wondered how many Lincoln Town Cars were “sold” by ownership of a Cadillac of the 1980’s.
Which is the reverse now around my way(Maryland)
I see more 1977-84 Devilles and 1977-1992 Fleetwood Brougham/Broughhams around then that generation Lincoln Town Car.
There is about 5 of the Caddies in a 2 mile radius of my home and this does not include the one that lives in my neighborhood
All of them seem to stock and loved as they seem to almost always have covers on them.
By contrast I only have seen a couple of Towncars of that era in the last 2 years and only one of them consistently (a faded yellow painted one) as it lives at a house i pass by in Bowie MD to get to work (oddly enough it is just down the street from the home where the 1970’s Mark Series lives )
Perhaps a regional oddity?
Here in the New Orleans area it’s just the opposite of your observations.
No most likely because GM probably weather proofed their vehicles better back then.
Back in the 1980’s into the late 1990’s, that generation of Towncar was everywhere. My good friend in high school folks owned a black 1988 TC with black vinyl top that we would use during our senior year(1995) and it was a good car.
It seems that fords of that era succumbed more easily to Maryland’s habit of going wild with the spreading of rock salt during any little bit of snow.
The ones I would see in the junk yards would have nasty holes in the body or frame rot.
About the only older(1970’s to 1990’s) Fords you mostly see around my way are Mustangs and F series trucks. In fact it seems like 87-91 and 92-97 F- Series trucks are just as common in 2018 as they were when new. I counted 6 of them on the way to work this morning. These things are everywhere.
And interesting to note then you can still have a Town Car with front-vent windows in option.
All the time my son owned his 89 Grand Marquis we both looked at these TCs with just a wee bit of jealousy. We knew that it was mechanically identical but there was something about that long hood with the Lincoln star way out there at the end that would have been so viscerally satisfying. The seats always seemed nicer too.
Your car appears to have been painted the very same colors that ours was. Ours separated colors with that 2 tone silver tape stripe too, but without the red highlight. The Mercury’s original 2 tone was only dark gray on the lower body. A prior owner repainted the roof hood and decklid with the dark gray instead of the original silver.
Although I am quite over Box Panthers one of these very late TCs is the only version that might make me reconsider in a moment of weakness.
Oops, meant to attach a picture. On second look our dark gray might have been darker.
JP,
I had to ask – does your family still own that ’89 Grand Marquis?
Nice-looking car BTW.
Nope. It went away in 2014.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-follow-up/curbside-conclusion-1989-mercury-grand-marquis-thinning-the-panther-herd/
My Dad bought a nice ’88 sometime in the in the late ’90’s or early 2000’s. Nice car. Longest hood of any vehicle I’ve ever driven.
So tired of everyone saying the full size cars from the 1950s through 1970s are Land Yachts. But no one seems to be calling today’s cars Land Yachts! Not to speak of the very large trucks of today.
Case in point: The 2017 Mercedes S550! It weights 4800 lbs as compared to the Lincoln Town Car’s weight of 4100 lbs! And doing a “fit in the box” of length x width x height, the Lincoln is only 4% greater. But for God’s sake, it is 700 lbs greater in weight!
Just look at my 1957 Ford Skyliner, called a Land Yacht, parked next to a Mercedes. Sort of looks small now – right! It also weighs about 700-800 lbs less than the Mercedes! Of course I might as well be speaking to the moon.
Here is a laugh:
A VERY eminent European writer/road tester often found in American car magazines was testing a very large European car a few months ago for the British magazine CAR, and the magazine as well as the writer made a HUGE deal (no pun intended) about how this particular car was probably the biggest car he had ever driven. How it was so difficult to pilot it in town and out in the countryside. I wish I could remember if it was Mercedes-Benz or a BMW 7 series. But when I checked the statistics of length and width against my own car I had a bit of a chuckle. The car this magazine test driver thought was too big to enjoy driving on a daily basis was almost the exact same length and width as my 09 Crown Victoria. Of course, it was much heavier, but otherwise so close in size as to be nearly identical.
Point taken, but remember that roads are typically a lot smaller in the UK and Europe, so your Crown Vic would probably feel cumbersome there too. I liked driving my ex-brother-in-law’s 1965 Cadillac when I visited Vancouver, but I wouldn’t want to drive it down a London side street.
A ’65 Caddy is also too large for Vancouver traffic and especially parking.
I think the cars nowadays only have shorter overhangs, while wheelbase and weight increase a lot.
I got stuck in a parking complex in Ann Arbor last year, obviously they didn’t have any full size vehicle in mind when they built it because it was pretty narrow with a lot of sharp turns. A gentleman behind me in a new Lincoln Continental got impatient, but then his car would be easier to maneuver than my Fleetwood.
Perhaps the appropriate terms for today’s vehicles would be “Barges”. They’re big and designed to carry a lot of stuff, and not particularly handsome (IMHO).
The 50’s and 60’s cars were arguably ‘yachts’, though in the sense that they were very luxuriously appointed, with chrome, wood, and leather everywhere instead of today’s utilitarian plastic.
That’s a nice experience! Those conversations with strangers show how special this car is.
BTW, I hope Tom Klockau doesn’t miss this post. I haven’t seen him commenting in a good while.
I was a teen in the 1980s so these and some Cadillacs were always my favorites.
As far as I’m concerned, there’s almost no better representation of 1980s American luxury than a 1980-1989 Lincoln Town Car, either a Cartier or a Signature Series. Especially with the Carriage Roof option.
Here’s an ’89:
As I bought this one last month, I do agree with MichaelH.
I am surprised that the paint separation “trick” was also used on such an expensive car as the only other Ford product I have seen it on has been F series and older Ranger pickup trucks that were two toned.
I like these squared off Lincolns, but the only ones I see anymore are really tired examples. For better or worse these cars almost never get “treated” to the lifted up and equipped with 22+ inch wheels treatment. Though I have seen them with truly hideous candy color paint jobs.
Surely its the only practical way to do two-tone paint on a production line?
Nice looking car, but I prefer the next version, without the protruding front fenders and grille. This style just looks silly to me.
I owned an 88 and an 89 TC. They were the most comfortable cars that I have ever owned. The nautical references to them being yachts or boats is valid in a few ways. Sitting behind that, uhmm, phallic hood is like being in a ships wheelhouse looking over the deck towards the bow. They handle like a boat too. After a while it becomes second nature but you work the throttle and correct for drift. Repeat.
I find my ’89 Town Car to handle much better than any full sized Mopar of the same approximate time period; and not nearly as weak shocked & “floaty” as a Cadillac DeVille.
THIS sure brings back memories of my childhood in the 90’s & 2000s (I’ll be 24 at the end of this month). This Town Car my dad owned is indeed also an ’89 b/c the front park light lenses were amber (nearly all others before that year were clear; hard to see in the pic though). Also notice the Expedition (an ’04 Eddie Bauer) & an ’08 Shelby GT500 (RARELY driven, for good reason) in the background, both of which we still have. Before that car he had a ’76 Continental 2-door that just happened to be the same color (white cars seem to run in my family apparently), but it was gone before I was even a year old (the 460’s thirst for gas & the same number of child seats as car doors made the “get-rid-of” decision a bit easier); I now know all about these land yachts after reading about them on this site. Not long after this picture was taken (April 2008) the Town Car was also out of our lives b/c, as I found out with my Aerostar, routine parts eventually wouldn’t be available for it anymore. The Expedition (bought new in September 2003) gradually replaced it as our “family trip” vehicle for when we went to Edisto Beach or a special restaurant (i.e. French Market Grille in Augusta, GA) as the Town Car’s age became more & more externally obvious, although it was still in amazingly good shape (as seen in the pic) for a nearly 20-year-old car when we sold it to someone in Florida. The thing I liked most about it besides the obvious luxury was the fact that you could hit a deer in the road head-on & come out alive with only a busted headlight; this actually DID happen but only once if I recall correctly, and YES the car kept going without a care in the world too. ANY vehicle now that isn’t truck-based or has steel bumpers wouldn’t fare even half as well in that type of accident. BOY, does the nostalgia run deep…
Correction: ANY vehicle now that isn’t truck-based or does NOT have steel bumpers wouldn’t fare even half as well in that type of accident.
My folks had an ’80. It was a pathetic excuse for an automobile. Failure after breakdown after breakdown after failure, a steady appetite for parts and repairs; it would probably be easier to list the parts that didn’t fail, break, fall off, fall apart, or otherwise quit.
Our across-the-street neighbour had an ’83. It was rock-solid for him for years; so much so that he spent the big bucks for a high-end paint job when its original paint began to look dowdy.
My grandparents had an ’87. It wasn’t quite so bad as our ’80, but nowhere near so good as the neighbour’s ’83.
A friend had an ’88. It was bipolar: could go for six, eight, ten months without the slightest problem, then there’d be a month, two, three, four of problem after problem after problem.
Seemed like luck of the draw on these.
Very nice TC! I have owned 3 Panthers and currently have an ’02 TC SIgnature in the fleet. The first Panther was a 1994 GM that my father had purchased new and passed on to me when he couldn’t drive anymore. The second was a 1997 TC Exec.
I would love to find a 1998-2002 Signature Touring, or a 2004 Utra in excellent condition but not many show up on CL.
Over the years there have been many posts on this site about “Panther Love” and mention of quality changes due to manufacturers cost savings. Can one of our Panther historians tell me which model years had the highest build quality. Thank you
Don’t know how true it is, but I’ve heard these late 80’s TC were as reliable as a Lexus LS400 which I consider to be the best built cars ever made.
Here is my 1989 “Bill Blass” Town Car. Bill Blass? On a Town Car? It is an invention of my own and I have had a good deal of pleasure fitting the car out for what I think Lincoln-Mercury might have done if there was such a model. All of the badges are genuine Bill Blass, and there is even a Blass scarf, sunglasses case, leather portfolio, and a brief case in the trunk. Incidentally, this is my 32nd Lincoln and the 10th Lincoln from the 1980-89 era. From experience, I can tell you that these cars were the finest, most dependable cars Lincoln ever produced. At 70, I still recall my first: a 1986 in Commodore Blue with a White Carriage Roof. I ordered it from the dealership in Rock Hill, SC where I was a professor of interior design at Winthrop University.
I was blessed enough to get my dream car (based on my parents budget), an 89 Cartier, for my sweet 16 in 91. Many at school would laugh and/or question my choice. I started drawing big luxury vehicles when I was five or so. Mama says my fascination started when we took her SEL for service. She said I begged her to take me across the street to Ford Lincoln Mercury dealership. She obliged. Apparently I was drawn to the dealership by a Continental on the turntable illuminated by 20 or more 150 watt halogen bulbs. All those light had the vehicle sparkling light a giant jewel. After climbing all over the jewel, leaving little five year old hands smudge all over it, I dragged her to a Town Car. Mama claimed I was obsessed by the couch in the back seat. The back seat in dads MB 500 wagon wasn’t nearly as flat or plush as the TC. From that moment on I began drawing these and the stretch version I got overly excited to see while watching Dallas and Dynasty. For some reason my drawing placed these larger than necessary double couches on wheels in the Safeway parking lot. I do remember one such drawing which had a special “Limo” parking only sign by the Safeway entrance. I can only surmise I must have enquired where limos park when the rich folks on TV do their shopping..
I sold the car in 99 after purchasing my first new car. I can honestly say that TC was never in for anything other than scheduled maintenance. The vinyl roof has a crack along the bottom of the rear window. Water got behind the vinyl and froze repeated over the years. Sometimes during the 98 winter she cracked. She was too old to invest in a new roof. So I had it patched and painted.
Going from a big comfy couch floating down the road to a firm seat M5 with tuned suspension was quite the change. My gift with purchase of the M5 was my first speeding ticket. Just getting to 60 in the TC took a half of a tank of gas and ten minutes. Damn fine car.
Hello everyone.
I’m SO glad to have found this site, and enjoyed everything that I read.
I’ve owned 4 lincoln town cars since the 1990s.
Sold them and regretted it ever since.
However, two years ago ,I saw one on ebay and fell in LOVE with the Style and Beauty/Luxury all over again.
Subsequently, I bought it after some negotiations .
It’s a BEAUTIFUL 1989 Signature Series , Twilight Blue Continental.
And to really make it special is the fact It’s a VERY RARE GUCCI MODEL.
Not Cartier!
It has all the options except a moon roof.
GUCCI SIGNATURE SERIES were limited in production because of contractual issues, and were never given the full support from lincoln.
However, there were some that somehow made it through the production line BEFORE negotiations ended.
They have the number 84 in their VIN number, and they have SPECIAL TRIM OPTIONS NOT FOUND ON OTHER SIGNATURE SERIES MODELS.
As these types of cars become fewer in numbers, but CLASSICS BY DESIGN, let’s continue to appreciate them.
Remember, lots were DESTROYED in the CASH FOR CLUNKER ECONOMIC RECOVERY PROGRAM.
I look forward to reading your replies.