(first posted 5/18/2012) Lincoln really had a hard time finding its way in the 1950s. Known for some of the finest custom bodied luxury cars in the 1930s, the mid-priced Lincoln Zephyr in the late ’30s and early ’40s, and of course, the beautiful Lincoln Continental coupes and convertibles, you would think Lincoln would have had it made in the Fifties. Not exactly…
That is not to say they did not have some very nice cars. The 1952-55 Lincolns may have been more comparable to Oldsmobiles and Buicks than contemporary Cadillacs, but they went on to great fame as high performance road cars in the Carrera Panamericana.
The 1956 Lincoln was all new, and beautiful, but it unfortunately still did not approach Cadillac’s sales. Cadillac was the 600 pound gorilla in the luxury car market, and Lincoln and Imperial, despite being worthy competitors, never approached the popularity of GM’s prestige make. But Lincoln had a plan. The next Lincoln was to be bigger than current Cadillacs and loaded with new and advanced features.
The 1958 Lincolns were all new, which was obvious. It bore no resemblance to the 1956-57 models. They were bigger in every way, with an overall length of 229 inches and a 131″ wheelbase. These new Lincolns were produced in a brand new factory in Wixom, Michigan, along with the equally new 1958 Thunderbird.
While the Capri and Premiere lines carried on, the Continental was something else. Replacing the elegant, ultra expensive Continental Mark II was the the Mark III. As shown above, they were little more than a rebadge of the standard Lincoln, albeit with a reverse slanted roofline with retracting backlight, special wheel covers, grille and tail lamps, and Bridge of Weir leather interiors.
Lincolns and Continentals were also now unibodied. In fact, this was the largest unit body car made. Another new feature was air suspension, but much like the GM version, it was problematic; only two percent of ’58 Lincolns had it. So how did this Cadillac fighter do? Not well, not well. While it looks fairly tame compared to some other 1958 models, people just didn’t take to it very well. Production was down by over 10,000 units from 1957.
Lincoln didn’t waste any time in making the car look more conventional. For 1959, the wild flared front bumper and fenders were toned down. Funny that that same year, Cadillac introduced its wildest, most flamboyant car ever. The Lincoln looked positively normal next to a ’59 Coupe de Ville.
The 1960 Lincolns, despite being in the last model year for this body type, were extensively updated. While the Continental Mark Vs retained the reverse slant “Breezeway” window, standard Lincolns and Premieres received an attractive new roof with Thunderbird style C-pillars. Other revisions included a chrome full-length body spear, an even more conventional front bumper, plus a new grille and rear panel.
The interior was redone as well, with an extremely attractive instrument panel, replacing the “TV” style 1958-59 version. Each instrument was set into its own pod, with an engine-turned trim panel below. It reminds me of a 1950s-1960s Century Coronado or Chris Craft speedboat.
As befitting a luxury car, all Lincolns had a number of standard features, including power brakes, power steering, a heater with defroster, undercoating, whitewall tires, clock, radio and dual exhaust. All Lincolns were powered by a 430 CID V8 with a 2 BBL Carter carburetor. It produced 315 hp at 4100 rpm. It needed it, as these cars had a 4,900-5,200 pound curb weight, depending on the model. That was mostly due to the unit construction, which was heavily overbuilt to prevent flexing.
While the lineup consisted of Capri, Premiere and Continental for 1958-59, in 1960 the Capri name was nowhere to be seen. For some reason, the least expensive Lincoln was simply called a Lincoln. Our featured CC is thus a Lincoln Sedan. It was the second least expensive Lincoln at $5441 (approx. $42,300 adjusted).
The Lincoln four door hardtop, seen here in a vintage ad, interestingly sold for the exact same price as the sedan, $5441. The two door Lincoln hardtop was a bit less, retailing for $5253.
Premieres were the next step up, running about $500 higher than plain Lincolns. They were virtually identical outside, save for a small fender emblem. It was available in the same bodystyles as the Lincoln: four door sedan, four door hardtop and two door hardtop.
Premiere interiors were a bit fancier, and additional standard features included power windows, reading lamps in the rear compartment, and a four-way power seat.
Of course, the Continental Mark V was about $1000-1200 above the Premieres and retained its unique reverse-slant roof and “Breezeway” rear window. It also was the only way to get a convertible.
Our featured CC is currently in the collection of my friend and former boss, K. V. Dahl. As related in the Old Car Home piece, I had a brief career as a Ford salesman in 2011. K. V. and his dad, Vinje, are real car nuts and have quite a few cool old cars. One neat thing they do is rotate their collector cars in the showroom so people can see them. While I worked there, there was a ’61 Falcon, ’32 Ford street rod, ’38 LaSalle and a ’48 Willys Jeepster. When I stopped in a couple months ago and first saw this Lincoln, I was very impressed. 1958-60 Lincolns are seldom seen today.
While this one-of-1,093 Lincoln four door sedan is the entry-level Lincoln for 1960, you’d never know it. The rich black paint, heavy chrome trim and wide whitewalls do not suggest a cheapskate special. Just look at that door panel. Cloth, vinyl, chrome trim and a rear air conditioning/heating duct. And check out that ashtray with Lincoln script. Cool!
The silver interior is in nice shape, as is the rest of this car. It has so much room, I think you could seat four people apiece in the front and the back. We don’t need no SUV here, pardner! And that upholstery pattern looks like little planets or UFOs to me. Very jet set.
As far as I can tell, the instrument panel was the same regardless of model. All the major controls are clustered in front of the driver, while the passenger side sweeps away for a greater sense of space. This is clearly not a fleet special Custom 500 we have here. I’m not a huge fan of silver-painted cars, but it looks pretty good as an interior color. Hey, it was the late ’50s and early ’60s – why not have a “chrome” interior color?
While most of the interior is very American, the gauges themselves look very European, like something you’d see on a Lancia Fulvia or Alfa Berlina. I wonder if it was intentional?
Lincoln really played on the star theme for its logo. Just check out those stylized wheel covers. The black paint, chrome and wide whitewalls make for a very sharp car.
While they were not popular when new, and depreciated rapidly, these Lincolns are collectible today, especially the Continental Mark III, IV and V convertibles. While they may be a love it or hate it design, I think they are pretty cool. If you feel the same, this unit body land yacht is currently for sale. If nothing else, you’d definitely stand out at the cruise in, among the sea of Mustangs, Camaros and Corvettes.
The 1959 and 1960 Lincoln’s styling became much less wild than the ’58, but it didn’t help sales. Production dropped each year between 1957 and 1960. Starting with relatively healthy production of 41,567 in 1957, it dropped to 28,684 in ’58, 26,906 in ’59 and 24,820 in 1960. Lincoln lost over $60 million with their bigger-than-a-Cadillac unit bodied boats.
Robert MacNamara, the non-car guy president of Ford at the time, wanted to kill Lincoln after 1960. Apparently he saw it as a wasted effort, much like the recently-departed Edsel. The only thing that saved Lincoln was a chance viewing of a proposed Thunderbird. The Ford styling staff hurriedly turned it into a four door sedan, and Lincoln was saved. From 1961 on, Lincoln would do very well.
Nice writeup of a more or less forgotten car.
My maternal grandmother had a ’59 in off-white with the breezeway backlight, whether regular or Continental I do not know. I was a kid then, so don’t have much to say about it except that I felt let down by our fanily having a car with only single headlights (’57 Olds wagon) while Bubby (hey, that’s what we called her) had those flamboyant slanted duals on her ride. The funky upholstery mentioned in the article made an impression as well. I also seem to remember some sort of deal in a rocket-shaped pod on the dash that would automatically dim the headlights, although maybe I’m confusing that with another car.
I can certainly iunderstand why the styling of the ’58-’60s was not a hit, but between this and the ’68 Connie that I had briefly, I’ve always considered Lincolns of the era to have the best initial build quality of any American car, streets ahead of Cadillac, despite their greater popularity. Let the flaming begin.
You are true . . . Lincolns had consistently better build quality than the Clark Street Cadillacs GM was churning out as fast as they could . . . .
Not for me. Give me a ’61-up suicide every time .
Agree.
Pre 1958 or post 1961 Lincolns I love.
I have always had a fascination with these. Before I got my drivers license, my then-best friend and I took bike rides all around the city. There was a house with a dull copper one of these sitting neglected in the driveway. We would plot about how we would knock on the door and try to buy it when we got our drivers licenses.
My car mentor Howard hated these. I mean really hated. He had a general disdain for mid to late 1950s cars (total junk, he would say) but these Lincolns had a special place in his world. He knew a guy who bought one new, and it was a total lemon. These offered a Bijur self-lubrication system. You pressed a button on the dash and the pump would supply lubricant to multiple fittings. Only the one in this car was found to be completely inoperable (after the guy had dutifully pushed the button at regular intervals.
Still, I would like one of these, if only because of the size. It was certainly the most conservative of the 1958-60 luxury cars. The 59 is my favorite. And I am with you completely on the silver interiors, which seemed to have very brief popularity around 1960.
I had thought one of these Lincolns was the clue but wasn’t sure about that grill! Oh well.
My dad took me along when I was really young to look at a pair of convertibles for sale, despite being in the midst of a buying frenzy and the cars being a deal he didn’t buy them. They were too huge, and that sculpting on the side has to be one of the ugliest things ever. The way my dad put it “it’s like they got bored sketching and decided to keep doodling”. To me thy’re kinda cool in a way that only in late 50’s America could someone even imagine selling a car like this, but it’s no wonder why sales were low.
I’m with car mentor Howard on this one. 🙂
I think I read that the ’57-’60 Lincolns were the only postwar non-limos longer than fuselage Imperials. By coincidence, a ’59 (I think) Connie 4-door, with the bizarro roof to match the cockeyed face, used to share the big rental barn where the Imp winters. Never met the owner, but I wanted to thank him for making my car look restrained and sensible.
That said, I want an armchair covered in shiny-silver-atom fabric!
> Never met the owner, but I wanted to thank him for making my car look restrained and sensible.
Ha ha, good one!
Great story. This is a car I knew literally nothing about (and could’ve cared less about), but your write up gave me newfound appreciation for it. Thanks.
PS thats a car face only a mother could love. Cool interior though.
For Years, more than we want to count, Lincoln has fallen to a second fiddle status.
Today after 10 Cadillac’s over the years, and much enjoyed I might say, I have also owned 4 Lincoln’s the new 2015- we have 2 one is an MKS and 1 is an MKZ Hybrid. I too feel the initial build quality of Lincoln far out does Cadillac, yet Cadillac after say 1-11/2 years is still a Cadillac in all ways. a Lincoln begins to feel like a Ford after only 1 year. Why is this? Don’t know but I wish them well we like our new ones.
RMCM North Carolina
I wonder why Lincoln put only a 2 barrel on such a large car and large engine?
I thought the same thing. 430cid and only a 2-bbl?!
Probably in response to the recession of 1957-58. Detroit was under severe criticism for building large, gas-guzzling dinosaurs, as George Romney put it. (Yes, history does repeat itself!)
Rambler sales were soaring, while this Lincoln was, in some ways, as big a flop as the Edsel. Lincoln couldn’t do much about the size and bulk, but it could tinker with the engine to achieve at least SOME improvement in fuel consumption.
A 4-bbl. carb could improve performance, without hurting fuel economy if you kept your foot out of the accelerator. A 2-bbl. carb is not really optimized for low-end nor high-end operation. In a properly sized 4-bbl, smaller primaries have higher airflow at idle, making the carb more responsive to changes in load. Vacuum secondaries do not open until sufficient power is demanded.
Did buyers of new luxury barges worry that much about fuel economy? IMO, this argument would make more sense applied to fullsize Mercuries and Fords than Lincolns.
That didn’t happen until the introduction of the Quadrajet. The secondaries and primaries were the same size on all Carter carbs, which Ford used at the time. They did not use vacuum to open the secondaries, but rather complicated mechanical linkages to open the secondaries at a set accelerator pedal position. The problem with 4 bbl carbs of the era was getting the secondaries to open progressively without hesitation. Factors such as cable stretch were issues but complex linkages were the main proiblem. Said linkages would be of little problem when they left the factory but the real problem of the era was mechanics who knew more than the engineers who designed the cars. They would “modify” things (for example to make the secondaries open earlier) to make them “better,” which inevitably resulted in surges and stumbles. This is why Ford stuck to the much simpler, tried and true 2 bbl.
Coming from a garage background, I can attest it is exceptionally difficult to keep mechanics from monkeying around with factory settings. Circa 1977 all the makers started putting plugs over carb adjustments to prevent this kind of thing but I saw many that had been drilled out. In fact, a mixture adjustment should never be altered after the car leaves the factory. I would say most of the carb problems cars had before the advent of sealed systems were caused by goofing around with them, this based on personal experience.
The Quadrajet solved this in a very simple and elegant manner but before this, one thought very carefully before ordering a 4 bbl carb.
When I stated above that the primaries were smaller, I meant relative to the two barrels of whatever 2-bbl. the carb would replace. I am fully aware that an AFB has nearly identically sized primary and secondary bores.
True AFBs do have a mechanical linkage to open the secondaries (same as a Quadrajet!). IMO the linkage is not that complex and worked reliably enough that AFBs were installed as OEM on many, many vehicles including many 60s muscle cars.
AFBs also have a counterweighted air door above the secondary venturies which restricts airflow through the secondaries until there is enough vacuum below them to overcome the counterweight, making it behave more like a vacuum secondary system. One downside is that it was not adjustable. The later AVS carbs used a spring instead of a counterweight on the air door, making it adjustable. The AVS also used 3-stage metering rods in the primary jets for more precise fuel flow control, whereas the AFBs used 2-stage rods.
Now you’ve got me thinking…. I think the OEM AFBs on my Chryslers may not have the counterweighted air door, so it may have been added to the design later. I’ve switched my cars over to Edelbrock AFB and AVS carbs. My brother has a car with an original AFB and our dad’s car has a Holley which never holds a tune. There’s one carb that, if it didn’t have user-adjustable settings, would have been in the garbage a long time ago. 🙂
I’m not intimately familiar with the Rochester Quadrajet. (They were mostly only installed on GM vehicles, Rochester being a division of GM.) To my knowledge, Quadrajets are not functionally that much different from the AFB, aside from being spreadbore with small primaries and large secondaries. They still have a mechanical secondary linkage with an air door above the venturies. One thing they have, which that AFB lacks, is metering rods on the secondary jets. The metering rods are mechanically connected to the air doors to control fuel flow based on engine load more precisely than the secondaries on an AFB.
> The Quadrajet solved this in a very simple and elegant manner but before this, one thought very carefully before ordering a 4 bbl carb.
Maybe that is true for GM vehicles? 🙂
All this notwithstanding, Geeber is correct. When these cars were introduced in 1958, they had a four-barrel carburetor, 10.5 compression, and 375 gross horsepower, which made them surprisingly quick: a 375 hp Continental could do 0-60 mph (true) in less than 9 seconds, despite weighing nearly 5,300 lb and having a 2.87 axle ratio.
Like the Edsel, these cars had the misfortune to debut just as the recession really got nasty, which made the prospect of a 5,000 lb car getting maybe 10-11 mpg very unappetizing. The big MEL engine’s compression ratio was also a little ambitious for contemporary gasoline (probably more so after some carbon buildup). For 1959 Lincoln trimmed compression to 10.0 and horsepower to 350, which I doubt did much for fuel economy, but I think was intended to look a little less overwrought. For 1960, they went with the smaller two-throat carburetor in search of better mileage; I think it may have also had a milder cam, because the torque peak dropped quite a bit, but I’m not sure.
Exactly, many owners and other “experts” beleived that they had the magic carb setting that was way better than the factory. I do not remember any of my parents cars of the fifties or sixties ever needing their carbs adjusted.Even with my early seventies Amal carbed British bikes, keeping them clean and replacing the quick wearing nylon float needles kept them running fine. If I remember correctly one of Gus Wilson’s repeated problems involved someone messing with their carb.
I’m sure that the carb was adjusted on your parents cars with each tune up. That is standard practice with a carb and is needed to compensate for wear and possible formation of deposits on the idle mixture needles.
The 2-bbl made it’s appearance for 1960 in response to the Eisenhower recession. ’58’s and ’59’s had four-pots.
Black is the only color these should have been sold in. There’s a certain Yuri-Gagarin-Soviet-Era-should-have-been-a-Troikaness to it.
Yep, my first thought was this looks like those pictures of Krushchev-Brezhnev era ZIL’s I’d see when I was a kid.
Did I read somewhere that the ZILs were actually American designs, or were at least heavily inspired by, Lincoln? Or was it some other make? This car does have a Soviet vibe to it, complete with the star imagery, and the `atomic’ upholstery. Strange how very few people thought of the patterns on the seats as atoms (thanks to 73ImpCapn)!
I’ve always thought the late 50’s Lincolns were pretty gauche, even by 1950’s standards. I think there must have been a lot of well-heeled buyers who wondered whether they really wanted to be seen driving one of these. They remind me of Bruce McCall’s hilarious ‘Bulgemobile’ parody ( http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4639091 ).
The total transformation from ‘ZIL limousine inspiration’ to the elegant 1961 model has to be one of the greatest styling makeovers in history.
Iron Curtain was my first reaction too. And thanks for the Bulgemobile link too.
Its gold!
“Lincoln really had a hard time finding its way in the 1950s.”
Really, now, has Lincoln EVER had an easy time? Ha ha! So many Lincolns look like they should be on Russian streets or somewhere east of the German border.
The photo of the front tire next to the potted plant really shows how small and inadequate the period bias-plies were.
Love, love, love these Lincolns. Great writeup of a forgotten luxomobile. My dad would always take me around at new model introduction time, and being a predominantly Ford family (we had a ’59 Galaxie Club Victoria at the time), a stop at the local LIncoln-Mercury dealer was always on the agenda. I would sit inside these gargantuan barges and transport myself to another world of unparalleled luxury. My dad finally bought a ’65 Lincoln Continental sedan when I was in college, and my dreams were fulfilled, I would give anything to have that car back again. It was not uncommon to see these late-50’s Lincolns around L.A. back in the day, they represented a level of “attainment,” if you will, that the flamboyant Cadillac did not seem to possess.
BTW, I have read that the really cool pod-style instrument panel of the 1960 model was a fix for the “TV” style panel of the 58’s-59’s, which would invariably crack right at the 55 mph location due to the large body flex. Whatever the case, I have always thought it to be one of the finest looking panels of any car, ever!
Your recall about the body flex reminds me that in Howard’s hated Lincoln (it was his boss’s car) the windshield cracked by itself, and Howard attributed it to body flex. I have never been in one of these, and had assumed that they were as tight as the TBirds, but evidently not.
As a kid, my mother’s Aunt had two of these in the toybox in the basement. Red metal friction powered ones with black roofs. She probably bought them for her grandsons to play with, but from the looks of them, nobody ever touched them. I would sure like to have them now.
Cracked windshields were very common in those days of “knee-knocker” glass. The bodies were not especially stiff and the glass huge. I can remember seeing cracks right at the bend at the edge all the time.
Knee knockers were a horrible idea and I have no idea why they were so popular right across the industry.
Because they looked really neat on some 52-53ish GM show car. Given normal lead times, that meant everybody that was copying couldn’t get one out until 1955 at the earliest, and then given lead times on followup designs it was 1961 before it went away.
The wrap-around windshield was really sold as an advanced, safety, high visibility feature at the time.
As a person who drives cars with ridiculously thick A-pillars which make all right turns blind, I agree with the sales pitch for wrap-arounds. If only the A-pillar strength issues with those could be fixed, I’d say its a very safe design. Sitting in one with a modern distortion-free windscreen is a revelation. Feels like a space-ship, no kidding.
One thing to keep in mind is that Wixom was an assembly plant, not a manufacturing plant. It is my understanding that the Budd Co. built the Squarebirds and sent essentially complete bodies with interiors to Wixom to have running gear and engines installed. The Budd Co. was the first body maker to espouse monocoque or unit body construction (Lancia doesn’t count) with the Citroen Avant and the Chrysler and DeSoto Airflows. Their long experience in unit body construction could well have been the difference between the Squarebird and the Lincoln. Just guessing. I don’t know who engineered the Lincoln unit body structure.
Budd was a pioneer company in several ways. I’d known of them from the streamliners and stainless steel. Thanks for more.
Unitary body construction was old hat by the 1950s, GM began unitary cars in 38/9 at Vauxhall, even Ford had been building its Consul Zephyr Zodiac range unitary since the late 40s including convertibles, 38 Vauxhall ten pictured
There was a 1959 factory service bulletin for the cracking at 55 mph issue..
I remember Kris Trexler talking about it..
I always think I’d enjoy these Lincolns from the inside. The interiors (to me) trumped non-Special Edition Cadillacs of the era in Mid Century Modern Poshness, and the 430 V8 would be fun to poke (but not feed).
Just blind fold me until I get behind the drivers seat.
At the Carlisle Spring show, there was a black 1958 Lincoln four-door hardtop for sale in surprisingly good, although not perfect, condition. I’ve never liked this generation of Lincoln, but that car did make quite an impression.
Quality control on these cars was awful. Ford was building an all-new car, in a brand-new plant, with a new method of construction (for Ford). This worked out okay for the new four-seat Thunderbird, but not so much for the Lincolns.
A big problem was the switch to unit-body construction, decreed by Ford Motor Company Chief Engineer Earle MacPherson (of the MacPherson strut fame) during this car’s development. Others within the company argued that these cars were simply too big for unit-body construction, but he overruled them. Ford also felt that it needed to produce more than one car line in the brand-new Wixom plant to make its investment worthwhile. Even the new four-seat Thunderbird wouldn’t have provided enough volume to make the plant profitable.
Lincoln’s push for tighter quality control and better build quality with its 1961 models was the direct result of the disastrous 1958-60 generation, which almost finished Lincoln in the marketplace.
Unit body presented many problems in 1958. On one hand, the advantages are very obvious; you don’t need a heavy frame and with a heavy body attached to it, both bouncing around at different rates. There were two main issues with unit bodies; the first was the lack of computer modeling and the second customer resistance.
Ford and also Chrysler were very worried that customers would see unit bodies as “less strong” than the “bridge girder frames” of GM cars and to compensate, lots of extra metal went into structure. This led to many areas of the body that were much heavier than was really necessary, since there was no way to CAD test the designs. Basically, you build a prototype and drive it around until something broke, wobbled of buzzed. Gussets and braces are then added, greatly increasing costs. Good look at a Cadillac of the era; there are braces all over the cars, which is a basic Fisher body design. To get the smoothness and quietness you need in an expensive car, this is how it was done. A well designed unit body would negate all this and, in theory anyway, would be both cheaper and stronger to produce.
Needless to say, testing, gusseting, bracing and filling is a rather slow and expensive process, the reason that, in real terms, cars are cheaper today that fifty years ago. Anyway, Ford was very, and justifiably proud of its engineering but the marketplace didn’t give a damn! It was all fins and chrome, ladies and germs and GM nailed this right on the head with abominations like their 1958 and ’59 models, which got to the pinnacle of wildness and sold loads of cars.
The delay in CAD adoption by auto companies was more due to complacency and ignorance than any shortage of technical equipment or men. Even then, GM took the lead in the early sixties (with the ex-GE Patrick Hanratty). If the American car companies had been as astute in adapting and developing new technology as GE (radio, TV, broadcasting, computerised payroll processing in `54), history would have been different today. GE is still seen as a powerhouse of innovation, while GM… well.
I seem to recall that the Ford Fox platform was the first to use CAD (Modal analysis)?
My CC Clue guess wasn’t even close. I hang my canted headlights in shame.
Me too…I like these cars a lot, always have. But I didn’t see one very often, so they didn’t get burned into my tender little car brain like the Forward Look cars did.
The lead in picture made me think; Ambassador – I don’t know why but it does have a very Kenosha Kadillac vibe about it.
For those mentioning a 430 2brl, the thought about fuel economy popped into my mind. I recently discovered that Holley makes some “EFI” units designed to replace a carburetor with two to four injectors in various CFM ratings and an engine control computer. I am back to fantasizing that I could get a 60s to 70s behemoth into the low 20s hwy mpg with proper tuning. 😛 Aye, my mind, I need to turn it off…
In developing these Lincolns, Ford engineers bought a Nash Ambassador to see how such a large unit-body car was built . . . . .
My father bought one of these, a Premiere, in late 1957. Apparently it was problematic because it didn’t stay long. I’ve long thought it one of the most sinister looking cars ever made. Like the 1955-56 Packards, it certainly does have an Eastern bloc vibe, doesn’t it? Nikita Khrushchev would have looked quite in home in the back seat of that black one.
Which is hilarious, because the Soviets copied the Packards and Lincolns due to their having such a “western bloc vibe”. We get our view of the cars due to their having flopped, being immediately forgotten, but constantly seeing the Soviet copies of the cars during the following three decades.
McNamara was right, this car should have been killed and was. The 1961 model sold far better and generated fat profits for Ford. I have always thought of these things as the strangest contrivances on the planet. There are very few of them left but last summer I saw one for sale on the side of a road in a very small town in British Columbia, Soviet Canuckistan. The first thing that struck me was the sheer size of the thing, it is honking huge. A 131 inch wheelbase is gargantuan and it seem enormous when you stand next to it. The car is a mishmash of all kinds of weird angles that don’t seem to flow with each other, like a bunch of styling cues that were smooshed together. Lincolns were always higher quality and better engineered than Cadillacs but the lacked the appeal of the Caddy for some reason or other. GM just plain did styling better.
The 430 is a boat anchor of a thing and I know why they did the 2 bbl carb: this thing is all about torque, baby, torque. Ford V-8’s have always been great for that, gobs of understressed torque that is what 99.99% of the owners of these car want. The set up and maintenance of a 4 bbl in this era was considerably more complicated than later on. In fact, the Quadrajet was the first really low maintenance 4 bbl, something most people have forgotten. I would wager that the owners of Lincolns never knew the difference.
Finally, didn’t anyone notice the 1965 National Parks of Soviet Canuckistan sticker? Seems this car either was sold in Canuckistan or went on some good road trips.
The car is a mishmash of all kinds of weird angles that don’t seem to flow with each other, like a bunch of styling cues that were smooshed together.
I remember reading that the folds and creases were supposed to contribute to the structural integrity of the unit-body. Ford engineers knew that creasing metal contributed to strength but minus the computing power that would come along soon it was hard for them to calculate just how much folding/creasing was needed. At least that’s the story I’ve always heard.
It was Chrysler in designing it’s 1960 unibody models that first used computers in engineering . . . . . they bragged about this in their advertising. Then after the computations, they built hundreds of plastic body models.
> The set up and maintenance of a 4 bbl in this era was considerably more complicated than later on. In fact, the Quadrajet was the first really low maintenance 4 bbl, something most people have forgotten.
I disagree with you on that. The Carter AFB was introduced in 1957. It is a relatively simple, reliable design 4 bbl. Once setup, it maintains its settings well over normal ambient and operating conditions. An AFB has no external gaskets below the float level, so it can’t weep fuel onto the intake manifold. It is easy to change rods, jets and springs with the carb on the car for tuning. It doesn’t have the Holley’s power valve which will blow out if the car backfires through the carb.
From a bit of online research, it appeared on 430cid engines in Lincolns starting in 1958, so they didn’t all get the 2 bbl. Carter is gone, but the AFB is still sold today, virtually unchanged, through Edelbrock.
Lincoln’s problem in the 1950s was that it lacked a consistent identity. Ford initially couldn’t figure out the market slot for Lincoln. The 1952 models were very good cars, but Earle MacPherson developed them to compete with the Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight. Before the cars went on sale, someone at Ford took a second look at this strategy, and realized that it left the luxury field wide open for Cadillac. So the cars were frantically upgraded in an attempt to compete directly with Cadillac.
The 1952 Lincolns were excellent cars with worthwhile engineering innovations (ball-joint front suspension among them). They are also, in my opinion, better looking than a contemporary Cadillac. But they just didn’t have the presence of Cadillac in the marketplace…a Cadillac looked like a Cadillac, while the Lincoln looked like a very nice Ford.
Lincoln introduced new bodies for 1952, 1956 and 1958. Each of those cars could have been produced by a different company. Cadillac, meanwhile, had new bodies for 1950, 1954, 1957 and 1959. All of those cars LOOKED like Cadillacs. This continuity carried Cadillac even when the competition arguably had superior styling, as Lincoln did from 1952-54, or the Imperial during 1955-56.
During my childhood there were two Lincolns in my small midwestern town and both belonged to friends of my parents. My Dad’s friend owned a 57 convertible in turquoise with a white top, a rarely seen, very attractive car that was eventually traded for a 62 Cadillac Fleetwood. The other was a new 60 Lincoln Continental Mark V four door in metallic green that belonged to a friend of my mother’s (IIRC, it was traded for a 65 Olds Starfire coupe). Despite having the breezeway window for good air circulation, it was one of the first cars in which I experienced factory automotive air conditioning, a true luxury at that time in the midwest. I thought it was quite the ride until the stunningly beautiful (and trend-setting) 61 Lincoln Continental debuted and made all of Lincolns from 1950-60 look like the dog’s lunch.
The 61 really put Lincoln on a path with a solid identity and strong sales for decades to come. My Dad was sufficiently inspired to eventually buy a 65 Thunderbird, 71 Town Car, and 78 Mark V Cartier. Today the Lincoln Division seems more lost than it was in the 50s, perhaps never to find a way home. With all the demand today for luxury makes with sport and personal car attributes, it is a shame that Ford is not producing contemporary versions of the Lincoln and Thunderbird that meet market needs. I love my Infiniti G37 but would happily buy the equivalent from Ford if they had a product of the same characteristics and quality.
If you think this car is wierd, go look at a 1957-58 Mercury, especially the ’57 Turnpike Cruiser. Which would be a wonderful follow up to this article, hint, hint.
like this ’58
I love these.
58′ Park Lane 2 door hardtop, 430 4bbl, LOADED w/ A/C… AWESOME.
I remember opening the Sunday paper in late 1956 and being shocked out of my Jockeys by a full-color ad for the ’57 Turnpike Cruiser. Talk about surface development! There was stuff going on on every square inch of this thing! The rear fenders scooped out inlayed with genuine waffle-patterned, gold anodized aluminum (Mercury called it a “projectile molding”). Mind blowing! And the antennas protruding from the top edges of the windshield-how Sputnikian! As an eight-year old I thought that no wilder a design would ever be developed. I was numb with awe. This was the apotheosis of automotive design. The end. It was all over.
“The car is a mishmash of all kinds of weird angles that don’t seem to flow with each other, like a bunch of styling cues that were smooshed together.”
and history repeats itself later on with the Bangled mangled BMW’s.
Despite the awkward detailing, the basic shape must be well-proportioned, as it doesn’t look that huge.
I do love the atomic era upholstery and the use of gold ‘dingbats’ (I think that’s what you call those googie era starbursts) everywhere. However, if I was wealthy in 1960, and wanted something bigger and faster than my Rover, I would have gone for the Imperial.
It all changed in ’61, when the Kennedy Lincoln became the Lexus of the ’60s, showing the competition how to make a restrained and high quality luxury car. Comparing the ’60 to ’61, its amazing how different they were in defining luxury. ’60 was all about size and bling, ’61 actually told the public that real luxury is having a power window motor that would last 20 years. It is interesting that the cheapening and re-biggening of the Continental in the late 60s coincided with Mercedes gaining a US foothold with the S-class. Just as Lexus sales took off once Mercedes let their accountants cut corners.
When will automakers finally learn that at the top end of the market, bulletproof quality and over-engineering sell? Sure you can get away with cheapening things one or two years, but word gets around, and then your reputation is ruined.
The problem was the Lincoln sales soared in the 1970s, when it was selling cars that were every bit as big and flashy as Cadillacs. Sales of the suicide-door Lincolns peaked at about 50,000 units, if I recall correctly. Lincoln sales would almost hit 200,000 units in the late 1970s.
The Continental Mark V, in its WORST year, easily beat the sales rate of the suicide-door models by a significant factor. Even more importantly, from Ford’s standpoint, the Continental Mark IV and V trounced the contemporary Cadillac Eldorado in sales. If you were a Lincoln-Mercury dealer, or a Ford executive, shareholder or UAW worker, you probably LOVED those 1970s Lincolns.
Yup. Lincoln finally figured it out: gussy up a big Ford, and the profits margins soar. Lincoln’s attempts to build unique cars in the fifties and early sixties cost too much. Cheap big luxury for the masses! That’s what happened in the seventies, and it was like a drug, until the effects wore off.
It’s definitely a drug! The problem is that, once you’ve cheapened your product, and the elite catches on, followed by the general public…then what? As Cadillac and Lincoln are discovering, it’s incredibly difficult to truly revive a fallen luxury brand.
Who’s next?
I Love “dingbats ” as a word for those silly ornate stars , space patterns.
When I was learning about what car was what in 60’s I’d see these Linc’s and go “is that a Chrysler?”.
Do you recognize this man? Know why he’s standing there?
Some get stoned, some get strange, but sooner or later it all gets real. – Neil Young, Walk On
Nicely done.
http://www.lincvolt.com/lincvolt_lincvoltgazette
Looks like Neil Young and his 1959 Lincoln “Lincvolt” that was converted to electric drive, or else he’s doing a cover version of David Wilcox’ song “I Am The Motor”.
To feed his massive ego.
Don’t get me started on rich celebrities with their idiotic “look how I’m saving the planet” show-off ego-feeds. Sorry, but the Lincvolt takes the cake in that department. Was I the only atheist who thought there might really be a God after all when the Lincvolt went up in flames?
Nope. I laughed my ass off, too. And, did you ever notice that all the articles written on that car never mentioned weight? Start with a 5700lb car, remove motor, then add tons of batteries . . . . . . .
Hey, compared with how a lot of stars burn up their money, Neil’s being pretty darned constructive. Would you build your fantasy car if you had the money?
No reason an electric car has to be small, it’s just cheaper that way. Fabulous American cruisers with gobs of instant carbon-free power, why not? Something about these Space Age Lincolns just begs for 21st Century propulsion.
Mike, I don’t mean to come across like the cynical jerk I’ve become in my old age, but…if Neil wanted to build himself an electric Sherman Tank, or Mack truck, who am I to care or criticize, except for the fact that he made such a huge and endless media circus out of it. And the media gets a big share of the blame of course.
Here’s the thing: Neil and others of his ilk make it sound like their doing something really important, which is of course why they’re doing it. But they’re not; what they’re doing is a tempest in a teapot. It has no significance on the automotive world or environment whatsoever.
You think his Lincvolt somehow had an effect on the automotive world, technology, or environmental reality? None; zip; nada. The Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt bounded past all the home-brew EV concoctions in one giant leap. And just how much they’re going to change the world remains to be seen too. I’d like to hope so.
So here’s the big question: how much energy has the whole Lincvolt project used? All those folks Neil has hired to work on it, all their commuting, all the energy to build its batteries, the energy to run the shop, the energy to run their endless PR machine. The energy for the Fire Dept. to come and put out the fire when it went up in smoke. The energy to rebuild it. If you added it all up, I’d bet the Lincvolt has used up more carbon than if Neil were to drive an MEL-powered Lincoln around the world for several lifetimes. Or at least one.
So what has the Linkvolt project really done? Wasted a lot of energy to prove nothing: that it’s possible to power a big barge electrically? As if I didn’t know that already?
Neil can play with his toys anyway he wants, I just don’t want to hear him spew his endless self-aggrandizing PR BS about how he’s saving carbon/the planet. He’s not.
I was simply identifying the person.
This project made as much sense as if Jay Leno had tried to claim that his warehouses full of cars were somehow saving the environment.
Annoyed by a rock star claiming to change the world…you were around for the Sixties?
Imagine a world without the need for fuel mileage limits. We drive on inexpensive renewable and nuclear energy, no worries about wars, climate change or smog. Fabulous Space Age cruisers, whatever style and comfort we like, back on the road.
That’s the point of the LincVolt, and that’s the effect it can have on what we drive. EVs are not limited to little urban scooters, that’s just how they start. Clean car technology is in our hands, its prices are coming down. The more people realize the all the possibilities, the quicker and happier people would be about making it happen. Eventually big beautiful electrics will roll.
PS: I would build LincVolt as a pure plug-in electric. Making ethanol fuel out of food makes no sense.
PPS: Sooner or later I’ll have to build that Nash Electro-lyte.
Wow, Paul. For a minute there I thought I was reading one of MY comments. 🙂 A couple of edits to the last sentence (Catholic instead of atheist) and I am with you the whole way. Why, oh why, couldn’t Neil Young have just been a fan of the awful 59 Cadillac instead.
I’m with you, JP, although in a more Protestant frame of mind 🙂
Couldn’t Neil have just hired someone to follow him around and say he’s wonderful? It would have been easier on that poor old Lincoln – one of 2,195 built.
Its a good thing he (He? SHe?) lit up that stodgy box-on-wheels. He couldn’t have found a better car for the purpose. The contemporary Imperial is way better, and the 59 Caddy is on another level completely.
Why, oh why, couldn’t Neil Young have just been a fan of the awful 59 Cadillac instead?
I don’t know if he’s a “fan” but he does have some history with them 🙂
I Ctrl-F’ed thruough the comments to see if anyone mentioned Neil Young – sure enough yes, in about half the comments 🙂
You all do know Neil inadvertently leaked the news that there was a new 2016 Lincoln Continental on the way before anyone knew, right?
http://www.autoblog.com/2014/12/18/neil-young-2016-lincoln-continental-leak-video-report/
I think that was the electric Lincoln that caught fire…
The 1960 Lincolns differ from the 1958-59 cars in a couple of interesting respects. First, they got the less-powerful 2V engine — the ’58-’59 cars had a four-barrel — but the rear suspension also reverted from coils and semi-trailing arms to leaf springs (as did the 1960 Thunderbird). The semi-trailing arm rear suspension was developed to facilitate the use of air springs, which as Tom mentions was a short-lived and troublesome option (and never made it to the T-Bird at all, so far as I know). However, Thunderbird chief engineer John Hollowell said the geometry was a mess, so they abandoned it as quickly as they could. It was quite a while before Lincoln returned to rear coils.
I doubt any of the Lincolns sold here new once the tax and conversion costs got added in it would have been a lunatic price and people with that sort of money just bought another RollsRoyce anyway and got overengineered quality they did not buy a Ford
Although I am no fan of this vintage Lincoln, it does have a certain something that makes them at least entertaining, it doesn’t even seem that crazy looking at it now, black is the color for one of these for sure.
Looking at this big elegant luxury car of yesterday in a showroom full of Fiestas, Focuses and Fusion for some reason makes me imagine an impeccably dressed woman in pearls and gloves standing in line at the DMV.
I owned a 1960 Lincoln sedan for about a year. Like the 62 and 68 Lincolns I also owned it was light tan. (Not that I particularly like tan, it just worked out that way.) In defiance of Tom’s statement that they all had power windows, mine had windup windows…and no power seat either. Although these were huge cars, they did have a lot of room inside – there’s more rear seat legroom in one of them than anything I’ve seen since that wasn’t a long-wheelbase variant. (Tom, you should have showed us a photo of the rear compartment on that car you photographed….) I bought mine from a little old lady in Poulsbo – it was straight and rust-free with perfect bumpers, and drove and handled well. I actually liked its handling better than that of the 1962 convertible I’d had several years previously. I never had any sort of trouble with it, except for the fact of its being one of too many cars. I didn’t notice any lack of body integrity with it either; that may have been the consequence of its having been a well-cared-for car.
Actually, power windows and a power seat were optional on the standard Lincoln. Premieres and Continentals had them as standard equipment, according to the Standard Catalog of American Cars.
I’ve never been a fan of this generation of lincoln. In contrast, the mid-1950s Premieres and Capris (Joanne Woodward drove a great example in “The Long Hot Summer”) were truly classy automobiles. Just the right amount of class and flash; big and imposing but not overdone, and elegant designs which still look great more than 50 years later. The 58-60 ones, on the other hand, display a vulgarity and bad taste which is on-par with the Electras and Devilles of the same time period.
Do these win the prize for most rear overhang of any car? Sure looks like it, especially the Continentals because of the reverse slanted rear window.
Speaking of those Continentals . . . well, that’s exactly what Ford would not do, for a long time, reverting in 1968 to the Mark III, as if the 1958-60 Mark III-V had never existed. Is there any other model of car that got written out of its own make’s history like that? (The ’58 Continental advertising literature clearly shows Ford intended it at the time to be seen as a successor to the Mark II.)
Of course, if Ford hadn’t done that, I suppose we would have something like the Lincoln MKXIV now . . . .
I’m pretty sure the ’58-60 models never used the term “Continental”. All the examples I’ve seen said “Mark III”, “Mark IV”, or “Mark V” on them, with no continental label.
http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Lincoln/1958_Lincoln/1958_Lincoln_Brochure/1958%20Lincoln-01.html
They were called Continentals
Looks great until you get to the cat’s-eye glasses face! Ooooo! Not cute! But wow, what a great interior. Love it or loathe it, this car stands for something that contemporary Lincolns do not. If Lincoln made this today, I would consider buying it. Remember they had a concept a few years ago that took off of the mid 60’s Continental? Just because Ford got badly burned on the retro T-Bird (which was overpriced and impractical, and 2 seater retro, like the SSR) doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t look to their heritage for classic designs. The current crop of Lincolns is awful.
Ford, Lincoln and Mercury were doing some pretty “trick” glass roofs and convertibles in the day, the Skyliner especially. But the Lincoln was cool with the breeze-way AND the convertible combined.
I like this thing, just for the ridiculousness. And the dashboard. But some serious upgrades would be in order before I’d drive one regularly–getting it moving would suck up all the fuel in a four-block radius, and then there’s stopping a 5700-pound car with (presumably) drum brakes.
If you want to look like a member of the Politburo in what must be the most Soviet-limo-looking car in American automotive history, this is what you need.
Curb weight was more like 4900 lbs, and around 5100 for convertibles.
Hey…no fair dissing the retro Thunderbird, I have an ’03 in Mountain Shadow grey with a saddle tan interior, I just love driving this car. I am fond of telling people that I finally got my ’57 Thunderbird years late. And btw, it draws looks and compliments everywhere I go, even had a guy approach me in a parking lot offering to buy it on the spot, and he was driving a new Mercedes CLK convertible. Impractical, yes indeedy, absolutely, but I have a Mercury Mariner for plain-Jane practicality. This is the wind-in-your-hair, devil-may-care, loads o’ fun convertible experience, handles competently, and it’s a keeper for many more years (unlesss Ford reissues a new version).
I agree, though, the current crop of Lincolns is ghastly. They have lost their way yet again. I still can’t keep straight in my mind all the MK-whatevers. I would love to see Ford restore their classic design cues, and it would start with the center-opening doors on the LIncoln, there was never a more elegant automotive element. My parents had the ’65 Continental, and you felt like a million bucks driving that car. I remember some advertising in the day suggesting that you “gracefully enter the car,” rather than climbing in. And I recall some decent gas mileage on long trips in that car, like maybe 15-17 or so mpg, even with the 4-barrel 430 engine. Lincolns represented such understated elegance (the 60’s models, not the 70’s), Ford would do well to come full circle back to those design cues.
Regards the Soviet-era limos, a few years back I had a Mercedes CLK that I regularly serviced at an independent Mercedes-only shop when I lived in San Diego, the owner was originally from Poland. One day he had a mid-80’s ZIL limousine in his shop, the first and the last one of these I have ever seen in the U.S. Big, black, squared off, curtains in the windows, bullet-proof windows on gigantic thick doors, horrendously ungainly, kind of Volvo-ish looking on major steroids. Not at all like any LIncoln, past or present. I remember him saying what a major POS it was, nearly impossible to keep running, sort of like the Soviet state.
The center-opening doors are doable, and easily! Think of all the “suicide” semi-doors on things like the MINI Clubman, or on some extended cab pickups. I don’t know why someone doesn’t do a full version (from the factory; I know you can have them done on one’s own car, for a price).
Biggest problem with modern suicide doors is that they’re made so they can’t be opened unless the front door is. Kind of a hassle on most of them, an unacceptable one on a “real” 4-door sedan.
The current Rolls-Royce Phantom has true, separately-openable rear suicide doors, so it’s clearly still possible to meet modern safety regulations using them.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1959-LINCOLN-CONTINENTAL-NO-RESERVE-FULL-AIR-RIDE-HOT-ROD-RAT-ROD-LEAD-SLED-/251064942623?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3a74a3001f
I just had to add this link. Likely a better use of a classic Lincoln than Mr. Young’s, 😛
I really like the styling of these Lincolns. I didn’t know they were unit body, however.
A curious question came to mind looking at these pictures once again. In between my parents’ ’59 Ford and ’65 Continental, they had a ’63 Mercury Monterey Custom 4-door hardtop with the Breezeway rear window (loved that window, we had it down most of the time). The four-door hardtop had a matching body color triangular piece at the lower rear corner of the rear doors, presumably some sort of supportive mechanism. I always thought it spoiled the clean looks of the hardtop. I note this element is missing on these LIncoln hardtops. Anybody know why the difference, if Ford could make do without it on the LIncolns, why did it appear on the Mercury three years later?
I always understood that those triangles on some 4 door hardtops (Ford seemed to use this trick the most) were to make the window small enough to go down far enough into the door. The doors in the Lincoln were big enough that the full sized window could slide right down. Ford eliminated the triangles on the 65s by making the roofs on the 4 door hardtops intrude further into the door window area to keep the window a little shorter than in the sedans.
These Breezeaway sedans along With The Flair Birds Have always reminded me Of Speedboads With The Passenger Area Covered.
I Have always been fascinated by these. I don’t like the base ones as much, But I Love How different they are. The Breezeaway and PW, PS are real reasons to Move on up.
They seem hard to keep renning…especially the complex convertible with the Breezeaway. Was It a Hardtop as Well.
Any Color For Me. Lavender Would Be my Choice. and May I please Have a Heather or pink One With Plenty of Dingbats and WangDangDoodle.
Thanks, JP, that makes sense, never quite considered that. Actually, now that I think back, Ford used this trick for several years, sometimes better integrated into the sail panel than others. It was a nice look when the rear windows would fully retract.
A family friend had a 60 Premire and I used to drive it quite a bit as one of the first cars I drove after getting licensed. I always like driving it. Even though it’s big you know where the corners are, unlike todays cars. I also always thought it had one of the nicest dashboards of any car I’ve seen as far as a proper dash for a luxury car. The whole atmosphere of the car was what I would call jewel-like, everything seemed to be well made and well fitted. The handles for the electric window switches are a good example, not just “paddles” sticking up but tall thin triangular shaped switch levers. Up thru around the 1969 model the Lincolns continued to have this kind of “presence” and “quality” feel to them. Then it seemed to me they changed design philosphy and the cars just started to lose their “presence”, they no longer looked like they were carved from a billet but started to look like every other car with cheap looking chrome strips positioned to hid the poor body panel joints, wavy panels, and just general lack of having their sh!t together stylistically and qualitywise.
I owned a ’62 for a while and was always amused that it controlled its heat and vent controls using a pseudo radio dial and tuning knob. Imagine my surprise to see a circular dial serving the same purpose here.
Actually some things look familiar in there–the power window switchgear, the heater duct arm rests, they carried over into the ’61+ Continentals.
Funny how all those ‘luxury car’ equipment is standard today on even the cheapest econocar. That’s progress!
Whats not progress is that Lincoln found itself in the same boat [i]again[/i] today.
These have to be the single most sinister looking murder-mobiles in history.
If my black ’71 Imperial coupe met this in a dark alley it would cowwer back with it’s tail between it’s legs.
I gotta have one.
Black of course, and why bother if it’s not a Contenental with the reverse C pillar Breezway!
Is your Imperial a coupe? They’re a lot rarer than the four-door hardtops. I did a CC Capsule on one last year: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-outtake/cc-capsule-1973-imperial-lebaron-coupe-green-machine/
If you’d ever like to do a “My CC” on it, or any of your other cars, you can drop a line to Paul or myself through the “Contact” icon at the top of the page. I’m sure we’d all love to hear about them!
Thanks Tom, I might just do that! Sounds like fun.
Yes, it’s a coupe. They only made a little over 1,400 that year, even less for other fuselage years.
Now to check out your linc of your article.
Thanks!
Much enjoyed reading about ’58-’60 Lincolns. I’m of the opinion that these were perhaps the most homely cars ever built but that doesn’t mean I hate the cars. What were Ford stylists thinking when they put all those incongruous angles and scallops and creases and doo-dads on? And that rear overhang – ghastly! What did Henry Ford II think about this car or was he involved at all?
Check out this lowrider version of a 1958 Lincoln. Wow, is it ever an improvement. Compare the car raised up, showing off the rear overhang (awful) versus lowered down (way cool and way out!).
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lincoln-Continental-Mark-III-1958-lincoln-continental-mark-iii-lowrider-rat-hot-rod-custom-murdered-/231168022204?forcerrptr=true&hash=item35d2b016bc&item=231168022204&pt=US_Cars_Trucks
A hideous, bloated blob of a car. Inexcusably ugly today and yesterday. Thankfully Lincoln pulled it’s head out of its…for 1961 and beyond. It’s also interesting that the equally hideous 1958 to 1960 Thunderbirds were built in the same factory.
Can anyone identify the red car? This picture was taken circa July 1971 if that helps in any way.
Thanks in advance
It’s a 1961 Plymoith Valiant. 61 was the only year of the cat’s eye taillights on a 2 door hardtop.
Thank you so much.
The styling of the `58-60 Lincoln in one word-garish. Especially when compared to the very clean and elegant `56-57 Continental Mk.lls. What went wrong?
A huge mistake on Lincoln’s part. These cars were garish, overweight and overwrought. And yet the smaller, trimmer ’61s were just about as heavy, and sold not much better – 24,820 for 1960 vs. 25,160 for the ’61s. Although the “kennedy” lincolns became iconic for the ’60s they really fell further and further behind Cadillac in prestige, features and sales. Not until the ’70s did Lincoln field a lineup that was remotely competitive with GM’s top make.
I would argue that you’re wrong about prestige. The 1961-69 Lincoln Continentals were equal in prestige to Cadillac and their association with JFK added to the image. Even President Johnson’s love for the convertibles (ironically one of the few things he shared with JFK) and his more rustic use of them on the ranch probably did not hurt. Cadillac sales were huge as a result of a more conventional design, availability in more models, and a bigger dealer network with competitive pricing. Exclusivity may bring prestige but as Paul notes above, a less expensive approach in the 70’s (my Dad’s 1978 Mark V Cartier edition had the same shift handle used throughout the Ford lineup) brought the Lincoln Division the sales figures only dreamed about in previous decades.
tell you what, the 58 Merc pictured above is much nicer in style than the 60 Linc. However, the 61 and up Linc with the suicide doors were a huge step forward. This 60 looks very strange externally, although the inside is beautiful. The ’60 imperial is also weird with the crazy smile grille. The 60 Caddy is the one I would have gone for.
I would say it took until the 1970s for Lincoln to out-Cadillac Cadillac.
Yep, And not ironically would Lincoln (correctly in some eyes) use that to their advantage in the late 80s.
It is my contention that had it not been for the too large/too exotic/over done 1958 – 1960 Lincolns, there would not have been the incredible 1961 Lincoln Continental.
If Lincoln had continued with the 1952-57 styling theme for the 1958 -1960 Lincolns, sales would most likely have sold better and therefore would not have required a total rethinking of the excess and failure of the 1958 – 1960 models. So in a way, these Lincolns were needed so as to end up with the fantastic and elegant 1961 Lincoln Continentals.
While the 1958 – 1960 Lincolns are interesting and have expensively done exterior trim and interiors, they are no comparison to the 1961s. As you can see by this awesome photo of a 1961, these cars should be worth over $100,000 – Not Hemi Barracudas and the like. Hard to believe that a 1957 Chevy sedan will command a higher price.
Of course if they were valued more, I would not own my 1961 sedan and convertible.
I think the car in the photo is painted Sunburst Yellow, maybe the best color of this car (other than black and white – none colors).
We used to call “big bodacious rides” painted in pastel colors “Florida cars”!!
One of my all time favorite Lincoln’s, wish they weren’t so rare and hard to find, I’ve seen a orchid colored Lincoln of this vintage in excellent shaped parked outside of a residence and I’ve always preferred them to the Cadillac’s of this vintage, also weren’t these the biggest Lincoln’s ever built prior to the 5mph bumper era?
Now why does this black 1960 Lincoln remind me of something I would have seen in East Germany and Soviet Union back in the late 60’s?
A more likely scenario (albeit in a lighter color):
Space Age and MCM. It is a nice combo.
I’m gonna git it fer this: The 1956-1960 Lincolns were Lincolns. The 49-55s were Bada$$ Mercurys, But EVERYONE loves the 61, Ok, Yes, a beautiful design, But no better than (actually inferior to…) the 1963 Buick Riviera, and was actually a 4 door competitor to that class of “personal” car, (it was intended to be a Thunderbird) The “unloved” 58-60 Lincolns may be “dated” by modern eyes, but in fact closer to it’s Cadillac and Imperial (Technically, the best of the lot in 1960..) competition.
I’ve read most of the 120 some odd comments, and can add maybe a couple of original thoughts.
1960 was the final year for a true pillar less four door hardtop Lincoln. Ever. While the ’61-’69 standard Lincoln was a truly classy machine, the ’60s were a full decade of hardtops as prestige cars, and Lincoln was missing in action in a major market segment. Not to mention a lack of two door hardtops until 1965. Interesting decisions where they struggled to sell a quarter of Cadillac’s volume in a good year. When Lincoln’s body style offerings became more mainstream in the 1970s, their volume shot up like a rocket.
The ’58-’60 Lincoln really put the “low” in “longer, lower, and wider.” I saw one of these in a museum last year, and despite its tremendous size, from a straight on front view, the car came off almost diminutive.
Nice to see this generation of Lincoln featured. Massive cars ignored for years as desirable to collect. Restoration would be quite an undertaking and you would need deep pockets.
In grade one my friend’s parents bought one and I had a chance to sit in the back seat. It made quite an impression on me as our family was yet to purchase a car. A few years ago i appraised a 60 Continental and was reminded of the craftsmanship and attention to detail these cars received.
The word got around fast that the 58 lincs were LEMONS when that happens
there go your sales and there goes the resale the dealers shit bricks
because they cant sell them and when they do sell one they know it will be
back to the dealer with problems and the customer will dump it
and buy a olds 98 or a caddy.
I never heard about these being lemons. The main complaints (then, and later among collectors.) seemed to be that they weren’t “real” “Continentals”, and that they were too big, (although I’ve never driven one, I understand they actually handled well for thier size…) Understand that I’m a GM guy, and If I were a potential Lincoln prospect in 1960, I’d have likely went for an Electra 225 or a DeVille, based on preferences, and In 1960 the Imperial was perhaps the best US luxury car, but the market went to Cadillac. With all that, Plus all of the attention payed to the “Squarebird” and Edsel, both “born” in ’58 These Lincolns, IMHO have been underrated then and now. I’ve never been a “Ford guy”, but I would not toss one of these unibody beasts out of my garage.
Hey let’s take our new 58 Lincoln to California We’ll drive this honey in the desert at
95 mph After all we got our 14 in wheels and crapo cheapo rayon tires on our
new 5000 lb honey whoops. no cell phones at hand in 1958.
Huge, overwrought, garish, all true. But I love these things in their baroque glory. The separate headlight pods on the ’58 were a touch too weird, but a ’59 or ’60 would suit me just fine.
Back in ’96 or ’97 I saw one of these Lincolns in a junkyard, either a ’59 or a ’60 Premiere. It looked to be 100% complete, all the glass was intact, hood and trunk shut, doors locked. It had been stacked on top of a 1st-gen Corvair in a little-traveled, somewhat overgrown section of the yard. I always wondered if it was put there for safekeeping in sort of a “too good to crush” scenario. This was a small, family-owned yard that turned their newer inventory regularly but had some older stuff that had obviously been there for years. Registration sticker showed it was last on the road in ’79.
I was a broke high-school kid with no mechanical know-how so I didn’t even bother to ask about it, but I’ve always hoped maybe it was saved. Probably not but you never know.
OK. I feel qualified to comment here, specifically comparing Lincolns (& Continentals), vs. Cadillacs, vs. Imperials…. having previously owned 4 or 5 old Lincolns (including a ’62 for 29 years), 3 or 4 Cadillacs, and 5 or 6 Imperials.
I agree with Tom Klockau here.. that the Lincolns of ’61 – ’69 had the greatest, pure quality… though the ’63 & ’64 Cadillacs did come close. Lincolns shined with quality components; Cadillacs shined in great execution of workmanship; and Imperials were of great DESIGN quality… though often lacked in execution thereof. The 60s Imperials often developed aggravating water leaks into the body, particularly around the rear window, just forward of the trunk lid. Post-’64 Cads did also, though not quite as often (due to Cad no longer installing real rubber gaskets for the windshield and rear windows). The problem for the Lincoln owner is excessive complexity (esp. electrical and exhaust) and pricey parts all these years later. Ball joints for Lincolns are pricey, most especially for the ’58 through ’60 models: we’re talking hundreds of dollars… apiece! To rebuild the front end on one of these late 50s Lincs.. is almost a thousand dollars for parts alone! Lincoln parts are harder to find, too. Cad and Imp parts are not nearly as expensive, though Imps do have a few “Imp-only” parts.
One BIG ‘plus’ for Cadillac is that they came with dual-master-cylinders.. starting in ’62: five years ahead of all other makes.. but Rambler. Ever blow a brake line or a brake hose in one of these heavyweights.. as you’re motoring down the highway…. and it fails without warning?? You might need a new pair of shorts afterwards!
I want your Lincoln. Beautiful. This post basically answered all of my concerns about Lincoln vs continental & if their was ever just a Lincoln. I love you. Owner of a 1968 Lincoln continental.
At first glance, that roofline sure resembles that of a 1959 Ford. One would have thought they might have differentiated it a wee bit more.
Great story about the owner also.
I remember the Swap your Ride promo that Ford ran for a couple of years, 2010-11 or so. They paid out not bad money then for used car trade-ins.
It does say something about how the public thought of these that Lincoln sales only declined slightly for ’61 despite the radically pared-down lineup.
I’ve pointed out before that the ’61 Continental sedan’s prices started halfway between the Cadillac Sedan de Ville and Fleetwood 60 Special, while the convertible was priced alongside the Fleetwood Eldorado. There was no longer an attempt to compete with Caddy’s then still strong-selling Series 62 and no 2-doors at a time when the hardtop Coupe de Ville was the best-selling single model in the Caddy lineup, so Lincoln was going for profit-per-unit not market share and the fact they weren’t as often seen meant exclusivity, not unpopularity.
But getting back to the ’58-60s it’s surprising to learn the convertible only came in Continental trim; Cadillac offered a ragtop in Series 62 and CdV form, both of which outsold the Eldorado Biarritz.
Lincoln did such a nice job up to 1958, but with little market success at the time. You add in the superb Continental Mark, and you can understand that Lincoln by 1955 went crazy. Chrysler did the same thing at the same time – went crazy. These are fashion monsters unleashed at a time when the fashion for them ended.
Who bought these? Had to be folks born 50 years earlier – around 1900-1910, and were kids during the Great War of 1918. Then they fought in WWII and Korea. They went through the Great Depression, the Holocaust, the birth of the Atomic Age. Learned to drive with Model T Fords, Willys Overlands, Studebakers, Nashes and Hudsons. They built Post War USA, Levittown, Argonne National Lab, the TVA, Grand Coulee, and Hoover dams. They worked six days a week, raised six kids, stayed married to the same spouse. Smoked and drank Schlitz, Pabst and Budweiser, regardless of income. They thought sliced bread, men’s Jockeys, and nylon hosiery the latest miracles. Women wore furs without fretting about the animals draped over their shoulders.
This is the car for them. These weren’t designed for Boomer kids. They was designed for their grandparents. These Lincolns, Cadillacs and Imperials were a natural progression that they had witnessed since Unconditional Japanese Surrender thirteen years earlier.
Lincoln had an ad campaign in ’59 showing “typical owners” which gives you some idea of the kind of people Lincoln was appealing to.
Our image of the ’50s was distorted by pop culture–Happy Days, American Graffiti, etc. It was not James Dean and teeny-bopper girls in poodle skirts listening to rock ‘n roll, driving around in hot rods. That was a minority–not mainstream. Upper- and upper-middle class adults in their 40s-60s were really running the show. They had a distinct culture of their own, which is not celebrated in ’50s “nostalgia” events and movies.
Our neighbors in small town Indiana who bought a new 1960 Lincoln Continental were a prosperous young couple in their early 30s who owned an excavating business. At the same time they built an incredibly large and luxurious mid-century modern house. It would be interesting to know the demographics of the owners of these cars. Based on photos I’ve seen in various books and journals (I’m an architectural docent at a Frank Lloyd Wright house) I suspect that a fair number were mid-century modern architects.
Any time I see one of these Lincolns, I’m reminded of Eva Marie Saint escaping in a Lincoln converitble after shooting Cary Grant at Mount Rushmore via “North by Northwest”.