(Uncredited)

Originally published in the Third Quarter 1981 issue of Continental Comments (Issue # 145).

The happiest Police Department in the country is Dearborn, Michigan. They ride around in their 25 Lincolns, 1981 Town Cars or Mark VIs.

Sticker prices on these Lincolns are $15,000 to $18,000, but they are being leased for $1 each per year. In addition, the Ford Motor Company handles all services on the restraint system and repairs any breakdowns, promptly.

Some of these Lincolns are used for surveillance, but most are marked and rigged with such familiar police car equipment as flashers, sirens, prisoner restraints and emergency gear.

Louis B. Ross, Executive Vice-President, Product Development Group for Ford’s North American Automotive Operations, noted that “Ford believes this program will provide real-world experience of our lastest inflatable-restraint design which could contribute to the development of future passive restraint systems.”

The air-bags being tested are fully operational and have been under development for four years. Ford representatives began working with the Dearborn Police Department a year prior to develop this experimental program.

It is estimated that each of the Lincoln squad cars will roll up between 50,000 and 75,000 miles in the coming year. Drivers make entries in log books provided by the company to assist Ford engineers in obtaining needed data during the regularly scheduled inspections.

Already there is valuable test data. Police Chief John T. Connolly reports that the Lincolns average 10.5 miles per gallon, compared to 8 miles per gallon with the previous Ford LTDs. “We feel that this is pretty good economy when you figure how tough traffic patrol is on any car. There’s a lot of round-the-clock driving in heavy traffic, a lot of idling time and a lot of quick starts.”

The Dearborn Police are the only ones in the country enjoying such luxury. But, this isn’t the first. Details are not known, but they have a picture of a 1932 Lincoln being used by their predecessors.

Attention!

Lincoln Continental Owners Club Members

That luxurious 1981 Lincoln behind you as you drive in Dearborn
might not be another member following you to the Eastern National Meet.

(Uncredited)

Originally published in the January/February 1996 issue of Continental Comments (Issue # 207).

Two exterior color/trim options were offered—“deep jewel green clearcoat metallic” and “arctic white clearcoat”. Some, possibly all, Jack Nicklaus Town Cars have contrasting vinyl roofs, (white on green cars and green on white cars). All Jack Nicklaus Town cars came with white leather upholstery with green piping on the seats and the Lincoln star on the seat backs sewn in green thread. Special badges with the “golden bear” and Jack Nicklaus’ signature appear on each front fender, on the lower deck lid and on the dash above the radio. The carpeting and floor mats are dark green, and the front mats have a small “golden bear” sewn near the outside edges.

Some dealers have also added chrome fender reveal moldings and gold plated exterior trim. About the only thing the car didn’t come with was a golf club compartment and a set of golf clubs. We guess that the ultimate golfer’s Lincoln would be a classic model of the ‘20s or ‘30s with an authentic golf club compartment and painted jewel green with a white top.

By Jim Farrell

Originally published in the September/October 1997 issue of Continental Comments (Issue # 218).

In the mid-1970s, when the Mark VI was conceived, Lincoln-Mercury product planners decided it should have all the interior room of previous Marks, be smaller on the outside, weigh substantially less and retain the same classic lines the Mark Series was famous for. No, it wasn’t as impossible as it sounds. By 1976, the Mark VI’s designers had met the goals the product planners had set. By the time the new 1980 Mark VI was introduced on October 12, 1979, Lincoln-Mercury Division thought it had one excellent automobile and they expected their market penetration to remain strong. By the end of the 1980 model year, Mark VI sales had plunged by more than 50%. What happened had less to do with the Mark VI itself than with the economy and government regulations that relegated big cars like the Mark V towards the same fate as the dinosaur.

The Mark V was to be the first downsized Mark Series Lincoln, but engine availability and other factors dictated that it be approximately the same size as the Mark IV it replaced. When it came time to design the Mark VI, Gale Halderman, who was in charge of the Lincoln-Mercury Design Studio and his executive stylist, John Aiken planned to build a car even smaller than the Mark VI turned out to be. The availability and use of the mid-sized Mercury Montego chassis dictated that the car they originally designed as the Mark VI be up sized. A really downsized Mark would have to wait until the 1984 Mark VII.

Halderman says that the focus groups that offered opinions on the final design of the Mark VI gave it the highest marks given any of Ford’s contemporary cars, except for the rear taillights, which originally extended up and over the top of the fenders on the prototypes. Comments from almost all of those in the focus groups said the Mark VI was great, except for “those funny looking taillights”. Needless to say, the “funny looking taillights” were changed.

Halderman and John Aiken, as the primary designers of the Mark VI, designed it to appeal to a specific group—well off, middle age or older men who wanted a sporty looking four passenger car, and that’s what the Mark VI is. The Mark VI had the misfortune of being designed at a time outside influences were set to conspire against it, starting just before the time it was introduced. Although Halderman didn’t know it at the time, in many ways, his original instinct that the Mark VI should be smaller was right on the money.

In the early 1970’s, the government also became more involved in the automobile business, even dictating some traditional design aspects. Government regulation is sometimes given as the primary reason for the Mark VI’s poor sales.

While there were a lot of regulations the automobile industry felt was strangling it, those regulations affected all manufacturers the same. Government regulations were not the reason Mark VI sales plunged. In 1979, a second oil crisis, this one caused by the Iranian Revolution, hit the Western World. The demand for all big cars plummeted. Just after the Mark VI was introduced, interest rates also shot up, on their way to a record 20%. By the end of 1980, the demand for big cars bottomed out, rebounded and then bottomed out again.

The Mark VI was not the Mark V. The perception of many, at the time, was that the Mark VI should be bigger than the Mark V, which was bigger than the Mark IV, which was bigger than the Mark III. The Mark III, IV and V were sporty, uncompromising big cars. The Mark VI went the other way. It was eleven inches shorter and 930 pounds lighter than the Mark V. The Mark VI was also 1.7 inches higher than the Mark V and the window line was lowered giving the Mark VI a slightly different image than the sporty looking Mark V. The Mark VI was also designed to appealed to a slightly older age group than the Mark V on the theory that baby boomers were growing a little older. (Apparently, many of those baby boomers weren’t old enough to appreciate the Mark VI.) Although it hasn’t been well publicized, the Mark VI also used many Lincoln Town Car body panels.

By 1985 over 200,000 Town Cars were sold. By 1988, over 400,000 Town Cars were sold. In many ways they look like Mark VIs even though 1983 was the last year the Mark VI was built. If anything, the Mark VI was a few years ahead of the market. If the baby boomers were too young in 1980-83, they were just the right age to buy the Town Car in 1985-89.

Styling of the 1980 Mark VI followed the rest of Ford’s product line but it did a better job of it. All Ford products of the late ‘70s were square and followed the so called “three box” theory of design. The Mark VI was not as square as the ‘77 Fairmont or the ‘79 Thunderbird, but there was a family resemblance. By the early 1980s, the square look had run its course at Ford Motor Co. and by 1984 the new Mark VII showed the more rounded aero look ushered in by the 1982 Taurus and Sable.

In 1980 and every year the Mark VI was produced, sales were a disaster. Even if you take into account the all new four door Mark VI, in 1980 total Mark VI sales — two door and four door — were a little less than 39,000 compared to the almost 76,000 Mark Vs produced in 1979. In 1981-83, Mark VI production hovered between 26,000 and 36,000.

Just because the Mark VI didn’t sell well doesn’t mean it was a bad car. Quite the contrary, the Mark VI was probably the finest Mark series automobile built as those lucky enough to own them today will attest. The Mark VI was the quietest Mark built to date. The steering was also much quicker and the car had a better seating position and more headroom. The biggest advance, however, was the industry’s first automatic overdrive transmission that gave the Mark VI about a seven miles per gallon advantage over the Cadillac Seville or the Mark V. The most important difference on the Mark VI was inside. Even though the exterior is smaller all the way around, Mark VI interior measurements were increased over the Mark V and even bettered the 1980 Cadillac!

After some quality control problems in the late 1970s, by the time the Mark VI was built, quality was king. After many years of “big” engined Marks, in 1980 the 400 and 460 cid engines were dropped in favor of the 302 and the 351 cid Ford corporate engines. Both engines were used on the 1980 Mark VI and both had Ford’s third generation computerized Electronic Engine Control. Mark VIs with the 302 came with fuel injection and those with the 351 cid optional Windsor engine came with the two-barrel carburetor used on the Versailles.

Reliability plus comfort plus classic good looks make the Mark VI a real bargain and its only a matter of time before more people begin to realize it. One who has always recognized the superiority of the Mark VI from the day he bought his new is Gene O’Connor of San Rafael, California. After five new Cadillacs, Gene decided that it was time for something else. By 1980, Gene and many others felt Cadillac had lost its luster. After comparing the Cadillac and the Lincoln Mark VI, Gene came to the conclusion that the Lincoln Mark VI was not only better looking, it had the Cadillac beat in just about every other way. Cadillac had already started to downsize and to many former Cadillac owners, it looked and felt that Cadillac had abandoned the luxury car buyers who weren’t ready to downsize yet — if ever! (Gene says he was unhappy with the last two Cadillacs he owned.) Gene was one of the first of a whole host of former Cadillac owners who helped close the gap between Cadillac and Lincoln in the 1980s.

In November, 1979, Gene ordered a new Mark VI four-door from Marin Bay Lincoln-Mercury. Since it was the first year for the Mark VI four-door, Gene felt he’d like to duplicate the four doors of his previous Cadillacs. When the four-door Mark VI that Gene ordered came in, he didn’t like the color. The dealer offered to order another Mark VI for him, but in the meantime, Gene got a look at a silver and gray metallic Cartier Designer Series Mark VI two-door that had just come in and he liked it so well he changed his mind. Because Gene wanted the 351 cid Windsor engine and a full size spare tire, the dealer was able to locate the exact car he wanted in San Diego and soon Gene was the proud owner of a two-door Mark VI. He has kept it in showroom new condition for the past 17 years and 128,000 plus miles. Gene bought his Mark VI on January 11, 1980 for $17,350 plus license and sales tax and it came with every option available, except a moonroof.

About 15,000 miles ago, Gene had a Ford rebuilt 351 cid Windsor engine installed. He has also recently replaced the transmission, the carburetor, the water pump and the alternator, all of which he sees as normal maintenance, given the mileage on his car. Gene’s Mark VI has seldom been driven in the rain, has had liberal and frequent amounts of Lexol applied to the leather upholstery and has been frequently waxed. The most rain the car has ever seen was on the way to the Fresno Western National Meet in 1996, where the car won first in class. The paint and the vinyl top are original and like new. For the miles on the car, Gene’s Mark VI is in remarkable condition. Clearly, high mileage and daily use do not mean your Lincoln can’t be a show car.

In 1996, Gene made the decision to keep his Mark VI, instead of trading it off, because it is the last of the classic Lincoln Marks and it is as comfortable as any new car on the road today. Gene also finds that as the years pass, he gets more comments on the great looks and condition of his Mark VI and that reinforces his determination to keep the car and keep it in like new condition. When Gene looks at new cars, there’s not much the Mark VI doesn’t have that he sees on new cars, Lincoln or otherwise. The dash is digital and it has a key pad entry system and they both work flawlessly.

After riding in a couple of friends’ Mark VIs, there’s one piece of advise Gene has for those collectors thinking about buying a Mark VI. Be sure it has the 351 cid engine. Gene just doesn’t think the the 302 has the power needed to climb hills the way a Lincoln should.

We hope to hear from Gene in another 17 years about how his Mark VI is doing. One thing’s for certain; it will still be one of the best looking Lincolns around.

By Bob MacDougal

Originally published in the January/February 1996 issue of Continental Comments (Issue # 207).

While vacationing in Cape Cod over Columbus Day weekend, I was reading want ads in the local paper, and came across an ad for an antique auto yard sale of 100 old cars, including 21 Lincolns,  mostly Zephyrs and some Continentals. The sale started the next day at 10 am. Our son, Mike was staying with us for the weekend and said he would like to come along. So we borrowed some tools from my neighbor, packed a lunch and left at 8:30 am. so we would be there when it opened.

We were some of the first ones there, and the owner told us that his father had passed away and left him the cars and trucks, and left his sister the house and land. She had given him one week to remove the cars, as she was going to clear the property and sell it. By now, it was raining a downpour, so we put on our raincoats and headed into the brush and trees. The place was a disaster. The cars had been driven or pushed into a field, and the brush and trees had grown up around and through them.

I gave Mike a crash course in 1940 to ‘48 Lincoln grilles, and he went on ahead. I kept hearing calls of “here’s another one”, as I checked out the ones we had already found. I yelled back “keep talking” so I can find you. The brush was so dense that when I was checking out a 1941 five-window coupe and turned to leave, there was a 1942 Lincoln sedan only 15 feet away and we hadn’t noticed it.

The owner was very adamant that he only wanted to sell whole cars and not parts. The Lincolns were just rusted-out hulks and wouldn’t even make fair parts cars, let alone something to be restored. We came back the next day and managed to talk him into selling us some water pumps and exhaust manifolds off some V-12s which were lying on the ground covered
up with old car hoods. He told us that he might sell parts off the cars on Friday and Saturday if we wanted to come back then.

I returned on Saturday morning with fellow LCOC member, Howard Ryan and plenty of tools. Howard brought his trailer, as he hoped to get the Mark II that was there. The owner wanted $1,800 for the Mark II but was now down to $500. It was so badly rusted, it wasn’t worth that, so Howard salvaged some parts from the ‘42 while I worked on a pair of ‘41 sedans.

We were working less than 100 feet apart but still couldn’t see each other. We just yelled back and forth to keep in touch on our progress. After spending most of the day working on and checking out cars, taking pictures and talking to the owner, we called it a day.

All together, we counted 11 pre-war Zephyrs, mostly 1940-’41, including two ‘41 convertibles, three post-war Lincolns, three post-war Lincoln Continental Cabriolets, one ‘49 Cosmopolitan, two 1956 Lincolns and one Mark II. All of the cars were in such extremely bad condition that very little was salvageable. If you opened a hood or trunk lid it would break off at the hinges. When I tried to open the door of the ‘41 five-window coupe I found myself sitting on the ground with the door handle in my hand and the door still closed.

On the long drive home, I had time to think about how sad it was that all these cars, not just the Lincolns, had gone to waste. The owner told us that this was the second time the yard was cleared. During the Korean war, his father and uncle had sold for scrap metal a yard full of cars and then started collecting all over again.

Neighbors that we met while we were looking around told us that the father and uncle would never let anyone on the property or sell a part. The owner was going to save one of the 1941 convertibles and fix it up. He’s about 20 years late.

Out of respect for the owner’s privacy, I will only say that the yard was located somewhere in Massachusetts, and by now all the cars have gone to be crushed.

An Idaho member who tracks them down discovers that there are two extremely rare models unknown to most collectors.

By (uncredited)

Originally published in the January/February 1996 issue of Continental Comments (Issue # 207).

During the 1979 model year, Lincoln-Mercury Division heavily advertised the fact that the Town Car/Town Coupe and the Mark series body styles were going to be different next year. The top of the line Collector’s Series Mark Vs, Town Cars, and Town Coupes were referred to in Lincoln-Mercury Division news releases as “special limited production models being built to mark the final year of these traditional full-sized luxury cars”. It does seem like an unusual marketing tactic, but even when the ‘79 Lincolns were new, the buying public was reminded not only of their high resale value, but also of the collectability of the soon to be discontinued models.

According to then Ford Motor Company Vice President and Lincoln General Manager, Walter J. Oben, during the 1979 model year, collectors were buying every new Mark V the factory could produce.

Contemporary factory literature and brochures identify two 1979 Collector Series Mark Vs—one in white, the other in midnight blue. The ‘79 Collector Series Mark Vs were dressed much like the previous year’s Diamond Jubilee models, except that the Collector’s Series Mark Vs, “Collector’s Series” insignia replaced the opera windows.

The midnight blue and white Collector’s Series Mark V’s were introduced at the start of the 1979 model year. Pictures and descriptions of them are included in the factory brochures.

It will come as a surprise to most of us, that in March, 1979 two additional limited edition Collector’s Series Mark Vs were offered, one in silver and the other in Diamond Jubilee blue (light blue). Diamond Jubilee blue is the same Diamond Jubilee blue that was used on the 1978 Mark V Diamond Jubilee model. The only place we know of that you can find any reference to the silver and the Diamond Jubilee blue Collector’s Series Mark V is in the 1979 Dealer’s Color and Upholstery Book as a March, 1979 “glue in” supplement. Bob Bowen, St. Maries, Idaho, has ‘79 Collector’s Edition MarkVs in blue, silver and white. Grant and Joan Milne, Lucerne, Colorado own a silver Collector’s Series Mark V. To date, Bob has located only one 1979 Diamond Jubilee blue Collector’s series Mark V, and it has been wrecked.

In a letter dated August 1, 1984 to a collector in Colorado, Lincoln-Mercury gave the following production figures for the 1979 Collector’s Series Mark Vs.

Midnight Blue: 3,900
White: 2,040
Silver: 125
Diamond Jubilee Blue: 197
Total: 6,262

If any of our members know of any other Diamond Jubilee blue or silver 1979 Collector’s Series Mark Vs out there, please write and let us know about them.

Thanks to Bob Bowen for the information, photographs, and a copy of the supplement to the 1979 Dealer’s Color and Upholstery Book explaining about the additional Collector’s Edition Mark Vs.

Confessions of a Mark II Owner after 35 Years

By Robert Lawton, San Gabriel, California

Originally published in the July/August 1997 issue of Continental Comments (Issue # 217).

Way back in 1962 I was a happy young man, deeply in love with my 1948 Lincoln Continental coupe, which I had acquired in 1955. I had been a member of LCOC since that year, had made a lot of friends and the forseeable future looked rosy.

But then, like many a misguided young man, I left my true love for a tantalizing hussy with a gorgeous jet black paint job, an immaculate gray and white leather interior and a big V-8 engine you could have eaten off of. As it turned out, I had met the vixen from hell.

Bob Cowgill was a long-time LCOC member who lived in Pasadena and had owned a very beautiful 1941 Lincoln Continental coupe. But more recently he had purchased a 1956 Continental Mark II. When some personal reason prompted him to sell the Mark II who should he first offer it to but his old buddy-me. As I recall, he wanted $4,500 for it. I didn’t come close to having that kind of money, but Bob agreed to finance the deal for me. So I sold my lovely 1948 coupe to Tom Powels of the Classic Car Club and drove my new love home.

I never suspected that my happy motoring life was about to come to a rude end.

The next morning I decided to drive my new beauty to work and show her off to my envious co-workers. It was a cold morning, so I turned on the heater, and was immediately greeted by a blast of frigid air on my ankles. The drive to work was 20 miles, and not a breath of warmth could I coax from the heater. On the way home that evening I did get it to work for about 10 minutes, and then it was back to icy ankles. The flip side of this, as you may have guessed, was that when summer arrived the heater worked fine, but the air conditioner refused to even think about cooling the car.

I should state that I have never been one of those mechanically gifted people who do their own automotive work. I will pump gas and check the oil, but everything else gets worked on by people who know what they’re doing. Since the power antenna also was non-operative, I ran to my local Lincoln-Mercury dealer to see about getting warmed, cooled and  serenaded by my radio.

For the heater and air-conditioner he wanted something like three months of my salary. The antenna, I was informed, could only be reached by removing the right front fender, a job that would take two men half a day or more of labor in order that they might then re-attach a vacuum hose. I declined gracefully and headed home in tears.

From that time on I put the antenna up and down by hand, wore warm clothes on cold days and opened all the windows on hot days. But my new lover was just getting started.

A couple of weeks later the motor that controlled the power wind wing on the driver’s door died. It took an entire weekend, but I did manage to replace it myself. But within a week a terrible grinding noise whenever I applied the brake pedal informed me that it was time to reline the brakes. I lived on beans for a month, but my brake shop got me back on the road. The weak smile on my face lasted only a few days, however, then the radio died.

In the trunk of my mean-spirited beauty was a shop repair manual, so I decided to follow the instructions for removing the radio. For those of you who have missed the experience, just let me say that first you have to remove that counter-balanced glove box, and then try and get the radio out of the hole formerly occupied by said glove box. I am living proof that it can be done, but I do not recommend the procedure to anyone with a short fuse. (When I took the radio to the repair shop, the owner informed me admiringly that he charged $75.00 labor just to remove the radio – and this was in 1962 dollars!)

To celebrate my victory over the radio, I decided to treat myself to an expensive dinner. Mindful of parking lot attendants, I parked on the street. Two martinis and half a filet mignon later the loudspeaker in the restaurant announced that smoke was pouring out from under the hood of a black Continental in front of the restaurant. My darling had struck again!

A large gas station on the corner had a night mechanic who managed to get the fire in my generator out. As I recall, some sort of Orwellian nightmare in the electrical system had caused the battery to run the generator—or to try to. Since such a  thing is apparently impossible, the generator had burned itself to death. I told the guy to fix the problem and went back to the restaurant, where I found that they had thrown out my steak, given my table to someone else and had been considering having me arrested for leaving without paying the check. Thanks again, baby.

Mercifully, a short time later a man I knew only slightly mentioned that a friend of his, a doctor in Beverly Hills, was looking for a good clean Mark II. I murmured that, for the right amount I could be persuaded to part with the love of my life. The deal was made and I paid off Bob Cowgill.

I have spent the last 30-35 years hoping to God that doctor never finds me!