Lincoln Continental Mk. V
Given how starkly businesslike the last Car Lust was, I think it's time to celebrate one of the most fantastically flamboyant cars with which we have the pleasure of sharing our roads--a rolling purple fur coat; automotive go-go boots with a live goldfish in the heel; a motorized cane with a carved grip in the shape of an eagle.
I'm speaking, of course, about the Lincoln Continental Mk. V, that rolling tribute to excess and adornment over substance; an in-the-metal triumph of sizzle over steak.
Snide wordplay aside, it should be obvious to anybody who reads this blog that I'm not being entirely sarcastic. I *love* this car.
Every aspect of the Mk. V serves as an eloquent spokesman for the past. Bury a pristine Mk. V in a time capsule, and when it's dug up several millenia later those quasi-human researchers will have a beautiful exhibit of everything that mattered in American culture in the late 1970s.
Large, powerful, slightly menacing in a cartoonish fashion, slathered with chrome and excessive ornamentation, and upholstered in boudoir-quality crushed velvet inside, the Mk. V is the 1970s served up in automotive form. And there's something about bolt-upright hidden headlights--nearly useless from an aerodynamic perspective--that screams late-1970s American luxury
The Mk. V is another excellent example of American big-car know-how at its best. To those accustomed to zipping around an urban environment in a Honda Civic, the Mk. V is a hopeless anachronism. Shift into a slower, pre-cable TV mindset, however, and the Mk. V shines.
The anemic 460-cubic-inch V-8 burbles along nicely without rudely disrupting you with excessive horsepower; the suspension bobs entertainingly over bumps, going well out of its way to cushion your backside; and the interior makes you feel cosseted and slightly drowsy in the same way you felt in your Grandmother's living room after a massive Thanksgiving dinner. Countless rappers have told us that pimpin' ain't easy, but as countless pimps could no doubt tell you, in the Mk. V at least it's comfortable.
Nowadays cars are almost uniformly d
ynamically competent. We've moved to an automotive culture in which most cars are toned, and quite often athletic. That leaves less room in the automotive world for cars like the Lincoln Mk. V--the automotive equivalent of a hairy, sweaty, obese man in a velour track suit--and, cheap laughs aside, I really do think that's a shame.
The video below, with entertaining funk-scratch soundtrack, comes from someone who bought their Mk. V at a police auction for $140. Given that the car starts (albeit laboriously) that seems like a great deal.
The pictures are from Automotive Restorations Inc., and are of a '78 Bill Blass edition. Happily it is unrestored condition, just starting to show the patina of age.
--Chris H.
The Luke on February 04, 2008 at 05:49 PM
That's one seriously sweet dashboard. And I love the radio frequencies: 5.4, 6, 8, 10...anyone in Seattle remember when 710 KIRO was called "KIRO Newsradio 71"?
Oatworm on February 04, 2008 at 06:45 PM
Now you're bringing back memories of my old '76 Plymouth Fury Sport... sounded about the same when it started up. The interior wasn't anywhere near as sweet, though. *sigh*
Mochi Mochi on February 04, 2008 at 08:54 PM
This is what I love about Car Lust... it is a blog that can resurrect a dinosaur of american automotive design and turn it into a jewel, wrapping it lovingly in great prose that references both 70's pimp style and an anthropological critique of western cultural excess. And it makes me smile while I re-examine my own harsh judgments about a car that I used to find revolting... though strangely not as revolting as Caddies of similar vintage.
This points out how certain styles can actually improve with sufficient time. Bury kitsch long enough and you'll have something that belongs in a museum. Makes me wonder about that Etruscan art you see in museums. Was that at one time just some funky dated cheese ball art project that grandparents had in their ancient greek living-rooms ?
I especially like the plumes of smoke emanating from beneath the rear end of the car. A true classic. Slight sarcasm aside I really feel much more fondly towards this car than I ever have before. Nice work !
The Luke on February 04, 2008 at 11:07 PM
Speaking of burying kitsch, saw a reference to this in Car & Driver today: http://www.buriedcar.com ; http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19249855/
Cookie the Dog's Owner on February 05, 2008 at 06:41 AM
A lovely cultural artifact of a bygone (good riddance!) era. My father had a Ford LTD of similar vintage, which was built on the same platform but came with a lot less bling. It required two tugboats and a harbor pilot to get it into a standard parking space, it cornered like a drunken hippo on cheap roller skates, and both zero to sixty and sixty to zero took a lot longer than you'd like. Don't get me started on mechanical reliability; that subject is too awful to contemplate.
I respect your affection for it, Chris and Mochi, but I could never live with a car like that. On the other hand, rolling up to the doors of Studio 54 in one, wearing a white sportcoat . . . that could be fun.
Frank Black on February 05, 2008 at 08:27 AM
As may be expected, I heartily agree with this lust. This one was also one of my dad's favorites and I inherited many of his car-genes. He was an old-school kind of guy who loved Big Cars with soft, comfortable rides. I often wish in my younger days that I had had the financial wherewithal to buy one and completely restore it for him.
Seems to me cars of this era were designed to pay homage to the big cars of the '20s and '30s, with the long hood and relatively short rear deck.
That would be a hot car to remod. Stiffen the suspension a bit, tune the engine and you've got a wicked ride.
John Bono on February 10, 2008 at 12:04 PM
I think you picked the wrong Mark here. Of all the real Lincoln Marks(anything that isn't a ginormous coupe just doesn't deserve the title), the two best were the Mark III, and the Mark VIII. With a 460 not hampered by emissions, it was what the Mark V aspired to, but couldn't. BTW, I never thought of Marks as being cars for fat guys in velour, but more like the vehicle used for Jimmy Hoffa's last car ride.
Chris Hafner on February 11, 2008 at 10:51 AM
John Bono: "I think you picked the wrong Mark here."
Well, Car Lust isn't exclusionary. I'll likely touch on the Marks again. Also, I don't like the Mk. V because I think it's the best of the line. Far from it--its goodness and badness make it unique and lovable (for me, at least).
John Bono: "BTW, I never thought of Marks as being cars for fat guys in velour, but more like the vehicle used for Jimmy Hoffa's last car ride."
I wasn't really thinking of the Mark as being a car *for* fat guys in velour. My point was that, if cars were people, cars today are all reasonably sober and serious people who spend a lot of time at the gym--most are increasingly athletic, or at the least are toned.
At that gym, the Mark is the hairy, sweaty fat guy in the velour track suit who just goes to the gym to ogle. That's its charm.
If all
Hucbald on May 01, 2008 at 05:52 PM
Funny you mentioned time capsules in this particular entry.
A neighbor of mine back then bought three or four Mk. V's because that's all he ever wanted to drive for the rest of his life... I kid you not. I moved away from there before he worked his way through them all, but he was on number two when I left, and had decided to keep the last one stored for his kids. He rented climate controlled storage spaces and had them drained of all fluids, put up on blocks, and professionally covered. By the time he sold the first one, the second had become legendary, and it totally freaked people out because it was BRAND NEW.
It takes all kinds to make a world, I guess.
When are you going to do my dad's favorite car, CL? His 1974 Pontiac Catalina 455? Bonus points if you get a good pic of his color: Avocado Green. LOL!
Spencer Gottlieb on May 13, 2008 at 09:21 PM
I just got my Mark V and I love it as well, i have the regular version, it is the obnoxious yellow, with white interior
has 65,000 original miles on it, and it is beautiful
never driven a more noticeable, fun, comfortable car......
gas mileage is crap though
AlaskaBrant on August 29, 2008 at 11:05 PM
This was one of my 53 cars in the last 36 years of car buying. I bought it after the divorce to get rid of the Caprice I needed when married. I loved it, thought I had arrived, until my best friend asked if I got a check book to go with it. He was right, great looker, 7 mpg and always fixing someting. Mine was white on white on white (padded landau roof). The guy I bought it from was wearing a powder blue velour sweat suit the day I picked it up. His wife's hair spray had laquered the driver's side head rest, got that off with vinegar after an hour of hard work. Like a lot of my choices in automobiles, thought it looked great, despite how it ran.
Paleo Pat on November 13, 2008 at 04:43 PM
I had a 1976 Lincoln Mark IV. Black, 460 Cu In. Motor. Got wrecked. But I loved it. I wish I had the cash to restore it. But it's in Car Heaven now. :(
Author Rankin on November 20, 2008 at 07:05 AM
I'm doing some research for a book. Did any of the 1978 or 1979 models have manual gear shift? If so, was it an on-the-floor shift?
brian on January 10, 2009 at 03:04 PM
I can walk past just about anything made today, engineering masterpieces all, and feel about the same as I do when confronted with beige wallpaper. The new Rolls can kinda arouse my affection, but it's really a BMW in Vader drag. Put me anywhere near a Continental Mark V and I will babble and gush and run my fingers up and down the razor creased fenders like a sweaty, hairy chested, gold chained disco whore at a key party.
Louvered fender adornment, opera windows, the view down that long coffin hood only compliment a creamy pillow-bitch ride that makes a Lexus LS feel like a Toyota Cressida. Of course the car scrapes its door handles when you take a hard corner, but when youre cruising at 70 with one finger on the wheel, why on earth would you want to?
I have a lovely 79 Continental Town Car, and hope to find a Mark V so they can be swingers together.
Cathy Toth on October 24, 2009 at 10:49 PM
I am the lucky owner of a 1978 Lincoln Continental Mark V. (Just like the above photo...) It has the 460 motor...all the bells and whistles...4...or is it 5 ashtrays? Trunk space for 2+ bodies...and enough seating for six inside...and 4-6 (depending on size...outside for and aft. It drives like a sofa...so comfy...great handling...a real head turner...love that car...
LincolnMarkOwner on April 10, 2010 at 12:57 PM
I own a 1979 Lincoln Mark V Collector's Series, and it is very plush. It's not a daily driver, and only has 45,000+ miles, and I love the shark gills on the side, the landau top, opera lamps, triple painted gold pinstripes, 2 level center console, special hood ornament encased in some special plastic, color-coded glass moonroof, outside thermometer on the rear view mirror, and leather covered dash. It's one of the most beautiful American car designs ever.
A couple weeks ago, I was driving my car out of my sub-division, and a teenage girl about 60 feet behind the car yelled out, "I really like your car."
Long Ago on June 16, 2010 at 06:23 PM
Back in the mid 70's one of the guys in my high school car pool use to get his Dad's Mark IV when it was his turn to drive. Imagine 5 screaming high school boys blasting that quadraphonic stereo, moonroof open, riding that cushy suspension up and down the steep hills by the Ohio River - I'll never again be so cool.
Dexrick Duplechain on January 19, 2011 at 05:34 PM
I recently purchased a 77 mark v last February. With all the bells and whistles working. Black on black with roof. There is nothing no one can try to make me dissatisfy this beautiful luxurious beast. If you don’t like the gas mileage dual it out and you’ll gain 3 to 4 miles to the gallon. And if that don’t work for you get another job!