Last Wednesday I had an hour to kill before seeing a movie at the local Cinemark (it was the new Liam Neeson action flick, if you were curious).
So I stopped at Five Below to snoop for Matchbox cars, then the adjacent Wally World.
I rarely go there now, as their restocking collectible diecast sucks-I hadn’t found anything worth mentioning there since before Halloween. But what the heck.
And lo and behold, there was a Mini Me Mark V. Now due to the local stores sucking, I had already preordered this and the black on black Mark V from a vendor in Frankfort, Kentucky. But there it was, staring me in the face. I had to buy it.
Auto World has some pretty unusual makes and models in its line, like the ’76 Coupe de Ville, ’74 Buick Estate Wagon (in avocado green, no less) ’62 Chevy II Nova wagon in aquamarine, ’91-’93 Dodge Stealth and a myriad of ’73-’87 Chevy Squarebody C10s, Cheyennes and Silverados.
It’s very cool for people like me, who have grown extremely tired of all the Mustang, Corvette and ’57 Chevy models all over the place.
Sure, a lot of folks, some on here, may be thinking, they did a WHAT?! But I love em. And since my grandfather had a triple midnight blue 77 Mark V (it replaced a ’72 triple dark green Mark IV), I got all excited when this casting was announced.
As with all AW models, the detail is impressive for 1/64 scale. There’s even a tiny Lincoln emblem in the oval opera window.
Here’s hoping they’ll do more stuff like this. I wouldn’t say no to a Cordoba, ’73-’77 Grand Prix, ’63-’64 Cadillac or even a Pinto Squire!
These may be the best late 70s downsize, as the more crisp lines compared to the Mark IV were not obvious about giving you less. The fact that the 460 was still standard at first meant performance would have improved. In addition the huge engine would have been even less stressed by the lighter weight, enhancing the experience expected of a Lincoln Mark.
I assume your Frankfurt, KY model supplier is Diecast Direct. I recently added three 1:43 models to my collection from them. A 1971 Mark III in brown, a 1971 Saab 99 two door in green, and a 1972 Volvo 144 in blue.
Just for the record, the Mark V was anything but a downsize. It rode the same platform, had the same wheelbase, and was TWO INCHES LONGER, stretching the tape to a full 230.
Similarly, the Thunderbird actually got larger in the Seventies. A look at the profile of the mostly-forgotten 1977 Bird explains a lot about the Nark V…
One more bit of trivia. The Thunderbird was the only Ford to have the Fox platform under it TWICE. The downsized 1980 Bird is a Fox, and so is the 1983 Aero Bird that held the fort through a restyle to the MN12 1989 Bird.
Jack – to be fair I’m sure the extra 2 inches was all about improving the aerodynamics and weight distribution for owners who regularly autocrossed or tracked their Mark Vs.
Pretty sure this is the funniest comment that has ever been on this site.
It was also like 400 lbs lighter than the Mark IV. I wouldn’t use the word “downsize” for a vehicle that’s physically bigger, but it’s in keeping with the times.
Which Thunderbird are you referring to as having gotten bigger, the ’72-’76? The ’77 Torinobird was a downsize – hard to believe those are forgotten now, as they were all over the place for years.
The ’80-’82 Fox Thunderbird/Cougar XR7 gets my vote as the most pathetic design ever produced by the Big Three.
These don’t count as downsizes perhaps because they did not make the intended buyer give things up. That was the important part. When those coming for the PLC buyer saw him, they did not see a family man who might have been a CPA, a carpet king, or a restaurateur, who might need some calming alone time between his hectic work and hectic home. Instead they saw a target. They didn’t respect him for his hard work and achievement. They saw a tacky guy propping up a system they resented. So why not use excuses like the environment or rising fuel cost to stick it to him.
A Mark V was engineered and styled well enough not to feel like a downgrade to the buyer. Not what those passing the new rules demanded. Well three years later, the buyer would definitely notice the sacrifice. with 800 more pounds and 100+ cubic inches gone. Even with Lincoln finding more interior and trunk room and keeping the look as close as possible, the intended buyer stayed away. Lincoln could no longer give him what he wanted. Mission Accomplished.
Cougar by that extension as well, the Cougar might have had the most Fox mutations since it also had a Cougar badged Fox platform 4 door sedan, 2 door sedan and Villager wagon in the early 80’s before they became Marquis in 1983.
You’re correct, that’s the winner.
Yep. I also preordered the gold Diamond Jubilee Edition and triple Dark Jade Mark Vs, plus the gold and triple Firethorn ’75 Eldorados.
I am nothing if not predictable. 🙂
I had a 1979 with the 400 2bbl, and it was easily the worst car I have ever owned. As an automobile, it just did nothing well. It certainly has presence, and it was a great looking car.
You must have owned some great cars that a good touring car with presence was the worst car you have owned. What was the best?
The 400 is sort of a piggy, 159hp from 6.6 litres…in a 5000lb car..Cadillac was offering 180hp, 195 with fuel injection, even the injected Oldsmobile 350 in the Eldorado and Sevile made 170hp
By 1979 these kinda sucked, the 1979 Eldorado showed the way by downsizing, looking great and gaining sales the same time, the 1980 Mark IV by contrast downsized, but looked awkward, it lost the long hood proportions that the prior Marks had and just looked like it was a Town Car coupe…which was never popular.
The Continental was possibly even worse in 1979, getting the 400 as well and losing the unique Continental dash with gauges and replacing it with an LTD dash with a little more wood and silver gauges.
There is kind of weird anomaly with the 400 engine. The 1979 was at 159 horsepower as you and Eric said, but the 1977 was up at 179 horsepower, a big difference. Ford must have had a bad time getting their engines to pass smog. There was a similar thing with the first year 1975 Granada 200 six. Most years before and after the engine had crca 85 horsepower, but that year it had 69. PN was able to have his opening to condemn to atheist hell the whole model at the other site.
Ford really struggled to meet emissions standards in the ’70s. Perhaps they were dedicating their best engineering resources to developing the engine management systems that would make them a leader in the ’80s, but the stuff they cobbled together for their ’70s customers wasn’t efficient. Chrysler’s Lean Burn system is famously problematic, but the cars performed relatively well until they broke. Car and Driver tested a Pinto Squire Wagon V6 that wasn’t just slower than all the four-cylinder manual and automatic Japanese competitors, it also returned 10 to 16 miles per gallon in consumption testing. The Vega GT returned 24 to 28 miles per gallon while being meaningful quicker, although it was also likely lighter and a four-speed. In the text, it was noted that Ford told them that they would be loosening the emissions controls during the production run in an effort to improve performance as they gained more confidence in their ability to pass emissions control durability standards.
Sorry for the slow response to this.
It wasn’t even that the others were that great. Just that the Lincoln was really bad. The weight reduction was so drastic, that the incredibly flexible, paper thin roof panel made a thunderous bang every trip through the car wash. Yes, the roof was so thin that it actually would bend down under the pressure of the car wash water jets, then pop up once the pressure abated.
Everything in that car that couldn’t be seen by the average owner/driver, and some things could be, we’re made as cheaply as possible. Nothing lasted long or was of any quality. Vacuum lines, that seemed designed the leak, were everywhere, and not only would an issue there cause minor annoyances like the headlight doors slowly drifting open, causing your big dollar luxury liner to stare at you sleepily as you approached, but they’d have the added benefit of making it run worse. Assembly quality was poor. Cheap materials were everywhere. I spent a while chasing a weird flapping noise that you could only hear at highway speeds, but disappeared around town. Turns out the cheap plastic clips holding the cheap plastic cover on top of the bumper had snapped, causing it to literally flap in the breeze, and return to position once stopped.
I had it back to back with a W116 280 that was priced shockingly closely to a loaded Mk V, and was just incomparably better in every way. I wrenched on both, and there was no part anywhere in the Lincoln that approached the quality of the MB. And even with only the 2.8 litre straight six, the Benz was not notably slower in acceleration, and definitely much faster point to point on any road. As a 6’4 driver, the MB had immensely more room inside, despite the much tidier overall package size. It was one of the very few cars in which I couldn’t reach the pedals with the seat all the way back. The Lincoln, by comparison, had the marginally acceptable, industry standard 42 inches in legroom.
That all being said, I have caught myself looking at old MkV’s recently. A local friend got a white 79 Collectors Edition that I always spend the most amount of time circling at the local cars and coffee get togethers. As dreadful a car as it was, it has something that most other cars lack. Style and true presence. As my requirements for one now do not include it actually needing it to be driven or it performing as a real car, I could see enjoying one. On a beautiful sunny Sunday, popping open the windows and moonroof, and just going for a cruise, sounds like a great time.
Well, the 400 in these was kinda like the HT4100 in the ’82-’84 Caddys. Unfulfilled. Sure the 460 sucked gas, but it was way more fun. But by ’79, it was gone. Dagnabit.
The corporate fleet average MPG of your collection is horrific Tom, so I hope your blue metallic V is the 400 version that will save a polar bear or two.
My favorite is your green Estate Wagon. I’m secretly a wagon guy.
That new Liam Neeson flick Backlinght sucks ~ he pretty much phones it in , a sad thing .
I like this model ! .
-Nate
Yeah, it wasn’t as good as some of his earlier movies, but I didn’t mind it. 🙂
I have not seen the movie, but I just hope that it does not contain any unnecessary violence, especially involving guns. I did read the synopsis on Wikipedia, and I do find it troubling that the main character/hero figure is played by a white heterosexual male, but at least the heroine seems to be a female of color and all the bad guys seem to be evil white males who almost certainly vote Republican. It is also nice to see a film that seeks to honestly portray journalists as the truth seekers they are who put their lives in danger ever day exposing all the Right Wing female hating white supremacists running the FBI and other government agencies. Maybe they can do a sequel that involves white Nazi truckers trying to take down the lawfully elected government of a peace loving nation led by the gender fluid son of a Cuban freedom fighter and the hero journalists trying to protect her from the evil truckers.
You just have to turn EVERYTHING into a shitpost about leftism/wokism/feminism, don’t you?
Have you seen one “big name” movie or TV series in recent years that doesn’t involve one or more of the following:
1. Rich/powerful conservative white bad guys.
2. Leftist actors who publicly promote gun control and/or termination of the 2nd amendment who spray lead all over the screen during the show.
3. Person of color/homosexual hero or brilliant sidekick to hero.
4. 98 lb. blonde female cop/soldier/agent/hero who whips multiple 220 lb. Navy Seals or similar.
5. Illegal “immigrants” who are hard working, honest, and patriotic (to the US).
6. Hard working, honest, uncorruptible US government officials representing the Left and/or victim classes.
7. Idiot/ugly/corrupt/lazy white heterosexual guys as comic relief or villains.
8. Christians as hypocrites, repressive, idiots, and/or intolerant.
9. Muslims as honest, open, tolerant, forgiving, smart.
10. The environment or little guy being destroyed by evil capitalists/Big Oil.
Plug any combination of the above and you have 90% of the crap coming out of Hollywood, including the movie Tom and Nate saw.
Love the fact that even in 1/64 scale the thing is huge. You wouldn’t get that in a Matchbox rendition, where it would be a 1/72 to make it fit the blister.
I feel the pain RE: Matchbox stock issues. The direct result of shipping nice stuff along with uninteresting stuff in the same big box – and the retailer not restocking until the last peg warmers have been sold.
It’s hard to tell at that size, but the figurine smacks of the ‘Trad Girl Soyjack’ meme character.
It actually came with a Greenlight ’70 Cougar I bought. So it might have been a two-cougar deal.
(::Rim shot!::)
We know you’re here all week—what on the menu should we try? I know that you favor steakhouses—is the gristle here worth anything?! This club ain’t no Ruth’s Chris!
And if we tip our server, I’m hoping it doesn’t have an old-school spinning hard drive, or there could be data loss! 😂
Around 1995, my then girlfriend transferred to Washington State University and I ended up making a 5 hour trip over the Cascades to the far Eastern edge of the state each weekend. I had just bought a Geo Metro and, after hitting some black ice and spinning off I-90 on the approach to the Colombia Gorge just east of Ellensburg, decided that the Metro, while a good commuter, was unsuitable for that duty.
While I was thinking about what I should do, a big Lincoln like this ended up at the end of a driveway with a for sale sign in it near my house and every time I passed it I thought that I should stop and check it out. I never did. Instead, I ended up taking a huge loan on a 1991 K15 GMC Jimmy that drove me so far into debt that I thought I would never be debt free again. It was a huge mistake and I have often wondered in the years since what might have happened had I just picked up that old Lincoln instead. Oh the things that might have been…
It is interesting to consider, in the fulness of time, the three vehicles Thomas considered way back. At first glance, the efficient Metro seems ideal. Yet in reality it made him compromise. Same for the K5 Blazer that indebted him, or the Mark V, for whom he might have gambled. Maybe instead the best domestic that he could have swung without mortgaging his future was best. I bet that car would have more resembled his fathers choices.
You’re right. The correct answer was probably “None of the above.”