I’ve always loved Lincolns and Cadillacs. Lincolns, because my grandfather, Robert Klockau, owned several, and some of my earliest car memories are of riding in the back seat of his navy blue ’77 Mark V, peering thru that most excellent oval opera window with the Lincoln emblem embedded in the glass. Later on, it was traded in on a Rose Quartz metallic 1987 bustle back Continental.
But there were other factors, including the red Matchbox Mark V and blue Pocket Cars Mark IV that were among my favorite toys. Furthermore, once I mastered my first bicycle, one of the places I liked to go was to visit a triple black (meaning matching paint, vinyl top and leather seats) 1971 Continental sedan that lived a couple blocks away from my house.
All the years I checked it out, it never moved. About two feet of the trunk protruded out of the garage opening (both house and garage were circa late 1920s, designed for Model Ts not ’60s and ’70s Broughamasauruses), with the door snugged down to the top of the trunk lid.
Peering below the aforementioned door, one could see layer upon layer of dust and four very flat, dried out tires, but the car was clean and complete, and most compelling to Mini-Me me. I knew it was a ’71 due to the three triple taillight clusters per side.
I actually sneaked into the garage one time and actually got into the car. What can I say, kids do dumb things, especially when said dumb kid is totally infatuated with a then-twenty-year-old, neglected Lincoln.
I remember sitting in the back seat on plush black leather, and being totally smitten with that amazing dashboard and Y-spoke steering wheel. Is that not a great steering wheel or what? And the smell of the ’70s leather, plastic, rubber and carpet still is a distinct memory.
Back in the early ’90s, my dad took me and my little brother to an indoor rod & custom car show. One guy had a bunch of old car brochures.
Dad said he would buy me a couple, and of course I zeroed right in on the silvery covers of the 1971 Lincoln Continental and Mark III brochure, with “my” car in it! I also got the big, fat, lush 1971 Cadillac deluxe catalog. I still have both too.
And thus to we come to the present, featuring this absolutely gorgeous 1972 Continental coupe. The Continental coupe first appeared in 1966 (or should I say, reappeared, a two-door Lincoln had last been offered in 1960), complementing the four-door sedan and unmistakable four-door convertible.
With the complete redesign of the non-Mark Continentals in 1970, the Coupé returned, despite the fact that the 1969 Mark III’s appearance had substantially shrunk demand for the ‘standard’ Lincoln Coupé. But it gamely hung in there, and retained its classic good looks and lovely pleated premium cowhide.
The 1970-up Continentals have been said by some bloggers (who tend to love rust-eaten Fiats and inoperable VW Rabbits, but I digress) to be a bit of a letdown compared to its immediate predecessor.
But keep in mind, that generation, despite new sheetmetal for 1966, was rather long in the tooth. What was Lincoln supposed to do? Cadillac was all new in 1965, then was heavily revised in 1967 and again in 1969. Gotta keep up with the competition, dontcha know!
Several years back I became aware of libertyoldtimers.com, a Brugge-based “oldtimer” dealership of classic American iron, particularly luxury land yachts. Which sadly seems to no longer exist. At any rate, one day I clicked on the link and was immediately drawn to this classic 1972 Coupé.
In 1972, however, the all-new Mark IV was the belle of the ball. My grandfather ordered a new one, in triple dark green, from Bob Neal Lincoln-Mercury.
48,591 were sold. As for the Continental Coupé, she was the bridesmaid instead of the bride, with 10,408 assemblies. And yes, the Coupé was 225″ long, with a 127″ wheelbase. It was full-sized, by any standard.
It appeared to be painted in optional Blue Moondust Metallic, which contrasted nicely with the white leather interior and white top. This interior was classy without resorting to some of the rococo touches a few years later. So I saved some pictures to ‘The Vault’ and promptly forgot about it.
Several months later, after having a couple of cocktails, I remembered the pics, and my ill-gotten seat time in an old forgotten 1971 Continental. And wrote it up for the Cantankerous Coot. But never mind him. This spring I decided to revise it and run it right here on RG, primarily so I can share its true blue Broughamtastic lines without giving the Coot any additional clicks. So enjoy, and excuse me while I go get myself another bourbon. Cheers!
The guy in the white Mark IV ad shot looks like he will be ready when the bastards come for his Dreadnaught. Watch out Cantankerous coot!
HAHA! Good catch, I missed the bow and arrow!
It was a good catch!
What the heck with that?! I am assuming some sort of Freudian subtext, but it was the 70’s - who knows…
And I don’t know if he is armed enough to repel Jackbooted CAFE enforcers, but he is definitely ready for the Battle of Agincourt.
“The 1970-up Continentals have been said by some bloggers (who tend to love rust-eaten Fiats and inoperable VW Rabbits, but I digress) to be a bit of a letdown compared to its immediate predecessor. But keep in mind, that generation, despite new sheetmetal for 1966, was rather long in the tooth. What was Lincoln supposed to do?”
What could they have done? There are lots of alternative directions they could have taken. For example, how about using those new fangled computers to design a stiffer and lighter unit body instead of going back to body on frame? How about replacing the carb with Fuel Injection for better drivability, performance and fuel economy, which even lowly VW was offering in 1968? How about adding independent rear suspension for a better ride, superior handling, and bigger trunk to match up with MB, RR, Jaguar, and BMW and leap ahead of Cadillac and Imperial (and differentiate Lincoln from cheaper Fords)? How about not cutting back on the quality of the interior trim and finishes by banishing fake wood and plastic chrome? How about making the new MKIV closer in size to a BMW CS or MB W111 coupe or 450SLC - perhaps base it on the excellent European Ford Granada, and focusing on build quality, performance, and technology rather than jumbo size and cheap glitz?
The problem many of us have with 1970s American luxury cars is that they went from being the best in the world in the 1950s and 60s to being among the worst - no significant engineering advancements, backwards in performance, handling, and fuel economy, lower build quality and materials, bloated uninspiring styling, and less and less real or perceived differentiation from cheaper brands (Chevy, Ford, Plymouth).
If they had kept a unit Continental to the wheelbase of the 61 they perhaps could have had both. During a redo it would have been easy to add 4 wheel discs and perhaps a bolt on irs like the 93 Mustang Cobra. It would have been priced initially higher but I think they would have found like they did so many times later that the import buyer just does not want a car from them. So soon you are discounting the crap out of it to sell it to wives who just like it because it is smaller. The Seville had their success because they aimed at people they had a chance with. Imagine a MB ad with the bow and arrow guy subbing for the white coated concentration camp clerk MB usually showed, The two audiences were on different planets.
How Neidermeyer-esque…..not original, but hey….
I would like this pizza better if it was a salad…..why isn’t this pizza a salad?
I’d like this goldfish better if it had fur and didn’t have to live in a fishbowl and it was a cat….why can’t this goldfish be a cat?
Maybe if they would have restyled the Lincoln logo into a circle and removed one of legs, fixed the steering column, made the a/c suck and made the cars really expensive to repair, maybe that would have worked too…..
Thank goodness we’ve reached automotive parity, where now EVERY car is a bland unemotional blob indistinguishable from the next…..
Amazing that John and Carmine think that Ford, with far more resources and engineering capability than Jaguar, BMW, MB, and RR in 1971 don’t believe the Lincoln couldn’t have had more sophisticated suspensions, chassis, and powertrains AND also kept the stuff that US cars did very well such as great A/C, great automatics, excellent sound insulation, and reliable electric windows and power seats. In fact, the unwillingness to keep up with the smaller and financially poorer foreigners in terms of engineering advances is precisely why American cars started to also fall behind in the stuff they had formerly been the best at. Throughout the 1980 and 90s it was the foreigners that started to have more sophisticated automatic gearboxes, and dual/four zone climate control, double-pane glass, V-12 motors, DOHC V-8s, etc. that made them smoother, quieter, and more comfortable than Cadillac or Lincoln, which hadn’t been the case in the 1970s.
You misunderstood me, probably purposely to avoid uncomfortable truths. No matter how good a fake MB they built, the MB buyer wasn’t interested in an American product. You can debate all you want about big business ties to Nixon, or the blacks on the line, or management, except for cocaine cloud Delorean, that were all old and white shoed. Hint: cocaine cloud Delorean was also old but had long sideburns and whore mongered while he sold everyone out that ever dealt with him. Maybe on the next clear day, everyone will see that.
There is also the problem that RR found with the Silver Shadow that when they tried to add the modernity all at once, it did have a detrimental effect on noise control and impact absorption. The result in those areas was no worse than MB but that was way below Detroit. Remember MB was only benchmarking cheap BL era Jaguar in ride and NVH, and falling short.
I understood you perfectly. You don’t believe import buyers of the 1970s would have been tempted by a Lincoln 450 SLC, and perhaps you are correct, but we will never know because Ford never made a serious effort to make more rationally sized and more technologically advanced luxury vehicles for American buyers (and I hope you can agree that the 1960 Ford Falcon based Versailles was not a serious effort or technologically advanced). The sad thing is we know Ford could have done it, because the European Ford Granada was much more advanced than any American Ford of the era, and could have been made into a real BMW/MB fighter in America with a little effort.
Amen Carmine!
Sometimes people think that 1970’s American land barges are the epitome of automotive ridiculousness. But then one considers rebuilding a garage so the garage door can close without smashing a Personal Luxury Vehicle’s trunk. We’ve lost something, yeah-that whole culture is gone, and I don’t know where.
Where the culture go? Instead of a 20 foot Lincoln sticking out of the garage, it is now a 20 food Suburban or Crew-Cab pickup that are not only too long to fit in an old garage, but also too tall.
Maybe if a few more of the drivers had held there weapons at the ready like the Mark IV guy when under assault, they wouldn’t have to degrade themselves by driving exempt commercial vehicles to try to feel some connection to their country’s culture.
Since when is the personal luxury vehicle a key part of American culture? It started with the 1958 T-Bird and was killed off less than 25 years later by increasingly tough CAFE standards. Commercial vehicles on the other hand, can trace back to the Conestoga wagons and covered farm wagons that led the western expansion of the country from the late 18th century to the close of the frontier 100 years later. The trail is picked up again by the use of trucks to transport troops during WWI that evolved into the pickups adopted by farmers and tradepeople who fed and housed the public. WWII brought the jeeps, Power-Wagons, and deuce and a half vehicles, and and post-war culture was influenced by woody station wagons from the 1930s and 40s that became part of American lore and song during the surf era of the 1950s and 60s. Commercial vehicles are way more American than apple pie and baseball, and certainly have a greater influence on culture than a 225 inch long Lincoln coupe.
If you want to lament the death of the American personal luxury land yachts of the 1950s to early 80s, you need to blame Washington for implementing CAFE that exempted trucks and SUVs, and therefore made “commercial vehicles” the only way that American car buyers could get the size and power they liked at a price they could afford, which is why the F-150 has been the best selling vehicle in America for 40 years. CAFE also exposed the dirty secret of Detroit, which profitably differentiated its luxury brands on the basis of bigger size and bigger motors versus their cheaper brands, rather than superior technology, materials, and workmanship. When CAFE forced cars to be down-sized, the primary differentiating reason to buy a Cadillac or Lincoln also disappeared. Interestingly, however, the brands continue to survive only because of the profits derived by truck based models that are little more than tarted up Chevrolets and Fords - just like the old days.