If you’re a connoisseur of personal luxury cars or ’70s land yachts, you’re probably familiar with the various designer editions, which bore the names of famous designers like Emilio Pucci and Bill Blass. For Ford and Lincoln, those profit-spinning models were really just an extension of a series of non-branded color-coordinated special editions, of which one of the most eye-catching was the “lipstick edition” Continental Mark and Ford Thunderbird.
Designer Series and Luxury Groups
As much mileage as automakers got out of the association with designers like Givenchy and Pucci, the idea that those famous names actually designed or specified the color schemes for the cars that bore their names was largely a marketing fiction. At least at Ford Motor Company, each designer essentially just selected from several color and trim proposals developed in-house by Ford interior designers.
1976 was the first year for the long-running Bill Blass Edition Mark / Bring a Trailer
In fact, according to Ford styling historians Jim and Cheryl Farrell, Ford interior design director L. David Ash (who had designed the 1968½ Lincoln Continental Mark III before becoming head of interior design 1970) preferred it when the outside designers didn’t try to “muck around with special exterior and interior colors” — it meant fewer arguments.
The Bill Blass Edition interior featured navy velour or dark blue and cream leather-and-vinyl upholstery / Bring a Trailer
Fashion or jewelry designers are not automotive stylists (or vice versa), and Ash found that they didn’t necessarily grasp the limitations of mass production (or the limits of taste within Lincoln-Mercury and its marketing department). It was easier for all concerned for each special trim edition to be designed in-house, subject to the named designer’s approval.
Designer Editions carried the designer’s signature in the opera window glass / Bring a Trailer
By the time the Designer Series was introduced to the Lincoln Continental Mark IV line for 1976, Ford interior designers were old hands at this sort of thing, having developed an array of conceptually similar color-and-trim packages for the Mark and its Ford Thunderbird sibling, albeit without the famous names attached.
Offering special paint and trim options was nothing new, especially for luxury cars, but Ford raised the merchandising of color options to a high art during this period. The rationale was simple: Ford and Lincoln-Mercury were already selling every Thunderbird and Mark IV the divisions could build. With production already straining capacity, the easiest way to increase profits was to find ways to run up the average transaction price without any major tooling or factory investments.
1973 Lincoln Continental Mark IV with the Silver Luxury Group / Mecum Auctions
The Silver Luxury Group included burgundy corduroy upholstery / Mecum Auctions
Ford and Lincoln-Mercury called these paint-and-trim packages “luxury groups,” and they steadily grew in number throughout the model run of the Mark IV and Big ‘Bird. For instance, the Mark IV had added a Silver Luxury Group for 1973; a Gold Luxury Group for 1974; and Blue Diamond, Saddle and White, and Lipstick and White Luxury Groups for 1975. By 1976, the last year of the Mark IV, there were seven of these packages in addition to the four new Designer Editions.
1974 Lincoln Continental Mark IV with the Gold Luxury Group / RM Sotheby’s
The Gold Luxury Group included tan leather-and-vinyl upholstery with brown inserts / RM Sotheby’s
None of the Luxury Groups included any additional convenience equipment or mechanical options (nor did they include the forged aluminum wheels that came with the more expensive Designer Editions) — these were strictly appearance packages. Since they involved no mechanical or design changes, costs were low and profits high.
1975 Lincoln Continental Mark IV with the Blue Diamond Luxury Group / Pederson’s Classics via Classiccars.com
The Blue Diamond Luxury Group included Aqua Blue Media Velour trim / Bring a Trailer
That Ford was so successful with this strategy was due in no small part to the fact that the Mark and Thunderbird were already in great demand. This was a crucial point: While independents like Kaiser and AMC had dabbled with special trim packages and even designer editions, an expensive cosmetic special edition is a much easier sell for a product that’s already a hit than for one that’s languishing in showrooms.
The decor packages offered for the Mark and Thunderbird definitely didn’t suit every taste, but these cars were marketed to people with money who had no problem being noticed in a crowd, and who were affluent enough not to fret about whether a particular color scheme would hurt resale value or wear out its welcome by the end of a four-year car loan. (If your Aqua Blue Diamond Mark IV was no longer the In thing after a year, you could just trade it in on a Bill Blass or Cartier Edition.) Cars like these were sold as fashion accessories, whether or not they carried a designer name.
1976 Lincoln Continental Mark IV with Lipstick and White Luxury Group / Mecum Auctions
Which brings us to the so-called “Lipstick Edition” cars. On the Continental Mark IV, this was properly known as the Lipstick and White Luxury Group, a $400 option in 1975, $477 in 1976. (There was also a similar package for the 1976 Thunderbird called the Lipstick Red Luxury Group.) It wasn’t the most popular of the special trim packages — I saw one estimate suggesting that only about 1,200 Mark IVs were ordered with it — but it is one of the best remembered.
Red vinyl side moldings were available but not compulsory with the Lipstick and White Luxury Group / Mecum Auctions
1975 Mark IV with Lipstick and White Luxury Group, red roof, AND red side trim / RK Motors
The Lipstick Mark was offered in either white with red pinstripes or a particularly vibrant Lipstick Red (with white pinstripes), either of which could be combined with your choice of red or white vinyl roof — you could have white-on-white, red-on-red, red-on-white, or white-on-red.
1975 Mark IV with the Lipstick and White Luxury Group, white exterior, and white vinyl top / MotoeXotica Classic Cars
Even with a white-on-white exterior, the Lipstick and White package included bright red trunk carpeting / H&H Classics
Not all Marks with the Lipstick and White package were red, but the red ones were really red / Mecum Auctions
Either exterior color was accompanied by a white leather-and-vinyl interior with Lipstick Red trim and carpet:
The Lipstick and White Luxury Group had white leather-vinyl upholstery with red seat and door trim, red carpeting, and a color-keyed dashboard and steering wheel / H&H Classics
A love-it-or-hate it interior, to be sure, but I’m feeling kindly towards it / H&H Classics
Even on a Mark IV, the “leather-and-vinyl” trim was more vinyl than leather / H&H Classics
Although the Lipstick and White package wasn’t a Designer Edition, it probably could have been if Ford had found the right luxury brand partner. (Lincoln Continental Mark IV Lancôme Edition, perhaps?)
1976 Ford Thunderbird with Lipstick Red Luxury Group / Just Cars
The Lipstick Luxury Thunderbird interior was similar but not identical to the Mark IV treatment / Just Cars
If you hate the Mark IV and Thunderbird, or cars like them, it’s easy to make fun of the specially trimmed editions, but at the same time, it’s easy to see how someone at the time would have seen one of these cars in a Lincoln-Mercury showroom and decided they just had to have it.
1976 Lincoln Continental Mark IV with Lipstick and White Luxury Group / Mecum Auctions
Are some of these trim packages ridiculously gaudy? Sure, but I’ve seen various newer cars in similarly vivid colors that I’ve at least as objectionable — for instance, there was an appalling BMW paint color I used to see quite often around L.A. that I always thought of as “Electric Pea Soup Metallic,” and more recently, Audi has offered a peculiar orange I’d call “Weaponized Creamsicle.” So, I’m feeling philosophical about it. I don’t much love the Mark or the Big ‘Bird, but in an ever-grayer automotive landscape, I’m developing a soft spot for some of these color combinations.
Related Reading
Automotive History: 1972 Lincoln Continental Mark IV – Bunkie Knudsen Leaves His Mark (by me)
Curbside Classic: 1972 Lincoln Continental Mark IV – About Fathers, Sons and Cars (by J P Cavanaugh)
Curbside Classic: 1976 Continental Mark IV Givenchy Edition – Aqua Couture (by Tom Klockau)
Classic Curbside Classic: 1976 Lincoln Continental Mark IV – Gas Fed Beef (by Richard Bennett)
COAL: 1976 Lincoln Mark IV Jade/White Luxury Group — A Very Special COAL (by Chip Downs)
Marketing at its best/worst. Did the market need these ‘designer’ cars? No. But if Ford didn’t do it, GM or Chrysler would have. Just another means for the carmaker to pad their profits, while suggesting it reflects the buyer’s ‘good’ taste. lol
It was the crass, lack of subtly of these packages, like late ’50’s styling, that made them distasteful. Money certainly doesn’t buy good taste. As I’ve mentioned before, underlying Ford’s allusion (and illusion) in their marketing to superior quality, was thoroughly undermined by their notorious reputation for rusting during the this era. Some of the all time worst conduct of domestic makers, happening during this time period.
I’ve wondered about the extent of external designer involvement with such special editions. As mentioned in the post, it’s pretty much what I thought.
The all red T-bird is outrageous. For one craving attention I’m sure it did the trick.
It’s not that the Mark IV is ugly, but everything about it is dialed to 11, perhaps 12 for the lipstick edition. The design of the Mark IV is almost shocking in appearance compared to the mostly boring blob-mobiles I see on the road today.
Not an overly expensive package if it includes leather, landau roof, and side trim. I didn’t often like landau roofs, but it worked well with the thick chrome trim around the side windows. The thick body-side trim didn’t, on any Fords of the era.
Cadillac had halfway beat them to the punch with the optional Cabriolet roof on the ’72 Eldorado, but I don’t remember it being very popular until the ’74 opera-windowed Coupe de Ville and ’75 Eldorado refreshes. They offered several colors with white leather seats–black, red, green, and blue–without stripes on the seats. The chrome-speared, thickly-padded-landau Eldorado Biarritz option was too much for an already bloated-looking car.
The landau roof was standard on the Mark IV, with your choice of colors. I’m not wild about it, and the only way it really makes aesthetic sense to me is as a way of creating a two-tone effect, but that was the style, I guess. As for leather trim, I think sort of, although the amount of actual cowhide involved was about as much as the amount of berries in a strawberry Pop-Tart.
Surprisingly, I find the Mark IV better-looking and more tasteful than the contemporary Eldorado, which crossed the line into “actually grotesque” much more often. I know even some Lincoln fanciers don’t like the Mark IV, but I think what worked about it was that it sort of composited the major features of the Mark III and previous-generation Eldorado: I can see someone who was on the fence about which they liked better deciding the Mark IV was a good compromise, and the sales figures tend to bear that out.
The guy who imported my Barracuda, back in November 2010, also had a Ford Thunderbird Lipstick in his showroom. I certainly remember that red paint color and the white upholstery.
He sold it at a classic car event I also visited, it did around € 15,000 IIRC. It was in an excellent condition.
The Continentals Mark IV and V are the most popular land yachts here, plentiful around, unlike contemporary Thunderbirds.