(10/2/2019 Update at end) I realized today that my local Ritchie Brothers Auction site has one occurring this week, so I decided to take a gander (online) at what will be available. Between the cement mixers, F-350’s, and assorted other stuff I found this 1985 Lincoln Continental. While not a particular fan of the car going in, I freely admit to not knowing all that much about it either beyond what I’ve seen on these here pages (still not much to be frank). However it’s older, well preserved, and perhaps worthy of us deciding what we think it will end up going for. So let’s see what we have.
Downsized for 1982, the Continental more or less took over from the ill-fated Versailles that was chopped in 1980. Now Fox-based, it no longer shared any panels with the LTD/Marquis as the Versailles had with the Granada. Instead it got another controversial feature, the bustle-back, in an effort to compete with the Seville and Imperial. I don’t really think that the bustle-back worked all that well for those two, so imitating it was perhaps not the best way to go, but what do I know beyond it being pretty much a styling dead-end and now somewhat interesting only because it’s not seen anymore. At least the standard “Electronic Air Suspension” seems to be working just fine in these pictures.
Of course no matter what it’s based on, it’s still a Lincoln Continental, or perhaps it was really just the Continental as the 1985 falls within the years (’82-’85) that this had a separate manufacturer ID “1MR” at the beginning of the VIN as opposed to Lincoln’s “1LN” The rear end spells out Continental instead of Lincoln on the fake spare tire hump.
By 1985 the most popular engine offering was the injected 5.0 (Ok, 4.9 for the pedants), the other option was an imported 2.4l turbo-diesel I-6 BMW unit of all things. That particular engine saw very few takers upon introduction in 1984, and was shelved after even less buyers chose it in 1985. Before these two engines, though, there was a carbureted version of the 5.0 V8 (with a whopping 131hp) and as a no-cost option a 3.8l V6 (from Thunderbird and Cougar) was available if desired. This particular buyer chose the best option in my opinion. Transmission duties were provided by the Ford AOD 4-speed unit except for the turbodiesel which used a ZF-sourced 4-speed.
For me the big surprise was the inside. Instantly familiar to anyone who’s ever been in a Fox LTD or Marquis (we had two in the family), this though looks significantly nicer and far less baroque than I would have guessed.
The wood veneer (It is real, correct?) from here looks very attractive with a hue and grain never before seen anywhere near a Detroit offering. It looks more Scandinavian than anything else. The dash itself, while still clifflike, looks as if some thought were given to it with a very rectilinear feel but also a balance between form and function.
The seat fabric and design looks far more sporting than anticipated (as well as looking very comfortable and perhaps even, gasp, supportive!), and only the door pulls and the small chromey knobs and buttons give the game away.
Of course there is a column shifter and variation on the Ford A-Frame steering wheel, but the wood continues all the way to the end of the left side of the panel with a digital dashboard inserted into it.
Well then, only 105,498 miles and likely being garaged most of the time it wasn’t on the road would explain the very good condition of this car. The only damage that I can see is a very shallow scrape on the driver side rear quarterpanel which seems like a relatively minor issue to have corrected.
No, not the rear quarters space one might imagine in a Lincoln, but acceptable for a ride to lunch. It looks pretty plush though, better than an LTD, and supposedly by 1984 the rear seats got their own HVAC vents.
Looking beyond the door gap that you could lose a thumb in, I thought those were wire wheel hubcaps, but it turns out they are wire-spoke aluminum wheels with whitewall tires, that while I suppose appropriate here, would need to go to be replaced with something from a Thunderbird or Mustang, or perhaps the concurrent Mark VII coupe which shared this car’s chassis. With the 5.0 engine and that interior this aspect deserves an upgrade.
After perusing the brochure it turns out that these wheels were standard on both the Givenchy and the Valentino edition, and this one would have much plainer cast-aluminum wheels as standard Apparently these were available on standard Continentals too as an option (except in California for some reason as the brochure takes pains to point out)
Also according to the brochure, this car was available in seventeen different exterior colors and then various two-tone combinations on top of that along with eight, yes, EIGHT interior colors, only one of which was limited to leather only. It seems a bit of a shame that they picked a silvery color (there are multiple colors that it could be), but back in 1985, who knew?
I sort of like it. Actually I like it a lot more than I thought I might. But I’m not buying it, although someone is guaranteed to. So, what do YOU think it will go for? This is a standard in-place auction although one can also bid online and even submit an early proxy bid and there will be the standard 10% bid premium for the house. The auction closes this Wednesday and I will be sure to check back to find and report on the final sales price. My guess is US$3,750. The Price Is Right rules apply here, so the closest without going over wins bragging rights. I’ll put Paul down for one dollar.
UPDATE 10/2/2019: We have a winner! The car ended up selling for $1250 and commenter G. Poon takes the prize with his bid that ended up exactly right. As we were playing with The Price Is Right rules, technically he should win BOTH showcases by being right on the money but we only have one today. Maybe we can all chip in to get him the LeMans too, it’s not too far away. So G. Poon, you have three days to come on out, get your car and give me a ride in it before heading west for home. Thanks for playing, perhaps we’ll do this again!
Related Reading:
Eric703’s comprehensive write-up on this generation of cars
Jim Grey’s slightly less charitable take on one in a parking lot
I’m pretty sure that is fake wood, though our Topaz had slivers of real wood trim in this era, so it could be real.
The Versailles was never on the Fox platform it was on the Falcon platform and died with it when the original Granada went away.
That 5.0 is not a great one to have, yes it is EFI, but it is CFI or Central Fuel Injection Ford’s throttle body system, so its HP gains over the carb version is modest. with 140 net HP. Certainly the driveability is much improved over the old carb version.
For price I’m going much much lower as I doubt that Richie will bring the buyers that even pay any attention to this, they are going to be looking for that F350 or bulldozer.
So I’m going wtith $975.
Oops, fixed, thanks!
To clarify, the RB Auctions aren’t just F350 and bulldozers, regardless of the impression I may have inadvertently given above. There are lots of “regular” cars and SUV’s etc there as well, it will likely attract some dealers, being within half an hour of Denver and numerous suburbs. Your guess may be correct but it likely won’t just be hard-hatters with steel-toed boots walking the aisles.
Yeah it appears yours has a different mix of items compared to what I see at the nearest one. In their upcoming auction out of 800 lots 32 are in the vehicles and buses category. 14 pickups, 11 SUVs, 6 cars, and 1 emergency vehicle. To be fair most of those SUVs are more consumer vehicles.
Yours also seems to do a much better job with the pictures, the one that’s got my interest, locally, is a Model A but not a single picture. I guess since it isn’t for a few more days they might get some up before the auction date.
Since you chose to appeal to the pendants out there regarding the displacement of the “5.0” (aka 302), I start the bidding at $4,948.89*, or exactly one dollar for every CC (cubic centimeter, not Curbside Classic ;o).
Full disclosure… I’m a big fan of the 5.0 from Ford… My ’88 T-Bird was still running great when I traded it at 236K.
* I am sure I am way too high here, unless there’s a bidding war. :o)
I don’t like it, I don’t like it, I don’t like it! I suppose that if I also used a tomahawk to sculpt the clay model I would end up with the car pictured. Chop here, and chop here, and oh one more small chop here.
The wood veneer is real. We had 3 of these in a row (all used) from the late 80’s through roughly 1998 as my Mother’s daily drivers. Our first was a gunmetal metallic grey ’86 model (with the full port-injected 5.0L) with a burgundy leather interior with the early (real) wood like this one, the second one was an ’86 or ’87 two-tone light/dark metallic blue one with a dark blue velour interior (it was a designer series, but I cant remember if it was a Valentino or a Givenchy), and the final one was a 1987 in rose quartz metallic with a taupe leather interior.
As to the wood: the real wood on the earlier models tended to delaminate and flake off of the trim panels, and Ford issued a “customer service notification” program to replace the panels with fake wood substitutes that were used on later models if the car was brought in within a certain time/miles from new. Sadly, we missed the window on the early gunmetal car and had to live with the flaky wood. My mother never jived with the velour interior of the second car, so it didn’t stick around very long, being replaced with the ’87, which was the nicest of the three we had. Other than some suspension airbag issues and plugged catalysts on the gunmetal model, the other two were dead reliable and provided good service in the time we had them.
I always had a soft spot for these, the Continental with it’s slight bustleback always wore it better than the Seville.
For many years here in Gallup there was a waitress at the Cracker Barrel (older lady – in her 60s) who had a creamy buttery yellow example as her personal car. The only thing that wasn’t stock on it was the dual exhaust tips poking out from under it. I always wondered if she had a secret “Little Old Lady from Pasadena” streak
Fake or not, the wood is presented in a rarely realistic way, not making strange contours with convex and concave areas that could never realistically be accomplished with “real wood or even veneer on a mass production car. For the dash design itself, I see your Volvo and raise you 68-70 Chrysler B body – notably the top pad shape, angled back instruments, similar wood placement, padded bottom sections – I love that dash layout, so that’s a-ok with me. I like this interior much more than the Mark VII’s more 80s euro binnacle design
$1,200 max. I like these bustleback Continentals a lot but these are pretty much relegated to cheap transportation.
I’ve been there!
$893 for the Lincoln.
“Instead it got another controversial feature, the bustle-back, in an effort to compete with the Seville and Imperial.”
Damning with faint praise here, but I think this execution is the best out of the three.
Not a Lincoln guy at all, but if I HAD to get one, this would be a close second behind the Mark VII. Maybe even number one thanks to the improved usability offered by the four door platform. I think it’s a very tidy package, and everything else is either too new or too big.
I’d eventually upgrade to a newer multi-port injection system (The CFI provides OK service, but is a bit of a bear to troubleshoot), and those wheels would HAVE to go. Thankfully, the Lego Block design of the Fox platform offers many inexpensive bolt-on options.
BTW- The Mark IV and Continental both used five bolt wheel hubs, so other (four bolt) Fox wheels will NOT fit. However, the five bolt pattern greatly expands the aftermarket wheel options, so there’s that.
The later SN-95 (Modified Fox) has 5 lug wheels and the offset is in the right range and they share the center bore as well.
If you don’t mind 1″ spacers the 03+ Panther, 05+ Mustang and 02-10 Explorer et all will work.
Personally I think I’d try and find some of the Mark VII Turbine or BBS 16″. Or go for the spacers and the 03 or so Town Car 17″
I forgot to mention, being an 85 means this one has EEC-IV instead of the EEC-III used on the first CFI 5.0. That means it is just as easy to diagnose as pretty much any EEC-IV vehicle.
Aah-
I did not know they built any CFI systems that conformed to EEC-IV, and agree EEC-IV greatly improved system troubleshooting.
The quick way to tell the difference is the EEC-IV cars have TFI while the EEC-III cars have crank trigger with the pickup in the timing cover, not to be confused with the Versailles’ EEC-III 302 that had a crank trigger mounted in the back of the block and the reluctor as part of the crank. Note those still had carbs even though they had fully electronic timing.
Before SN95s became easy to find at junkyards these Continentals would get their spindles and rear axles pilfered for the 5 bolt conversion on Fox Mustangs.
What’s nice about these Lincoln’s to me isn’t the ability to upgrade wheels, but the ability to upgrade the brakes underneath to late SN95 spec, while keeping the original wheels. I don’t think a larger racy looking aftermarket wheel would look flattering on this bodystyle.
I agree that a set of Bullitt or Mach 1 wouldn’t look right on this but some of the 03+ Town Car wheels would look good in my opinion
I am inclined to agree with XR7 Matt:
Price will be UNDER $2K.
The car itself? I actually like these and have considered buying one a few times. I actually like the styling but I don’t care for any car that is silver/grey inside and out. I would have to 2 tone this…perhaps a navy blue bottom?
If only I had room in my garage! Oh, wait, I don’t have a garage…
Well, it pains me to think of this car selling for under $2,000, so I’ll guess $2,750. It’s probably at the very bottom of the depreciation curve.
I like these Continentals; I’d actually rather have one than a Mark VII… after all, they’re much less common.
When these were new, both the Seville and it were not liked by me or my family. My mother called them, particularly the Seville, a German staff car!
But now the looks have grown on me, and it just drips of 80s to I like it. At least it is not another blobby car that is so common these days.
$875.36
This Lincoln at Richie Brothers is like a fish out of water. No offense to RB, but how this Connie got there is likely a story unto itself.
Not quite as much a fish out of water as this Eagle Premier at an RB auction in Saskatchewan:
You can lump this turd (other than the engine) in with Eric’s recent write-up on the ’87 Cadillac Seville.
At least it’s TBI. If all of GMs passenger car V8s were TBI by 1985 I would have been dancing a freaking jig when I got my 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme.
On a 4.1 it was lipstick on a pig.
I was thinking of the stone reliable V8s like the Olds 307 and the Chevy 305. The least reliable most fiddly most frequently rebuilt parts on those engines were the eQuadraJet carbs.
QuadraJUNK I still call them.
Dan – Possibly, but FI did nothing for the Cad’s 4.1 hamster cage with only 130 net HP. Jeep’s venerable 4.0 liter in line six had 177 net HP right out of the gate that same year.
You are right about the E-Quadrajets but not the early ones. I have rebuilt and modded many (and currently have a car that still has its original Q-jet) and they really are darn good carburetors. People just can’t seem to wrap their head around the way they work. Once you do, they really do make sense.
I so wish my 1987 Cutlass coupe had EFI on the 307 Olds engine. Would have been really interesting to see where the power figures went and how it affected intake/exhaust tuning etc.
Regarding the Cadillac HT4100 it’s HP was hardly out of line with what was being made at the time. It started off with 125 in 1982 and then went to 135 thereafter. Note that 1980-83 Ford 302’s with throttle body only made 130 HP and Chrysler’s 318 in the Imperial made but 130 most years with a similar FI setup. Also note that the 4100 when fitted with port injection rose to 170 HP which is close to the Jeep 4.0 straight six in the 1987 Allante so you need to compare the same fuel injection systems on these engines when comparing.
$1600. Don’t ask where I got that.
I watched one of these go through a major used car auction house “Antique & Classic Annual Anniversary Sale” about seven years ago. It was in fine 60K miles garage-kept condition. At first, no one would bid at all, after trying for a couple more minutes with no bids, finally just before the auctioneer was going to wave it on, one of the BHPH guys bid $150.00. No one placed a second bid, his was rejected.
In fairness, most of the ‘collector cars” offered were the usual selection of well-used Corvettes and general quasi-performance ruck, tired muscle and pony cars with a sprinkling of older miscellaneous survivors like this Continental. Nothing sold for much, only a few in general.
I’ll double the BHPH guy’s bid as a guess: $300.00
As much criticism with the bustle back Sevilles, they sold better than their replacements of 86-91 model and some, in excellent condition, can fetch over $15 grand and more. ?
I am going to call BS on $15k for on in ‘excellent condition’—book value of these is still less than 5K at the top end.
I looked at a used one a few years back. They are the right size, but of course lack rear seat space. They are rear wheel drive, with rack and pinion steering, four wheel discs and a fuel injected V8. I’m not sure if these ever got the H.O. 5 litre, like the Mark VIIs did. Lots of Mustang parts you could use to hot rod it with. And, best of all, that 5.0 is a sturdy long lived mill. It’s like hot rodding a Fairmont, but you’ll always carry a weight disadvantage. Personally, these are my favorite Lincoln wheels. They are a cast alloy wheel with two rows of interlaced spokes, not a hubcap. But then, I like Dayton wire wheels too! My ’96 Explorer runs the 5.0, Mustang GT type with single exhaust with AOD tranny. It’s got well over 200K on it and still runs good. But fuel economy is kind of poor, it was rated at just 19 mpg. freeway. In actual 70 mph. use it only gets around 15 + depending on other factors. Still, it sounds great and is easy to work on. My estimate for the Continental is 1,200.00 max.
I’m still seriously considering getting a Mark VII LSC. I went to see a real nice white one a couple of weeks ago. It’s no Jaguar, but it would be a lot less headaches.
Jose, I’m a big fan of the LSC’s, too…..always loved the look of them, and the H.O 5.0 gives it that extra reason to love it. Also agreed on those wheels–I would have to have those on the car, too.
Only problem with the mark VII and this dog is the air suspension that is horribly expensive to repair. Many owners have used a t bird suspension to replace the Continental’s. I like those Mark VII LSC also. In the 90s owners told me that if you replaced just 2 of air suspension, then it was over $2000. I have driven theses, not a great car, I would get a Seville over this and if you find a nice 1980 Seville, they have a 350 engine
The air suspension being expensive to repair is pure internet BS. The most common problem is leaking O-rings on the solenoids, its an $8 kit and 30 min of labor. The bags are available in the aftermarket at about $100 ea while the air over struts or shocks as used on the FWD Conti and Mark VIII are more. Aftermarket compressors are also available at a reasonable price, however there were no changes during the run so you can use one from a late model Panther and just get the 4 port drier.
Seriously it is more expensive to change to steel than it is to fix the problem correctly, unless you somehow blew all the bags and then drove it on the stops for a long time and killed the compressor because of that.
I’ll go with $2,000. I had the 1986 Mark VII way back in 1990… A graduation from high school gift from the grandparents. I loved mine and still think they are unique, given the numbers available on carsforsale.com, autotrader.com… I want a sub 50,000 miles example of the Bill Blass Mark VII in Dk. Blue or Dk. Cherry… Maybe even White. Anyone have?
Valentino edition was my favorite of these bustle back cars…..
I like this style and no to the sevile and Imperials take on this trunk!
The one thing i dont like is the lack of horsepower on these luxury cars!
The best color combo for me was the 2 tone black/burgundy model!
I would say someone might offer just under 2 thousand……good time to buy these maybe!!
I’ll say $4200. It’s in too good of condition to go for something real low; I suspect someone older may have nostalgia for something like this.
$1250. Because that’s what it feels like, and who knows where you’ll find a left cornering lamp lens.
There’s one an hour North in Windsor, Colorado (near Mr. Klein).
$30.16- Bought and mounted in a day!
I like it and would bid $2,500 USD. With the 10% surcharge and current exchange rate it would still be a good deal for me.
I think we have flights from Edmonton to Denver. Then drive the car home. I could use a good road trip this fall. It would make up for the crappy summer weather we had up here.
If it sells, I would guess that there will only be one bidder. It’s a 35 year old luxury car with lots of 35 year old wires that may or may not work. The mechanicals are just as old as the wires. It’s as stylish in today’s world as pantaloons. Personally, I wouldn’t touch it. $1500, tops and that is only if the sun is shining and the beer is ice cold.
$1750. If this car was in Atlanta posted on Craigslist, they’d be asking $3500-$4500
$1200. It’s 34 years old. And from the 80’s!
Mixed feelings. It’s hideous with it’s derivative bustle back and AMC like narrow hood and Concord feñders. That interior is ugly with the t bird seats and cheap door panels and dash with the A steering wheel. The car looks like Lincoln had AMC design it for them. While it seems more modern than a Granada, it’s in the same mould. Super Fairmont vs superfalcon. Or is it’s predecessor the mark vi? If so it was trash in comparison.
The author does not suggest this possibility but if Seville is the compition and a 2door Seville is the eldorado and eldorado competed against mark vi and imperial then Seville competed against 4 door mark vi. so this ugly baby Lincoln was Lincoln’s 86 Seville.
The suspension was expensive to fix in the 90s before the aftermarket ramped up. I remember many, along with many mark t birds sagging to the ground in the early 90s. Car was overpriced for what it was and a bad deal vs the real Lincoln. The town car was just as Good on gas and didn’t have the weak suspension and rack and pinion and town car seldom broke and had way more room and looked like a Lincoln and not like it was farmed out to AMC.
The car was good engine wise and transmission wise if you made sure not to break tv bushing. The suspension was failure prone and expensive to fix back in the day.
If I were to build a cheap baby Lincoln in 1983, I would start with cougar sedan,. Add a Chrysler fth Ave top and opera windows and fender gills and rolls grill with flip up lights and lots of bottom chrome and a real hump on the trunk like a mark. I would also have a pimp package with talisman like interior, continental kit, curb feelers,, luggage rack, side pipes, gold trim, spotlights, visor and t tops and neon tubes under it. I would also have regular coils and struts. And the aod would be connected to the throttle body with a metal bushing. 5.0 ho with double roller chain and 3.55 gears. This would have beat Seville.
I bid 700$. Small price for small ugly car. I would buy it just to build à hotrod.
Wow, this is a lot like one my father had, right down to the wheels. His was a two tone silver/dark gray 1984 model and I no longer recall if his had leather or velour. I remember driving it once and found it a roly-poly mess, but then I was driving a VW GTI at the time.
I later owned a Fox body Marquis wagon and liked it a lot, so would happily drive this if I could work up enthusiasm for one more round behind a LoPo 5.0/AOD combination. At least it would be in a smaller, lighter car.
It’s a good thing I have no spare garage space.
But hey, Jim Klein – it is local to you and what is CC without an official CC mascot car? The 66 F-100 is retired so something like this would be just the thing. A couple of magnetic CC signs for the sides and you are in (tax deductible) business!
It’s not yellow (gold) unfortunately, otherwise I’d of course be all over it like white on rice… 🙂
I’ve gotta believe someone will give it some love–a non-bland hobby car you can maintain fairly cheaply (fingers crossed). Not-perfect front lens is on eBay now for $150.
Bid: $2121
Not much collector value so really not worth restoring. But, for a low enough price, this would be an okay (and relatively unique) beater. It might even be a fun project fixing all the inevitable gremlins that are sure to crop up.
Much to my surprise, I sort of quite like it – I like the dash and the “wood” (shock horror!), the almost restrained interior style and the even the bustle back with the faceted style and tall lamps. the spare wheel bulge is hideous, obvious, but it’s no worse looking than a contemporary Volvo or even a series 2 Rover 800.
Not bidding though.
There was one for sale in Manitoba a few weeks ago for $11,000 CAD. Looks like it sold!
$1,250 seems like a fair price to me. Not much in the way of collector value and does not really make a good beater either. Hopefully someone keeps it up.
Agreed. It’ll be some work to keep it going, but, hopefully, whomever got it is up to the task.
So close!
Wow, I misjudged this by oh, about 100%… guess I let my emotions get the best of me. Maybe that’s why I’m not a businessman.
Is there any reason you couldn’t drop in a fox mustang spec 5.0 in it with 225 bhp?
Absolutely, it’s a foxbody, the possibilities are endless! Could even retrofit the 1999-2004 Cobra independent rear suspension if so desired(though that negates any chance of preserving the original air suspension). Sticking with the Windsor 5.0 family however, I’d opt for the 1996 Explorer GT40 5.0 over the 5.0 H.O.
In regions where clean, rust-free old cars are at a premium, this Lincoln would get a much better price.
Check the page views on virtually any popular old car in reasonably decent condition at Kijiji (a major Canadian buy and sell site), and the number will be in the hundreds quickly. Though most are just curious of course.
I hope this Lincoln found a good home.
Well-bought at $1250, let’s say $1500 with auction fees. The buyer could drive it home, put it on CL at $3k, nab an easy $2500 and pocket a grand inside a week.
Replace the turn signal lens and get one of those dent repair guys to smooth out the quarter panel and, yeah, it would be a quick and easy thousand bucks.
I’m glad to have won. I’ll be going to claim the Lincoln if I can get the printing press in the garage to work, and if I can run off 416 three-dollar bills. I’ll make up the remaining $2 with spare change that I’ll find in the seats of the 1995 Dodge Intrepid. After this long, it has to have collected some, anyway.
Congratulations!!!
Surprised it didn’t sell for a bit more. A same year Seville with a bit less mileage and a factory GM goodwrench 4100 sold for 2500 at our local car auction during the Summer with two-tone paint and wire wheels and currently sits on a dealer lot for 4995 for comparison. The 1986 on up SFI 302 Continental would be the way to go even though they never got the HO engine. Still they performed far better than the CFI engines even though only rated for 150 HP but made 270 LBS Ft of torque at a low RPM so were great launchers.
It’s almost a win for me. I was only 50.00 dollars off!
Wow, I was $50 too low…..