Those of you who have been reading CC for a while may remember one of my early write-ups on a 1978 Lincoln Town Coupe. About a month after that CC ran (link here) the Lincoln disappeared, and I assumed it had been sold. That theory went out the window back in September, when I ran across it in a different part of town.
Yes, it is still available if any of you Brougham Society members have an interest. Sadly, the rear bumper went AWOL a while back. As I was snapping pictures, the owner, who lives down the street from where these photos were taken, came over to see what I was up to.
I introduced myself and explained about Curbside Classic. He told me he’d purchased the Lincoln in the fall of 2011, but decided to sell it a few months later as he has several cars. I asked about the bumper and he told me he still has it.
The bumper itself is OK (seen here, attached in a photo from the original post), but apparently the mounts failed. Probably easy enough parts to find, considering how many of these Pullman-like Connies have survived. The car itself is remarkably clean and rust-free.
The accessory forged-aluminum wheels really set this car off. My grandfather had a 1977 Mark V, in triple midnight blue, that he ordered brand new, and it had these same wheels–much nicer than the standard “Luxury” wheel covers or optional wire wheel covers.
The current owner purchased this Continental from either the original owner or their relative. It clearly has been well taken care of, as evidenced by the pristine interior. I don’t recall the number, but this coupe also has extremely low mileage.
How nice is the interior? Well, it still has the plastic wrapping on the rear seat belts! I always loved the diamond-pattern interior of the 1975-79 Town Car and Town Coupe, though it looked even snazzier with optional leather trim. As much as I am into Brougham Era luxury cars, I don’t really care for velour.
Hopefully, the right buyer will come along one of these days. Whoever that person is, I hope he fixes the bumper. There’s nothing sadder than seeing a gigantic luxury car rolling down the road without a rear bumper. It’s the automotive equivalent of having your shirt untucked!
I understand that I am in the minority here but every time I see one of these (or the GM/Mopar competition) I hear the sucking sound of a big block sucking gas while pushing an overweight car. Nice car and nice followup.
Velour is a tough one. Makes for plush, ultra quiet interior, but also tends to act like Velcro on one’s tush, especially when wearing jeans. Seems like once you find a reatively comfortable spot on the seat, get used to it because you’re basically stuck in that position for the remainder of the ride…
What’s the 0-60 on one of these, anybody recall? I’m guessing 11.5 or 12 seconds flat. But 0-30 probably feels quick with that monster 460 and low gearing.
Road Test‘s ’75 Town Coupe managed 0-60 in less than 10 seconds. The ’78 had about the same power and was allegedly lighter (although I don’t know how much lighter if comparably equipped), so I would expect roughly the same — really pretty good for the era.
I wonder if one could throw in a 4.6 out of a wrecked contemporary Town Car or a 5.4 Triton without too much trouble? Would it bolt up to the older trans? Certainly the weight saved would more than make up for the few less foot-lbs of torque, and it’d get better mileage overall. Who needs a 460, anyway? I love these cars and wish it were mine.
I’d prefer megasquirt (or some other EFI conversion), Gear Vendors overdrive, and tune it up like a fine piano. Less work, less trying to get new parts to work with old parts (like hooking up the 5.4s AC compressor to the 1979 controls, etc…)
FYI the 1979 models were 400 c.i. only. It is possible to hot rod the 400.
It would just be a matter of getting AC hoses with the correct fittings and shape to make the modular engines compressor work with the older system, not a big deal at all maybe $200 tops. There is just one wire to the compressor clutch to tell it to engage.
I would assume it probably weighs no more than a contemporary TC, anyhow…
No the pre-Panther cars were near 1000lbs heavier than the Panther based TCs. The Modular engines other than the 91 and early 92 have a bellhousing that is only shared with its replacement the Coyote family. The first versions used the Small Block pattern, so no a none of the Modular family will bolt to the existing C6. You would be giving up a ton of torque in the low rpm range and it would likely seriously struggle with the low numeric axle ratio.
Good to learn! Yeah, I would guess hot rodding a 400 or 460 would work if you modded the fuel system and maybe threw in a newer, better-flowing cat? I drove a 68 Conti 4-door in high school for a short time and the mileage wasn’t horrible, guessing the 2-bbl (I think it was that anyway) and the freer exhaust (and higher compression) got me away with, I dunno, around 12-15 mpg? Man that thing was a boat!
I am surprised it’s so much heavier, though. With all the extra systems and bracing for safety, I guess I assumed it was about the same.
You’d be assuming wrong. This outweighs Marshal Raylen Givens TC by at least 700 pounds. While on that subject, I’d like to know how they got the curb weight down from the 5379-5423 lb range in 1975 (brochure figures, 2dr or 4dr Town Car or standard, it differed a bit ) to 4846-4843 in 1979 (also brochure figures).
FWIW ’75 is as heavy as they ever got. they started nipping away at it in ’76. Over 500 pounds without downsizing. Drilling holes in the frame only goes so far. How did they do the rest?
No bodies in the trunk that time, or they sealed the doors and filled the interior with helium.
1977+ lost a lot basic equipment- fuzzy carpet disappeared in trunk- replaced with mouse fur type grey carpet, guages disappeared in 1978, thinner carpet in the interior
they did some stuff with the spare tire as well- I think they got rid of something to do with locking the spare tire down in the trunk
lots of little stuff that added up
Yeah, I assume a lot of it had to do with de-contenting.
From what I understand, the earlier models of this generation (up to ’75) used asphalt tar as a sound deadening material. From ’76 onward, they started reducing the sound deadening to save the weight. The other big thing is that from ’77 to ’79, the 400 was the standard engine. The 460 was optional in ’77 and ’78, not at all available in ’79. The ’78 Ford Service literature describes the 460 as a “lightweight cast iron design. That “lightweight” engine weighed over 700 pounds.
Cosmetically speaking for me here in NM the only thing it needs is the bumper fixed, tinted windows, and some new tires. I’d much rather have a narrow whitewall on that monster.
But yes I do still MM about getting an old luxury beast like that and seeing if I could coax it to 20mpg hwy with overdrive, tune up, EFI, etc… Why, because I’d have fun doing that, that’s why.
Whew, that would be a challenge. I doubt that EFI in and of itself will make the 460 a miser, at least not an EFI that you could retrofit to the existing powerplant. Cadillac offered EFI for the 500 cube engine in 1976 and maybe you got an extra MPG or so; the advantage was mostly drivability.
I’m thinking the best attempt might involve one of the somewhat higher torque three-valve modular drivetrains used in trucks. You’ve still got a whole lot of pounds to push around with the aerodynamics of your typical brick. In the real world,it’s close to impossible to consistently break the 10 MPG barrier in these cars as equipped from the factory. Ask me how I know. So you are talking about DOUBLING the car’s efficiency.
As much as I love these, the color would be a challenge for me. The earlier comments about the velour were right on – there was no sliding into or out of those seats. My father’s 78 Town Coupe also had the velour. I have never seen a car of this era with velour seats with worn upholstery. That stuff was the next best thing to steel upholstery.
I will also diverge from Tom here – I liked the turbine wheels much better than these. From the size of those whitewalls, it looks like those tires have been on that car a loooooong time.
We’ll they could be reproduction, Broadway Classics or someones last stock of old Firestone 721’s.
Deja vu – I remember asking about the tires the first time and Tom confirmed they were Firestones. Gotta be 10 years old if a day, wouldn’t you say, Carmine?
7 around 2, wrapped by 1…
I havent seen a set of 721’s since 2001. At least 10 years old.
I agree it would look nicer in midnight blue or dark jade, though I don’t mind the cream color. These cars just look better in dark colors given all their chrome trim. Like this sedan–same color as my grandfather’s Mark V:
There’s always crystal apricot.
Nice! I also like dark turquoise metallic, with matching aqua leather!
Agreed on the color. Gold, yellow, brown and especially beige cars never appealed to me.
My Dad purchased a new 78 Lincoln Continental Mark V Cartier Edition with the 460 back in the day. It was loaded, including the CB Radio option. My recollection is that he was relatively satisfied with the highway mileage, which was around 17MPG. I drove it a number of times and remember that the acceleration was decent considering the weight of the car. The 460 was one smooth engine, and very quiet. I never warmed up to the regular LC models of these years as they look so massive and blocky while the Mark somehow managed to look a bit sleek despite its size.
ditto with me as well- the mark v and the iv always seem small compared to the 1975-79 continental…I know its just an illusion- makes me like the continental more though
My dad owned a 1977 Town Car with the 460 for 20 years. I took it on a few trips. It was an absolutely beautiful car, but fuggetabout driving/parking in the big city. It was perfect for the sparsely-populated Eastern WA area that it lived in, and the king of the interstates (there was absolutely no sensation of speed in that car – you could be going 90mph and it felt/sounded the same as 60).
He would have given it to me, but it was far too nice to sit outside in Seattle, and wouldn’t even fit in my 20′ deep garage (car was 20′ long). Plus it flat-out doesn’t fit into modern parking spaces, assuming that you even have the aisle width required for the ship-like turning radius.
We won’t ever see new cars like this ever built again. Mayby in 30 years the 1%ers will be buying resto-modded versions of these (with triple-turbo’d Ecoboost 1.5l 3-cylinders) for $150K!
I owned a 77 Town Car from 87 to 98. A friend of mine called it my “Deep Ride”. Loved that car. Paid 1800 for it in 1987 and sold it for 1100 in 98. I think it had a little over 100K miles when I got it and 160K when I sold it. Sold it because of a little rust around the back window and some weird Carburetor on it which cost over 700.00 to replace. I seem to remember it getting 15 Hwy. and single digits city. Most comfortable car in the world to ride in, just most my friends were scared to drive it due to its size so I rarely got to enjoy its splendid ride. I found it not that bad since you could see the ends of all 4 fenders from the drivers seat. I seem to remember it weighing 5100 pounds. Liked the 76-77 better than the 78-79. Prefer the full skirts and the older dash with the mercury speedometer. Mine was white with white vinyl roof and burgundy velour. It also had the same wheels as the above example, though I did like the Turbine wheels better. When I first got it they were dull like these appear, but they were not coated so with something called never-dull you could really get them to shine. Wish my scanner was working so I could attach picture.
Very nice find and I for one love the color. But you should tell the owner to either put the rear bumper back on or take off the color-keyed bumper filler. The fillers on these old American cars are the parts that deteriorate most quickly. Without the bumper that perfect looking filler is in a very vulnerable position. Heck I hear they can crack just sitting in a climate controlled garage.
Most cannot be sourced new and the reproductions need careful trimming and filling to fit right. Then you have to match the paint. If you can’t or don’t want to do the work yourself it can be a pricey fix and will never look as nice as the original part on a time capsule like this.
I dropped a ’73 Pontiac NOS bumper filler in its original box & it actually splintered into about a hundred pieces. I’d be kind of nervous about leaving that Lincoln’s rear end unprotected. I’m wondering how the mounts could have failed (unless the lower third of the car is made out of Bondo).
I just assumed it was the mounts; it could have been the brackets on the inside of the bumper. Either way it’s weird, as the rest of the car is remarkably rust-free and clean.
I’m a pre-80 Lincoln fan and had a 1978 Town Coupe similar to this but with 5K miles on it (bought it in 2001). An older gentleman had bought it then passed away and was too big for wife to drive, so it sat in a climate controlled garage for 23 years. Took a little work to unstick the engine (Marvel Mystery Oil works great…) but got it running well – rest of car was essentially in new factory condition. One of those “once in a lifetime” car guy finds….
Got orders to go overseas in 2003 so sold it and have regretted it since……
Mine had the 400M motor which most folks know was based off the 351 Cleveland engine – made only 166 hp but 320ft lbs of torque – great engine in this application.
Little over 10,000 coupes were made in 78 so this is model is rather rare…..
The Lincoln and Continental Owners Club (LCOC) is a great organization for fans of these old Lincolns
The view out that opera window is one that I am familiar with, from being driven to school in a neighbor’s late 70’s Continental coupe. It was a great ride compared to the 1972 Chevy Nova (loud and hard everywhere inside) and 1980 Olds Omega (its awfulness speaks for itself) that my mother would drive us in, when her turn in the carpool came up. I have vivid memories of the Continental’s utter silence inside, the neat power mini vent windows that made ideal cigarette smoke and ash vents (parents today would be horrified by the constant cloud of secondhand smoke that was normal and OK back then), and the car’s ability to power through half a foot of snow, back when no one yet knew that they needed 4WD to survive the slightest snow flurry. Finding a similar car as an occasional driver today is tempting, to relive those memories and to annoy Prius owners and taunt SUV drivers in the winter.
Some thoughts…
1. I never realized how “boxy” these looked compared to the Mark V. It got worse in the 80-84 configurations for the Town Car.
2. I prefer the turbine wheels to these deep-dish wheels. It always amazed me how cheap Lincoln wire wheel covers looked. Seriously, they looked like K-Mart wheel covers. Why was GM (Cadillac) able to do wire wheel covers better? And Cadillac had wire “wheels” available, too, during this era. Does anything look cooler than a ’76-’79 Seville with real wire wheels??
3. As far as size is concerend, I was just thinking the other day about big cars. WIll we ever see cars as large as the late-seventies Lincolns/Cadillacs/Buicks/Olds/Chryslers again?
4. Anyway, the name “Lincoln Continental Town Car” will always be one of my top five names for a car. Why in the H-E-double hockeysticks can’t they bring back some of the classic names for cars??
5. As big and bulky and boxy as it is, a 1979 TC Collector’s Series is on my Bucket List to own before heading to that light at the end of the tunnel.
The 1979 Lincoln Continental Town Car Collector’s Series: (I love saying that! You have to say it slowly…)
Doubtful you will ever see cars this size again, at least for mass public consumption. These cars kinda did push the gag button for how large a car could be, kinda how 1958-1959 cars kinda hit the limit for chrome and fins.
Bill Mitchell was already considering downsizing the large cars for their next generaton when they came out in 1971, he was just not happy with how large the cars actually looked in the real world.
Though I am a Cadillac guy through and through, I’ve come close to puchasing 2 Lincolns of this generation, one a clean brown 72 sedan and the other was a light blue 77 Town Coupe like the one from the article.
I have a real thing for the fairly rare 1972-74 models.
“As big and bulky and boxy as it is, a 1979 TC Collector’s Series is on my Bucket List to own before heading to that light at the end of the tunnel.”- you will get one- they are cheap in daily driver condition
I want a 1977 town coupe- they offered tu-tone leather seats- a 1 year interior option only+ a 460
Who do I contact to purchase this vehicle?