Well, my uncle has found yet another Curbside Classic–this time, a luxurious Continental Mark V. He was especially taken with this car because my grandfather had a midnight blue 1977 Mark V. It looked just like this ’79 Collector’s Series, but had the chrome forged aluminum wheels, navy blue leather (instead of the velour on this one) and the trademark oval opera windows. When he bought a new 1987 Continental, he was going to give the Mark V to to my uncle. He was very excited, since he loved that car. It was quite a contrast to his silver Subaru GL wagon!
His happiness, however, was short lived; he soon realized there was no way the Mark was going to fit in the garage of his house in Iowa City. He even measured it, hoping his eyes were deceiving him. No dice–at least three feet of the rear deck would have stuck out, so the Mark was traded in.
He recently spotted a similar Mark V in town. These Lincolns were really well built, and mostly taken good care of by well-to-do owners, so there are many survivors even here in the Midwest. This one is awfully nice, and looks to be sharing space with another Curbside Classic, a 1975-79 GM X-body. The wheels suggest it’s a Nova, but that center wind split in the hood leads me to believe it’s a 1977-79 Pontiac Phoenix. What do you think?
Nice Hope one of you knowledgeable researchers will write up the history of the mark V.
We got a little bit of it here last summer.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1978-lincoln-continental-mark-v-paging-bill-blass/
Yeah, thats a Pontiac Phoenix off to the right.
I ran across one of these Mark V’s just last night. Someone I know that also is into old Mopars has a few boxes of Chrysler chrome trim parts and said I could come over to his shop to scrounge for a piece that I’m looking for. The Chrysler trim, and a lot of other boxes, were piled on top of a white Lincoln Mark V. It had been owned by one of his older relatives, who had it repainted and parked in the shop not long before the person passed away. It’s been sitting there for a LONG time. Apparently his brother wants to use the other side of the shop where the Linc is parked so they’re eager to sell it.
I had the same issue with size when my father offered to give me his 1978 Mark V Cartier Edition in 1981: it was way too big for my carport in LA at the time. Because the Mark was purchased new in the midwest, it had the 460, an excellent engine not available in CA. These cars were not bringing very good prices in those years due to the rising price of fuel and the trend toward downsizing. I don’t see very many of them around SoCal today but those that appear often are in very good original condition, well preserved by doting owners. A nice highway cruiser for two (the backseat is a little cavelike even with the opera windows) but not very practical for urban living, then or now.
Are the headlight doors working and closed on this example? I believe Dad had this feature repaired at least twice.
The 1979 Lincoln Continental Mark V Collector’s Series. One of 6,262 made. I owned one of them back in 2001-02. Awesome car. There is a pretty good write up about it (and other baroque american cars) at: http://automotivemileposts.com/mark51979collectorsseries.html
This is one of my top 5 cars I want to own before I die. This or the CS Town Car. Brand new these things were, I believe, the most expensive domestic standard production cars available at $22,000, the same price as the previous year’s Diamond Jubilee Edition Mark V. I see these on ebay all the time, some with incredibly low miles for their 35 years of life. No, it wouldn’t fit in my garage either, I’d have to rent a space somewhere. Anyway, I love this car!!
OMG, you can so see the T-bird and Cougar in this car’s profile. GM has taken a lot of heat for cookie cutter cars, but really, was FoMoCo any better.
My aunt sold one of these last year. Her husband bought it several years ago and it got passed around her family a bit. I took pics of it about a year ago, but due to the fact I couldn’t get good shots because it was crammed into a narrow driveway I deemed them not good to share here.
However, you all just wait till I get the CS Town Car story together 🙂
These are so amazing looking. I just saw a beautiful Pucci edition Mark V last week at a show. (I can’t remember if it’s ’78 or ’79, but it has the wild Pucci print fabric on the sun visors as well as special Pucci logo and tape striping). I admire these, but always wonder how they would drive and handle. I suspect Cadillacs win in that area — definitely the downsized late ’70s Cads, but even the giant earlier cars that matched these in size.
The big Cads may have handled marginally better, but the Lincolns were of much higher quality in fit, finish and materials, particularly inside. The Lincolns would also have been quieter – the ultimate highway cruiser. The 77 and on downsized Cads were much tighter structurally and were much better cars than the ones from earlier in the 70s. The interior materials of a 71-76 big Cadillac (and even the concurrent Eldos) were downright cheap, particularly door panels, switches, handles, etc. The seating leather, though, was quite nice. I spent time in both back then, and Lincoln seemed to be the much higher quality car.
I love Lincolns. Marks especially. I had a Mark III and a Mark VIII. Only two series of Marks I didn’t like were the Mark IV (73+…..and where did the real wood go?) and the ill proportioned Mark VI. The V was especially nice after the nasty picnic bench bumpers on the 76 Mark IV, it was so clean and crisp.
I am surprised that I did NOT go to greater lengths to get a Mark 5 when they were new. It was King Of The Road When I was first Licensed. Love the Designer Editions and various Collectors edITIONs.
Luxury Color groups. aqua… or black with red interior. hell That Rose/Red Luxury group that was so rarelu chosen. There must be Some Very rare Editions… Let Me Go seek #s…
Mk3 – Light Creamy Diamond Green,White top
<k4- Aqua 76
Mk5-Bill Blass/Givinci/Pucci models Versace?
mk 6 – bill blass 4 door mk 6?
mk7- lsc 92
mk 8- 98 last collector model