It’s always a treat to see one of my previously-shot CCs again, especially so at such a happy occasion and playing a key role. Our nightly routine on these long and warm summer evenings is to head out to Pisgah Arboretum/Buford County Park after dinner, walk through wild meadows and along the river a couple of miles to our (semi) secret swimming hole, where we cool off. Near the entrance of the park, there is a pavilion that gets used quite a bit this time of year for weddings. And the other night, one of my favorite CCs ever showed up, which given that it’s the groom’s car, makes lots of sense. So this bride is not only marrying a husband, but a 1965 Continental, the car I called “The Last Great American Luxury Car”.
The Continental looks right at home here; while few things are more beautiful than nature, man’s best handiwork come quite close.
This was shot around 9PM; this time of year we have light until about 10PM, as the sun sets at an angle to the north-west.
Unfortunately, the light behind the car is not helpful for shooting.
The bride heads back to the wedding party, after confirming to us that it really is her new husband’s car.
Here’s where it normally resides, in front of this sweet cottage in Springfield.
We shot the Conti on the way out, after our hike and swim in the Coast Fork of the Willamette.
There’s a great swimming hole here. I’ll spare you the full frontal shots of me that Stephanie took. Yes; I skinny dip.
Lil’ Man likes to wade, but I can’t convince him to come into the deep area and swim. There’s some little rapids just upstream, where that line of rocks across the river is. That makes a sweet aural backdrop to our nightly nature immersion. A summer day just isn’t complete without a good hike and swim.
Here’s my CC on the 1965 Continental: The Last Great American Luxury Car
The 1965 Continental in black is one of the most sinister cars ever made. Back in the day, it was redolent of unfriendly megacorporations, the mafia, or secretly well-funded government agencies. If one of these Lincolns was following you around, you probably were on someone’s list and the whole thing might end up badly.
Now it’s black Suburbans or Tahoes.
If a ’65 Lincoln was following me, I’d look in the rear view and think “What’s up with that Mercury?”
Looking at the swimming hole pics, I couldn’t help thinking “Man, I sure hope there aren’t any crawdads in there!” 😉
Sweet looking car. I’ve always liked Lincoln Continentals of this generation. 🙂
My uncle had a 65 in a light blue color. It was a gorgeous automobile and in my humble opinion is one of the most beautiful automobile designs ever produced in significant volumes.
Love the suicide-door Lincolns of this era. It’s a great departure from the jukebox, over-the-top tailfin era of cars – the classic little black dress…beauty in its simplicity.
These were rumored to be the best built American cars in the second half of the 20th century. Not sure where I read that, but I’m willing to believe it.
And if quality wasn’t enough, it had styling that proved (in my opinion) that less is more (if you can use the term “less” when talking about a 5,500+ lb. car).
It was just THERE!
We’re having a heat wave here in NJ now; that secret swimming hole sure looks nice.
Can’t say I’m much of a fan of these slab-sided tanks (although the convertibles are okay). I’d much prefer an Engel-styled Chrysler. Hell, I’d even take a baroque Imperial, instead.
What an incredible swimming spot and second sighting on that sweet, sweet Continental. The water looks really clear and not too cold. Ocean temps north of Santa Barbara are almost always too cold for swimming even in mid summer and I fingered it would be the same with rivers up north. You’ve just given everyone another reason to move to OR Paul.
So now the Conti owner has 2 wives! The ’65 does have a nice sinister looking profile, especially in black. The ’67 2 door dad had was a trimmer look, a nice update but a little less underworld appearing.
My late dog Boomer hated water, even avoiding puddles in the rain. But he would follow me anywhere, and after I crossed a floating log he slipped and landed on his belly, and finally rolled off the log. He swam perfectly to the shore. He hated water just as much after that!
I like the 1963 nose better:
http://momentcar.com/images/1963-continental-1.jpg
–Oh, and thanks for saving us from the Bohemian bits of photography!
Although I’ve loved the slab-side Lincolns from first siting in November 1960, the frontal restyle for 1965 seems the least successful. It lacks the cleanliness and unity of the prior years. Some find 1961 a bit heavy handed, but at least its visually interesting, no so for 1965, which looks like a Mercury reject.
+1. And the fact that the same basic front end design, with some slight alterations was used the same year on a lowly Mercury is a head-scratcher. I love the ’61-64 Continentals, but I’ve never been able to warm up to the ’65 “facelift”.
Not really. There was a concerted effort to identify Mercury with Lincoln starting in 65, rather than Ford. The tag line was “Built In The Lincoln Continental Tradition”.
The ads in 65-66 featured full size Mercurys in swank and prestigious locations, illustrations rather than photographs to give an upscale feel to the car.
69 brought more of the same, badges and advertising featuring “Lincoln Mercury” as Ford spent $250 million to differentiate Mercury from Ford and to align it more with Lincoln.
And then, spent the next forty years running away from giving Mercury it’s own identity.
“and then, spent the next forty years running away from giving Mercury it’s own identity.
I don’t know, at least in the seventies, the Marquis was pretty well differentiated. With the commercials with all those diamond cutters and rabbi’s plying their trade in the back seat. You wouldn’t see that in the ever more plain LTD.
A big problem was that Ford didn’t bother to differentiate the small Mercurys from their Ford siblings. That started with the 1971 Comet, which, even then, we all knew was a Maverick with a different grille and taillights. The 1975 Bobcat didn’t help, and neither did the 1978 Zephyr.
The big Mercurys were well-differentiated from the Ford LTD until the downsized 1979 models.
Mercury’s biggest problem was how hit and miss the differentiation was, the 1992-1997 Grand Marquis were well differentiated, as was the Sable(especially the first gen), 83-97 Cougars, even the original pre-facelift Topaz sedans. Plus the Villager, first generation Tracer and 99-02 Cougar brought some unique identity to the brand as well. But every one of those resided in the showroom with the poorly differentiated stuff – the Topaz Coupes and facelift models, the second generation Tracer, the Box Marquis, the Mystique, the Monarch, Bobcat, non-XR7 77-82 Cougars, 98+ grand Marquis, ect. much of which sold in high volumes having the net effect on people’s phyche that whole brand was a badge engineered afterthought through and through.
The 65 is a bit fussy but I think the 64 updates stepped past that thin line separating cleanness and blandness like getting rid of the curved side glass and extending the wheelbase, losing much of that tight appearance the original had. The 65 actually looks more organic than the 64 to me for that reason, like it finished the update it started in 64. 66-69 = blah
First was best. One to have when I win the lottery.
The second picture made me think of The Car
So many full frame Silver Cloud Rolls Royce and Daimler DS420 have third or forth lives as wedding cars in their home country. As the stateliness of American cars like this Lincoln gets ever further removed from today’s transportation, we might see a wedding car resurgence here as well. Already in my town a Packard, an early 50s Bentley sedan and a Silver Shadow earn a living this way.
I wish, I wish…that was the one thing I really wanted for my wedding–a classic car in which to leave the reception. Sadly, in the coastal town where we were married, none were available.
This continental would have fit the bill very nicely, thank you! I guess the lesson here is that I needed to *own* one rather than rent it.
I had an 89 Town Car for a daily driver when I got married. Even though it was 10 years old at the time, I felt like a king leaving the reception with my old car and my new wife!
I’m always happy to see a previous CC turn up again a few years later, being used and enjoyed. But the poor bride…Newly married, and already competing with a mistress!
Boy, that water looks good. It’s hotter than Hades in Richmond today.
The 65 for me was the ultimate Continental. Everything after than was just more and not as well done. After 69 they completely lost the plot with Lincoln.
The 1966-69 Continentals weren’t as handsome as their 1961-65 predecessors, but they are still attractive cars, particularly the 1966-67 models.
I love the 60’s Lincolns, and owned a 67 for many years. But the 61-65’s were my favorite.
I always thought the 65 refreshed front end looked too much like a Mercury. I’m used to Merc’s borrowing Lincoln styling cues, and not the other way round. Still lovely, though.
What a breath of fresh air this car was for a short period between the be-chromed excess of the late-1950s and the be-groovied late-1960s.
Talk about a great car for a wedding. If I ever (hopefully) get married, I hope by that point I have a classic car at my disposal to drive for my bride and I. But, I’m still young, so I got all the time in the world.
The 65 was sort of the last year that I liked the 60s Continental. It was the perfect stop gap year, it lacked the cleanliness of the 62-64s, but it wasn’t as chunky and fat looking as the 66-69s. It was a nice medium. There was actually a Ford dealer near my house that actually had a beautiful dark green 65 for about 25 grand on the lot with 50k exact miles. Too bad it was at that point when I was a broke freeloader without a job, so there was no way I would get it. Besides, my dad didn’t want me driving something that big, no matter if it was a second fun car or not.
I forgot just how low to the ground these things sit. It’s like a factory lowrider!
Even as a kid who never really saw one of these in real life up close, I thought they looked cool in the ADS.
I still do like them.
Beautiful car in a great setting! Glad to see that it’s being used and not just sitting around.
We’re having our hot and humid weather right on schedule in central Virginia — would love to be in that cool water!
nice car but I prefer the 1966-69 restyle of the suicide door Lincoln’s over the 1961-65, I agree black is a great color for the 60’s Lincoln’s.
Memories ! .
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In 1972 my Russian girlfriend got one of these (miss you Alexis) , it was a total tank but ran well and stopped on a dime , ’65 was the first year of disc brakes .
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In a few years I also had a ’64 followed by a ’63 , both were nice, I have fonder memories of the ’65 though .
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Sold it in ’75 (IIRC) for $350 .
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-Nate
I think the looks of 64-65 Continentals suffered due to the switch to flat side glass; to my eye, the 67-69 bodies wore the flat glass much better. That said, I’ve never been to Oregon, but I really should visit–it looks spectacularly beautiful there.
I’d have to agree with others that a ’65 Lincoln in a dark color can look quite sinister. The subject car seems to sit a little low on its suspension, adding to the effect.
I recall seeing one pull up to the supermarket where I worked in the early ’80s. It was showing some serious wear, and was populated by a scruffy bunch of young people who headed to the liquor store door of building. The came out with beer, cigarettes and snacks. It added to the sinister look.
I believe it was the similar ’64 Lincoln that introduced a wheelbase stretch over the original ’61, and corrected the car’s most serious fault – a fairly cramped backseat. If I were to buy a classic Lincoln, I’d go for either a ’64-’65, or more likely the ’66-’69. I find them more familiar as that was the look I best recall from my youth.
Best wishes to the new couple and good luck with the fine old Continental!
For the curious, the Henry Ford Museum (online) has dozens of photos of Hess & Eisenhardt creating the (1961) “Kennedy limousine” as well as the post-assassination changes of 1964 (lots of armor, etc.):
The suicide door Lincoln was indeed a timeless design. Minimal chrome, simple slab sides, elegant and tasteful. A hallmark of understated luxury. Tragically, its iconic status was achieved with the horrible circumstances that befell a certain dark blue,1962 Continental convertible on November 22, 1963.
My dad drove a ’64 (bought used) for a while, his first and only luxury car. It was a mid-’60’s thing of beauty in metallic turquoise inside and out. I disagree with the majority here about the ’64 changes. A longer roof and lengthened wheelbase made the proportions look better, especially with that long rear deck. Besides, a true luxury four door should be accommodating for those riding in back.
I agree that the ’65 front end and that of the ’65 Mercury somewhat detracted from the Continental’s exclusivity, a key ingredient for a true luxury car. Back then, Imperial also shared nothing with its Chrysler showroom mate. I find it a bit ironic that Imperial had a “Continental” spare bump when the real Continental didnt.