This panther looks like it’s sleepin’ it off after getting its jaw busted and its ear boxed in a fight. The rest of it looks to be in tidy shape, though—at least the rest of it we can see.
1980-’83 Continental Mark VI: Laid-Up Lincoln
– Posted on June 3, 2023
Always makes me wonder what people think they are really doing when hanging onto older cars like this. Do they truly plan to fix them up and enjoy them at some point? I’ve never understood the idea of leaving them just sit to rot. Why not sell for whatever they can get and allow someone else to enjoy and/or fix up?
Because a Mark VI isn’t exactly a high grade in demand classic car, the owner wouldn’t stand to get more than the low end of a couple grand for it tops and probably doesn’t want it to wind up a 16 year olds cheap first car to thrash in that price range.
I would love to find one of these for a couple of grand. Try to find one in decent condition for under $12,000. If you find one, please let me know!
Here’s one in mint condition for $7,500
https://orlando.craigslist.org/cto/d/orlando-1981-lincoln-continental-mark-vi/7621121167.html
They store for any number of pie in the sky reasons yet when you look close you can see they mean nothing. By the time the owner, or now deceased owner realizes that, the car is too far gone. Loose covers scuff paint and the car is parked over a moss (moisture) covered driveway. This here is a more chronic problem than some realize as there are two within 5 minutes walking of me.
tbm3fan: Agreed. I think the hoarding issue is a real problem.
XR7Matt: I see what you are saying, but what good does it do when it just rots to nothing? Wouldn’t a couple grand be better than having to pay a tow truck many years later to remove it? Not only that, but many younger drivers may love a car like that as their first car and could be a case of restoring it. Again, almost anything is better than being a hoarder.
Maybe just having it around is fulfilling enough? I can’t speak to the persons psyche, but at the end of the day it’s their car to do or not do what they like with it, I don’t think it’s my right to judge. A mossy driveway in the (presumably)Pacific Northwest isn’t exactly the smoking gun on a hoarder house, actually the fact that the tires are clearly still inflated could say otherwise.
I’m not saying a young driver couldn’t buy and appreciate this, I was in those very shoes at that age, but I was never entitled to someone else’s car just because I liked it and had already imagined my own plans for it. Belittling someone for not bowing to my desires is just not who I am, I’ve seen such appalling behavior on online communities where people dox and harass owners of classic cars because they’re too stubborn to accept the invariably lowball offer on a car that isn’t even for sale, or admitted trespassing on their property in some cases, I’ve taken to thinking the “hoarders” aren’t just the ones that have something wrong with them. The Bullitt Mustang situation being case and point, with Mustang fans since it’s acquisition by Ford literally dancing on the grave of the guy who had it all these years.
This thing looks like it could be in drivable condition to me; just pull back the cover. Inflated tires are always a good sign.
XT7Matt: I disagree 100% with you and that’s ok. You seem to be a little touchy about hoarder issues, so either you are one or you have never had to deal with one. It’s a very bad sickness that is just as bad as using drugs, drinking way too much or abuse. And in cases where (in this case) the vehicles are in clear site of anyone walking/driving past, it’s not the owners right to just let things sit where they wish. I’m not saying this exact picture is what I’m referring to, but my original comment was just about how so many people seem to hoard vehicles and I asked why?
But when an unused vehicle is in public view, there are city or county or state codes that are supposed to deal with that. The sad part is that most never do unless it gets way too out of control. Same with weed/grass that is over-growing the property or other junk being left piled up. Just because it’s a car doesn’t make it any less wrong and maybe even more wrong in my opinion.
Dan, why would you ask that as a general question if you didn’t immediately jump to the conclusion that hoarding is exactly what is going on in this picture? I’m not defending hoarding, I’m defending the accusation and a lot of times loose definition of hoarding, if the house behind it is filled to the brim with soggy boxes of diapers and infested with rats and cats, fine, I’ll change my tune, but there’s no reason for me to assume that’s what’s going on. If this car is their one cherished possession, one that doesn’t look at all derelict for its age at that, and they have a otherwise normal healthy life, who cares? I think you’re being unreasonably judgmental, especially considering you’d accuse me of being a hoarder myself for defending this stranger. If you went through a real deal hoarder or other addiction situation with a friend or loved one you have my genuine sympathies, but I think you’re projecting those frustrations onto others.
Note house right beside it has something, possibly a car, under a cover as well, home and yard upkeep looks about the same. Codes vary, I had a neighbor who had a large boat under a cover next to their house for as long as I can remember, they took it with them when they eventually moved away, which was the first time I ever saw it uncovered. They most assuredly weren’t hoarders. Maybe it was against code for all I know, but they were good neighbors to everyone on the block, so I imagined no one ever went around their backs and complained about it being there.
Matt, it’s rare I agree with you on anything but today’s that day! Don’t worry about it, this is a house with ONE solitary car in front of it, how that’s a hoarder I don’t know, if the car is licensed it’s probably perfectly legal to keep it there, maybe even if not, who cares what they do on their own property, presumably the owner paid for the car and can do with it as they wish. Maybe they just drive to church on Sunday, who knows, and a windstorm blew the cover partially off…Presumably this is in Vancouver where the moss grows fast and furious.
Of your two respondents somehow jumping to wild conclusions and accusing the owner of being a hoarder one owns at least three cars by their own count, the other has at least half a dozen if not closer to ten on their property/street. At what point does the car-to-owner ratio veer into hoarder status? Or what exactly makes one person a “collector” vs a “hoarder”? You yourself have two cars for one person, oh no, better get a psych evaluation done! 🙂
Everybody’s all about freedom until there’s a picture of ONE car with a cover on it and some moss in a perhaps north-facing driveway, then all of a sudden the state should get involved because things are clearly derelict? Jeez. People need to get a grip, hopefully they don’t get old themselves and have higher priorities than clearing moss and tucking in a cover that’s ostensibly protecting the car. Everyone should be so lucky.
Seriously people. Take a deep breath and step back. It’s just a shitty old car. Somebody besides you owns it. It’s not that important in the big scheme of things. It would do all of us a lot of good if people could just take a deep breath and step back. Just sayin’.
Haha. I guess Jim told me.
Daniel, you could have done us all a favor and just pulled the cover back over it and then kept walking. 🙂
You and I disagree on a few things, but on these early Panther Lincolns, there is no daylight between us.
In terms of electrical and mechanical rectitude; tacky and pretentious appointments; and build quality, I have a very dim and scornful view of them. But I do like the basic design, with all its rectilinear creases and corners. Is that a match? Either way, fasten your seatbelt; there’ll be more.
We disagree here – I like creases and corners, but find them done better on either the Continental Mark V or the 1980 Cordoba. The Mark VI just never worked for me in its styling (or in any other way). OK, I guess it is more attractive than the (slightly) larger 1980-81 Town Coupe.
I came across a Mark VI in beautiful condition (and a great color too) recently, so I’ll just post this picture as a counterbalance to your laid-up Lincoln.
What a beauty! Thanks for sharing this to balance ALL of the negativity. 👍.
+1
When new a friend got hit in the front end of his Mark IV. Grille was caved in. Another friend said it looked like a land locked tuna sucking air! 😮🐟😲.Hope someone saves this Mark. Unlike many, I believe that vintage upscale vehicles are something never to be equalled. If local ordinances would permit, I would have a GREAT AMERICAN LAND YACHT in my front yard as a lawn ornament, even if not running. 😉.
I’ll never understood why the Mark VI gets so trashed whereas the Town Car from this era is highly respected, especially compared to the concurrent big RWD Cadillacs and their unfortunate slate of engines. The two Lincolns are basically the same car, especially in four-door guise. Of the two, I prefer the Mark VI’s front styling (which is more in keeping with pre-downsized late ’70s Lincolns (and Marks throughout the decade), and I prefer the Mark’s oval opera window to the TC’s vertical slat (again, the oval is a ’70s Lincoln touchstone). Only in back does the Town Car’s full-width taillamp look better than the Mark VI’s fake spare tire. Inside, the Mark was more luxurious. It’s the big ’80-83 Lincoln to have IMO.
I think their sameness is a major factor, previous Marks were all something special, dedicated personal coupes from the Continental’s luxury sedan/limousine appeal, but the Mark VI was simply a Continental with a different trim. In a sense the Mark flourishes made the Continental/Town Car more appealing but at the cost of the distinctiveness of the Mark series.
Cadillac had not yet faltered at this point… well ok the 8/6/4 was their debacle, but still… The eldorado was a distinguished product from the Deville, and even though the 80 bustleback Seville joined the Eldorado’s FWD platform their physical executions were very different. The 80 Lincoln’s on the other hand painted an accurate picture of what Ford was going through at this time, they could not afford two distinct lines and it showed to the public, same for the 80 Tbirds and Cougars- dynamically they are better than their huge selling predecessors and their much more successful aero successors were basically the same car under the new skin but they looked like tarted up fairmonts
> the 8/6/4 was their debacle, but still
Not just the V8-6-4, which most owners wound up disconnecting so it ran on eight hungry cylinders on the neutered 368 big-block all the time, but also the
– underpowered, unreliable HT 4100
– the horrifically unreliable and slow Olds 350 diesel
– the Buick 231/3.8L V6, a decent engine that was rough and underpowered in this application.
There weren’t any good choices.
I think it’s because the Mark V was such a hard act to follow, and the Mark VI just seemed to be less of everything without any obvious ‘more’ to balance out all the ‘less’. I’ll admit there was a lot of that going around in those days from most manufacturers, but somehow the VI came off looking like a caricature of what had been, rather than a desirable product in its own right.
Where is the ’80-’84 Town Car highly respected? It always seems to garner unfavourable comparisons to its ’75-’79 predecessor. Me, I find a fair amount to like in the ’80-’84 design, but I do prefer the ’80-’83 Mark VI—including the slantback tail end, and yes, including the faux tire hump. Was the Mark VI really any more luxurious inside than a same-year Town Car? I was pretty sure they were just about the same. Anyhow, I’ve got a couple more fancy-pants panthers waiting their turn, so…watch this space!
Great find. I posted this link here before, but this M-Body Fifth Avenue sat in this driveway on Baseline Road in Ottawa, for well past a decade. Originally appearing in great shape, before the turn-of-the-century, every year it steadily deteriorated. Until, what you see here. It disappeared shortly after this streetview from 2014. Consistent rush hour traffic, and road salt use, on this route.
Very sad to see, over the course of many, many months.
https://www.google.com/maps/@45.3384134,-75.795053,3a,75y,311.54h,77.77t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sRr5lGEU62dkbqXKYrL4B7w!2e0!5s20140901T000000!7i13312!8i6656?authuser=0&entry=ttu
Well, i can’t say anything about hoarders, since this seems to be just a single car in someone’s driveway, but what I will say is that this reminds me of the lede image of so many car ads. You know the ones I mean…on Barnfinds and CL where the advertiser seems to want to introduce some element of mystery and starts by showing a car that is 90% covered either with a car cover, or (often) a pile of junk in some garage.
And I always think, “Just show us the whole damn thing so that we can get on with deciding whether this is something we’re interested in or not”. Either that, or “The least you could do is to uncover the poor thing”. 🙂
There are a lot of factors that can keep even a beloved vehicle off the road. An unexpected mechanical malady (aren’t they all?) can sideline a vehicle. If the funds are not available for a prompt repair, it will just have to wait. Health issues of the owner are another big factor. I’ve suffered a couple of injuries where the only thing that concerned me was getting better and going back to work. `My cars weren’t a priority.
A lot of people hold onto older cars because they believe that someday, the cars are going to skyrocket in value. This may not apply to this particular Mark, but it seems that all old cars have been going up in value over the last ten years. A lot of guys hold onto cars because they like them, and they mean something to the owner. They are content to hold onto the car in the hopes that their situation will improve and they can get their car back on the road. Most of us don’t have Jay Leno’s resources, and lot’s of folks might not even have the middle class resources that we often take for granted.
For the last two decades or so, I’ve missed the lower cowls and beltlines of last century’s cars, but the Mark VI really needs higher ones.
I’m trying, but in my mind’s eye a higher beltline makes the box Lincolns worse, not better.
Raise the fender and hood a little, too. It’s the contrast between the tall, severely upright greenhouse and low, perfectly straight body line that looks wacky.