why is my 79 "town car" not a town car

P

protourist

New member
This may be a stupid question, but here goes anyway. My Continental says Town Car on both sides and the headlight cover. Why is it not a town car?
 
Alexander

Alexander

LOD Board of Directors
Ford changed its mind often over the years as to to what Continental and Town Car represented. In 1956 and 1957 Continental was a division, technically it was not a Lincoln. In 1958, Continental was a model offered by Lincoln. In 1958 to 1960, the Continental had a different grill, tail lights and interior. In 1961, Continental was applied to all the Lincoln models. Later when the Mark series was reintroduced in 1968, This too was referred to as a Continental model. All Mark's had the Continental name applied to them until the Mark VII, even though there was a separate Continental model. The last few years of Mark VII though dropped the Continental name. The Town Car was a body style that designated some luxury cars, including Lincoln, back to the 1920's. Lincoln made the Town Car an option on top of the Continental in 1977. In 1980, the Town Car became a separate model.

Alexander
Board of Directors
Lincolns of Distinction
 
P

protourist

New member
Thank you very much.
I really appreciate the the info and the website in general.
Since my Dad sold his Fleetwood Talisman just before I got my drivers license, I have wanted a similar car. I finally found it and cannot be happier.
Now, to save up enough to buy Sandy's TC...
 
Alexander

Alexander

LOD Board of Directors
W

wpmaceri

New member
For most of Lincoln's history, every Lincoln was a Continental. There were upscale trim packages that would and selected luxury options for distintion, in the mid 70's Towncar returned as one of those options. so you would have a Lincoln Continental, Towncar. My mom had a 76, huge, but a beautiful car. I think the years 1974 through 1979 captured the look of what a Lincoln should look like. I love the square lines, the tail and front marker lights built into the corner sheetmetal, and those covered headlights, (although maybe not vaccume operatred) way classey. In 1990, Towncar became a stand alone model without being a Continental, Ford did that so they could make the Continental a different Lincoln all together. The Continental became a much smaller car, built on the Tauras/Sable chassis, while Towncar remained on as the full size Lincoln, sharing the Crown Vic, Marquis chassis, albeit, Towncar is three inches longer between the front and back seats. It was then the Executive, Signiture Series, and Cartier models were the Towncar trim packages.
 
J

jackofroses

New member
now for some reason , i had always been under the impression that 'continental'
actually had more to do with the placement of the spare tire. ideally for a continental car upright and as far aft as possible








ps aint that '42 beyond awesome?
 
J

jackofroses

New member
in my town there is a late 80's continental which is clearly a taurus type chasis.
but from what little i know about the mark viii's , they seem to more closely resemble a tbird/cougar chasis..... in fact , ive considered a sort of tbird/town car hybrid.....
 
tixer

tixer

Lincoln Evangelist
jackofroses said:
ps aint that '42 beyond awesome?
Click to expand...
Yes. Yes it is..

As for the chassis sharing, you're right on the money. the Taurus-based Continentals never really appealed to me, although a good friend had a '96 for a while with all the trimmings. the instrument cluster was projected onto a blank surface from above. It was seriously slick.

It had a pretty good stereo, too.

Interestingly, some of the insides of the dashboard on my '86 Town Car have "Mark IV" stickers on them. spare tire hump and round opera windows aside, there wasn't much of a difference between the two. Although I believe one could get the Continental of that era in a two-door, which was awesome.
 
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