The attrition rate for mid-to late-70s big boats is really high. When the Arab oil embargo happened, everyone wanted smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, and 1979 Lincoln Continental sedans like this one on Craigslist in Austin, Texas, yielded a dismal 13 mpg around town and maybe 16 mpg on the highway.
And get this. Despite a 400-cubic-inch V-8 under the hood, the Lincoln had only 159 horsepower on tap (albeit with a more encouraging 315 pound-feet of torque). The smog-strangled power plant had to move a car weighing 4,850 pounds.
The 400, standard for 1979, was actually an attempt to improve fuel economy over the 460 in previous models. Both engines were mated to the Ford C6 three-speed auto—sporty they weren’t.
The owner claims the Continental is rare. It is one of only nine four-door sedans in 1979 that had its own paint and trim codes, finished in black over Champagne cloth. The car certainly looks nice, and it should, with only 16,258 miles on the odometer. It’s probably the best one available. But $21,500? That’s a big ask.
The car has a power front bench, power steering and vent windows, cruise, automatic climate control, and the last word in AM/FM cassette stereos. Dig the incredible fake wood from the period. Just as well that it doesn’t have a vinyl roof because the Texas sun might be peeling it off by now. But this car looks like a long-term garage denizen.
The Lincoln’s seats were covered from new and are unmarked now. The car has cold air, a working stereo and antenna, and a clean trunk, headliner, and engine bay. “It floats down the road with one finger,” we’re told. The clock and the high beam switch do not work, but everything else functions properly. There are walk-around and driving videos.
Accompanying the car is a window sticker, a Deluxe Marti Card, the owner’s manual, and a clean Texas title. The only things that don’t work are the clock and high-beam switch.
This Lincoln is from the end of the body-on-frame fifth-generation model (1970-1979). The wheelbase was down a bit from the huge ’58-’60 models, but the big five-mph bumpers made the Continental of 1977 to 1979 the longest automobiles ever built by Ford.
The Continental was on a stretched Mercury Marquis chassis. Production of the sedan in 1979 was 76,458. The following year, the Continental was substantially downsized. And that made sense at the time. The ‘79s that do best are Town Cars and special editions. The average for the model is a mere $16,564, reports Classic.com. “Floats” is the operative word here. Demand is not high, but for a cosseting ride and isolation from the road, these cars are the peak attained.
If you want that sort of money for a thirsty luxobarge, why not fix the clock and the high beam?
I never understand people that don’t fix the little things. The fact that they don’t always makes me wonder.
JDC- Having owned and restored a LOT of 60’s/70’s big iron, sometimes the little things are the hardest to do. For instance, repairing the clock will take a specialty shop and add negligible value. If the dimmer switch is floor mounted, that’s probably much easier and cheaper to repair.
Myself, knowing that I was going to sell whatever project I was on, I might leave one or two obvious defects for the future buyer to fixate on.
And bottom line on this super clean low mileage beauty, $21.5 is a bargain!
I knew a car dealer pretty well and he told me he never put money into a car.
Nice!!! From when luxury meant style and comfort! I wish I could buy it!
I initially thought that “16 K Miles” was referring to this vehicle’s overall length.
Nice car. Looks to be in great shape. It for sure has presence. We can poke fun at big luxury sedans like this for whatever one decrees are its shortcomings, but I don’t think anyone can argue with the statement “it floats down the road with one finger.” Maybe that appeals to you.
I miss really easy power steering in cars.
Where do you find another automobile comparable to this for 20k Jimmy.
Arrive in style. I really can see square cars making a comeback. Imagine something like a Telluride as a sedan and you know what I’m talking about. I think a friend had an Electra in HS. That was big but nothing like this. You can stack the bodies in this like cordwood. Man that got dark. Signing off.
LINCOLN! What a Luxury CAR should be and ONCE was! At one time I owned a 78. Town Coupe. True OTT excessive chromed luxury at it’s finest. Since have had an 89 Town Car Signature Series and current 2007 Signature Limited 👌. This Continental BIG BOAT 🚢 sure floats my boat! 😉. Today, there really aren’t any Lincoln CÀRS, only bloated SUVS at bloated prices, making this a Bon Marche!
Yesterday, at a gas station, I saw a RAM truck that made my Town Car look like a compact! I seriously doubt that it doesn’t guzzle gas more than this Lincoln. What’s with this trend to oversized trucks? Most don’t look like they’re ever used for carrying anything. Are the guys driving them COMPENSATING? 🤔 😅 🤣
Spot on comment.
My point too. Detroit replaced fine automobiles with huge trucks. The MPG is similar, so that’s just an excuse. I want the cars back. Come on Detroit. You were the masters at building these land yachts. The world was jealous. They had nothing like them. It’s time for American style and American luxury again. I’m sick of Euro trash and monster trucks. Build something better. Trump will let you. You blew billions of dollars on EV’s that no one wants. Build something that people do want. Fire your CEO’s. They have no idea what a car should be. Put car people back in charge before you are all gone forever. I see it happening…one make at a time. Chrysler and Dodge are next. Pathetic!
Bring back the Vega! That’ll teach those Commie car makers!
Doesn’t driving a huge car evoke the same “need for compensation” image as driving a huge RAM brodozer? Hmmmm…
👏 👏 👏. I’m delighted to see some others ( My BRO hams 😉) tired of having HUGE trucks RAMmed down our throats, DODGing the fact that we long for a Return to Normalcy in the form of The GREAT AMERICAN Luxury CAR. And PLEASE don’t say Stelantis! 🤮. All are welcome to join our GREAT AMERICAN LAND YACHT SOCIETY! 👍
My 400 HP Hemi Ram gets 19 MPG Highway, and can tow and haul as well. What can your Town Car do well other than look like a rolling living room, or a place to wear your leisure suit?
@Richard John Butler
But do you tow h haul with your Ram?
The point being made is lots of people are driving these huge bohiemous but never use them for what a truck is intended for, to load the bed with dirt or pull a trailer with a 5000 pound Lincoln on it to restore.
Get my point?
Not necessarily and no more so than wanting an old full size car. Heck, I’d drive a regular cab 6-cyl 3-speed truck if given a chance again but that’s not an offering today. A new truck is capable of 18 to 20+ mpg in regular driving and affords space for occupants and cargo inside the cab. Not a bad way to go overall.
For this asking price I’d rather have a 1969-70 Mark111 that has the 460 not a 1979 sedan with a 400. She’s very clean though, I’ll give it that. They do indeed, float down the road.
My 400 HP Hemi Ram gets 19 MPG Highway, and can tow and haul as well. What can your Town Car do well other than look like a rolling living room, or a place to wear your leisure suit?
As I have frequently stated, Fortunately in the USA 🇺🇸 we can STILL have our own opinions! Not sure how much longer, but we also NEED to respect those of others! That being said, GOD bless America 🇺🇸,Land of the FREE because of the BRAVE. A happy and Blessed Thanksgiving.
I’ve owned several vintage 77-79 town cars 2 doors and 4 doors Mark IVs Mark Vs Mark VIs Town Coupes and Town Car limousines. Rare to see any car limousine anymore. Operators are now using busses and vans. Practical? Maybe but certainly lacking the swag of the limousine and sedan.
Hi👋FROG! We’ve been missing you at The GREAT AMERICAN LAND YACHT SOCIETY! As usual, we are in complete agreement 🤝. Wishing you a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving. Have you seen the post for the black Continental? LOTS of discussion!
The 400 was the only engine offered in 79. The 78 was the last year you could have the 460. This Lincoln is pretty base, it is odd to see the bench seat and basic radio.
Hi👋FROG! We’ve been missing you at The GREAT AMERICAN LAND YACHT SOCIETY! As usual, we are in complete agreement 🤝. Wishing you a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving. Have you seen the post for the black Continental? LOTS of discussion!
Hello Rick,
Thank you for the greeting. I’ve been extremely busy trying to get things in motion sometimes feeling like a caged hamster on a wheel. Yes like you I am drawn to the rolling art that used to grace our roads and highways with class and elegance. Rolls Royces and Bentleys haven’t lost their base appeal and have cemented their place in history.
But if you think about it American car manufacturers are more concerned about numbers (sales and profit) than putting a good high quality product that’s out of reach for the blue collar worker. That being said nothing looks worse than to see an old stately work of art ruined with flames graphics primered glass packs lowered or sporting oversized wheels and tires etc. Yes this is America the land of free speech and expression so if they like it i don’t have to.
Frog and Rick W, the closest I have is a 1965 Mercury Marauder, to me its like and has the slab sides. Warmed up 390 4bbl with PS, PB, front discs and AC. She moves like a Tbird and behaves like a Lincoln.
@FROG…My late brother had several Rolls Royce automobiles. My favorite was a Vintage 62 Silver Cloud. I never quite managed the $$ ,settling happily for pre owned upscale vehicles. Now I find myself a Vintage Rolls Canardly, Roll down one hill and Canardly get up the next. Just got my Driver’s license renewed, so guess I’ll be able to pilot my Town Car for a while longer. @ HC…That 65 Marauder is a classic, perhaps even more impressive than this Continental. 👍. @ Angel… Couldn’t agree more, except I could NEVER want a truck! 🤮. To ALL, Drive safely if you travel this weekend! There are a lot of careless TURKEYS driving wrecklessly as they rush madly especially to BLACK FRIDAY sales, which are already in progress. A crazy 🤪 world gets crazier 🤪 😜 😳every day. Here’s hoping the only TURKEY you encounter is on the dinner table 😋.
Even rarer is the deletion of the opera window an vinyl top. I like it.
I didn’t notice this. Lends to a very good appearance on what looks like a lightly equipped Town Car.
If this were not black, I would be heading to Texas.
@Bob McK
Just curious what you don’t like about black cars. IMO this car would really pop with a ceramic coated finish.
159 hp? Really? The ’76 Cadillac had 190 at least! Such a shame insurance companies and the intruding government hell bent on saving us from ourselves had put so much crap on engines strangling their power. This is a gorgeous car in good condition. I love the 75 thru 79 Lincolns.
Love the Mark lll, lV, & V but after that the Vl & Vll were horrible, IMO the Vlll is tolerable but the end ones with no chrome, not so much.
I would add this to my stable if I had the $$$$. You know me, I’d need a couple of warehouses I want them all.
American car manufacturer’s are really at the mercy of our ridiculous government. They are the entity that mandated car makers make electric vehicles. And the CEOs are not car people, the designers are computer geeks and not car people and the bean counters are in charge.
Unfortunately, big luxoboats ARE a thing of the past. Boomers love them and miss them. Boomers are dying off. Boomers will be gone by 2065, 40 years from now.
Granted, SUVs were shoved down our throats and now the public wants them, same with big luxury trucks. What designers don’t understand is people still want big cars. But since there are no big cars they’re buying big SUVs & trucks. The Cadillac Escalade is a best seller and has been for years. Ram trucks are huge. Personally I want one myself because I want a big vehicle with a damn frame!
In April of this year I was rear ended by a Ram truck. Full of chrome, bed never used, $80,000 truck. Oh the driver was pi$$ed.
@Bob McK
I recently saw an ad for a ’78 Lincoln just like this one in light blue at a dealer in Texas. Something about he just can’t seem to sell it. No one wants it. Should I find the info again I’ll let you know.
Angel, thank you for stating the obvious out loud. People buy the luxury pickup not just for what it can do but for what it does. Moving people around in comfort and quiet with all the luxury of a Cadillac, Imperial or Lincoln. Legislation has brought us to this because making the kind of cars we long for is nolonger permissable. As good as the 300 is it’s not as spacious and comfortable as the truck.
Nelson A. Hallelujah and Amen 🙏 to that! IMO comfort ALWAYS is preferable! 👍
My wallet might not thank me for owning a car like this, but my back
certainly will! I’ve tried to get my doctor to prescribe me something like
this, but with no luck at all. We spend
6-9 hours in a car delivering food, booze, and anything else you can think of. And at the end of our day, my back kills me every time I get out
of our K-5 sedan. Don’t get me wrong,
it’s a great car for young folks but not
me. On chilly mornings, I have my SIL
turn on the heated seats to take out
some of the pain and stiffness in my
back before we get to our first pickup
so that I can walk in and grab an order for a customer and take it to them in a timely manner. Quite frankly, I’d love a car like this one. Then maybe 6-9 hours in a car like this wouldn’t be so bad. Just convert
the 400 from carborater to fuel injection, and you’ll see the fuel economy rise a bit. And have a look at the valve guides on the engine before you use it as a daily driver. Later model 351s, 400s, 429s, and 460s all had weak valve guides that
allowed oil to drip down onto the plugs and foul them out. Had a ’73
Ranchero with a 351 Cleveland with
this problem. I had to pull the plugs
and clean them AT LEAST once a week. Got to the point I could do the
the job in a half hour or less. Always
busted my knuckles on the master cylinder going after No. 4 spark plugs.
As for this car, I definitely would’ve
enjoyed using it to deliver over 500
pounds of pet food and other items
from Petco as it has a huuuge trunk
and has enough oomph to haul all those bags in style. It’s like having a
route that delivers only pet supplies.
We had 12 stops and made $130 for
3 1/2 hours of drive time. Not bad
though, considering that run helped
pay the car payment this month. At the end of today, I felt like a little old
man getting out of my KIA sedan.
Who knows, if I was using a car like
this, I probably would’ve felt like taking Angel out dancing!
What is the current bid?
I also blame the Japanese & Europeans for bringing small cars to America and conditioning American buyers (Millenials and Gen Xers) to buying small cars. They were conditioned to responsive steering (no more one finger power steering) road suspensions instead of floating cloud rides, and sporty. Gotta be sporty. I especially blame Europe (Mercedes, VW, et al) for the no chrome look. Especially now who came up with the all black look? Black car, no chrome or brightwork anywhere, black emblems, black tires, black rims, just awful.
Ok I’m done, I’ll get off my soapbox. Who got a b€€r?
@Angel
Now I do like my Mercedes Porsches and Volvos before Ford took them over and trashed them out. I’m not fond of the blacked out murdered look. Even Rolls and Bentley sport blackwall tires. I just saw an eldorado convertible with blackwall tires on it. BTW is anyone else plaqued with spellcheck? Another annoying issue I have.
I agree with your thoughts, Angel. And in the early to mid 1960s the Ford Falcon and Valiant by Chrysler, gave the foreign imports a run for their money. But by 70s and 80s they fizzled out. I’d love to see Ford bring back the Falcon. They’ve done well with the Mustang, so why not?
I M SO HAPPY to see U have accepted the 👑 ! Truly a QUEEN 👸. Will the CORONATION be at VERSAILLES, a Coupe in the VILLE, or perhaps ELDORADO 🤔? Yeah, still TWISTED 🌪 😳 after all These cars 😅 🤣. Watch out for the TURKEYS! 😉
This is a beautiful car for sure , but the real question here is it worth the money that is being asked?? In this day of many overpricing cars i would say that this one fits in this category, there probably are not many cars like this around with low mileage and in this condition but if you look around I’m sure one can be found that is comparable for less money unless your budget and bank account can handle it, but I’m sure the owner would be willing to take less for a serious cash offer……
@joseph russo
Car prices sored into the stratosphere not just because of inflation but mainly because of investors. Not real car people.
If people would only learn not to pay these atrohigh prices just because they can but wait until the seller lowers the price sellers would learn not to place their prices so high.
Yes I know, sellers place a higher value on there cars cause it’s worth that to them.
An object is only as valuable as what someone is willing to pay for it.
Stop buying these cars at high prices, the prices will come down.
(I gotta get rid of this soapbox)
I’m not sure what the seller was using as a yard stick to value his car at but JD Powers has it valued at $13,950 average retail and $23,500 high retail. Other factors that come into play when it comes down to car value is the cost of parts and labor, supply and demand and with me is the quality.
European cars have gained an advantage years ago over American cars using real wood trim and a higher grade leather. German cars utilized better metals in their mechanical parts. IMO if you have to pay premium prices for parts or a car then you should expect a longer life if not a lifetime of use or service from it. Case in point. Old rotary dial telephones were indestructible. Modern day phones are designed to break when the warranty is up under light normal usage. Want to talk about off the rail prices? Visit your cellphone store and see what they cost. You could dam near buy a new car from back in the day. This is known as planned obsolescence. Another example is batteries. So I’ll have to blame the greed glutony and avarice on the millionaires and billionaires. Manufacturers of many products have started shortening the lifespan of products to increase profits.
I forgot to mention regarding the price of phones. My father once said somethings wrong when you pay more to talk than eat.
We owned a Lincoln in the early 1960s and my father did some of the maintenance on it. After getting “sticker shock” at the Lincoln dealership parts department, he figured out that some of the parts crossed over from Ford and could be purchased from the Ford dealership for a significantly lower price. I have to wonder if this is still the case.
Once Ii get the Fleetwood done, I plan to do a ’50-’53 Cadillac sedan delivery
with a dark blue paint and a grey and
dark blue interior. And yes, it’ll have all the chrome and anodized gold trim
in place just popping and shining where it should be. If I were to build
this car for real, I’d use a car that’s
already FUBAR. Not like Billy Gibbons
of ZZTOP who hacked up a really nice
’48 model 61 fastback, customizing
it for their “No deposit, no return” tour sometime ago. Sure, I know that’ll
take a lot of time and cash stretching
the roof to sedan delivery status, but
Atge end result would be absolutely
outrageous! Now lessee, for the engine, I’d pick a ’66 429 cube Caddy
mill backed by an M-22 Rick Crusher
4-speed along with an HD rear axle
from a hearse to guide all those ponies running around to the pavement. Other features would be
4-wheel vented disc brakes all round
with anti lock to keep the insurance
boys happy, and an electric power steering box for faster handling on
the freeway. Inside, you’d find a grey
leather front seat from a Coupe DeVille to give you access to the hot and cold boxes directly behind the seat to stow your orders with ease.
Under your feet, you’ll find dark blue
carpeting with a thick cushy padding
and Dynamat under that for extra quiet and comfort. Vintage Air And
Heat will keep you comfy year round
while a period correct radio with blue
tooth and syrius satellite radio would keep you entertained through a 10
speaker sound system. There would also be multiple charging ports along
with a custom made phone holder that would fit any phone. But be for
warned though, the 429 is a torque
monster making close to 500 foot pounds of torque which is more than
guaranteed a night of tire trying shenanigans if you let out the clutch a
bit to quick. So that’s it sports fans,
that’s the ultimate Dashmobile project
And I’ll Angel would be the first to really drive it after it scares the life out of my SIL!
@John Eder
I’m almost certain most if not all mechanical parts were interchangeable. I needed a temperature control valve for one my Mark Vs and the only visible difference was Fords was silver and Lincolns was anodized and twice the cost. Iw worked great