The history of the big Lincoln coupe in this country is perhaps one of the more storied lineups of any domestic brand. From its prominence in Hollywood to the silver screen, to its reputation as a lightly-disguised 1980s sleeper with a 5.0L under the hood, these luxurious coupes are a staple of the automotive landscape. The Mark VIII is perhaps the most underappreciated example of the model, which is truly a shame considering how its razor-sharp looks are still entirely comfortable in modern traffic and its healthy output ensures it can keep up with most anything on the road today. Find this low-mileage example here on craigslist for $6,700.
To me, the Mark VIII is misunderstood by all but a few diehard enthusiasts. Among certain Facebook groups, this car is a legend of the “rad”-era, that is late 80s and early 90s vehicles. To others, it is just another example of a Lincoln product that cost a lot to buy and never caught on with the consumers the company was hoping to sway away from brands like Mercedes-Benz and Acura. The styling was clear evidence of Lincoln seeking to court younger buyers into the showroom, but all it did at the time was turn off its bread-and-butter customers. It’s a shame because the Mark VIII was a looker from every angle and its spacious cockpit was as comfortable as it was luxurious.
The seller’s car has low mileage of just 55,778 but it could still use a thorough detailing to look its best. Hell, the engine compartment just needs all those acres of plastic trim wiped down to look better than it does here. Regardless, the 4.6L V8 produced a still-respectable 280 horsepower and 286 lb-ft of torque, which was delivered via a four-speed automatic transmission. While it wasn’t a rocketship, it could get out of its own way. The suspension setup was pretty trick, too, featuring four-wheel independent suspension with computer-controlled ride height to lower the car automatically for improved handling. This was a very nice piece of kit, but many of the Mark VIIIs you see today are sitting on their wheel arches courtesy of a failing suspension system.
This Lincoln doesn’t appear to have that issue but the seller is still short on the details. He maintains it passes the rigorous California smog testing without issue so it would seem to be in good mechanical health. The low mileage is the real appeal here as so few of these big body coupes are left in driveable condition (see suspension comment above), so finding one with low miles and excellent cosmetics makes this one a winner all the way around in my book. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Pat L. for the find.
Jeff, I agree with the theme and tone of your write-up. I’ve always liked the Mark VIII’s. I think the styling was clean and interesting in its day, and has held up pretty well. The interior was also highly styled, though the finishes were fairly pedestrian. They weren’t bad sellers but haven’t really caught on in the collector car world, and may never. This one looks like a bargain.
All that said, I know its platform roots, but I wonder if the car would have come across better if it was about 5% smaller.
I agree with Bob, that the whole thing should have been 7/8 scale or like Bob says 5% smaller.
Also, while the interior is highly stylized, the end product used cheap looking and cheap feeling materials with larger than acceptable panel gaps, etc. And I say this a big Lincoln fan. The domestics missed out on major opportunities here and instead of identifying the real problem, thought the problem was with the designs or the market segment itself.
This is the same engine the Cobra used. Have seen quite a few missing at the pick apart. Always liked the wraparound dash, suspension can be troublesome. This is a nice example after this many years.
Yea those engines were really well built and definitely happy near the redline.
Imagine being a 17 year old kid working as a lube tech at a Lincoln dealer and performing new car inspections on these complete with initial test drive. I had the pleasure of that job and I really fell in love with these cars. All the Lincoln’s and Mercs were nice to a kid, but these were really special, they actually looked cool to a teen as opposed to the Town Car and Continental which were far to conservative for my young tastes.
As for the suspensions, many Lincoln’s would come in with failing suspensions as early as 5-6 years old.
Someone will enjoy this car though.
That’s a pretty good deal for $6,700, lots of years of driving left in that one. All that I would do is invest in a set of floor mats. Another excellent Pat L. find!
I had an ’86 Continental with the air suspension. What a nightmare. Threw parts and cash at that thing for two years. Finally sold it, cheap.
I had one. Got my 1st speeding ticket 1 week after buying it. Loved the self-lowering over 55mph and got 30mpg on a cross-country trip. Unfortunately, you don’t see many today as they were not well-built.
Air suspensions on these are actually easy to troubleshoot and repair with components from Arnott. The biggest suspension problems come from the ball-joints and strut-rod bushings which these cars consumed with alacrity.
I’ve had 3 Mark VIII s a 1993, 1996, and a 1998 LSC. I did have to replace the the front air springs on the 93 but never had any other issues. I paid something like $700.00 for the first air-spring replacement and for the second I found a company in Florida that rebuilds them and purchased the second delivered to my door in Ontario Canada the next day for $400.00 Canadian$. It took me 1.5 hours to change it out. It also came with a 1 year warrantee where Ford would only cover 3 months. These were awesome cars and I wish I still had my 98. The 97s and 98s had better headlights but had to get an aftermarket replacement as the original HID light bulbs have not been made for years. Look to spend $500.00 for them, which is about the same if you were able to get the original bulbs. These cars were no slouch. In 1993 Lincoln set a land speed record for a naturally aspirated stock engine by removing the outside mirrors and rear brake pads managed to get 173 mph.
I had a 93 also ,trade it for a new truck, but now I just bought another, this one is a 96 ,with 54000 miles, I’m in Alberta but the car was purchased in Arizona, I love driving this oldy, but do you know where I could buy the passenger seat rack ,and the trunk latch , the passenger seat is not going back and forth, but I still have to take it out ,because it sounds like something is on the track ,. Thanks for reading this. And I hope to hear from you
I would check out The LOC (Lincoln Owner’s Club) and/or a Lincoln Facebook group for parts and advice.
I bought a 98 LSC when it was two years old with low miles for $25k at the LM dealership which seemed low considering the original sticker price. Good acceleration, brakes, handling, etc. Unfortunately I did not do a long test drive before making the deal. I am about 3 inches too tall for the car. I did drive it for a few years until I could no longer take the cramped space. They are made for someone 5’10”. Not 6’5″
Thunderbird with a lump in the trunk?
These were indeed derived from the MN12 (’88-97) T-bird under the skin, with numerous modifications and refinements sufficient to warrant a different platform designation, FN10.
I always rather liked that “lump in the trunk” echoing the traditional Mark-series signature spare-tire hump in a fairly subtle and stylish way, tho’ they softened it even further for the ’97 mid-cycle facelift.
The only other modern take on that styling element I’ve liked was the ’87 Lincoln by Vignale show car, which echoed the Continental hump in the shape of a trim panel at the center of a full-width taillight band.
I worked with a guy who had one of these. When his lease was up, he negotiated a good deal to buy the car. After hearing that. when the lease on my same year Maxima was up, I tried to negotiate a buyout and the dealer wouldn’t hear of it. He said that he couldn’t keep 3 – 4 year old Maximas on the lot.
Those Lincolns just weren’t desirable as a used car.
Always wanted one of these in the early 90’s I’ve been a Lincoln admirer since the early 80’s ever since a friend of mine owned a 78 Continental Town Car in 1982. The Mark VIII had to follow in the footsteps of the very popular and positive selling Mark VII. Lincoln had always suffered the ultimate fallback from the competitive GM enemy known as the Cadillac brand hoping to convince car buyers of the 70’s to buy their Marks III IV and V and the fights between the DeVilles vs The Continental Town Cars of the70’s. Entering into the 80’s the competition continues with Ford/Lincolns newly designed Lincoln Continental Town Car sedans and the wonderfully designed Town Coupe. As well as the Ultimate luxurious Lincoln Continental Mark VI of 1980-1983 vs the limo styled rear window design of the DeVilles and the new design of the Fleetwood Brougham Sedan and the Spectacular Fleetwood Brougham Coupe which was literally gone too soon after 1985. The Lincoln brand has always suffered from the force of car buyers preference of owning a Cadillac over a Lincoln. I myself have owned several Caddy’s back in my younger days, a 71 Sedan DeVille, 74 Sedan DeVille, 78 Coupe DeVille, 80 Coupe DeVille and last but not least an 85 Fleetwood Brougham Coupe. I currently own a 2012 Lincoln MKS Ecoboost Twin Turbo LOADED with everything including “Park Assist” whereby the car car can parallel park itself. However no one knew about the MKS Ford/Lincoln did a terrible job marketing the car, no advertising, no TV commercials nothing. People used to ask what kind of car do I have and then tell me “Oh I never heard of a MKS” And then in 2016 I dreadfully learn that the Lincoln MKS will end production in 2017. No luck with Lincoln and their sedans, good luck with the Navigator (although the Navigator has always had tough competition with The Escalade) as well as a few other Lincoln CUV’s but nevertheles just cannot stand up to GM’s Cadillac’s SUV’s and CUV’s. I never did buy the Mark VIII and more than likely never will, but like the Mark VII and despite that crappy air suspension system the Mark VIII was a beautiful “personal luxury car” and the one advertised look like a fine example of just how elegant the last of the Marks really were. I’m sure a true Lincoln enthusiast will invest a few dollars in that car and continue to treat it with some good ol TLC.
I had a ’97 Mark Vlll LSC about 12 years ago, it was a love hate relationship, the neon taillight went bad, it leaked water on the passenger floorboard sometimes, had the HID headlight problem (spent about a grand on that, I finally got 2 new in box bulbs for $300,00 after buying the Chinese aftermarket kit that failed and a used bulb) and the easy entry locked up once, never used it again. It was the best driving car I have ever had, would run like stink and you could drive 1000 miles in a day and still feel fresh. Never had a problem with the air ride though and the car would really handle. The interior was really sharp and looked really nice inside. I sold it to a guy that was going to drive it back and forth to Florida from Missouri and I never looked back. As the guy drove away, the neon taillight started working again! Now I drive Tacoma trucks.
Lincoln had NO problem luring younger people into the showrooms with these cars, the problem was the younger people couldn’t afford them! I was 23 in 1998, and badly wanted an LSC. However, with a wife and brand new baby the $42k price tag was just too much. Ended up buying a Sentra :-(
These are still around in the PNW. Most of them have been swapped to standard struts. Few of them are this nice however.