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7,200 Original Miles: 1986 Lincoln Mark VII

Although they can often appear as tired projects, this Lincoln Mark VII bucks the trend as a low-mileage survivor that’s clearly been cherished since new. With just over 7,000 miles on the clock, this 5.0-equipped luxo-cruiser sports all the trimmings, from the Marchal fog lights with original covers to the rare factory sport seats and glass moonroof. Find it here on eBay with few bids and the reserve unmet. 

Although the rear spare wheel hump may seem grossly out of fashion today, such styling cues were not off the table if you were a legacy luxury automobile manufacturer in the 80s. The Lincoln Mark VII likely found first homes with Wall Street traders, crime bosses and retirees in Sarasota, but the last few owners typically grew tired of sorting out the air suspension or the powered thigh bolsters, simply letting the car disintegrate. This example is apparently part of a larger collection and has been with one owner since new.

The “Terra Cotta red leather articulated sport seats” are downright stunning, and we honestly can’t remember seeing a Mark VII with them in the past. It had to have been a high dollar option that didn’t find many takers, but whatever the story is, these look fantastic and are likely supremely comfortable. The red leather trim carries over to the steering wheel, carpets and the dash, which wasn’t uncommon for the era. There’s no apparent damage to the interior and the leather-wrapped gear shift remains in excellent condition, too.

The venerable 5.0 V8 made an appearance in the VII coupe, ensuring decent performance and plentiful parts availability were on the table for owners old and new. The motor is obviously barely broken in and looks spotless throughout the bay. This Lincoln sports all the right options – including the desirable handling package – and combined with the low mileage and condition, it looks like the one to buy if you’ve had your heard on picking up one of the company’s last big-body coupes.

Comments

  1. Avatar Eric

    Absolutely beautiful, had a good feeling for this one back in the the day, the last of its kind. Cars today are virtually indistinguishable from each other. This car had style

    Like 1
  2. Avatar Francisco

    Why would anyone think this car would be a future classic?

    Like 0
    • Avatar Mike Kiser

      Why not … Mike …

      Like 0
  3. Avatar Rock On Member

    Nice car. My father owned three Mark VII’s. I think that I would prefer the Chevelle parked next to it.

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  4. Avatar Superdessucke

    Did these have the 200 horsepower (1986) and 225 horsepower (1987-up) version of the 5.0 from the Mustang, which had factory headers? The “H.O.” designation on the plenum would imply they did.

    Like 1
    • Avatar Allan

      According to Wikipedia, the LSC version of the Mark VII received the higher powered H.O. version of the 302ci.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Continental_Mark_VII#Powertrain

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    • Avatar Steve

      I read the same thing 225 horsepower 300 foot lb of torque however I also owned a Thunderbird TC wich I didn’t have to replace the motor in until I had 225,000 miles on it already & also owned a 94 T-Bird SC.. I can tell you after buying the turbo coupe & being almost immediately SAD knowing the super coop/(V6 for the belt driven supercharger was COMING for SURE …but vs the 4 cylinder with the (turbocharger) FEELING as if I bought a car that was obsolete in terms of power and performance however I can tell you with AUTHORITY/CONFIDENCE that TC FELT like more pickup vs the supercharger that was a constant flow of power vs that BOOST felt when turbo kicked on BECAUSE THAT was something you could FEEL When you were accelerating quickly whereas you didn’t feel anything special with the supercharger versions… All in all the Lincoln LSC was probably FASTER off the line to 60 Not to mention so much more comfortable and I had the cruise set at 130 mph coming around the loop around Indianapolis following a Camaro and a Z28 driven by my son and his friend respectively and had no trouble in that Lincoln keeping up with them whatsoever I had plenty of pedal left.. So that car would flat scoot AND had fantastic comfort

      Like 0
  5. Avatar Oldcarsarecool

    Love the Mark VII ! Great cars . . .

    Like 1
  6. Avatar RS

    I’d rather have the old 302 V8 than the one they replaced it with. I’ve seen SO many full sized Fords, Mercurys and Lincolns belching blue smoke out their dual exhausts. I just don’t think the replacement engine was sorted out well enough. Glad this one apparently has the older motor, and I LOVE the seats.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Craig LeMoyne

      The blue smoke in 4.6L’s was a result of worn valve stem seals. A relatively easy fix but many a 4.6 died an early death due to oil consumption and the resulting oil starvation.

      Like 1
  7. Avatar Oldog4tz

    I owned one in period. The LSC model. What I remember most vividly is that engaging any control from the dash caused either the control to break or the function to malfunction

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  8. Avatar Todd Fitch Staff

    A friend of mine bought one of the LSC models new when he was a single guy in the Navy and prone to long road trips from base to home and back. I rode in it a couple times. I had an ’89 LX Mustang 5.0 five-speed at the time so it was interesting to see how Lincoln outfitted a bigger car with essentially the same motor. It had good pickup, nice sounding exhaust, and handled reasonably well. It struck me as a Mustang for grown-ups. Of course many of the go-fast goodies: rockeres, strokers, blowers, gears, etc. would work on this car, though maybe you wouldn’t do that to a low-mileage example. If I had to own one car as an investment this may not be the one, but I’d buy one with higher miles and modify and drive it. I like the interesting color combination also. Good find, Jeff!

    Like 1
  9. Avatar Joe Haska

    I wish it had a buy now price, I have no idea what would be fair or even reasonable, but I do know, I would love to own it!

    Like 1
    • Avatar Steve

      I can tell you that normally when you find one in THIS condition and the miles as low as that car could run anywhere from 10,000 to 20 depending on what part of the country and how much they think about the car in terms of probably how much hours they worked on it unless they’re all about dollars and cents at which point they’re looking and calculating what they invested and what the car would bring

      Like 0
  10. Avatar legion

    I worked as a sales guy at a Lincoln Merc dealership when these were new. I recall pulling up in the beater Dodge Colt my wife and I shared and walking onto the lot with a suit on for a day of selling (mostly) nice cars. Of all of them the LSC was the one that caught my eye the most. I have no idea what the acronym stood for but Luxury Sport Coupe seemed to fit best. Most had xlnt brakes and ABS, all would haul the mail and the interiors were outstanding. Like climbing into a leather cocoon.

    That was a tough time for a young guy in the Lincoln business. I got beat up by every blue hair in the region.

    Like 1
    • Avatar Steve

      I remember test driving when I was late models before the ’90s version came out when I was in the Carolinas and the car brand new was at $35,000 and looking at how quick I had to pay it off I could never afford the payment it would have been almost $2,000 per month JUST to pay it off by time I hit the 100k bumper to bumper factory warranty wore out…. Consequently I didn’t buy one for years and stumbled across a hell of a deal on a used on it that didn’t have very many miles and by then my son was a master tech and could rebuild anything if I wanted….

      Like 0
  11. Avatar Rustytech Member

    Low mileage doesn’t always mean great car. When I was teaching in the tech school we had one of these, it was a donation from Lincoln with only 4 miles on the clock, but it and been disassembled and assembled by students so many times I’d have been afraid to drive it across the shop, let alone down the road! This car looks well sorted though. I’m not sure you could get an interior like this today even in a Bently or Rolls. Will it be collectible? Who knows, But is sure would be a nice cruiser!

    Like 0
  12. Avatar Rob S.

    I was a computer tech (EECIV) when these were new. They were superb when new and always fun to work on. These had the style and performance that could match anything GM or dodge could throw at it back in the day. They had comfort, handling and performance. I remember working on a silver with red interior LSC 5.0 HO, just a stunning Lincoln back then! Took it down the street to Bud Eyre Chevrolet and challenged them to compete with it, of course, they couldn’t. These were top of the line personal coupes back then. You won’t see the likes of these from any US mfgr again! Nice find!

    Like 1
    • Avatar Steve

      WOW…. Drove one down to the Chevy and Dodge dealer in challenge them I would have loved to seen that because I know from driving my Lincoln that they didn’t have ANYTHING In the same category short of bringing out to Camaro or firebird they didn’t have a prayer… And you couldn’t really compare a firebird or Camaro to the Lincoln considering the ride and comfort of the Lincoln just said everything in any way of comparing the 2/3(?)diff vehicles… thinking of the LSC in terms of a Caddilac and I can’t even think of anything Dodge made that was able to match Lincoln / Cadillac in luxury at all?? And IF SO then…. I’m sure the same problem would pop up when they took off down the road that happens with the Lincoln compared to Cadillac as LSC watches the Cadillac in his rear view mirror …hmm LSC= that old song Hot Rod Lincoln if anyone remembers it 😂

      Like 0
  13. Avatar Howard A Member

    Yeah, pretty nice car. I’m always leery of low mileage claims with odometer numbers that don’t line up. It’s clearly a low mileage car, but not this low. I heard electronic bugaboo’s on these will drive you nuts. If you can put up with that, it’s a very, very nice car. One of the nicest for the 80’s.

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    • Avatar PRA4SNW

      Agreed that those odo numbers aren’t even close to lining up once you blow the picture up. But I doubt you will find a nicer condition one anywhere.

      But that’s the problem: What do you do with it if you buy it? What an awesome cruiser this would be, but I think its future is as a trailer queen.

      Like 0
  14. Avatar W9BAG

    My next door neighbor has a black one. Great car, but just be prepared to replace the back suspension bags. His are leaking. With this car, especially after sitting for quite some time, be prepared to spend $2K/up to replace the bags. VERY spendy, but not worth it. There is also a conversion kit to convert to conventional shocks. This was a system to make the car self leveling when you either A: were towing something, or B: had a couple of fat people riding in the back seat.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Steve

      The air suspension is easy to service and bags can be had for $100 each. Most leaks can be traced to dried out o rings on the solenoids. DO NOT, repeat do not ever coil spring a Mark. Makes no sense, it’s one of the features that make a Mark.

      Like 0
  15. Avatar John Koch

    There weren’t many takers, but Lincoln offered a Turbo Diesel engine option on the LSC Mark VII.

    The 2.4-liter, inline six-cylinder diesel engine was built by BMW and was wimpy even by the low standards of the early 80s, making just 114 horsepower in a 3,700 pound car. 0-60 took 13-seconds, making a Toyota Prius look absolutely gutsy, and while the official fuel economy rating was 30 mpg, in the real world you were lucky to get mid-20s. But if you’re going to call the Lincoln LSC a “Luxury Sport Coupe”, shouldn’t it be at least a little bit sporty?

    Like 0

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