The era of this 1978 Lincoln Continental Town Car is one that most people either like or, well, let’s say “not like” (I didn’t want to say hate, but there it is). I love it, and it can be found here on eBay in a city with a name almost as long as the car is: Nine Mile Falls, Washington. The current bid price is $11,100.
I always think of the classic SNL skit, “The Continental” when I see a car like this gigantic, landau vinyl top + rare bubble top (Fixed Glass Moonroof) and opera-light-adorned, white-shoes-and-belt beauty. For $11,100, you aren’t getting a nicer Town Car, and that rare Fixed Glass Moonroof is to die for, at least in the summer unless you pull the inside shade over it so you aren’t cooked.
The 1977 through 1979 Continental Town Car and Town Coupe had this rare Sunliner-like fixed glass half-roof option and I wonder how many of you have seen one? Extra points if you’ve seen one in person and you’re the winner if you’ve owned one. It was a $1,027 option in 1978 and I think the seller may have nailed it when they say that around 1,500 of them were made in this year. This car couldn’t look any closer to being factory-fresh, in my opinion. Even the trunk carpet looks perfect, if not as taught as today’s vehicles are.
There’s no mere velour here, this is baby-soft baby blue leather and it looks like new both front and rear. American Sunroof Corporation (ASC) completed the glass moonroof conversions for Lincoln, the same company that did the sliding moonroof conversions for Lincoln. There was a manually-sliding screen inside to block the sun from coming in on the hottest days.
The engine is as clean as the rest of this car appears to be. It should be a 400-cu.in. OHV V8, which would have had 166 horsepower and 319 lb-ft of torque. The seller says that it runs great and everything works. This is a lot of car for the current bid price. Have any of you seen this glass roof option for the Town Car?
Thanks Scotty. I have never seen, or even heard of, a bubble top on this model. Pretty cool. $1027 is $4800 in today’s dollars. Car looks to be in nice shape. Eye-grabbing blue, inside and out. Plus, you get the aftermarket leather steering wheel wrap (seems like every car of this era had one)!
Those thin plastic steering wheels would be murder on the hands during a long drive. The wraps were an attempt to make theem tolerably comfortable. The time and care spent on the installation resulted in a good final appearance. IMO, the majority of those who knock them never drove (or drive) a car with one! :-)
Ha! I was the teenage installer of said aftermarket wrap on our family cars, and I took my time to make sure the finished product looked good.
I can’t stand those wraps. I love the skinny wheels of the past. Never found them to be uncomfortable. I’ve taken them off of my current 67 Vista Cruiser and 67 GT Cougar. Modern car wheels feel like you are driving a nerf toy.
Those steering wheel covers are tacky as a $3 bill. I understand it’s an opinion but if I were to have one on it wouldn’t be that type there are better ones.
Robin 🐦 egg 🥚 blue 💙 boat 😃🙌
I own a 1978 aLincoln Town Car with a 460 cu. Motor. Correct me if Im wrong. The 400cu. Didnt arrive in the Town Car untin 1979.
Engine downsizing was underway. 1977 had a standard 460 with 400 as an option. 1978 had 400 standard and 460 optional. 1979 only offered 400.
Not true.
The 400 was the base engine in 1978 for the town car and the Mark V.
Very few around as bigger is better.
Remember it was the 1970’s!
Is that wrap leather the though? It reminds me of the one in my Mustang, same style with the whip cord around the wrap. Mine was vinyl and in red to match the interior. I got rid of it and got a perforated leather one from Target of all places. Still haven’t mastered the baseball stitch though. Fine car btw. Love Lincolns.
Oh yeah. I had a 77 town coupė with the astro roof!! If I had known then!!😂😂😂 But I had just turned 30. New cars every year!😆😆 But that roof was great for my kids to look up at the sky when it was snowing or a moonlit night cruising down the highway!! Loved that car!!
You can’t teach trunk carpet anything.
The carpet fell behind during the pandemic. It’s receiving tutoring to ketchup…
I assumed the writer was referring to that newfangled “smart carpet”.
Ha, good catch, RK! I did it in italics to show that I was kidding with the spelling but that probably wasn’t good enough. I should have said, “Needs stretched…”
Not I says the thin man.Well I’m not that thin anymore.Never heard about that option or saw one. all it needs is those old shower curtain dinkle balls on the top of the windshield inside and rear glass,some chrome true spoke wheels with vogue goldline tyres and glass packs and duals maybe even a nude woman with wings hood ornament too.You’d definetly be the ship at cars and coffee then.All kidding aside I like this car alot definetly cool.I bet she brings 20k maybe more with that cool roof. Gotta love all that baby blue. So sick of seeing silver , white and black cookie cutter cars of today.glwts.
Back in this time frame, this is what I considered a luxury car, along with the Cadillacs. Big as a boat, but it was a nice riding car… however it was a Ford product, and that year I had a new 78 Monarch, which proved to be the worst car I’ve ever purchased.
As an Old Ranger you are a Head Of State and that’s what Monarch’s buy!
Agree on the Monarch, had a ’76 Monarch with a 351, couldn’t keep starters in it. Had to replace 3 times, wasn’t an easy job. Had to drop past of steering linkage and twist and turn to mount.
An amazing car in extraordinary condition! Can occupy 2 parking spaces as completely as any crew-cab Silverado, but with far more style!
1977 was the last year for the 460 and the thermometer style speedometer, the 1978 model even with the sky bubble couldn’t compare to it’s predecessor
Correction!
1978 was the last year for the 460 engine option.
Lincoln’s fixed glass moonroof was a rare option even when new–very few ordered it. Even more rare are the `79 Town cars/coupes with this. A friend has a triple white `79 coupe with the bubble top, and less than 30K miles. He ordered it new knowing it would be collectible one day and he was right. The top is heavily tinted, so the heat isn’t that bad in summer. I love it.
Could only Imagine how quiet this car is. Actually I know cause my friends Dad had one. I don’t know IT’s said that Lincoln had the ride Chrysler had the power and Cadillac had it all but this Lincoln when it comes to ride would be hard to beat
WOW – UNBELIEVABLY – believable. I love this car! This car has definitely been “ mummified “ to keep it in this condition for 45yrs! I have only seen, maybe, two or three of these “ bubble tops “ in all these years. Really cool. I was only 14yrs old in 1978 – but I remember a classmate’s parents had one on a 1977 Town Coupe. You couldn’t slide it back but it gave you the most AWESOME view – especially at night! This car is gorgeous, and I sure hope that the new owner TOTALLY loves it for the gorgeous piece of history that it is. I know I’d buy it – and I think someone else would say the same…. Great article!
My wife and I have the same car in our garage without the bubble top. Pristine condition. Just like riding on a big cloud.
I am so glad the hit man used triple ply plastic in the trunk on this one. So many I look at did not and that is a shame.
I’ve seen one, a black Town Coupe at a car auction in Atlantic City, NJ many years ago. It had a tan velour interior, and it was gorgeous. I wish I could’ve bought that one, this one, or the one someone mentioned above that his friend has.
On the trunk carpet – it looks like that because it snaps in and out. It’s not adhered to the sheet metal underneath. When I inherited my grandfather’s 78 town car, he had about half of a Pep Boys stored behind the carpet. Extra wipers and belts, fluids, jumper cables, etc. he even had a tool kit back there, which was surprising because he couldn’t wrench his way out of an unlocked room.
He and my grandmother used to regularly road trip it from FL to PA on the 95 corridor. The trunk held so much there was no overflow whatsoever in the backseat. Fantastic highway car – I wish I still had mine.
In 1976 I had left the auto industry and was controller of a 640 employee foundry in Texas. I had purchased a large home in a good area and the Lincoln and Cadillac dealers were neighbors. Coming from Detroit and spoiled over low prices I could not deal with these dealers. There were two Lincolns sitting there with this bubble top and I wanted to buy one but I was not allowing myself to pay full retail. I finally purchased a 1975 Imperial that was a year old but never sold. This car I got with a $4,400.00 discount. Beautiful car with the special top with the airplane window. but lack of power due to emission requirements. Prior cars were a 71 T bird and Mark III with lots of power
D M
You sure have good taste in automobiles. The local Lincoln dealer had two with this roof option in inventory and I was looking to replace my 1971 4 door Thunderbird. I was now in the oil industry in Houston, having moved from Detroit. My neighbors were the Cadillac dealer and the Lincoln dealer. Neither would cut me a deal. I purchased a left over 1975 Imperial from the Chrysler dealer. Two page window sticker and was 12K I bought it for 8K. Had been in his inventory almost two years.