One of the things America has always been good at is building big-body luxury coupes. We started in the 1960s and 70s and kept right at it through energy crisis and come-to-Jesus moments with regards to fuel efficiency. However, it’s a shame that we don’t remember more frequently one of the better versions of this class of vehicle that we built in the 1990s: the Lincoln Mark VIII. This was a phenomenal grand tourer from one of the best eras of Lincoln, when they were cranking out handsome designs and cars that were distinctive in a crowded luxury market. Find this clean coupe here on craigslist for a measly $4,000 in Houston.
Obviously, we aspire to bring you barn finds and hidden classic gems squirreled away in remote locations, but sometimes, we just want to bring you a great deal. This Lincoln stands out as such a find, and thanks goes to Barn Finds reader Rocco B. for the find. The best thing in my mind about the Mark VIII is that it finally got over competing solely with the Cadillac Eldorado and attempted to break onto the world’s stage of powerful luxury coupes. This was one of the first times I can remember Lincoln actually building a car that made you stop walking briskly to the Mercedes-Benz dealership to put a deposit down on a CL coupe. This car has under 80,000 miles and an interior that still looks quite clean and certainly luxurious.
Despite my praise of this model, it hasn’t exactly become a modern-day classic. This is not for lack of features or power, of which it had plenty of both. The 4.6 L DOHC V8 InTech engine cranked out a beefy 290 horsepower in 1996, and 295 lb.-ft. of torque. The transmission was a four-speed automatic; if this were an LSC version, you’d enjoy even better acceleration thanks to sportier gearing. The engine bay is fairly dusty in this example, and it’s a shame the seller didn’t spend more time cleaning it up. It is a rebuild, however, which likely contributes to the relatively low asking price.
Still, I wouldn’t let that stop me from taking a chance on this clean coupe. Power seats, leather, heated mirrors, keyless entry, and many more optional features make this a car you can live with every day. The Lincoln appears to have an aftermarket exhaust system, which likely sounds pretty sweet despite being out of place on a luxury car. While the rebuild title may spook some buyers, I wouldn’t worry too much about it for a measly $4,000, and I suspect the seller would be open to a reasonable offer. Do any of you agree with me that the Mark VIII is a future classic in the making?
Jeff, I don’t know about the Mark VIII being a future classic, given they weren’t all that popular when new. But as a grand tourer, something barely available today, they are great. Especially for a mere $4000, assuming this one is in good mechanical shape.
If this wasn’t so far away I’d take a look. Rebuild title? At first I thought that meant the engine but this might have been a wreck? Never mind I asked Google. This car could have been in a flood considering the location.
Fox man, by the appearance of the under the hood photo I might be suspect of the flood car past history.
Trunk photo is AWOL also.
Just a fleeting thought.
Even though $4,000 isn’t expensive for a quality used car, I’d want to know what caused it to need a rebuilt title.
As for being a future classic, an LSC yes, this probably not. Though there are a lot of generic older cars that get referred to a classics due to their age alone.
Steve R
People call run of the mill ’85 Chevy K-10’s, “classics.” They call Rambler American’s, classics. It’s all in the eye of the beholder.
They put “Classic Rod” plates on anything here in Nevada. I saw a Toyota Corolla with one.
I owned one….these are Hot Rod Lincolns!
I had an ’89 MK VII LSC. Great road car.
Had a 98 LSC. Great highway machine. Air suspension was pretty neat. The 4.6 dohc was essentially a Cobra engine from the Stang with plenty of power. For 4k would make for a fun daily.
Had a 98 LSC. Great highway machine. Air suspension was pretty neat. The 4.6 dohc was essentially a Cobra engine from the Stang with plenty of power. For 4k would make for a fun daily.
I think the Mark VII is more likely to become a classic than the Mark VIII. The Mark VIII’s droopy, melted styling simply hasn’t aged as well to my eyes.
Styling is a matter of personal taste, but in a real sense, Ford had no choice but to adopt the aerodynamic styling. The Federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) rules had just been adopted, and if Ford wanted to continue building full-sized cars, they had to become more fuel efficient, to avoid the dreaded “gas guzzler” tax, and the aero styling was part of the effort to make the Mark VIII more fuel efficient, along with the 32-valve V8 replacing the traditional 460 big-block V8. Making more power than the old cast-iron 460, but in a smaller and lighter aluminum 4.6L size, it was the only way for Ford to build large cars that could meet the new rules. In effect, when Uncle Sam is designing the car, you play by his rules, or you don’t play at all! The reason why is simple: Because it’s Uncle Sam’s ball, that’s why, LOL!
Definitely have to ask the seller about the title situation , insurance companies will a lot of times total loss a vehicle over 6 years old for relatively minor things so they could have total loss this one for that dent on the truck lid and broken trim around the lock.
I worked for OSRAM Sylvania in the 1990’s and worked on the team that developed a neon center brake and stop light for these, along with the HID headlamps (Sylvania was a Tier 1 supplier to Ford). The center brake and stop lamp was in the center panel between the outboard tail and stop lamps, and served as the Federally-mandated Center High Mounted Stop Lamp (CHMSL) for the car. We were allowed to borrow a development mule to drive, with the stipulation that we had to leave the headlights on when the car was running, day or night, to build running time on the HID headlights and the ballasts driving the HID lamps. I was working on a neon CHMSL for the Ford Explorer at the same time.
Great car, and I agree with Brock Yates, the Car & Driver magazine columnist, who thought that the T-Bird and Cougar, which were both built on the same platform, deserved the 32-valve V8 in the Mark VIII, but they never got it, the lesser models had to make do with the 16-valve and 24-valve V8’s, along with the V6 Turbo Coupe in the T-Bird. Ford probably didn’t want to cannibalize sales from the Mark by putting the hot motor in the cheaper models, even as an option.
Some people have problems with the factory air springs in these, but kits to replace the air springs with conventional steel springs are available.
I wanted this car so bad back then. Couldn’t afford it and ended up in a T-Bird Supercoupe
Robert, thanks for sharing your story. I love reading the history of a car’s development from someone personally involved.
Thank you for the kind words. I enjoyed working on that program, despite the difficulties, because that’s how progress is made. Not every technology turns out to be successful, the history of technology is littered with technological dead ends, but the lessons learned are still worth the effort, because of what the failures teach us. We learn more from our failures than we do from our successes. In hindsight, LED’s won the race, but it wasn’t for the lack of trying on our part!
I have owned a slick top ’98 since forever as it doesn’t break – contrary to popular belief. The neon was replaced by LED as a maintenance item and the fancy headlights and air bags also work like new. I had a first Gen as a company car and it got great mileage and my wife loved how she looked while driving. When a CL ad came out for a “Buick Mark VIII LSC” I had to call to see what I had missed. Ours is the same color too, Toronado red? Fondmetal F1 wheels and a simple 1″ lowering mount and voila. This will be its’ 10th year as the road car of our house. Everybody enjoys the drive and everything works. Thanks mostly to generous people at Lincoln vs. Cadillac. Buy it, but make sure the air compressor works, it lowers at speed and the heat controls go from hot to cold and from floor to defrost. All else are just details. Good luck.
The neon program was problematic and expensive. A British company was supplying the original ballots fro the the Neon CHMSL in the Explorer, I was trying to develop an in-house replacement that cost less, but it never got off the ground. The development cost target for the original neon lamp and ballast assembly was $12 in direct material, but Sylvania was shipping $20 bills with every unit that went out the door, as the lamp and reflector assembly alone, without the ballast assembly, cost more that $12 to make in the 1990’s!
The reason for using neon was twofold. First, the glass tubing in the neon bulb could be curved to be bent around corners, allowing the stylists greater freedom in integrating the lamp assemblies into the exterior styling, and the small size of the lamp allowed for a smaller reflector assembly, which took up less space in the trunk. The second reason was that the red-orange glow of the neon more closely matched the color that drivers expected from incandescent lamps. The blood red color of LED lamps at the time was very different than the red-orange color of the incandescent lamps in common use at the time, and in addition to the noticeable color difference, there were concerns that the LED’s wouldn’t meet the applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS’s) of the time. Those fears have proven to be unfounded, and the LED’s have largely replaced both HID headlamps and incandescent bulbs in modern cars, as the technology behind LED’s improved. LED’s offer lower power consumption and longer life at lower cost than either HID headlamps, neon lamps or incandescent halogen bulbs, as the drive electronics are much simpler than the complicated and expensive ballasts gas discharge lamps like HID and neon require, and last much longer than incandescent bulbs.
One of the other drivers for neon and HID development was the ruggedness of gas discharge lamps compared to incandescent bulbs. We were told that over fifty percent (50%) of Ford’s warranty claims were a direct result of burned out bulbs! The incandescent bulbs couldn’t survive the extreme g-forces that were a consequence of the tailgate of an SUV or pickup truck, or the trunk of a car being slammed shut! The filaments of the bulbs would break if they were mounted in the tailgate or trunk, and they couldn’t survive the extreme g-forces when the lid came to a stop! Gas discharge lamps and LED’s don’t have a filament that can fail, so they are ideal for use in such applications.
A 98 was a no sale on BAT today at $17,000 plus. I’m a Town Car guy myself. That Cobra engine has a lot going on under the hood. A very good friend has a low mileage 93 Mark VIII. I drove it once. Comfy and fast.
Rebuilt Title!!!!
Rebuilt Title!!!!
just out of the fox-platform (mark 7 was still in) I agree
ford was shootin @ the Germans (beemer 5 series) and others.
Keep me in the fox, I like the ltd LX w/5 oh & OD automatic. Now
put this suvette form on the 1 gen earlier chassy and I’d take ‘er.
/OR/
the earlier SHO yamaha v6?
On the engine photo, it looks like overspray on the front plastic passenger side. So the rebuilt title may be from an accident and not from being a flood vehicle.
The wheels are on backwards as they so often are with directional wheels.