Lincoln’s Mark VI series of cars were available in both four-door and two-door body styles, as you can see in this example. I don’t know if the “Two doors too many!!” crowd wants their luxury car with just two doors or not, as it’s harder to get passengers into the back seat. You know, where you really should be riding in a luxury car rather than driving it.
This beautiful 1981 Lincoln Continental Mark VI is a Givenchy Designer Series car that adds some chic, understated class to what is already a classy car. The two-tone black over pewter with a black vinyl landau top design is beautiful, adding opera lights and all of those vintage goodies. This example is stylish and this whole car looks fantatsic, overall. Unfortunately, there is some rust appearing in the cracks and crevices, on the bottoms of the doors, especially the underside.
Kudos to the seller for providing a nice range of photos, they aren’t hiding anything, especially for a craigslist ad. The underside looks like it could be treated by any number of companies that do that now, blasting and spraying the underside with a coating, or just leaving it. I’m guessing this car has been in Minnesota its whole life as that’s where it is now, and seeing that surface rust gives it away. The two-door Mark VI is such an elegant and unusual car to see today, I love it.
As expected, the interior looks fantastic, with some normal aging to the leather seating surfaces and maybe some discoloring of the dark carpets due to the sun. The wheelbase of the two-door Panther platform Mark VI is three inches shorter than the four-door version, but passengers probably won’t notice the difference in interior space. The back seat looks perfect and is the place to be when you’re being driven around.
The engine is Ford’s 302-cu.in. OHV V8 with 130 horsepower and 230 lb-ft of torque when new. It sends power through a four-speed automatic to the rear wheels and the seller says it rides and drives “good”, which is a surprising understatement for a car that most likely works great. The gas tank and fuel pump have been replaced, and they say also the “sunroof and head gasket”, but I’m not sure what that means, maybe head gaskets and the sunroof seal? They have it posted here on craigslist in Roseville, Minnesota for $11,995. Here is the original listing. I think that price is a no-brainer for a Southwest car without any surface rust, but then the interior would be fried. How much would you pay for this gorgeous two-door Mark VI?
I’m just thankful it doesn’t have the optional “touring lamps” in the headlight doors. They make it look like a coke addict. It’s telling that they aren’t shown at all in the Mark VI brochures – not installed on a car and not pictured in the options listing.
Yep! Those lights are the stuff of nightmares. “The Lincoln is coming to get you!”
I had an 81 BB and although I got a lot of “Pimp” jokes, it was a fine riding car, even had the factory CB radio and the quad 8-track sounded amazing!
Whoa, what I thought was rust was the reflection of the paint marking the parking spot. That’s some serious shine. But, with over 100k miles and surface rust underneath I don’t know if I would pay almost eleven grand. BTW, I know it’s not but that back seat almost looks like it came out of another car. It’s so overstuffed and the buttons seem to disappear into the leather. Seems like a great place to sit. Now if I could just get my girlfriend to wear a chauffeur’s cap we could play games.
The seller framed their pictures to minimize showing rust prone areas, but there are signs on the bottom of the doors and a few other places. The ad even mentions the body is good for its age, which is the type of language that is often used when someone isn’t being truthful. The car has been listed for 24 days, the market doesn’t think it’s worth the asking price.
Steve R
These are what I would call peak malaise era transport. Govt regs had altered styling and beat the stuffing out of engine output. Auto publications lambasted the appearance and performance. And lest we forget the period inflation, interest rates and fuel prices. As for me I can’t help but love a car from this era. Designed with a T-square inside and out. What a beautiful and well preserved example.
There is one possible problem with an 81 Lincoln. Once upon a time I bought a nice looking 81 Lincoln sedan, as soon as I drove it off the lot the problems started, I ended up replacing lots of hoses under the hood. After driving it more lots on lights on the dash popped up. Eventually it started running awful. I found a shop with the equipment needed to tap into the computer. Turns out the computer was no good. At the time I worked for a wholesale auto parts co. They had a source for rebuilt computers. First year of commuter controls on Ford, However, they could do nothing. Eventually when it was totally dead a neighbor got tired of looking at it and had it hauled before I could try and sell.
I would not TOUCH this one, even though I love the Mark VI. REASON?? — those TWO DOORS!!! The coup proportions look awful, for one, and I was relieved when Ford discontinued the two-door Panther cars! I would LOVE to own a beautifully-preserved 1980 Mark VI, FOUR DOOR sedan — especially the top-line version: what a beautiful car!!! Maybe a very low mileage “cream-puff” will show up, and I will have the requisite money to buy it! (Dream ON!)