Often referred to as the “forgotten Marks”, the 1958-1960 Mark III-IV-V Lincoln Continentals are a rare sight today. Lincoln-Mercury “forgot” them when they introduced a new Mark III (instead of VI) in 1969, and I know I’ve only seen two that I can remember. This one is located in Forestville, California and is up for sale here on eBay, where the buy-it-now is only $2,400 but bidding started at $500.
We’re told that the seller originally purchased this car for parts, but decided it was too good of a car to just part out. We don’t know exactly how long it’s been off the road, but it has covered 125,000 miles. There are a lot of styling features on these Lincolns (the Continental marque was discontinued for 1958 and these were marketed as Lincolns) that are both distinctive and period, like this reverse-slant rear window. I believe the center portion, retracts for ventilation. The diagonally slanted stacked quad headlights are another design element not found on many other cars. At the time, the car had one of the longest wheelbases of any American car at 131 inches. When I first saw one in person, I was struck by how truly massive these cars are.
All that mass came along with an extremely luxurious interior, which unfortunately has seen better days in this car. Despite the seller telling us the car is rust free, there will still be a lot of effort needed here to make this car a pleasurable place to spend time. Both seats will need refurbishment and the driver’s door glass is cracked.
The seller tells us that they have had the 430 V-8 running a few times but did not try the rest of the driveline. We can’t tell much from the included pictures, but from what I can see it appears original. Many of the mechanical components are shared with contemporary Lincoln sedans and Thunderbirds, and with the all-important body intact it might actually be reasonable to put this car back on the road.
I’m still not sure about the styling, though. Any of you have a view slanted one way or the other?
Chrysler copy Lincoln with the front end?
I think this car would make the CHRISTEN move car piss its pants and run away like a little girl.like the grill
It looks like the guys who styled this model had a hand in the Edsel styling as well. At least I see some similarities. A rust-free Calif for only $2500?? That seems like a deal!
Excuse my ignorance (but I am English!) what is the difference between this car and the Lincoln Premiere?
Thank you for your help!
Andrew
Trim and options I imagine.
Andrew, the Premiere was a model/trim option on the Lincolns from about 1954 thru 1957. In 1958, I believe that the model names changed. but then again, I could be wrong. Anybody out there have more information on Lincolns of the late 1950s’?
Andrew, I believe that they were almost exactly the same car, but the Continental has the reverse back window, Roofline is more attractive than the Premiere in my opinion.
Barry Thomas’ “Wheel to Wheel” blog
Andrew and Barry, I am so happy to see the interest in these older Lincoln’s. To answer your question, the Premiere name was dropped in 1958, then there were the Lincoln Continental (slant roof) and the Lincoln Continental Mark IV (reverse back window). The Mark IV convertible had the reverse back window as well. My son and I are currently restoring a Mark IV 2 door coupe that I bought from the original owner with 55k on it. Rebuilding the engine and tranny, and all rubber.
Beep beep…..Beep beep,
…………………………………………….my car went beep, beep, beep
a vw beatle cool / id rather have a roadrunner
Man, that doesn’t just speak ‘Fifties’, it yells it loud and clear!!
Not the most attractive styling but very distinctive. Must have struck fear in the hearts of VW bug drivers at the time when they saw this in the rearview mirror.
Years ago I visited a Lincoln guy in Northern California who had lots of fifties and sixties Lincolns and parts strewn literally below his house. I wonder if this is him. In any event a real example of fifties optimism and excess. Bring s bank vault but well worth doing I think
Maybe Neil Young will share his plans on turning it into an electric vehicle.
Lots of room for tons of batteries. A true blue blood, land yacht. Perfect for a touristy trek down Route 66.
I’ve only seen one of these in person at a car show It was a very pretty 4 door, the combination being Mamie pink, and white top, the same on the inside. I was shocked at how low these cars were. Every car from the 1950s and 1960s are low slung, but this one was especially. At 6’1, the thing came to my waist. It was incredibly long too, it was parked sideways across 2 whole parking spots, and a good 6/8ths of the end two. The owner was gracious enough to let me sit in it. The rear leg room was absolutely ridiculous. I could stretch my legs as much as I wanted. I’ll never forget that break from the ubiquitous Tri-Fives, and 1st gen mustangs.
If you were to restore this car it would have to be for love of the hobby as this car is not a very desirable that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t be made it a very nice car again, you would however need a large work area to do this car up. If this was my project I would consider switching out that 430 gas hog for a v8 turbo diesel out of a more modern pickup truck, something with an automatic overdrive married to it. It would be the only way to get reasonable fuel mileage and still have power. A car this big would have no problem handling the weight of an engine like that either, and set up with a diesel it would probably be more ego freindly. Neil Young would want it for touring in.
Clearly, this restoration would not be for the faint of heart ( or wallet) I’m sure the electronics alone would cause a condition. Still, someone should preserve this, to show future generations, we ( well not my family) drove around in cars like this. While retaining the 430 for authenticity, it really has no place in today’s world, and would roll just fine with a small block, if you were indeed to drive this regularly. I never understood the mindset for the angled lights. 4 head lights were a new thing, and the angle put a whole new spin on front ends ( Chrysler to follow, again, not sure why) Most, if not all I’ve seen, were no where near this condition. ( more like the other Lincoln below) Sure was a cool car, though.
My dad’s Continental.
My family had one of these in a 2 dr hardtop for our family car in the middle 1960’s. At the time, the Lincoln dealer told us the curb weight was 5600 pounds and I see a range of weights between 5000 and 5700 pounds listed on the ‘net so the weight probably depends on options. A/C probably was not standard though my family’s Mark had it. There is no way I’d put a small block in this monster. It needs big-cubic-inches torque to get it moving and no small block is going to deliver that.
One thing I recall at the time is that if you knocked on one of the front fenders it sounded like you were knocking on wooden desk or something. Just a hard solid knock with absolutely no echo or tinniness or resonation from the back side. These cars were very popular in demolition derbies back in the late 60’s. I think the only thing that would outlast them was a 66 or 67 Chrysler Imperial, which I’ve been told are not allowed in demo derbies because of their indestructibility.
Happy to say I am familiar with these old Lincolns; the back window DID roll down (a feature to be found on Mercurys until at least ’65) and they were just plain enormous.
My family had one of these in a 2 dr hardtop for our family car in the middle 1960’s. At the time, the Lincoln dealer told us the curb weight was 5600 pounds and I see a range of weights between 5000 and 5700 pounds listed on the ‘net, probably depending on options. There is no way I’d put a small block in this monster. It needs big-cubic-inches torque to get it moving and no small block is going to deliver that.
One thing I recall at the time is that if you knocked on one of the front fenders it sounded like you were knocking on wooden desk or something. Just a hard solid knock with absolutely no echo or tinniness or resonation from the back side. These cars were very popular in demolition derbies back in the late 60’s. I think the only thing that would outlast them was a 66 or 67 Chrysler Imperial, which I’ve been told are not allowed in demo derbies because of their indestructibility.
Happy to say I am familiar with these old Lincolns; the back window DID roll down (a feature to be found on Mercurys until at least ’65) and they were just plain enormous.
Wow….faded pink leather interior…..tough to replicate. If this was a convertible, it would be a no-brainer.
If memory serves me correctly, these cars also have unitized body and frame construction. There were issues with this because of their sheer size.
You are correct – this enormous car did have unibody issues. The first year at least there were problems with structural components resonating at some speeds or RPM’s if I recall correctly. Much as I liked these cars, the 61’s were a whole lot more tasteful.
Ugly as sin and not worth much restored I really like it though and would try to get it cleaned, polished and running well if nothing major was trashed and maybe down the road if it proved to be a keeper see if I could get a better interior swapped in.
I was the owner of this 59 Lincoln in 2010, I bought it in a neighboring city on Craigslist for $900. I switched the bumpers out and then decided to sell the car on Ebay, a buyer named Pierre from a European country bought it, I cant recall what country, he arranged for a shipper to pick it up and across the pond it went.
Dan