The Lincoln nameplate doesn’t really exude much prestige these days, we usually think of them as being stretched out for renting on prom night. But in another time, there were people who aspired to buy one, and their flagship was the Mark series. Here’s the story.
In the 50s, Henry Ford II had big ambitions as the company that his grandfather built was on the upswing after a near death experience in the 40s. He wanted Ford to build something very special, something more exclusive and luxurious than anything out of Detroit. So, he created a whole new division at Ford called Continental and their first product being the Mark II. This was intended as a successor to the original Lincoln Continental sold from 1939 to 1947, hence the name. The Mark II was mostly hand built and when it was launched in 1956, cost the equivalent of $90,000, the most expensive American made car and comparable to a Rolls Royce. But the Mark II was a poor seller and this project cost FoMoCo a lot of money, so it was dropped in 1958.
After the Mark II was dropped, Continental became a more luxurious Lincoln and the next 3 model years became the Continental III, IV, and V, and the Continental was rolled back into the Lincoln lineup for 1960. But in the 60s, when Lincoln was designing a new coupe, they decided to go revisionist and restart the clock. So, the big Lincoln coupe introduced for 1969 is truly the real Continental Mark III and shared little with the regular Continental it was sold alongside. At the time, Lincoln was losing money fast. Lee Iacocca, Ford’s President, had a flash of genius. He took the Ford Thunderbird, covered it in luxury trim and features, including a Rolls-Royce style grille surrounded by menacing hidden headlights, and charged a big price. The result was a big success, Lincoln-Mercury went from a money pit to a cash cow. The Mark III had one car in its sights: the Cadillac Eldorado. And the Mark III managed to almost equal Eldorado’s sales, having a Lincoln sell almost as well as a Cadillac had been unthinkable. The Mark III would earn a starring role in the movie French Connection where it was used by the villains to smuggle heroin in to the US by hiding it in the panels.
For 1972, the Mark III became the Mark IV. It was bigger and heavier than before, but carried over most of the design cues. The most notable new design feature, standard starting in 1973, were the Opera windows in the C-pillar. They were meant to evoke the cars of the 1920s and allowed improved rear visibility through the thick C-pillar. Opera windows would become one of the most popular styling gimmicks of the 1970s, behind only vinyl roofs. For 1973, 5 mph bumpers became mandatory. The Lincoln wore them a lot better than most other cars, as they contributed to its substantial appearance, giving it a thick jaw. For 1976, Lincoln introduced a series of designer models that had paint and trim colors selected by famous designers in the fashion world. There was the Cartier, the Givenchy, the Pucci, and the Bill Blass.
The Mark V was introduced for 1977. The Thunderbird had been moved to a new smaller platform and Lincoln didn’t want to spend the money to design a whole new platform for such a low volume car, so the Mark V rolled off the line on the same chassis as the Mark IV. Concessions were made to the energy crisis. Through clever engineering, weight was reduced by 400 pounds despite no reduction in size, but that only cut weight from 5000 pounds to 4600. Also, to supplement the thirsty 7.5 liter V8, a thrifty 6.6 liter was offered. The Mark V marked the golden age for the Mark series. Sales were consistently around 80,000 for its 3 model years. In 1978, the extremely expensive “Diamond Jubilee” model was introduced, it was a special edition that cost an extra $8000 ($24,000 in today’s money) and boosted the bace price to $22,000 ($66,000 in today’s money). The Diamond Jubilee was meant to celebrate Ford’s 75th anniversary, but it seems ironic that the company that built the Model T would celebrate that success with such an expensive luxury car.
The Mark VI represented a screw-up. At first, Ford wanted it to rejoin the Thunderbird by putting it on the midsized Fox body platform. But then they changed their mind. They decided to turn the Mark VI into a more expensive version of the Town Car, essentially, the Continental Mark VI was to be another Continental. Plans were for a 4 door sedan, a 2 door coupe, and even a wood-grained wagon, the latter was thankfully dropped. The Mark VI was 800 pounds lighter and 14 inches shorter than the Mark V, but it didn’t wear its new size well with those ungainly overhangs. The engines shrunk too, with a 4.9 liter and 5.8 liter V8 being the only options. Sales fell in half from the Mark V and Lincoln quickly realized what a disaster this experiment was.
The Mark VII, introduced for 1984, was essentially what Ford had originally wanted to do with the Mark VI, a personal luxury coupe sharing a chassis with the Thunderbird once again. The design was very aerodynamic with flush fitting glass, doors that opened into the roof, and for the first time on any car sold in the US since 1939, flush composite headlights with replaceable bulbs. Ford had lobbied the Federal Government to get rid of a 43 year old regulation requiring sealed beams for this car specifically. The engines were the same 5 liter V8 from the Mustang and a 2.4 liter diesel 6 cylinder built by BMW. The latter was dropped in 1986. In 1986, the Continental Mark VII became the Lincoln Mark VII. Previously, it hadn’t been advertised as a Lincoln. It also helped eliminate confusion with the completely unrelated Continental. But sales were still disappointing. The type of people who wanted a sporting grand tourer bought a BMW 6 series or Mercedes SL and the type of people who liked Lincolns much preferred the cushy and spacious Town Car.
The Mark VIII was a bold departure in styling with all those curves. The engine was a 4.6 liter V8 making 280 horsepower. The Mark VIII carried over the Mark VII’s air suspension and was packed with other amenities such as a 10-disc CD changer, automatic climate control and heated and power everything. For 1996, the Diamond Anniversary package was offered, this time to celebrate Lincoln’s 75th anniversary. But sales were disappointing, and the Mark series ended in 1998.
The Mark Series was a successful gamble to produce a Personal Luxury Car. It was able to keep up with Cadillac in the sales charts and offered affluent buyers a cushy driving experience. But it suffered as the market for big coupes vanished.