The Lincoln Continental story – Part 4
The Continental Mark III aimed to reignite the glamour and prestige of the 1956/1957 Continental Mark II, but managed to do so on a much more commercially successful basis than its Fifties predecessor…
There’s no doubting that Ford in the Sixties enjoyed a renaissance as a brand that glossed over some of its less memorable achievements of the previous decade: the ho-hum styling of the ‘shoe box’ Fords, the spectacular failure of the Edsel division and the brief, money-losing launch of Continental as a separate division and marque. The decision to go racing in 1962 and ultimately win both Indianapolis and Le Mans with Ford vehicles shone glory on the company, as did the launch of the Mustang, probably as successful a launch of a car as there ever was in automotive history.
Over at Lincoln, the staid, but commercially successful Continental remained a universally admired recognisable model from 1961 to 1969 (the last year of the ‘suicide’ door Continental).
The model was everything its 1958-1960 predecessor wasn’t – it was elegant, restrained… maybe even a little conservative in styling terms. By 1968, the swinging Sixties really were in full swing, so it was time to switch things up with a new, exciting model: the Continental Mark III. Calling the new car the Mark III would seem to be an effort to obliterate the memories of the earlier 1958-1960 Continental Mark III-Mark IVs, almost as if they had never existed and in many ways, the 1969 Mark III bears more resemblance from a styling point of view to the earlier Mark II than the car which followed it in 1958.
However, the car that the Mark III really had in its sights was GM’s personal luxury offering: the Eldorado. The new ‘personal luxury’ segment of the mid-to-late Sixties was booming with cars like the Thunderbird, the Grand Prix and the Riviera, but the Mark III and the Eldorado were definitely top of the tree.
Automotive legend has it that Lee Iacocca dreamed up the design theme of the 1969 Mark III while on a business trip to Canada, and quickly called his designer, Gene Bordinat, saying: “Put me a Rolls-Royce grille on a T-bird!” The result was a uniquely shaped, long hood, short deck personal luxury car that greatly helped Lincoln sales, and it was all done on the cheap. Lee Iacocca had a knack for doing wonders with car platforms, and his Mark III was a big money-maker for the Ford Motor Company, realising about £2000 profit per unit. The Mark III was based on the then new-for-1967 Ford Thunderbird (the 117.2-inch wheelbase four-door), and several parts and components were ‘recycled’ from this sister car, saving lots of investment resources normally required when launching a new car.
Thunderbirds were equipped with 429cu in V8s while the Mark IIIs received more powerful 460 versions to better deal with the increased weight (4739lb/2150kg) of the vehicle. These engines are known as Ford’s ‘385-Series’ powerplants because of the 3.85in stroke. The 460 developed 500ft-lb of torque with 365bhp, and performed well even in such a big car. The new 385-Series engines were precision designed from the drawing board with exhaust emission control as an element of the original design, and were one of the first engines from Ford to be computer developed. The 0-60mph times were officially listed as 8.3 seconds, but journalists found these figures hard to match in real world conditions.
Introduced to the public April 5, 1968, the Continental Mark III (nowhere on the car does it say Lincoln) was a sensational sales success with 7770 sales. Mark IIIs were known as 1969 models because of the mid-year introduction, and when combined with the actual 1969 model year run, there were nearly 31,000 sold in a 21-month period. The Mark III was a symbol of wealth and status, designed to show the world that the owner had well and truly ‘made it’.
Thanks to the stylish Mark III, the Lincoln Division was actually making a profit for the first time since Ford bought the company from Lelands in 1921. This vehicle was yet another feather in the cap of Iacocca, and it all started with the idea of an elegant Rolls-Royce-esque grille slapped on an existing Thunderbird base vehicle, but with a more rectangular body. Later, Iacocca told a book author that: “We made as much selling one Mark as from 10 Falcons.”
And the car ended up looking nothing at all like a rehashed T-bird as it had definite styling cues from the Mark II of 1956 (long hood, sparetyre bulge on the trunk) and formal roofline reminiscent of the original pre-war Continental Mark I. The lead designer of the car, L David Ash, brilliantly raised the rear fenders and the deck by some two inches over the Thunderbird specs, thus giving the car a very distinct appearance. Add in the concealed headlamps, clean Coke-bottle side styling and the Parthenon-fashioned grille, and this machine was a modern-day classic.
The interior was a design creation of Hermann C Brunn, the namesake of the famous coachbuilder, and his magic included large, comfortable, individually adjustable front seats, front and rear folding armrests, a woodgrained dash and trim panels (oak or rosewood, depending on interior colour), with Cartierbranded chronometer clock (installed starting in December 1968), Flow-Thru Ventilation and a rear lamp monitoring system.
When it came time to launch the latest Continental Mark, the presentations made to the press and the public were done in as dramatic ways as possible. In Detroit, the normal ‘car on a turntable’ theme was reversed – the car was stationary, but the crowd around it revolved around the all-new Mark. The Hollywood debut saw the car placed high on the set of Camelot, and the viewers had to climb a long set of stairs to see the new car – as if paying homage to a king.
Even though the motoring public, at least those with the wherewithal to purchase a luxury automobile, loved the Mark III, the motoring magazines had a field day with the long (216in) and flashy new luxury liner. A Motor Trend editor called it, “… a Thunderbird designed by seven guys named Vinnie” and generally made fun of the vehicle, but their assessment was soon proven wrong as shortly thereafter customers were queueing up, deposits in hand, to get on the waiting lists for Mark IIIs up and down the country. Amazingly good examples of these cars still turn up today and prices are not unreasonable; they can be found stateside anywhere from $12k for a reasonable example up to $30k for a good one. ★
“AMAZINGLY GOOD EXAMPLES OF THESE CARS STILL TURN UP TODAY...”