Off topic. I just bought the last great American made luxury land yacht

[58limited]

They downsized all models in 1980. Cadillac and Chrysler downsized in 1978.

This is a 1978 Lincoln Town Coupe: 21 feet looooong, 6500 pounds, 460 V8, 160,000 miles. It has new tires, brakes, belts, and hoses. The front end is tight and it floats down the road like a dream - at 12 MPG. I won't be driving it much. It needs a little work, the previous owner tried to "fix" things but made them worse. For instance: he installed the ignition switch 180 degrees off, the key can't be removed. He couldn't figure out why. It took me one time trying to turn it on to figure out it was backwards. He went to the trouble of installing a push button start switch instead.

Amazingly, the cruise control still works. This often was one of the first things to break on these cars. Its a good thing that my first car was a '78 Mercury, as I already know how to fix most things, including the vacuum leak that ALL late 70's Ford products have in the A/C control panel.

 

[sudsman]

Wow

I remember those were Great cars ,, Its like driving a living room around...

 

[kenmore58]

Absolutely beautiful!!! Enjoy!!

Ron

 

[gyrafoam]

I had a '79 Town Coupe years ago and it was one of the best cars I've ever owned------never gave a bit of trouble.

Interesting to watch as more and more of these wonderful old cars surface on the for-sale market. I am sure the price of fuel is playing a big part in it.
My biggest concern is that the next "fuel crisis" might not be so much price as it will be availibility---remember back in '74?

Well I hope you enjoy your Lincoln, from the looks of your other treasures this one will look like new in no time!

 

[veg-o-matic]

Ah, yes

Nothing like driving a Fine Motor Car. Congrats!

veg

 

[hoover1060]

Thats a beautiful Lincoln!

And I don't believe they(cars) came much bigger than that one anyway!
Just curious, how big is the gas tank? How much $$$ to fill 'er up?

Gas is now $2.95 a gallon here in the Chicago area, it cost me $45 to fill my Grand Marquis up yesterday!

 

[58limited]

The gas tank is 24 gallon, gas here is about $2.64 per gallon.

~Its like driving a living room around...

That is a pretty good description. My '78 Mercury handled differently than this car, it is also different than my big '58 Buick. I had to basically learn how to handle it while I was driving it home.

Your Lincoln in nice too, Veg-o-matic.

 

[petek]

You've got one of my most coveted cars. I used to dream of having a town coupe even more so than the Marks. How's the interior, any chance of a pic or two?

 

[exploder3211]

Gas is $2.70ish at Costco, $28o else where. Nice lincolns by the way.. Whats the red lettering on the door??

 

[48bencix]

And now we're back

After almost 30 years, we are back to those weights and mpg. Look at the weight of our large SUV's like Lincoln Navigator or Cadillac Escalade.

Fun car, though.

Martin

 

[58limited]

~Whats the red lettering on the door??

That was a magnetic sign the previous owner had for his A/C business.

~I used to dream of having a town coupe even more so than the Marks.

The only one I want more is a convertible. These were special order through dealerships. The car (Town Coupe or Mark V) would be sent from the factory to a conversion shop. The cost was $15,000 to $20,000 over the car price. About 30 to 50 were made each year: 1977-79. There is one on ebay right now, and it is ROUGH. Would cost $1400 to have delivered to me, plus the price of the car. Too many rust issues if you look at the pics closely, and the seller wasn't forthcoming when I e-mailed him. There are also two Mark V convertibles on ebay.

~How's the interior, any chance of a pic or two?

Here are pics of the interior. The driver's seat is toast. Passenger side has wrinkles. Back seat is nice.

 

[58limited]

Passenger seat

 

[58limited]

Back seat

 

[58limited]

Driver door

 

[58limited]

Dash

 

[58limited]

Rear of car

 

[southernmdgeguy]

Ahh, a friend of mine used to have one of those (well her folks did) and they let me drive it a few times.. white on white 4 door. They had a white Persion cat that would ONLY ride in that car!! Guess she felt she blended well with the interior. Great car, I know they put over 200,000 miles, mostly trip miles on it. My old next door neighbor had a 77 Grand Marquis 2 door, the same color as your Lincoln, only went out for trips, last time I saw it about ten years ago it had 46,000 miles on it. Mark and Gary also have some really nice older Lincolns, I love how they ride down the highway.
Enjoy it!

Someone mentioned weight of SUV's and such, true, my Super Duty truck weighs about 6600 pounds, but it is used for towing and the lighter truck I had before was torn up trying to tow. It also gets about 13-14 mpg around town.
Scott

 

[bongobro]

The final step up...

...the Lincoln Continental ad tag line from the 1970s and 1980s...

And it's gonna be fun to see how this one turns out!

Congrats, bro'!

Charlie
bongobro

 

[58limited]

I'm going to keep this all original even though my friend's sons want me to put 20 inch plus wheels on it. However, I think this would look cool going down the road with neon underlighting, but I doubt I will do that either. If I end up having to work on the engine, I will give it a performance upgrade, but it runs fine now so I'm leaving it alone.