Imagine you design the perfect car. It’s so perfect that its basic design lasts nine model years. So, what do you come up with next? Is a “sophomore slump” undeniable? Our Pick of the Day may be able to answer that question: a 1970 Lincoln Continental coupe. It’s listed for sale on ClassicCars.com by a dealership in Lakeland, Florida. (Click on this link to view the listing)
Of course, the tastefully designed perfection-on-wheels was the 1961 Lincoln Continental. After the overstyled Lincoln and Continental Mark series of 1958-60, the 1961 Continental was the polar opposite: clean flanks, sober styling, and suicide doors. Elwood Engel was the designer who takes credit for this, though the design he submitted was originally a proposal for the 1961 Thunderbird. It may sound funny to hear a car being downsized in 1961, but this Lincoln used a stretched Thunderbird unibody platform featuring a 123-inch wheelbase (down by eight) and just over 212 inches in length (down by 15). The Thunderbird used a similar unibody platform, but the Lincoln’s was stretched. The 430 “MEL” V8 was a carry-over.
Over the years, there were several updates, but the basic car was the same: wheelbase grew to 126 inches for 1964, a facelift was given for 1965, to be followed by a restyle for 1966 that included a new two-door hardtop an an engine increase to 462ci. The convertible was discontinued for 1968, and a Lincoln-exclusive exclusive 460 V8 (part of the new “385” engine series) was introduced later in the model year.
Nineteen sixty-nine was the final iteration of this classic Lincoln, and by then the personal luxury Continental Mark III had joined the lineup. How would Lincoln follow up something that could endure for so long? Lincoln decided the new Continental would be body-on-frame and use a stretched Marquis chassis (127 inches). Notable was the hidden headlight system; available body styles continued to be a two-door coupe and four-door “pillared hardtop,” the latter now featuring conventional doors. A special Town Car package for the four-door included leather surface, extra deep cut pile carpeting, and vinyl roof.
This iteration of the Continental lasted through 1979, so even longer than the so-called perfect car. Interestingly, despite the two gas crises, production grew from 37,695 for 1970 to 92,600 for 1979, so was this Continental any less perfect? Nonetheless, only 9,073 Lincoln Continental coupes were built in 1970. This Light Blue example, which features most of its original paint, features the stuff you’d expect on a luxury vehicle of this caliber including power steering and brakes, power seat, power locks, leather, air conditioning, reclining front passenger seat, and tilt steering column, plus upgraded RetroSound radio. Per the seller, there’s a “new compressor and clutch, new suspension components, new coil springs and control arm bushings.
As you’d expect from a luxury car from the past that’s been owned by adults, this vehicle has been kept in climate-controlled storage. Perhaps the 1970 Lincoln Continental didn’t win a bronze medal from the Industrial Design Institute, but it’s a huge testament how Lincoln designers created a car that carried the torch with which it was born.
Click here for this ClassicCars.com Pick of the Day.