1960s Lincoln Continental Gets Its Hardtop Coupe in 1966

The original, classic Lincoln Continental was a prestige car that lived in the minds of Lincoln marketers and potential buyers for decades.  This Wikipedia entry deals with all Continentals from 1940 through 2020 (though there were some model year gaps).  Some versions were little like the original concept.  Others, such as the famous (to automobile history buffs) 1956-57 Mark II, that I wrote about here and here, were attempts to evoke the original's spirit.

Today's post deals with some aspects of what Wikipedia calls "Fourth Generation (1961-1969)" Continentals.  These were stylistically unrelated to the original, yet the initial, 1961, design is considered by many (including me) to be a classic.

Model year 1961-1965 Continentals were four-door sedans and four-door convertible sedans.  Lincoln marketers decided that the line should be expanded to include a hardtop coupe to compete against Cadillac's Coupe DeVille.  It appeared model year 1966.

While researching this post, I noticed that passenger compartment greenhouses on the 1966-67 and facelifted 1968-69 Continental coupes had structural features similar to those found on contemporary Mercury models.  That became the main focus of the discussion in the Gallery below.

Lincolns were wider than Mercurys, so there must have been some necessary structural differences if other aspects of the passenger greenhouse actually used some Mercury tooling.   I do not know if that happened, but I find the similarities suggestive.  Comments with solid information are welcomed.

Gallery

1966 Lincoln Continental Sedan - BaT Auctions photo
The basic 1966 Continental.  Enough changed from the 1961 original that I can't call the design "classic."

1966 Lincoln Continental Hardtop Coupe - Mecum Auctions photo
Here is the new hardtop coupe version.  Note the shape of the passenger compartment greenhouse and the window profiles.

1966 Mercury S-55 Hardtop Coupe - BaT Auctions
This is Mercury's top of the 1966 hardtop coupe line.  The C-pillar and after greenhouse segment led some to consider this a "fastback."  Ignore that: focus on the rest of the greenhouse and compare it to the Continental's in the previous image.  Note the widow profiles forward of where the C-pillars begin.  They seem identical to me.

1966 Mercury Park Lane Convertible - photo via Pinterest
As a side-note, this convertible's top illustrates what the Mercury's greenhouse shape might have been absent the "fastback" effect.

1968 Lincoln Continental Hardtop Coupe - car-for-sale photo
Continentals were slightly facelifted for 1968.  Here we see a revised greenhouse that was mostly changed in the C-pillar zone.

1967 Mercury Cougar Hardtop Coupe - car-for-sale photo
This is the first-year version of the Mercury Cougar.  Its passenger compartment greenhouse seems nearly the same as that of the '68 Continental.  Visible differences include the slope of the windshield and the upper right corner of the window profile.
Be aware of the different sizes in terms of wheelbase of the cars shown above.   Continental: 126 inches (3200 mm); standard '66 Mercury: 123 inches (3124 mm); 1967 Cougar: 111 inches (2819 mm).  The latter helps explain the differences in windshield slants.