Lincoln Mark VIII and Its Kin

The Lincoln Mark VIII coupe was marketed model years 1993-1998.  Stylistically, it might be considered the last Lincoln Continental coupe, the first few (54!) having appeared in the 1940 model year.  Original Continentals ceased production after 1948.  Then there was the famous Continental Mark II of 1956-57, followed by a Mark III line for 1958 that included sedans as well as coupes and convertible coupes.  Model years 1959-60 featured the Continental Mark IV with a similar set of models.

This changed in 1961 when Lincoln had simply one series, named simply Continental.  This classic design featured only four-door sedans and convertible sedans.  A hardtop coupe was added in 1966-67.  Continental nameplates continued with sedans and hardtop coupes into 1981.  After that, Continentals were sedans into the 2000s.

Coupes with classic Continental sportiness and faux-spare tire hints on trunk lids reappeared model year 1968 with the Continental Mark III coupe -- yes, a previously-used label.  Mark IV arrived for 1972, Mark V in 1977, Mark VI in 1980 (the word "Continental" next to "Mark" was dropped in 1982), and Mark VII in 1984.  The latter were marketed into 1992 and replaced for 1993 with the subject model.  That was the last Mark to date, production ending in 1998.

I wrote "Lincoln's Last Mark" here in 2015 -- today's post revisiting that subject.  Some background can be found in Wikipedia's "Lincoln Mark VIII (1993-1998)" here.

Mark VIIIs shared basic bodies with Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar which used the FN10/12 platform starting model year 1989.  The Wikipedia entry for Ford Thunderbird tenth generation (1989-1997) is here, and that for Mercury Cougar seventh generation (1989–1997) is here.

All images below are of 1993 models.

Gallery

Lincoln Mark VIII - car-for-sale photos
First, some profile views.  All these car have wheelbases of 113-inches (2870 mm).

Ford Thunderbird - Bring a Trailer Auctions photos
The Thunderbird's profile is nearly the same as the Mark VIII's, including the mid-level rub strip.

Mercury Cougar XR7 - car-for-sale photos
The Cougar's passenger compartment greenhouse was altered abaft of the B-pillar, and the trunk lid adjusted to conform.

The basic design allowed for minor tooling changes at the front.  The Mark VIII had a larger grille and wider sweep to light assemblies.  The side rub strip is more outboard than those on Thunderbirds and Cougars.

No grille here; air intakes are on and below the bumper.

Same as Thunderbird, but with a small grille.

Lincoln Mark VIII - Mecum Auctions photo
A major difference on the Mark VIII is the rounded flow of its side sculpting.  The car's width is 74.6-inches, compared to 72.7 inches on the other cars (1995 mm vs. 1847 mm).

Lincoln Mark VIII - Car and Driver photo
The side sculpting shows better on this car than on the shiny, green car in the top image.

Lincoln Mark VIII - car-for-sale photo
Not a very nice photo, but it clearly shows the faux-spare tire cover that evokes Continental.

Lincoln Mark VIII - car-for-sale photo
The cockpit/dashboard.  Attractive.

Similar Mid-Late 1970s Standard-Size American Sedans

When I see photos taken or films or TV programs set, say, 1900 to 1970, I can often pin down the date to within a few years simply by observing women's clothing, hairstyles, and perhaps makeup.  I'm less knowledgeable regarding earlier periods, so my guesses would be less accurate.

It's all a matter of fashion, of course.  But since the early 1970s, women's fashions are more eclectic, and harder to pin down by date -- though there are some exceptions.  Fortunately for this blog, automobile styling fashions have been fairly easy to identify by period.  Again, in more recent times, that task has become more difficult.  That's because car body designs remain in production far longer than they did in, say, 1934-1980 America.

Today's post presents some upper-middle priced cars from the period 1974-1978 or so.  They are of the so-called "three-box" variety common in the years leading up to wind tunnel influenced shaping.  The cars shown are four-door sedans or hardtop (pillarless) sedans from each of America's Big Three automakers.  Ford Motor Company and Chrysler Corporation examples are surprisingly similar.

Gallery

1977 Mercury Grand Marquis Brougham - car-for-sale photo
This Marquis generation was launched for the 1973 model year.  Headlights were rectangular-shape, here hidden behind retractible doors when not in use.  The hood is sculpted to blend into the rectangular grille frame.

1975 Dodge Monaco Royal Brougham - BaT Auctions photo
Exactly the same things could be said about this Dodge.  Monacos were redesigned for 1974, but develop[ment was probably largely set when the '73 Marquis appeared.

1978 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Regency - BaT Auctions
Introduced for model year 1977 as a down-sized car -- shorter, with flatter sides.  That makes it less comparable to the larger cars shown above.  That said, its general appearance is similar to the others.

1978 Mercury Grand Marquis - car-for-sale photo
Compare passenger compartment greenhouse, fenderline, door cut-lines, etc. to those of the Dodge below.

1975 Dodge Monaco Royal Brougham - BaT Auctions
Monaco's Wheelbase is 121.5 inches (3086  mm), the Marquis' is 124 inches (3150  mm).  The difference can be seen in the relationships of C-pillar zones to rear wheel openings.

1978 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Regency - BaT Auctions
Wheelbase is 119 inches (3023  mm), down from 127 (3226  mm).  It resembles the other cars most closely in side-view from the B-pillar forwards.

1978 Mercury Grand Marquis - car-for-sale photo
Rear-quarter views.

1976 Dodge Monaco Royal Brougham - car-for-sale photo
I couldn't find a closer perspective view, but note the tail light placement is below the trunk lid on both cars.

1978 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Regency - BaT Auctions
Backlight window is more vertical than on the other designs.  Rear-end detailing has a more delicate look.

1976 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Regency - BaT Auctions
The previous, much-longer Olds 98.  Backlight is slanted like those on the Dodge and Mercury above.  Note the tail end detail carryover to the 1977 redesign shown in the previous image.

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.

The return of the 1956 Mercury XM Turnpike Cruiser Concept Car

A 1950s Ford Motor Company concept car that always interested me is the 1956 Mercury XM Turpike Cruiser.

I've posted about it twice, the more recent one here.  Besides commentary and images of the car in its prime, I included some photos of it from 2018 when it was about to be restored.  It turns out that around the time I wrote the article, the restoration was completed.  The next year it was put up at Mecum Auctions, but failed to sell at the restorer's price.  After that, it was purchased by the American Muscle Car Museum.

As for the restoration, the restorer's Hemmings account of the process is here.

Images below are via American Muscle Car Museum.  Mecum Auctions has an image set here.

Gallery

"Breezeway" Mercurys of the 1950s and 1960s

A late-1950s - mid-1960s concept that reached production, yet did not become an American car industry fad such a tail fins and panoramic windshields, was the retractible backlight window.  This yielded what folks nowadays call "Breezeway" passenger compartments.  The idea being that air admitted from windshield area intake vents or "ventipane" windows would exit through a backlight zone at the rear.  The result would be a breeze from front to rear of the compartment.

Wikipedia's Breezeway entry is here.

I wonder how this worked when a breezeway car was at highway speed and the backlight window was rolled down.  Perhaps air turbulence aft of the top edge of the roof might be overwhelm the breeze flow and impact back seat passengers.  Let me know in a Comment whether that was the case.

The first Mercury Breezeways (model years 1957-58) were called Turnpike Cruisers, retaining some features from a concept car of the same name.   I wrote about the 1956 XM Turnpike Cruiser concept car here.  More Turnpike Cruiser background is here.

As noted in the Gallery, there were Breezeway Lincolns in the late 1950s.  Mercury reintroduced Breezeways on some models 1963-66, and some '63 versions are pictured.

Gallery

1953 Packard Balboa concept car - Packard photo
An early American breezeway design was this Packard concept car.  Note the slanted backlight window.  It was designed to roll down, but the mechanisms were never installed.

1956 Mercury XM Turnpike Cruiser concept car - Mercury photo
The concept Turnpike Cruiser.  The center section of the backlight was flat glass that was not retractible, alhough in theory a production version might have included that feature.  The XM's passenger compartment greenhouse extended over the trunk, and the spare tire was positioned centered below the aft edge of the greenhouse.  Since it certainly looks like the center window pane could have been retractible by reconfiguring the trunk, I'll call this an "honorary" Breezeway design.

1958 Lincoln Continental Mark III - car-for-sale photo
A rolled-down Breezeway window on a 1958 Lincoln.  Only Continental Marks III-IV (1958-60) had breezeways.  Total production was around 34,000, much less than Mercury versions.

1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser hardtop sedan - Mecum Auctions photos
Most production Breezeways were Mercurys.  Intake vents are atop the windshield.  Side window ventipanes also admitted air streams.

Again, the Breezeway window is retracted.

1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser hardtop coupe - car-for-sale photo
Mercury also made two-door Breezeway cars.

1963 Mercury Monterey Custom hardtop coupe - car-for-sale photos
Breezeways were reintroduced on some 1963 Mercurys.  This is a top-of-the-line version.

Rear quarter view showing the window arrangement.

1963 Mercury Monterey Custom hardtop sedan - Mercury publicity photo
The sedan hardtop's rear doors had small triangular upward extensions on the aft beltline.

1963 Mercury Monterey Custom 4-door sedan - car-for-sale photo
All Breezeway Mercury's and Lincolns had wide, V'd C-pillars.

1952 Dodge Hardtop: Its Competition and a Walkaround

Chrysler Corporation's postwar designs were announced during the 1949 model year and the basic bodies remained in production through 1952 -- a four-year run.

In those days, a three-year run probably would have been considered more ideal, but material shortages in the USA due to the Korean War seem to have disrupted normal Detroit practices.  Besides Chrysler, General Motors' high-production A-body Chevrolets and Pontiacs remained unchanged for model year 1949-52.  And its B and C bodies had four-year runs 1950-1953.  Studebaker's new 1947 body set continued through 1952.  Hudson kept its 1948 body in production through 1954.  Kaiser was redesigned for 1951, and Nash for 1952.  But Ford Motor Company's 1949 designs were all replaced for the 1952 model year.

So there was some new-design competition for Chrysler's 1952 offerings, but not a lot.  That said, how did the Corporation's styling stack up against its 1952 rivals?  Today's post features the '52 Dodge hardtop and competing hardtops in its general price range.

Let's pretend we're in 1952 and shopping for a lower-medium price range hardtop.  A possible set of choices follows:

Gallery

1952 Dodge Coronet Diplomat - car-for-sale photo set
First, a brief walkaround of a Dodge hardtop.

The basic shape is not sleek.  But the intent of the 1949 Chrysler Corporation packaging was a car smaller on the outside, larger on the inside, presumably tall enough for a passenger to wear a hat while traveling.

Rear fender could be detached if repairs were needed.

The window design is essentially that first found on 1949 Oldsmobiles, Buick and Cadillacs.

Windshields are two-pane, flat glass.  Outdated.

Grille design is distinctive, but those segment above the main chrome bar seem odd.  Well, they seemed odd to me back in those days.

1952 Pontiac Chieftain 8 Catalina - car-for-sale photo
Passenger compartment greenhouse follows the '49 Olds-Buick-Cadillac theme that the Dodge borrowed.  The windshield is two-piece, but the glass is curved.  Lower body is not boxy, like Dodge's.

1952 Oldsmobile Super 88 Holiday - Barrett-Jackson Auctions photo
GM's B-body hardtop design.  The rear fender is not distinct, only indicated by the flowing fenderline.

1952 Buick Special Riviera - car-for-sale photo
Another B-body GM hardtop.  Much more rounded than the Dodge.  Also more side chrome in the form of Buick's trademark Sweepspear.  Plus the "portholes."

1952 Mercury Monterey - car-for-sale photo
A new design for 1952.  Boxy, but not as boxy as the Dodge.  Enlivened by fake air intakes on the hood and flanks.  Windshield is curved, one-piece glass.  Altogether a more modern design in early 1950s American context.

1952 Studebaker Champion Starliner - car-for-sale photo
The lower body is a facelifted version of a 1947 design.  But that design was advanced for its time.  The greenhouse is new for 1952.
The Dodge's styling is less attractive, less interesting than its competition.   A little old-fashioned compared to the rivals shown here.  However, Dodges had a reputation for reliability, which was important for many potential buyers.  Plus, a V-8 motor was available, unlike the Pontiacs and Buicks.