One Family Owned: 1978 Lincoln Continental Town Coupe
It was 1980 before there would be a smaller Lincoln Continental, but in 1978 the big boys were still selling well. While most of Lincoln’s two-door customers opted for the Continental Mark V, There were a few that still wanted the traditional line of cars with only two doors. Here is a 1978 Lincoln Continental Town Coupe for sale here on Craigslist in Trenton, New Jersey. Thanks to Barnfinds reader Ikey H. for letting us know about this one.
This yellow/gold color combination was first popularized in 1970 on General Motors products, but by the mid to late seventies, both Chrysler and Ford products were riding this color combination to the bank. One unusual thing noted about this car is its full fender skirts. In 1978 Lincoln had gone to the “miniskirts”. I’m thinking the owner didn’t like the smaller skirts and found a set off an earlier model and installed them. The body appears to be in good condition, with the only area to be noted is the left front fender where there is a little paint peeling near the chrome. The landau vinyl top also appears to be in good condition.
Inside you will find the nice pillowy seats that set the Town Car/Coupe apart from the regular Continental. These are finished in leather. They are in good condition but do show some wrinkles. They may need a good cleaning. Of course, power seats, windows, and door locks are included as well as cruise control, AM/FM stereo with quadrasonic tape, and Cartier digital clock.
The Town Coupe is powered by its original 460 cubic inch V-8 engine, the last year for this powerplant. The seller describes it as smooth and refined. The car has been driven a total of 93,804 miles. The seller is asking what could be an optimistic $9,875, maybe accounting for its one family history. Is this a price you would be willing to pay?
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Comments
Love this old girl, but perhaps the price is a little high since the chrome inside and out seems to be pitted which is an expensive repair. Perhaps a good leather restorer would make the seats look nice again. Personally, I would be willing to pay $2000 tops.
last of the Nice cruising cars called land yacht’s or tuna boats. Plenty of power and torque. A friend of mine had a 1977 4-door in the late 1990’s. Lot’s of gas was needed!!
Buy this and the same color Chevy wagon above it and win the Double Ugly Faux Pas!
A neighbor of ours was a steel mill exec and drove a cornflower blue town coupe with turbine wheels and mini- shirts.
It seemed like every realtor in town had a sedan back in the day.
Nice find.
That’s Funny…my dad was a realtor and had a maroon 1978 and a 1979 dove grey
Largest production coupe at the time. 19.5 feet! The coupes are rare compared to sedans but I think the price is high for the condition. I know I’m a bad boy but this is what I’m doing to mine…..
R u seriously building a custom one of Lincoln Ranchero….that is so BOSS, dude…wanna see finished product…can’t wait…color scheme is sharp!
I don’t want to sound overly green here but I don’t know why you would want this much mass with only two doors, especially in this package which will probably only get about 8-12 miles per gallon.
I don’t think that we as car enthusiasts can criticize the current SUV and CUV craze without recognizing that cars like this were even more ridiculous. This is a relic from another time.
It was the beginning of double-digit interest rates, and owning a car of this magnitude was a sign of success. For me these old land yachts mark the end of an era; downsizing and ‘lesser luxury’ cars were on the horizon…old beauties like this need to be preserved.
Guzzle, guzzle, guzzle.
OMG. This monster is beautiful! If only it had 2 more doors and those opera windows, I’d be pulling out my check book.
Its in nice original shape.
Nada says low retail 6000, aver 15000 and high 24,000.
Due to some of the neat options and one family this one should fetch about 8000 .
But again it is a huge gas guzzler and little demand.
This is a 1977. 78 had a different instrument panel.
Good eye…I was going to say that…my Dads 78 and 79 didn’t look like that
NADA may say it is worth $8000, but I bet they don’t get any way near that amount of money. If I were buying, I would not pay more than $3000.
Well Bob, if “we” urged another thou from you every day like this has been going, YOU too might just have this under your tree(s)( or big tree) in a couple of weeks !! No need to decide today…take your time….and, never you mind about fuel economy…. It’s the ride !!!
This is a ’77 not a ’78.
You can tell by the dashboard.
In 78 FMC changed the dash to the less expensive Mercury dash.
This would explain the full fender skirts.
If this was a four door, it could have been mine.
I found it at an impound sale for $150.00. It was in nice cosmetic condition.
After the tow truck delivered it, I realized the front brake rotors were down to the ribs.
After I replaced the whole braking system, it ran well and was very confortable.
Those of us who have bought these cars for virtually nothing, won’t spend this kind of money for the same car.
One other story.
I took the car from Vegas to LA.
On the way back, I stopped in Victorville for gas at which time I checked the oil.
The oil was up to the line so I continued on my way.
About 20 minutes later the car stopped running on the highway.
This time when I checked the oil, it read nothing on the stick.
The lifters had lost their prime and the car stopped, lucky for me.
After a few quarts of oil, I was on my way again.
I still can’t explain why it read full at the gas station. No it didn’t develop a leak from the gas station to the desert. The car never did that again.
Ghosts in the Machine ?
I knew a guy who bought one brand new for $1000 (yes one ) in real silver quarters
A lot of people knew this kind of thing was going to happen. Including me but he actually planned ahead and saved his pocket change and did it.
Me? I was a Good Humor man for 3 years did I save my silver? Story of my life