When I was about 5 years old, my dad had a Lincoln Continental Mk. III as his daily driver car. He had replaced the Ford LTD we had with the Lincoln and I remember thinking it was a pretty neat looking car.
The car was blue with a black leather interior that seemed to be covered with buttons. The car had an elegant dash layout with stunning looking gauges and even had some of the trouble lights mounted on a roof mounted console like an airplane.
I liked the way the low roof looked, especially combined with the long hood and continental-looking trunk with the semicircular bulge in the back.
A few years later, he replaced the Mk. III with a Mk. IV, and while similar in looks, even as a kid I did not like the Mk. IV nearly as much as the Mk. III. I am not sure if it was because of the addition of the oval opera windows or what, but it seemed to lack the clean elegance of the Mk. III.
I find myself still thinking the same thing today. It is as if the things added did nothing but take away from a good design. With this in mind, I decided to look for a truly exceptional example of a Mk. III on ClassicCars.com, and I found this one.
The Pick of the Day is this 1969 Lincoln Mk. III in Medium Blue Metallic paint with a white leather interior.
The Orlando, Florida-located dealer offering this Mk. III describes the car as an excellent example and is equipped with its original 460cid V8 engine backed by a 3-speed automatic transmission. Options include AM/FM radio, spare tire, cruise control, automatic headlamp dimmer, Heritage Vinyl Roof, tilt steering wheel, power brakes, power steering, power door locks, 6-way power front seats, power windows, seat belts, leather interior, and white wall radial tires.
While not a concours example, this car looks to be a very nicely kept example and is the perfect American touring coupe from the end of the Mad Men era.
Both the Lincoln Mk. III and Mk. IV have been moving up in value quite a bit, likely due to the fact that these are such usable and drivable cars. To me, the Mk. III is the purest of Lincolns Mk. series of cars and this car with an asking price of $26,000 is a lot of American luxury car for the money.
To view this listing on ClassicCars.com, see Pick of the Day.
LOVE IT
I’ve got a loaded Continental Mark III and have had it since the 1970s. I’m the second owner. I also had another Mark III for several years.
I’ve loved the Mark III since it was new and my neighbor in Detroit back then (singer Jackie Wilson) got a very early-production (1968). His was white with a red stripe. My 1969 is maroon with a maroon leather interior and black Heritage vinyl top. I still have the original window sticker and all of the sales papers.
But what I’m having trouble with in this story is the listing of a spare tire as an “option”….huh? Optional spares are a modern-day notion, but I’ve never seen one of these Mark III Continentals without a spare tire. That would have been unthinkable in 1969 for an American luxury automobile! Especially one as expensive as the Mark III. How did the spare get to be an “option” on a 1969 Continental Mark III?
Yea–I was questioning that as well–I’m pretty sure that All new cars of that era came with a spare tirw-
Just what someone needs , especially in California with gas $6+ a gallon!
No one I know who is even 1/2 ways Sane–drive their collector car everyday–( they value them too much)–so that means the cost of gas for them is irrelevant –
Remember a couple of years ago when you could buy these all day long for 5 grand?
……RdRnr69, $6 bucks (and up) for a gallon of gas here in CA is the least of our worries. Have you seen our Real Estate prices in the last ten years? The year-round weather is hard to beat but we pay the price for it! BTW, there is no shortage of Maserati’s, Bentleys, Tesla’s, etc. driving through my neighborhood! Thats “driving through” my neighborhood. I live in the Toyota & Honda neighborhood…. with an occasional pristine 97′ Town Car sitting in the garage and owned since it was two-years old.
You need to move, dude
I just bought this car and as a retired gentleman I can’t wait to drive it in Southern Oregon where I live out in the country.
Engine needs cleaned!