The story of the Continental options loads of fascinating plot twists throughout its off-and-on 1940-2020 historical past, and one of the fascinating is the automotive that resulted from the choices of the Ford Motor Firm’s mighty warlord in the course of the Nineteen Sixties: Lee Iacocca. That was the 1969-1971 Continental Mark III, a automotive that printed bales of cash for Ford. As we speak’s Junkyard Gem is a type of vehicles, present in a Northern California automotive graveyard lately.
Iacocca wished a Lincoln to compete with Cadillac’s snazzy new Eldorado coupe, and he wished to do it on a budget. Because the authentic Mustang had been so worthwhile largely as a result of it was based mostly on the Falcon compact, the identical philosophy can be used for the brand new Lincoln coupe. The Ford Thunderbird, which had change into a well-over-two-ton behemoth by 1967, would supply the Mark III’s platform; this had the additional advantage of utilizing extra manufacturing capability on the T-Fowl’s meeting plant in Wixom, Michigan.
Focus teams disliked the Mark III, however Iacocca and Henry Ford II ignored them and pushed ahead with manufacturing. This labored out nicely; Mark III gross sales beat the Eldorado’s instantly and the platform-sharing with the Thunderbird stored prices low and earnings fats.
Together with the Mustang and the Chrysler minivan, the Mark III stands as certainly one of Iacocca’s best enterprise triumphs. These vehicles was once moderately straightforward to search out in wrecking yards, however they have been junkyard rarities for a minimum of the previous decade.
This one lived a tough life. The 460-cubic-inch (7.5-liter) V8, rated at 365 horsepower and 500(!) pound-feet of torque, was gone once I arrived.
The chrome obtained a gold-plating therapy by a customizer sooner or later. It is attainable that this automotive was as soon as a handsome lowrider, however that may have been many years in the past.
About the one remaining trace of its former opulence is the rear seat.
The MSRP for this automotive was $7,281, or about $59,286 in 2023 {dollars}. The 1970 Cadillac Eldorado value $6,903 ($56,208 now). After all, the out-the-door value for each vehicles would have been fairly a bit greater, after not-so-optional choices had been added by the shopper.
This individually decisive motorcar has no peer.