Time marches on. It’s been more than half a century since Lincoln offered its last production convertible: the 1967 Continental.
In hindsight, the slow death of the American convertible began earlier than we tend to imagine, and the process was more gradual than we may remember. In the usual explanation, convertibles were pushed out of the market by the stricter government safety standards of the ’70s, but we can see that ragtops were disappearing from the product lines a decade before that.
The reasons for the disappearance of the convertible, once a popular Motor City body style and for decades the most glamorous, are various. But mainly, we can put them down to two: the growth of Interstate highways, where convertible travel was noisy and uncomfortable. And air conditioning, which made them unnecessary. Nearly 97 percent of the Lincoln Continentals sold in 1967 were equipped with A/C.
When the final generation of the Lincoln convertible was introduced in 1961, it stood out in several ways. Here was a four-door, an open-top body style that had largely died out by the ’40s, and the rear doors opened at the front (“suicide doors,” in the venacular). In the original ’61 Continental design, there were no two-doors in the lineup, only a four-door.
And since the Continental was a relatively compact platform—for a Detroit luxury cruiser, anyway—the rear doors were made front-opening to improve access for the rear seat passengers. And like the sedan, the convertible used the same door configuration. With regular styling updates, this same four-door convertible package carried forward into 1967, the final year. Changes for 1967 versus 1966 were minimal, mainly a few trim items.
Another distinction of the Continental convertible is there was no top boot. Instead, the deck lid opened at the front to accept the folding top mechanism, with a hinged close-out panel at the front. While the top assembly consumed most of the available space in the otherwise cavernous trunk when it was stowed, there was no lumpy top boot to wrestle with. There was only a smooth expanse of sheet metal that ran the length of the deck. This system was also used on the Ford Thunderbird from 1958 through 1966, when its convertible model was also discontinued.
When the 1967 Continental was introduced on September 30, 1966, there was no mention in the publicity materials that this would be the final year for the convertible. (Over the years there were some third-party conversions.) Cadillac would take the opposite approach, making a big fuss when the open-top Eldorado was discontinued in 1976. Despite its unique qualities—and in contrast to its popularity among enthusiasts today—the Continental four-door convertible never sold in any great numbers, usually around 3,000 cars per year. In the final season, only 2,276 convertibles were produced.
I completely agree with your logic about the causal factors for the decline of convertible sales (discomfort at highway speeds in contrast to the comfort/quietness of enclosed air conditioned passenger compartments). I own a 64 Thunderbird convertible. It rarely is driven at highway speed or when outside temperatures are over 85F.
Analogously, I believe the decline of 2-door coupes can be attributed to the introduction of stylish/powerful 4-door sedans in the 1980s (BMW, Audi, Ford Taurus) and the added convenience of technologies to manage the rear doors (power door locks, power windows, and remote lock/unlock key fobs).
Interesting that exactly ten years elapsed between the “last” American four door convertible, the 1951 Frazer, and the “new” 1961 Lincoln. Interesting also that the hidden, or “disappearing” convertible top, which was first seen on the ’58 Thunderbird, was actually derived from the ’57 Ford Skyliner’s retractable hardtop idea; the idea which itself had originally been intended for the then new 1955 Continental. Thus, Archie Bunker wasn’t first with “all in the family”. As much as I admire the four door Continentals of the ’60s, I see one potential flaw: probably not a good get away car, as four bad guys could not enter at the same time without bumping into each other.