When the Ford Motor Company unveiled the 1969 Lincoln Continental Mark III, the automaker neatly erased the ’58 through ’60 Marks III, IV, and V from its corporate memory.
1958 Continental Mark III Landau
When the Ford Motor Company’s executive committee elected in the spring of 1956 to discontinue the Continental Mark II and shut down the Continental Division, the plans for a 1958 Continental Mark III were scuttled as well. Instead, the Continental and Mark III names were transferred to the Lincoln Division, which produced the 1958 Continental Mark III, 1959 Mark IV, and 1960 Mark V.
But some years later, when Lincoln introduced a new Continental model for 1969, the previous ’58 through ’60 Marks were simply misplaced, set aside, and the new car was designated the Mark III. It was as if the previous Marks had not existed. As the producers of Hollywood movie and TV franchises often do, Ford executives simply performed a reset. While the original Mark III, Mark IV, and Mark V were at that point deleted, if you will, from the from the public narrative of the Ford Motor Company, they’re worthy of another look.
The Mark III and Lincoln for 1958 shared a common unitized body and frame structure (above) and were assembled on the same lines at Ford’s new Wixom, Michigan plant northwest of Detroit. Wheelbase, width, track, and overall length were identical, as were the 430 CID engine and drivetrain. While an effort was made to present the Lincoln and Continental as separate product lines, in fact they were more like two models in a single product line, with the Mark at the top. In some print advertising the Continental Division continued to exist, on paper anyway, but an emblem on the instrument panel declared “Mark III — Continental by Lincoln.”
Apart from the usual distinctions in trim and equipment, there were some noteworthy differences between the standard Lincoln Capri and Premiere and the top-of-the-line Continentals. In many body styles, including the convertible, the Mark employed a back-slanted, electrically operated rear window, a feature later adopted by the Mercury Breezeway. For the ’59 Mark IV and ’60 Mark V, there were formal-roof Town Car and Limousine body styles available, with the latter sporting a classic-era divider window between passengers and chauffeur. Lincoln or Continental, the styling of the ’58-’60 cars remains controversial even today, which is a story for another time.
1959 Continental Mark IV Convertible
The Ford and Lincoln brass were obviously conflicted about how to position and market the ’58-’60 Marks among the Ford family of fine cars. At various times, print advertising described the Marks III through V as a product of the Continental Division, the Lincoln Division, the Lincoln Continental Division, and the Lincoln-Mercury Division. While the ’60 Continental wore Mark V badges, the Mark label was barely mentioned in the marketing materials. For 1961, the previous Lincoln, Continental, and Mark distinctions were eliminated, and all the products of the Lincoln division were branded under a single name: Lincoln Continental.
1960 Lincoln Continental Mark V Landau
Back in the late 60s I had a friend who had a brother who owned a 58 Continental. We used to borrow it to take to drive-in movies because sitting in it was like sitting in your living room. I drove it a few times and as far as the driving experience went it worked much better as a living room than as an automobile.
…yet obviously it left its “mark” upon you.
In the late 1970s I briefly owned a 1960 Continental Mark V sedan, However it had 2 unusual aspects to it; 1. It had the curved rear window for the Premier sedan, and 2. It had an electric division window. Car was all black with black leather front & rear, no vinyl top. While it did have the Premier roof & rear window, it had the Mark V interior, and had the Mark V emblems on the rear fenders.
I spoke with Willard Hess of Hess & Eisenhardt, the makers of the “other” Lincoln Continental limousines, and he was sure it wasn’t made by H & E. As my car had a dual A/C system, Mr. Hess suggested that was the reason it had the special rear window, was to allow space for the A/C vents in the package shelf. He also said it was possibly a FoMoCo executive car, But I never was able to find any additional information on the car.
Never saw it again [or any photos of the car] after selling it to someone in upstate New York. I’ve always wondered if the car started life as a Premier or Mark V, and who modified it. .
Wow, what an unusual car. I hope it’s still around.
That unit body construction was great in theory. My dad had a 59 Premiere that he owned for many years… until it was towed off to the scrap yard!
Never saw rain, never driven in winter yet one spring day as he opened the drivers door it more or less fell off. The car had pristine black paint that was original, it was showroom condition yet in broke in half because the floor had rotted out. That resulted in the front no longer connected to the back which is kind of like a big deal!
Working on 1960 Mark V 430 engine.
Is there a spacer between the motor and transmission?