In 1986, Lincoln distinguished itself from the luxury-car herd with three distinct car lines: Town Car, Continental, and Mark VII. Here we get a look at all three.
This memorable campaign for the 1986 Lincolns took a playful swipe at the Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac luxury offerings that year, all of which were based on the General Motors front-drive C-body platform. Here; a bunch of high-hatters at a society gathering start climbing into each other’s vehicles, creating an awkward scene. It seems they can’t identify their own cars.
And it’s a fair jibe, as the three GM products did share remarkably similar styling, especially the Olds and Buick. Lincolns also shared Ford corporate platforms in this period, but the Ford Motor Company stylists did a better job, arguably, of providing a distinctive identity for the Lincoln variants. The brand’s tagline that year was “Lincoln: What a luxury car should be.”
There were three distinct Lincolns for ’86: The big, formally-styled Town Car, the smaller Continental Sedan, and the Mark VII Coupe. All three were conventional rear-drivers with 302 cubic-inch V8s. The Mark VII had been branded as a Continental since its 1984 introduction, but for ’86 it was repositioned as a Lincoln. However, it was the roomy Town Car that carried the division that year with nearly 118,000 cars sold, while the Continental and Mark VII each languished in the 20,000 range. All three are prominently featured in the video below.
Fortunately, no violence broke out.
Decent looking cars but the quality was so poor on everything from Detroit at the time.
So what happens if three people with black Lincolns show up and want their cars? Wouldn’t the same situation occur? Gosh forbid one of them accidentally gets in a Mercury Grand Marquis, I guess…
I remember this commercial and it was certainly a bit amusing if only for pointing out GM’s look-alike styling and lack of brand direction. Of course, if we’re honest here, the Continental styling was hardly a masterpiece. I always thought it looked like the car was designed by two different committees that weren’t on speaking terms. The front end looked somewhat contemporary and modern whereas the rear, with that awful fake spare tire hump, looked like a 1960s relic. It certainly hasn’t aged well.
IMO and with 20/20 hindsight Lincoln would’ve been so much better off building a 4-door version of the Mark VII than this. It was too boxy, too formal and appealed to nobody who wouldn’t have bought a Town Car if they had gone sportier.