Rewatching the older ones in support of Mr Magnante and Mr Richardson. Always worthwhile to see how much I retained. Thanks for all the hard work gents. Still praying and pulling for you sir!
This is one of those cars that I always wanted but will never get to own. Lincolns and Mercurys just seemed to have such higher quality than the rest of the Ford linup. I laughed when you mentioned the French Connection scene where they finally cut open the rockers to find the drugs. 'Police Squad" spoofed that scene when Leslie Nielson had a Lincoln Continental cut completely apart down to the floorpan unsucessfully looking for drugs, and after destroying the car someone opens the glove compartment and there's the drugs. The 'crew' put the car back together as not to tip off the owner that the cops were on to her, but when they were finished welding it all back together they were left with a '63 Corvair. "There's a few pieces missing". Hysterical
As a young man into car stereo in the 90's, all the special construction features this car shared with the thunderbird were a bane to my efforts at installing a system. I had a 69 Thunderbird where the flow through ventilation precluded larger speakers and all the redundant, heavy gauge sheet metal in the kick panels and doors stymied a regular installation. Through a lot of work I succeed in the end without cutting anything original to the car.
I feel your pain. I had/have a 64 T-bird and there was just no way to put any decent speakers. in it. Of course, all these years later when I restored it I was glad I hadn't chopped it up.
@@ScottDLR I turned down a 65 that was basically free back then because someone had hacked into the doors and dash wiring trying to install a stereo. It was an otherwise beautiful rosemist colored car.
The coolest part of this car was the design of the covered head lights. The door not only comes down but there is an arm that pushes the top of the door out flush with the front end. It is so cool when these cars have twilight sentinel and you can be out front watching the headlight doors close by themselves.
@ Mexican Spec Twilight sentinel was a GM trademark. FoMoCo products had “autolamp” but this feature was NOT available on any year Mark lll. The Mark lll DID however have auto high beam dimmer as an option. I believe the Autolamp feature started on the Mark IV in 72 maybe 73
@@jakereal3604 I remember the one Mark III I had had a feature that turned off the headlights and put down the covers. maybe I am remembering it wrong.
The Mark III was built a little better than the Eldorado so the customers were choosing either a bank vault or a parade float. Also iconic movie! “You must lead a charming life, Mr. Devereau. The car is in perfect shape-not a scratch on it.”
We could argue that the Eldo was a better car in many ways but really didn't matter. What sold these cars was how did they look in the country club parking lot or how many were in your company parking lot. If it didn't stand out and have the needed look and give you that "look" or if it was "just another one" it didn't sell well. What car does that today, a big BMW or Mercedes, nope perhaps a big Tesla I don't really know what the prestige car is today?
@@67L-88 The Mercedes' do catch my eye on occasion. Occasional hood ornament here and there. Really nothing else looks nice. Oh there's the challenger but that's not a high class reputation one.
Hi Steve, great video on this Continental 👍🏼. Steve, I have this very car in my stash! Well, mine is a '70. As with anyone who knows me, I have a soft spot for white vehicles. I found mine in Maryland. It was never in the snow and always garaged. Belonged to an elderly man back in the early 90s. On my way home, the alternator gauge began to drop, and it was getting dark. I noticed at higher speeds it would move back up some but not to normal. As night fell, I was on the Southside of Richmond headed home in NC. Well, the gauge soon dropped to near nothing as the headlights were needed. But again as I sped up the gauge would move. I figured it out at 70mph the gauge rolled up to almost normal 80mph was perfect. So from Southside VA I rolled 80mph on down 95 into NC. I made it home that night. The next morning, I rebuilt the alternator and new belts were installed. If it weren't for the speedo you'd never known you were cruising 80. ~One day I looked into my rear view mirror And a-comin' up from behind There was a Georgia State policeman And a hundred dollar fine Well, he looked me in the eye as he was writin' me up And said, "Driver, you've been flyin' And ninety five was the route you were on It was not the speed limit sign" Jim Croce~ Have a blessed day everyone 🤙🏼 Namaste 🙏🏼
Mechanic: we have checked everywhere except the rocker panels Popeye: What the hell is that Marv? ((Cue air hammer sounds)) Love that part of the French Connection
Actually that was the second Lincoln offering to be called Continental Mark III. The first ones were the 1958 top end Lincolns that were the biggest Lincolns ever offered but Ford seemed to forget about them by 1969 and even if you went to a Lincoln Mercury dealer in the early seventies they had erased all reference to them in their parts catalogs. A friend of mine had one when we were in high school and when he moved once we were able to lay his full sized mattress and box springs flat in the trunk.
I'm so impressed by Steve's attention to detail. He takes time to do his research and delivers in a non-stop, super interesting "lecture". I almost feel like I should be taking notes. He is "The Car Guy "as far as I concerned. I'm hooked.
@@LongIslandMopars Nah, no worries. I watch the movie all the time as it's one of my favorites. Mr. Hackman is an excellent actor and plays the role well.
It appears that this car has the hydraulic-powered windshield wipers - we had a 1971 LTD for 30 years (I was 5 when we picked it up the day after Thanksgiving in 1970 at the dealership) and my dad ordered all of the factory service manuals. I read about those hydraulic wipers in those manuals but never actually saw one - I think it was to make the wiper operation quieter than the electric motor used on most other Ford models.
I enjoy grabbing my thermos of coffee and gathering with everyone in these bleacher seats to hear Steve wax poetic about rusty relics and who'd ever think anyone would start their mornings with "really good junkyard news." 😀
One of my favorites! However, the 1972 Mark IV is my all time favorite personal luxury vehicle! Hey, I want to take a look at that station wagon in the background at 08:20!
Had one!!! Two things I remember most was you had to add about 25% avgas/100LL to stop the knock! I got really good/fast at replacing those front disk brakes!
Imagine that - the 460 is gone! My money says it’s built and shoe-horned into some variation of a rat-rod these days……😂 These cars must have been quite the sight back in their glory days - all for the low price of two LTD’s…….🤑
Great requiem for the Mark III! Another testament is that the 460 is gone, the C6 is gone, the nine inch is gone. There were some good parts in these cars that probably live on in project cars. Another observation is that model car building used to be extremely popular back when I was a young teen. Not, the sections of store isles devoted to models is pretty limited. Prices are ridiculous - unless you find a store like Hobby Lobby a while back that discounted the kits by 40 percent for a time.
My first attempt was a Corvette, it sucked, hand brush painting, and just lazily slap things together kind of ruined it. Lately, I had seen scale model builders in Japan and Korea going as far as adding finer details, functioning lights and doors and even as far as adding welded seams! I ended up modeling cars in 3D for videogame racing and driving simulator mods. I spent hours gathering reference photos. I like doing this because I can drive my creation. Of course I ended up working on a real car project.
@@diegosilang4823 Yeah, my first was a 32 Ford kit that I first assembled, heavy on the glue, then painted. It looked horrible. Then I jointed the Revell master modeler’s club. My subsequent efforts progressed to looking like something a used car dealer was trying to sell after picking up from the local $99 paint job shop. I have one I recently found in a box half finished that is going to be labeled as “barn find.” But I’ve had hours of fun with them when I was a kid, coming along too early for video games….
Thanks Steve for the great video. My Dad worked at Wixom assembly plant and I got to see them being built. The Mark III was much better looking than the Mark IV. One of my favorite cars
My grandpa left me his 75 continental coupe back in '98. Garage kept its whole life. Only 42k miles. Still have it and everything works except the Cartier clock and the power antenna which just broke. It's an odd feeling driving it and looking over the looooooong hood.
@@jasonformulaboater357 I fixed the half-year only "red light" RPO code "UM4" Signal Seek AM-FM stereo 8-track on my 1979 10th Anniversary Trans Am. I bought the radio in 2002 for $85 from a guy that used to run the 10th Anniversary newsgroup. IT came with the knobs, bezels and all the hardware. He said he tried to get it fixed and couldn't. I posted on a 8 track collector's forum and a guy directed me (at the time) to Inland Electronics in Modesto, CA for the belts it needed. They knew this guy from the group very well. I got a pair of belts shipped for $10 and put one of them in. Slapped in "GM sounds of the 1980s" 8 track as a test and Ronnie Milsap's "Only One Love in my Life" started playing. I was laughing so hard after that. It worked perfectly. So, the "unfixable" radio works like new. That radio is $1500 if you can find one today. It is unique to the 10th Anniversary Trans Am.
My uncle was a high school principal in north Mississippi,an when he retired from it in 1970 the school gave him a brown one just like this one,he still had it when he died last year.
Please cover the 1973 Chrysler Wagon that's in the background around 8:25 into this video. I had a 1973 2 door NewPort as my first car in high school, love that thing. I've been selling car parts for the last 17+ years. Love your work Steve!
Steve, thanks for taking the time to do this video. I found it to be very informative and it brought back some memories from my childhood. This is my favorite Lincoln of all time. I had a family member that owned a 1970 model that was almost identical to the one in the movie The French Connection. Sadly, it is long gone now which I find bothersome because I really wished I had that car today as it was a really classy car. The 460 V8 could be worked on to make it a bit of a "hot rod Linkin". Keep the great video's coming! Plate C
Back in the early 70's, a couple of my elementary school teachers in ecorse, mich had these lincolns. Every time i see one, i think of those teachers. :)
Obviously, elementary school teachers in Ecorse, MI, were paid one heck of a lot better than the elementary school teachers in Shakopee, MN! Although most of my teachers were nuns, so there’s that……😂 We did have a smattering of “regular” teachers however, one of whom was Ms. Fonz (yes - that really was her name!) who to say the least, stood out from the nuns with her long blonde hair and fashionable dressing, and pulled up to school every morning in an early 70’s Ford Torino round about the time Starsky & Hutch were making them famous during prime time!
I remember in the early 70'S the private detective tv show Cannon starring William Conrad driving one of these the show is still on late night tv the car is so smooth it looks like it's floating thru the air I love the 70's
i ran a 460 hopped up engine from one of these for over 25 years in a bunch of hotrods .. a 72 pinto .. a 83 tbird . a 69 ford truck ,,a 69 mustang ..a 77 ford truck ..
👍🏻Excellent video. I heard that these Lincoln’s had some interesting features like the windshield wipers operation and how the rear side windows retract horizontally into the sail panels vs your typical ones that retracted down.
My Dad had the TBird Model 68. Re the vents in back... All the big cars of the day had a lot of passive cabin air exchange unlike today. The front floor vents were big and kept us mostly comfortable. I live in the Snow Belt and no AC cars were the norm. Windows down and those big vents and room to spare cabin made them an ok environment. My 06 Durango is similarly comfortable in the hot but no floor vents like old... rambling sorry.
Supposedly those clocks were manufactured in the midwest. A suggestion on how much jobbing and outsourcing to small manufacturing operations went into these 1970's production cars. Those days are long gone, and so is the mechanical clock.
I am fairly certain that this is my old car. I sold it to a guy not far from there and i know he wanted the engine. Funny story, in 1980 i rebuilt an engine for a 69 mark III in school shop. He drove it home and parked it. Around 99 I got this car. While driving on the highway I dropped a valve. I got the 69 that was still sitting in his yard and swapped engines. I had an aluminum intake a small cam and an xpipe under it. At 70 it would kick down an hold second to 93 mph. Aftermarket swaybars and good tires made it handle surprisingly well.
The mechanic in the film really did work as a shop mechanic in the police garage and he said we have checked everything in the car except the rockers and then Gene Hackman says Herb check the rockers then they air chisel the sheet metal over the rocker panel up.
@@googleusergp Iwas close swapped his name with another close NY city kind of name HA! My favorite part is where he takes the transmission pan down with an IR 231 1/2 impact wrench which is over kill big time . He must have been fast as they put the whole car back together in what seems like 15 minutes
@@jimhaines8370 Yup, some old school tools right there for sure. The IR231 was the workhorse of the air tool fleet back then. Mr. Abrahams I believe actually also found the original contraband when NYPD searched the Buick Invicta. He recreated his actions for the movie.
Channel suggestion for Mr Magnate: for cars that have the ignition key in the junkyard, why not toss a battery in and see what lights up? Used to do this for fun in the 80’s. Never know what might happen. Bring a fire extinguisher though.
This particular model also had early anti-lock brakes, called Sure-Trac, as an option evident by the canister mounted below the heater box. Also, I believe these Mark III models got the forgotten Ford truck 9 3/8" rear end, not the ubiquitous 9".
I can't imagine those are the original seats. Blue with a red interior? Unless they were special ordered or faded? Dunno - still - a cool car - great video Steve!
They're not. Going by the tag, this had a "4D" code interior which was Red vinyl. The dash and other red trim are likely the original trim. The seats are not original to the car.
Not only are these seats not the original color, they're not Mark III seats at all. They appear to be out of a newer model car. The 1971 Mark III would have had high-back seats with the headrests built into the seat, as opposed to the earlier Mark III's that had a separate headrest.
That ventalation system came out in the 65 LTD and Parklane 4 door hardtops,I was thinking about buying one out of state but the drains were made of rubber and when the deteriorated the water would soak the floors so I passed.
Dated girl in HS whose dad drove a triple black Mark III, and went to the prom in her family’s baby blue 2 door Lincoln w/ white Landau roof and full white leather interior. Might not be great at picking girlfriends, but nailed it in picking which one’s had nice cars to borrow. And Cartier - French name, but now a Swiss company.
Thanks for doing a piece on my beloved 1971 Mark III (I have one of my own.) Sad to see that one is looking so far gone. As a tidbit, bucket seats and a center console WERE an option (though seldom added, according to records) as a $75 upgrade. If ordered, the pieces came straight from the FORD Thunderbird and were rebadged for the Lincoln.
That's an old wives tale spread by Lincoln owners for decades. Center console was never offered in this car, according to the original dealer portfolio that I have (there were no Continental-trimmed seat options for it)... however, there were no issues pulling one and it's required bucket seats from a '67-9 Thunderbird and fitting it. It bolted right up.
One thing that people don't realize or remember is that if you were a new car buyer back then and you went and drove an Eldorado and then you went and drove a Lincoln Mark III you would immediately realize that the Mark was quieter and much smoother riding,, and if you have any rough roads at all much much smoother riding..
Fun fact, the 1969 Mark III was the first domestic vehicle to offer anti lock brakes as an optional feature. Also, the Mark III was the first domestic vehicle to offer radial tires as standard equipment. The 1972 Mark IV and Thunderird were based on the Torino platform. The Mark IV had nowhere near the build quality of the Mark III...
I'm not sure who came out with it 1st, but the 69 Imperial had the 4 wheel sure brake option for $344.00. I just saw an old Chrysler tech vid about it, and though it was a 70 model yr, the narrator did say 'introduced last year'...
Did the Olds Tornado share the same or similar parts bin bones with the Caddy Eldo? If so, then there was a little more profit to GM across model usage. I do not know, just asking. Thank you for the video.
By the time that car was built it didnt hurt sales that William Conrad drove them exclusively in his popular detective show Cannon. Btw Gene Hackman is still with us at 93! Great actor!
Hi Steve, nice video, nice high end personal luxury car! The rear power quarter window(s) do not go up and down, they go back and forth as a rear vent window. I think Ford copied this from the Cadillac Eldorado, I think that was neat! Like you said, if you want to see how a Lincoln Mark III is built, see the movie; The French Connection. I am 63 years old and I saw the movie in theater and I have the DVD. They strip the car down to the body shell, step by step, on screen. Please reply. Dave...
A television program producer named Quinn Martin made these cars popular when he chose to put the new star of his detective series Cannon in a Mark 3 the car made a statement along with the Large girthed actor William Conrad that had a image to compliment the presence of the Lincoln Continental automobile this show helped the Sales success of this Car line for the Ford Motor Company in the Pilot episode Bill Conrad drove a new Continental Town Car
Rewatching the older ones in support of Mr Magnante and Mr Richardson. Always worthwhile to see how much I retained. Thanks for all the hard work gents. Still praying and pulling for you sir!
This is one of those cars that I always wanted but will never get to own. Lincolns and Mercurys just seemed to have such higher quality than the rest of the Ford linup. I laughed when you mentioned the French Connection scene where they finally cut open the rockers to find the drugs. 'Police Squad" spoofed that scene when Leslie Nielson had a Lincoln Continental cut completely apart down to the floorpan unsucessfully looking for drugs, and after destroying the car someone opens the glove compartment and there's the drugs. The 'crew' put the car back together as not to tip off the owner that the cops were on to her, but when they were finished welding it all back together they were left with a '63 Corvair. "There's a few pieces missing". Hysterical
Looool that's amazing. I just bought a rusty Mark III from a retiring yard. Can't wait to start cleaning.
The French Connection is one of my favorite movies! Besides the car chase the second best scene was when they stripped the Lincoln!
I currently own 14 Mark III's
"Take a Thunderbird and put a Rolls Royce grille on it....."
The genius of Lee iacocca.... LoL
A neighbour of mine has a 1970 Mark 3 in his garage, absolutely original and mint with 16,000 miles on it. The build and paint quality is amazing
Another Great episode! These videos just keep getting better! It's so Cool How the junkyard museum has a model car and a magazine in each vehicle lol.
@Micheal Hawk Yeah that just makes the video that much better. 👍
As a young man into car stereo in the 90's, all the special construction features this car shared with the thunderbird were a bane to my efforts at installing a system. I had a 69 Thunderbird where the flow through ventilation precluded larger speakers and all the redundant, heavy gauge sheet metal in the kick panels and doors stymied a regular installation. Through a lot of work I succeed in the end without cutting anything original to the car.
I feel your pain. I had/have a 64 T-bird and there was just no way to put any decent speakers. in it. Of course, all these years later when I restored it I was glad I hadn't chopped it up.
@@ScottDLR I turned down a 65 that was basically free back then because someone had hacked into the doors and dash wiring trying to install a stereo. It was an otherwise beautiful rosemist colored car.
The coolest part of this car was the design of the covered head lights. The door not only comes down but there is an arm that pushes the top of the door out flush with the front end. It is so cool when these cars have twilight sentinel and you can be out front watching the headlight doors close by themselves.
@ Mexican Spec
Twilight sentinel was a GM trademark. FoMoCo products had “autolamp” but this feature was NOT available on any year Mark lll. The Mark lll DID however have auto high beam dimmer as an option. I believe the Autolamp feature started on the Mark IV in 72 maybe 73
@@jakereal3604 I remember the one Mark III I had had a feature that turned off the headlights and put down the covers. maybe I am remembering it wrong.
The Mark III was built a little better than the Eldorado so the customers were choosing either a bank vault or a parade float. Also iconic movie! “You must lead a charming life, Mr. Devereau. The car is in perfect shape-not a scratch on it.”
We could argue that the Eldo was a better car in many ways but really didn't matter. What sold these cars was how did they look in the country club parking lot or how many were in your company parking lot. If it didn't stand out and have the needed look and give you that "look" or if it was "just another one" it didn't sell well. What car does that today, a big BMW or Mercedes, nope perhaps a big Tesla I don't really know what the prestige car is today?
@@67L-88 Really any luxury car from ‘71 is far better than that battery appliance of a car that is, dare say, “fashionable”.😂
@@67L-88 The prestige car today is probably a truck
@@67L-88 The Mercedes' do catch my eye on occasion. Occasional hood ornament here and there. Really nothing else looks nice. Oh there's the challenger but that's not a high class reputation one.
Hi Steve, great video on this Continental 👍🏼. Steve, I have this very car in my stash! Well, mine is a '70. As with anyone who knows me, I have a soft spot for white vehicles. I found mine in Maryland. It was never in the snow and always garaged. Belonged to an elderly man back in the early 90s. On my way home, the alternator gauge began to drop, and it was getting dark. I noticed at higher speeds it would move back up some but not to normal. As night fell, I was on the Southside of Richmond headed home in NC. Well, the gauge soon dropped to near nothing as the headlights were needed. But again as I sped up the gauge would move. I figured it out at 70mph the gauge rolled up to almost normal 80mph was perfect. So from Southside VA I rolled 80mph on down 95 into NC. I made it home that night. The next morning, I rebuilt the alternator and new belts were installed. If it weren't for the speedo you'd never known you were cruising 80. ~One day I looked into my rear view mirror
And a-comin' up from behind
There was a Georgia State policeman
And a hundred dollar fine
Well, he looked me in the eye as he was writin' me up
And said, "Driver, you've been flyin'
And ninety five was the route you were on
It was not the speed limit sign" Jim Croce~ Have a blessed day everyone 🤙🏼 Namaste 🙏🏼
I'm 58
My dad had the Eldorado,
My friends dad had the mark lll..
Both 1973.
Mom's would drive them with bee hive hair doo
Mr. B. Here ! Morning to all ! Steve great showcase ! Guys these cars had real class ! 😊😊😊😊😊😊
Morning
You too !
71 good year. Year I was born.
Good vid. Love from Fall River Mass
My mother had a brown on brown 71 mark III when I was in high school. I loved that car!
Had a triple white 1971. All had 460/365HP dual exhaust. Really a beautiful car.
Good Morning ! 🇺🇸
Mechanic: we have checked everywhere except the rocker panels
Popeye: What the hell is that Marv?
((Cue air hammer sounds))
Love that part of the French Connection
Yep, then they put the car back together faster than you can say Snicklefritz.😁👍
Orange and yellow crew cab snow plow would be great to see soon - thank you Steve, you are doing a public service
Actually that was the second Lincoln offering to be called Continental Mark III. The first ones were the 1958 top end Lincolns that were the biggest Lincolns ever offered but Ford seemed to forget about them by 1969 and even if you went to a Lincoln Mercury dealer in the early seventies they had erased all reference to them in their parts catalogs. A friend of mine had one when we were in high school and when he moved once we were able to lay his full sized mattress and box springs flat in the trunk.
I knew those ones were huge but I did not know they were THAT huge.
That was probably to me the best looking Lincoln continental marklll. Beautiful style car.😎👍
Hi katie
I'm so impressed by Steve's attention to detail. He takes time to do his research and delivers in a non-stop, super interesting "lecture". I almost feel like I should be taking notes. He is "The Car Guy "as far as I concerned. I'm hooked.
"C'mon, Al, what the hell is that!" - Gene Hackman on pulling out everything but the rocker panels.
Actually he said "Irv" as the actor was really named Irv and was a real NYPD fleet mechanic.
@@googleusergp Ah, thanks. It's been a while since I've watched it.
@@LongIslandMopars Sure. His name was Irving "Irv" Abrahams and he was a real-life NYPD Fleet Services Division mechanic.
@@googleusergp Cool. I should have looked it up before posting.
@@LongIslandMopars Nah, no worries. I watch the movie all the time as it's one of my favorites. Mr. Hackman is an excellent actor and plays the role well.
Folks had one in 71. Was always a family favorite.
68 to 71 mark iii Lincolns were my favorite , 365 hp 460. Fast cars for a big boat
What a magazine collection Steve must have!
I think it qualifies as library
It appears that this car has the hydraulic-powered windshield wipers - we had a 1971 LTD for 30 years (I was 5 when we picked it up the day after Thanksgiving in 1970 at the dealership) and my dad ordered all of the factory service manuals. I read about those hydraulic wipers in those manuals but never actually saw one - I think it was to make the wiper operation quieter than the electric motor used on most other Ford models.
it does
I lusted after this car when I was in High School. If I remember correctly this was the first car that had radial tires as standard equipment
I enjoy grabbing my thermos of coffee and gathering with everyone in these bleacher seats to hear Steve wax poetic about rusty relics and who'd ever think anyone would start their mornings with "really good junkyard news." 😀
Same here..Recall doing the same type of scouting 30/40 yrs ago. The roadside relics are very hard to stumble upon as are those great junkyards
One of my favorites! However, the 1972 Mark IV is my all time favorite personal luxury vehicle! Hey, I want to take a look at that station wagon in the background at 08:20!
Oh those Lincoln cars were cool,I had a 1972 thunderbird, that was a boat in the late 1990s, great video, always enjoy starting the day with Steve
Great video always loved those mark 3 Lincoln's I would buy one now if I could find one in desent shape for price.
Had one!!! Two things I remember most was you had to add about 25% avgas/100LL to stop the knock! I got really good/fast at replacing those front disk brakes!
Imagine that - the 460 is gone! My money says it’s built and shoe-horned into some variation of a rat-rod these days……😂
These cars must have been quite the sight back in their glory days - all for the low price of two LTD’s…….🤑
I’ve always liked that car. I have the last generation of the Mark’s a 94 Mark 8, absolutely one of Ford’s best ever
There is a lifetime of knowledge in these videos. I suspect that Steve dreams about obscure car things.
Another fantastic video with loads of information on the history of the automotive industry. Thank you.
I remember when those were everywhere on the road, another great vid!👍👍
Great requiem for the Mark III! Another testament is that the 460 is gone, the C6 is gone, the nine inch is gone. There were some good parts in these cars that probably live on in project cars. Another observation is that model car building used to be extremely popular back when I was a young teen. Not, the sections of store isles devoted to models is pretty limited. Prices are ridiculous - unless you find a store like Hobby Lobby a while back that discounted the kits by 40 percent for a time.
My first attempt was a Corvette, it sucked, hand brush painting, and just lazily slap things together kind of ruined it. Lately, I had seen scale model builders in Japan and Korea going as far as adding finer details, functioning lights and doors and even as far as adding welded seams! I ended up modeling cars in 3D for videogame racing and driving simulator mods. I spent hours gathering reference photos. I like doing this because I can drive my creation. Of course I ended up working on a real car project.
@@diegosilang4823 Yeah, my first was a 32 Ford kit that I first assembled, heavy on the glue, then painted. It looked horrible. Then I jointed the Revell master modeler’s club. My subsequent efforts progressed to looking like something a used car dealer was trying to sell after picking up from the local $99 paint job shop. I have one I recently found in a box half finished that is going to be labeled as “barn find.” But I’ve had hours of fun with them when I was a kid, coming along too early for video games….
who else scans the cars in the background looking for future episodes?
Raises hand ✋
That International Scout shouts "Pick Me"
I’m hoping that we see the mid 80’s Continental next. Maybe it has the optional BMW diesel!
+1.
Thanks Steve for the great video. My Dad worked at Wixom assembly plant and I got to see them being built. The Mark III was much better looking than the Mark IV. One of my favorite cars
Yup, Wixom was open from 1957 to 2007 and produced over 6 million vehicles in 50 years it operated. It was often the Lincoln "exclusive" plant.
Except for the '72. Mark IV. The big-bumper 1973-76 ruined the looks.
My grandpa left me his 75 continental coupe back in '98. Garage kept its whole life. Only 42k miles. Still have it and everything works except the Cartier clock and the power antenna which just broke. It's an odd feeling driving it and looking over the looooooong hood.
The Cartier clock is worth having sent out to be repaired. It will work like new when it's repaired in the right hands.
@Google User GP it hasn't worked since the mid 80s. Guess it's about time to get it fixed. I'll look in to it. I'm amazed the 8 track still works.
@@jasonformulaboater357 I fixed the half-year only "red light" RPO code "UM4" Signal Seek AM-FM stereo 8-track on my 1979 10th Anniversary Trans Am. I bought the radio in 2002 for $85 from a guy that used to run the 10th Anniversary newsgroup. IT came with the knobs, bezels and all the hardware. He said he tried to get it fixed and couldn't. I posted on a 8 track collector's forum and a guy directed me (at the time) to Inland Electronics in Modesto, CA for the belts it needed. They knew this guy from the group very well. I got a pair of belts shipped for $10 and put one of them in. Slapped in "GM sounds of the 1980s" 8 track as a test and Ronnie Milsap's "Only One Love in my Life" started playing. I was laughing so hard after that. It worked perfectly.
So, the "unfixable" radio works like new. That radio is $1500 if you can find one today. It is unique to the 10th Anniversary Trans Am.
My uncle was a high school principal in north Mississippi,an when he retired from it in 1970 the school gave him a brown one just like this one,he still had it when he died last year.
Please cover the 1973 Chrysler Wagon that's in the background around 8:25 into this video. I had a 1973 2 door NewPort as my first car in high school, love that thing. I've been selling car parts for the last 17+ years. Love your work Steve!
If I remember correctly Robert Conrad drove one the same year in the Quinn Martin produced TV series Cannon, beautiful automobile
Close, William Conrad. Robert was the more physically fit Conrad. And the Conti' is a beautiful car!
Yes your right Burt, I got my Conrad's confused thanks for correcting me
Steve, thanks for taking the time to do this video. I found it to be very informative and it brought back some memories from my childhood. This is my favorite Lincoln of all time. I had a family member that owned a 1970 model that was almost identical to the one in the movie The French Connection. Sadly, it is long gone now which I find bothersome because I really wished I had that car today as it was a really classy car. The 460 V8 could be worked on to make it a bit of a "hot rod Linkin".
Keep the great video's coming!
Plate C
Always learn something new with Steve’s videos. Dutchman’s Panel … had to google that one.
What!?! There's no spare behind the tire bulge? I never knew that. 😄
He reminds me of a well-informed, personable museum guide that turns seemingly ordinary exhibits into really interesting ones.
When I see this I think of Cannon
Yep. Frank Cannon drove nothing but Conti's throughout the series.
The car actually used to smuggle heroin in the French connection case (not the movie) was a 1960 Buick. I read the book.
The favorite car of short Italian guys! My friend had one and he WAS a short Italian guy!
Back in the early 70's, a couple of my elementary school teachers in ecorse, mich had these lincolns. Every time i see one, i think of those teachers. :)
Obviously, elementary school teachers in Ecorse, MI, were paid one heck of a lot better than the elementary school teachers in Shakopee, MN! Although most of my teachers were nuns, so there’s that……😂
We did have a smattering of “regular” teachers however, one of whom was Ms. Fonz (yes - that really was her name!) who to say the least, stood out from the nuns with her long blonde hair and fashionable dressing, and pulled up to school every morning in an early 70’s Ford Torino round about the time Starsky & Hutch were making them famous during prime time!
I remember in the early 70'S the private detective tv show Cannon starring William Conrad driving one of these the show is still on late night tv the car is so smooth it looks like it's floating thru the air I love the 70's
If you can carry one of those doors you definitely ate your wheaties
i ran a 460 hopped up engine from one of these for over 25 years in a bunch of hotrods .. a 72 pinto .. a 83 tbird . a 69 ford truck ,,a 69 mustang ..a 77 ford truck ..
Not a Ford guy but love these Lincoln’s!
Thanx steve
👍🏻Excellent video. I heard that these Lincoln’s had some interesting features like the windshield wipers operation and how the rear side windows retract horizontally into the sail panels vs your typical ones that retracted down.
My Dad had the TBird Model 68. Re the vents in back... All the big cars of the day had a lot of passive cabin air exchange unlike today. The front floor vents were big and kept us mostly comfortable. I live in the Snow Belt and no AC cars were the norm. Windows down and those big vents and room to spare cabin made them an ok environment. My 06 Durango is similarly comfortable in the hot but no floor vents like old... rambling sorry.
The Plymouth cricket AKA the Hillman Avenger in the UK. How did they cope over there?
These, the Vauxhalls and Austin Morris were not seen after about 5 years
I've never seen one cricket. Been driving in USA since 1978
They were not big sellers. It's cousin, the Dodge Colt sold way more. When it was replaced by the Arrow, sales increased.
If I remember correctly (probably not), the rear seat windows slide back into the sail panel versus down into the quarter panel. ;-)
Yep!
Supposedly those clocks were manufactured in the midwest. A suggestion on how much jobbing and outsourcing to small manufacturing operations went into these 1970's production cars. Those days are long gone, and so is the mechanical clock.
Love yr show. I also watch reruns on MT.
I am fairly certain that this is my old car. I sold it to a guy not far from there and i know he wanted the engine. Funny story, in 1980 i rebuilt an engine for a 69 mark III in school shop. He drove it home and parked it. Around 99 I got this car. While driving on the highway I dropped a valve. I got the 69 that was still sitting in his yard and swapped engines.
I had an aluminum intake a small cam and an xpipe under it. At 70 it would kick down an hold second to 93 mph. Aftermarket swaybars and good tires made it handle surprisingly well.
I looked at one of these Mark III's back in 89.
The mechanic in the film really did work as a shop mechanic in the police garage and he said we have checked everything in the car except the rockers and then Gene Hackman says Herb check the rockers then they air chisel the sheet metal over the rocker panel up.
That's correct, his name was Irving "Irv" Abrahams and was a mechanic in NYPD's Fleet Services Division.
@@googleusergp Iwas close swapped his name with another close NY city kind of name HA! My favorite part is where he takes the transmission pan down with an IR 231 1/2 impact wrench which is over kill big time . He must have been fast as they put the whole car back together in what seems like 15 minutes
@@jimhaines8370 Yup, some old school tools right there for sure. The IR231 was the workhorse of the air tool fleet back then. Mr. Abrahams I believe actually also found the original contraband when NYPD searched the Buick Invicta. He recreated his actions for the movie.
Great video. Thank you Steve!!!
Thunderbirds and Lincolns we also both made in the Wixom plant.
Channel suggestion for Mr Magnate: for cars that have the ignition key in the junkyard, why not toss a battery in and see what lights up? Used to do this for fun in the 80’s. Never know what might happen. Bring a fire extinguisher though.
Loved that movie, and the cars in it :)
Spotted that in the previous Hudson episode, was hoping you were gonna talk about it.
The choice of Frank Cannon.
We had one of those donated to our HS autoshop around 90-91. It was a 69 or 70, even the same color as the movie car too.
The quarter window on these slide straght back into the sail panel to open.
There was an option for anti lock brakes too.
This particular model also had early anti-lock brakes, called Sure-Trac, as an option evident by the canister mounted below the heater box. Also, I believe these Mark III models got the forgotten Ford truck 9 3/8" rear end, not the ubiquitous 9".
As for the ALB as I recall from my LM tech days it only operated on the rear brakes to prevent them from locking. (Correct me if I’m wrong.)
@@autobreza7131 you are correct. Pulsed the rear brakes 3x/second, IIRC.
Corey Lewis on TTAC has a really good series on all the generations of Lincoln Continental Marks.
I can't imagine those are the original seats. Blue with a red interior? Unless they were special ordered or faded? Dunno - still - a cool car - great video Steve!
They're not. Going by the tag, this had a "4D" code interior which was Red vinyl. The dash and other red trim are likely the original trim. The seats are not original to the car.
Not only are these seats not the original color, they're not Mark III seats at all. They appear to be out of a newer model car. The 1971 Mark III would have had high-back seats with the headrests built into the seat, as opposed to the earlier Mark III's that had a separate headrest.
Not all '71 MK III's have high back seats - they were a '71 year only option.
We have gone from door hinges of an inch thick to todays subframe so thin they rot out in five years.
That ventalation system came out in the 65 LTD and Parklane 4 door hardtops,I was thinking about buying one out of state but the drains were made of rubber and when the deteriorated the water would soak the floors so I passed.
Dated girl in HS whose dad drove a triple black Mark III, and went to the prom in her family’s baby blue 2 door Lincoln w/ white Landau roof and full white leather interior. Might not be great at picking girlfriends, but nailed it in picking which one’s had nice cars to borrow.
And Cartier - French name, but now a Swiss company.
Dean on Cold War motor’s would love this car 🤣👍🏻💯🇦🇺
Plymouth Cricket? New one for me. I guess competed with the Opel.
Thanks for doing a piece on my beloved 1971 Mark III (I have one of my own.) Sad to see that one is looking so far gone. As a tidbit, bucket seats and a center console WERE an option (though seldom added, according to records) as a $75 upgrade. If ordered, the pieces came straight from the FORD Thunderbird and were rebadged for the Lincoln.
That's an old wives tale spread by Lincoln owners for decades. Center console was never offered in this car, according to the original dealer portfolio that I have (there were no Continental-trimmed seat options for it)... however, there were no issues pulling one and it's required bucket seats from a '67-9 Thunderbird and fitting it. It bolted right up.
One thing that people don't realize or remember is that if you were a new car buyer back then and you went and drove an Eldorado and then you went and drove a Lincoln Mark III you would immediately realize that the Mark was quieter and much smoother riding,, and if you have any rough roads at all much much smoother riding..
After he tried pulling the trunk open did anyone spot that big beautiful Mopar wagon 😍
my friend had one of those Continentals
Fun fact, the 1969 Mark III was the first domestic vehicle to offer anti lock brakes as an optional feature. Also, the Mark III was the first domestic vehicle to offer radial tires as standard equipment. The 1972 Mark IV and Thunderird were based on the Torino platform. The Mark IV had nowhere near the build quality of the Mark III...
I was puzzled why Steve mentioned radial tires
I'm not sure who came out with it 1st, but the 69 Imperial had the 4 wheel sure brake option for $344.00. I just saw an old Chrysler tech vid about it, and though it was a 70 model yr, the narrator did say 'introduced last year'...
Agree - I like the MK IV (especially the '72 before the big bumpers) but the interiors really got cheap and "Fordish" looking compared to the MK III.
Did the Olds Tornado share the same or similar parts bin bones with the Caddy Eldo? If so, then there was a little more profit to GM across model usage. I do not know, just asking. Thank you for the video.
Yes same trans, axle, and suspension but different engines
Correct some parts were the same.
Same inner body shell, steering, suspension, etc. E body
Not even a mention of the Fox-Body Continental hanging out in the background?
I had a 97 lsc it was a great car
🍇"Member" the 1977 Gold Continental Mark V from Breaking In- 1989
man that poor Conti. nothing left.
Hope you do the Eclipse /Laser/Talon DSM triplets I see there in the background had a 1991 Laser RS
By the time that car was built it didnt hurt sales that William Conrad drove them exclusively in his popular detective show Cannon. Btw Gene Hackman is still with us at 93! Great actor!
Hi Steve, nice video, nice high end personal luxury car! The rear power quarter window(s) do not go up and down, they go back and forth as a rear vent window. I think Ford copied this from the Cadillac Eldorado, I think that was neat! Like you said, if you want to see how a Lincoln Mark III is built, see the movie; The French Connection. I am 63 years old and I saw the movie in theater and I have the DVD. They strip the car down to the body shell, step by step, on screen. Please reply. Dave...
Wasn't that a blue Mitsubishi Eclipse right behind you (in front of the Lincoln)?
A television program producer named Quinn Martin made these cars popular when he chose to put the new star of his detective series Cannon in a Mark 3 the car made a statement along with the Large girthed actor William Conrad that had a image to compliment the presence of the Lincoln Continental automobile this show helped the Sales success of this Car line for the Ford Motor Company in the Pilot episode Bill Conrad drove a new Continental Town Car