1967 Lincoln Continental

Description

Lincoln's were first introduced as the personal vehicle of Edsel Ford, who commissioned a car to be built with European "continental" styling elements. That request would give the model line its name, and basically created a new automotive segment, the "personal luxury car", which emphasized luxury and style over handling. This Lincoln Continental is an impressive example of what that meant in 1967. Come on down, take it for a ride and experience it yourself.

Presented in Yellow with a black vinyl roof, this car looks classy. The paint shines nicely as it received a quality mid-life respray and has only minimal imperfections now from use. The vinyl roof is newer and looks great. The styling of the car is big and solid looking. Up front a big chrome bumper leads the way with a horizontal bar grill containing quad headlights just above it. Continental appears in script with a hood ornament just above it. Chrome edging starts at the front bumper, goes up and then follows the upper body line down the front fenders, across the tops of the doors and the rear fenders, and sports three marker lights as it turns down to meet the back bumper. Continental appears in script on the rear fender and a Lincoln badge adorns the trunk. The unique way those doors open makes for quite an entrance when you attend an event and people step out (onto the red carpet?) through them.

Open those doors and take a look. The door panel sets the tone with a pleated upper panel with a long wood grained armrest and a chrome door pull. Brushed metal and chrome dress out the door panel with controls for the power window and locks at your fingertips. Check out those leather, power adjustable seats. They're like your favorite pair of jeans that are broken in perfectly and you just feel good when you are in them. The same cradled in luxury feeling comes from riding in the back seat of this car too. The two-spoke Lincoln steering wheel has a tilt feature and sits in front of a rectangular speedometer. The ventilation controls are a 1967 version of climate control with a temperature knob that controls the mix of A/C and heat to your comfort level. The Wizard compass mounted on the dash is period correct and works even when there is no Nav signal.

Open the hood, which like the doors, opens with a flair all it's own. There you will find the largest engine Ford ever installed in a passenger car. At 462 cubic inches, it won the cubic inch war by being bigger than the offerings from Cadillac and Chrysler and is 2 inches bigger than the 460 that replaced it just two years later. There is a factory blue air cleaner with a new Weber 4-barrel carburetor just underneath it along with valve covers in same correct color. Good regular maintenance can be seen in the newer plugs, cap, wires and an aftermarket ignition coil for hotter spark. The belts and hoses have been replaced too and the air conditioning compressor has been upgraded to R134 and received new pressure lines in the process. A well-worn shop manual comes with this car and is another indication that this car was well cared for. A 3-speed automatic transmission gets the power headed back to the rear tires which are white walls mounted on steel wheels with Lincoln hub caps.

Come on down and see what the gold standard was for luxury cars in 1967. You may decide that it still is and decide to drive it right on out of our showroom.