Some 4 and a half years after I put this into dry storage (parked-up in a friend's barn to be precise...) I thought it time to bring the LIncoln back to life.

A quick wash, followed by charging the battery and then a squirt of Start Ya Bastard had the 41 year old behemoth firing on all eight cylinders. With this kind of luck I thought I'd see how it fared at the MOT station this morning; it sailed through!

I had forgotten what an absolute hoot this thing is to drive. The torque from the 7.5 litre Big Block has to be experienced and the gear change from the three speed C6 auto' is quite something. It corners like a holed cruise liner in a heavy swell, it pitches and rolls and the steering has all the precision of a paint stirring stick in a 15 litre tub of vinyl matt emulsion. But such criticisms miss the point of this anachronism. To drive it is to experience a bygone era when fuel was unbelievably cheap (it struggles to get 8 mpg) and gimmick engineering was what sold cars. It has power everything, climate control, auto-dipping headlights and even ABS (on the rear wheels) which we consider commonplace now, but 41 years ago such features were quite a rarity. Surprisingly it does have forged alloy wheels to keep the weight down...

... which explains why it weighs less than a Land Rover Discovery!

Considered on a rational basis, in today's world it appears utterly pointless; shocking interior room for a car just under 19' feet long, limited boot space, doors almost the length of a Smart ForTwo and manufactured from steel whose gauge would shame Chobham armour. But it does possess one amazing trait; it has an unbelievable ride quality. High profile tyres and blancmange-rate springs soak up everything our roads can throw at it. Were fuelling it not so crazy one could travel comfortably for a very, very long way in the Mark IV's 'Twin Comfort Lounge Seats'.

It also seems to bring a smile to the face of just about everyone who sees it.

 

"Which ba$tard did you say had my car?" ...

 

Yeah, I hated it when Cannon got the downsized one in the later series.

What a fantastic, ridiculous barge.

How did modern cars all end up like that only heavier?

 

What an incredibly awful car. it has everything i hate in a car...... but I f***ing LOVE it!

 

Oh, only if it had FWD like the even more absurd GM ElRivAdo could it be more stupid.

But that sort of makes it great.

But the Linc's "Continental" styling was incredibly clean by Detroit standards, too.

 

Interesting car - parking it must be fun!

Got any pics of the interior?

By a funny coincedence my latest plaything has a Lincoln link - any guesses?

 

Jaguar S Type?

 

very good

 

very good
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Derived from the same floor plan as I understand it. Which model?

 

A wonderfully absurd oil tanker of a thing, as in-tune with the times as a top loading washing machine.......

Does the front lift 8 foot in the air when you accelerate?