Courtesy Ford Motor Co.
A little more than 65 years ago, in the Spring of 1968, Ford Motor Co.’s Lincoln Division released the Lincoln Continental Mark III for 1969. Unlike its namesake released a decade earlier, this Mark III reflected the styling quality that the handsome Continental Mark II had presented when unveiled in the fall of 1955, but on a bit more economical scale. It was indeed a continuation of the personal luxury car theme.
During the 1960s, Lincoln automobiles were assembled at only one location, the modern Wixom facility in Michigan. From the time it opened in the fall of 1957 up into the 1960s, only full-size uni-body vehicles had been assembled there. This included the 1958-and-newer Ford Thunderbird coupes and convertibles and all Lincolns, whether a Capri, Premiere or Continental Mark III model. In 1961, all Lincolns were marketed as Continentals (without the Mark designation) and were offered only in four-door sedan and convertible-sedan models. These Wixom-built Thunderbirds and Lincolns shared many engineering traits, and the quality of the build at Wixom for both was the best in the industry.
Looking to expand Lincoln market penetration, a two-door hardtop version of the slab-sided Lincoln Continental was released for the 1966 model year. While this new model did boost overall sales figures for Lincoln by 36% over 1965’s figures, Lincoln’s total sales of 54,755 units still lagged far behind Cadillac’s more than 196,000 total for that selling season.
Phil Skinner
Ford Vice-President of the Car and Truck Group, Lee Iacocca, wanted that to change. For 1967, the Ford Thunderbird had been completely redesigned and returned to body-on-frame construction. With Thunderbird’s redesign came a four-door version for the first time. According to reports of the day, Iacocca directed Gene Bordinat, Ford Motor Co.’s Vice-President of Design, to create a Lincoln based on the new Thunderbird platform, and to “put a Rolls-Royce grille” on it. To get the proper proportions for this new model, Bordinat’s team started with Thunderbird’s longer four-door chassis, then essentially mounted a two-door hardtop body a bit farther back on the frame. This resulted in a design that closely matched the proportions of the Continental Mark II. Helping shave off thousands of dollars of development expenses, the team either used or adapted numerous existing Thunderbird parts wherever possible. Yet from the exterior, there was no family resemblance between the two brands, and both models appealed to a new breed of upscale customer shopping in the luxury car market.
While the 1956-’57 Continental Mark IIs had been effectively hand assembled, this new Mark III would be an assembly-line product, instilled with the same famous built-in quality of preceding Wixom-assembled Lincolns and Thunderbirds. After all, the official parade vehicle for the president of the United States was still a Lincoln, despite the tragedy in November 1963!
When placed on sale in April 1968, response to the new Continental Mark III was immediately successful, placing another feather in Iacocca’s cap following his previous success with the Ford Mustang.
A car’s front-end design is what most people see when looking at a car, and the Rolls-like grille on the Mark III was similar enough to draw comparisons, but different enough to keep Lincoln’s legal team from having to defend design infringement concerns. Ford Motor Co. didn’t skimp on the quality of the car, and that extended to the new Continental Mark III grille. This part was built as a high-quality, chrome-plated die-cast piece. At the peak of the grille was the elegant Continental four-point star rather than the Rolls-Royce winged “Spirit of Ecstasy.” Reportedly, this Continental grille alone cost about $ 200 each to manufacture, a pretty hefty price, but well worth the expense.
The new Continental Mark III also presented instantly noticeable modern features such as hide-away headlamps, a low silhouette, integrated wrap-around taillamps, open wheel wells and limited use of side trim and ornamentation.
Overall, the all-new Mark III carried on the tradition of past Continentals, and in the smartest of modern fashion. Offered only as a two-door hardtop, just like the Mark II, the Mark III’s long hood, compact passenger compartment and short deck lid design exemplified the ideal of a “personal” car of the present and the past. Adding to the exclusivity of the Mark III were its wide sail panels at the rear of the greenhouse that concealed back seat passengers and added a bit of mystique, much like the original Continental coupes of the 1940s and the 1956-’57 Continental Mark II coupe. There was even a simulated spare tire hump on the Mark III to complete the car’s ancestry.
Courtesy Ford Motor Co.
For its first season, the Continental Mark III was offered in one of 21 different exterior colors, and came standard with six different and sumptuous interiors that featured pleated and overstuffed nylon tricot fabrics. Deep-pile carpeting greeted occupants on the floor and the lower portions of the door panels. Simulated wood trim was offered in a choice of English Oak or Indian Rosewood, which was applied to the instrument panel, steering wheel center and door panels. In addition to being visually pleasing as well as very comfortable, all the padding absorbed outside road noise, providing one of the quietest rides ever in a production automobile. For those who sought out a bit more prestige, leather-vinyl interiors were optionally available in nine different selections, each offering “sitting parlor comfort” for the well-pampered occupants of the Mark III.
Drivers knew they were in command of a brilliant machine by the instrument panel, which was equipped with a full array of gauges for oil pressure, fuel level, engine temperature and electrical systems, plus an electric clock.
Power was provided by the 460-cid Lincoln V-8 engine rated at 365 hp with 500 lb.-ft. of torque backed by the Select-Shift automatic transmission. Standard features included power steering, a dual power brake system with discs up front and heavy-duty drums to the rear, “Silent Strut” front suspension with coil springs, 64-in.-long rear leaf springs and all-around hydraulic shock absorbers, providing a silky-smooth ride on the 8.55×15-in. radial tires.
Creature comforts included individually adjustable front seats, front and rear seat armrests, power windows, flow-through ventilation and a host of warning lamps that warned of a door or the deck lid being ajar or a burnt-out taillamp. While an electric clock was standard, after the Mark III’s introduction, an upscale clock by Cartier was offered as an option. Other accessories included automatic temperature control, a tilt steering wheel, several sound systems including an 8-track tape player, plus several other items. At the start of production in the spring of 1968, the vinyl roof was listed as an option, but became a standard feature shortly after introduction. In the fall of 1968, a letter was issued to Lincoln dealers stating that Mark IIIs “were not” to be order without vinyl tops!
Lincoln pointed out that the Mark III was designed with safety in mind, with each car built with passenger seat belts plus shoulder harnesses, extra padding and an energy-absorbing steering wheel and column. Also touted was the Continental’s “controlled crush” front design that would collapse in stages should a front-end accident occur, plus a perimeter frame that provided solid body-side support.
Some period motorist magazines panned the Continental Mark III. One stated it “doesn’t quite turn you on” while another simply called it a “disappointment.” However, the buying public seemed to think differently. Introduced as a 1969 model in April 1968, a total of 7,770 Mark III coupes were produced before the Wixon plant shut down in mid-July 1968 for the switch over to the 1969 model year for both the regular Lincolns as well as the Thunderbird. During this change, a few improvements were made to the Mark III and when 1969 model-year production resumed in mid-August 1968, keeping up with Continental Mark III demand was job number one at Wixom. (To help relieve some of the production burden, Ford switched some production of the Thunderbird from Wixom to its Los Angeles assembly facility in Pico Rivera.)
Lincoln priced the new Mark III around the $ 7,500 mark for the 1969 model year, which was on a par with the Cadillac Eldorado. However, prices sharply rose to about $ 8,500 for the 1970 model, making it about $ 500 more than the Eldorado hardtop’s base price.
Phil Skinner
The Continental Mark III took a few sales away from the traditional Lincoln two-door coupes for 1969, though this impact was minimal. There was also a slight dip in Cadillac Eldorado sales for 1969 compared to 1968. Iaccoca ultimately surpassed his best expectations for the Mark III as Continental coupe sales almost matched the Eldorado totals that year, coming in with a production of 23,088 cars produced after July 1968 compared to 23,333 Eldorados—a spread of fewer than 250 units!
Lincoln would continue Continental Mark III production through the 1971 model year when it was superseded by the Mark IV for the 1972 model year.
In 1958, Ford pioneered a four-passenger personal luxury car for the masses with the introduction of the “Square” Thunderbird for 1958. Ten years later, it stepped up its game and took on its main competitor, showing the automotive world that Lincoln was every bit of what a luxury car should be.
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