For $2,850, With VI You Get Body Roll
Did you hear the one about the Roman who went into a bar? He held up a index and middle fingers and said, I'd like 5 beers please. Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Lincoln is Roman Numerically a VI, but you'll need to decide if its price is an X.
Yesterday's Audi wasn't fooling anyone. On the plus side, it was an S6, an Avant, and looked to be in pretty good shape. However, it had been made to look like the meatier RS owed to an early in its career run-in with a plate glass window, and that also condemned it to a life baring the ignominy of a salvage title. In the end, the seller's asking was deemed Crack Pipe by fully 71% of you.
Today, let's go for baroque.
Like a toddler in a three-piece suit, the smaller size of the Lincoln Mark VI coupe looks a little lost in is big boy styling accouterments. Based on the Panther platform, the Mark VI gained a roman numeral over its immediate predecessor, but lost dimension in all other aspects, being the first of the Marks to have gone down in size. While more than a foot shorter, and on average nearly half a ton lighter, the VI still featured the sharp-edged styling, copious quantities of chrome and brushed metal, and opera windows of its forerunners.
Today's 1982 Mark VI comes in Pastel French Vanilla over a burgundy baroque interior. It's not a Signature Series model, nor any of the Designer Editions, but it does feature hidden headlamps, a thick vinyl roof, fender vents, and out back, a mighty faux spare hump so you could say it's got it going on.
Of course these early '80s Marks (and their sister Town Cars) were meant for ostentation over performance and in fact they had absolutely none of the later. Zero, the big goose egg. That's due to a dearth of ponies under the hood, and the fact that while smaller and lighter, these are still pretty big cars by today's standards.
The 302 V8 in the VI pumped out a modest 134-bhp this year, and that was barely adequate to move its 4,039-lbs with anything resembling alacrity. Zero to sixty for the car was factory quoted as 13.6 seconds, which typically means planning freeway entrances a week in advance. And as far as handling was concerned, these cars still demanded Dramamine for passengers with weak constitutions.
Of course that's not to say this car doesn't represent some of the cutting edge technologies of the time. I mean if it didn't it would probably have been even slower and less efficient. It does have Ford's first offering of fuel injection on the 302, and the AOD transmission is one of the first from an American manufacturer to go 4 speeds over 3.
The ad claims this cream puff to be 'very good' over all, with nothing – either mechanicals or in appearance – needing reconditioning. The pics reveal a car that looks complete and remarkably intact for its age. It's also a representation of a sort of American luxury – a hold over from decades before – that you just can't find in today's fancy-pants brands. The seeker says that NADA puts the value of an excellent example at $8,650, and that makes it interesting that he's asking only $2,850 for the privilege of ownership.
What do you think about that price for this Lincoln? Does that make this a Mark of excellence? Or, does that price have too many numerals for you to go roamin' in this Lincoln?
You decide!
Kansas City (Mmmm, ribs) Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Brian Black for the hookup!
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