To honour Independnce Day I have brought forward this weeks Americana blog featuring a 1978 Continental Mark V.

The Continental name has served as both a model name and separate brand division of Lincoln and Ford respectively. The first Continental branded car was the Continental Mark II produced from 1955 to 1957.

Note although the 1978 Continental Mark V carries Lincoln Cross emblems there is no other reference to Lincoln on the car and contemporary advertising referred to the car as a Continental Mark V omitting the Lincoln name which was used only in connection with the Versailles model.

Confusingly from 1968 to 1980 the Lincoln Mercury division manufactured both the Lincoln Continental and separate Continental marque Mark III, IV and V models alongside one another.

The Continental Mark V launched in 1977 was 250 lbs lighter than it’s predecessor with a 6.6 litre / 400 cui Cleveland motor as standard. The model seen here is powered by the optional 208 hp 7.5 litre / 460 cui ‘385’ big block motor manufactured in Lima Ohio, said to have recorded the worst ever fuel economy by the Environmental Protection agency, 7 mpg on the highway and 3-4 mpg in the city.

There were five special edition ’78 Continental Mark V’s the Bill Blass, Cartier, Givenchy, Pucci and Diamond Jubilee editions are all distinguishable by their cast alloy ‘turbine’ wheels and markings in the opera window’s which this model does not have. The Diamond Jubilee edition marked the 75th Anniversary of the Ford Motor Company.

An innovation for the Continental Mark V was the ‘miles to empty’ LED fuel gauge display option which calculated the number of miles to empty based on the fuel level speed and consumption rate.

The upright spare wheel in the tail of the car dates back to the 1939 Lincoln Zephyr V12 Convertible Coupé Edsel Ford has custom built for his vacations in Florida.

Depending on options and limited editions selected the Continental Mark V could cost anywhere between US $11,000 to $23,000. The ’78 Diamond Jubilee Edition was billed as the most expensive standard production American automobile available in the sales literature. For each of the three years of production an average of over 75,000 vehicles was manufactured making the Mark V the best selling cars of the Continental marque.

This particular vehicle was advertised for sale a couple of weeks ago when I took the photo’s at the recent Double Twelve meeting at Brooklands, if you are interested in purchasing it I’ll gladly pass on the telephone number that was on display, all disclaimers apply.

Thanks for joining me on this “Now It Get’s Confusing” edition of “Getting a li’l psycho on tyres” wishing all my readers across the pond a happy Independence Day. I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !