Lincoln does not build many cars like the Lincoln Continental Mark VI: a 2-door sedan / 4-door sedan with 302 cuin 5.0L V8, built from 1980 in the age of turbocharging and the first electronic engine management. Its designer of record is John Aiken (1976).
How it came about
The Continental Mark VI is a full-size luxury car manufactured by Ford Motor Company from 1980 to 1983 and marketed by its Lincoln-Mercury division. As the fifth generation of the Mark series, the Continental Mark VI served as Ford's flagship. The first complete redesign of the Mark series since 1972, the Mark VI was the first to undergo downsizing, no longer sharing its platform with the 1967–1976 Ford Thunderbird (its companion model since the inaugural 1969 Mark III) and now sharing its platform with the Lincoln Continental (renamed Lincoln Town Car for 1981). To distinguish itself from the Town Car, the Mark VI was fitted with model-exclusive features, including Designer Edition trims.
Alongside the traditional two-door sedan bodystyle, the Mark VI introduced a four-door sedan to the model line (last offered in 1960). The Continental Mark VI was manufactured alongside the Lincoln Continental and Town Car at the Ford Wixom Assembly Plant in Wixom, Michigan. In total, production reached 131,981. and for model year 1984, the Mark VI was replaced by the Continental Mark VII.
The hardware
Under the skin sits 302 cuin 5.0L V8; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Kerb weight is 3892 –. The gearbox is a 4-speed AOD automatic. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 2-door: 114.4 in / 4-door: 117.4 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Where it sits in Lincoln's history is not in doubt: the Continental Mark V came before it; the Continental Mark VII followed it; it was built at Wixom, Michigan (Wixom Assembly), United States. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Dodge Ram, the Audi Quattro, the Lancia Delta. Its Lincoln stablemates include the Lincoln First Call and the Lincoln Funeral Car.
The money
There is no federal ownership record for the Lincoln Continental Mark VI — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.