Start with what the Lincoln Versailles is: a 4-door sedan with 302 cuin small block V8, built from 1977 to 1980, as the oil crises and the first emissions rules rewired the industry. What it meant takes a little longer.
The background
The Lincoln Versailles is a mid-size luxury sedan that was sold by Lincoln from the 1977 to 1980 model years. Taking its name from the French palace, the model line was the smallest vehicle ever marketed by the brand at the time, introduced as a competitor for the Cadillac Seville. The first Lincoln with exposed headlights since 1969, the model line was the first vehicle marketed in North America with clearcoat paint and halogen headlights.
Replacing the Mercury Grand Monarch Ghia, the Versailles was a variant of the Ford Granada and Mercury Monarch. Offered only as a four-door sedan, the model line marked the ultimate development of the chassis architecture of the American Ford Falcon. Ford manufactured the Versailles alongside the Granada and Monarch at Wayne Stamping & Assembly (Wayne, Michigan) and Mahwah Assembly (Mahwah, New Jersey), with production totaling 50,156. Though the model line was never directly replaced, Lincoln downsized its Continental for 1982, nearly matching the Versailles in size.
The engineering
The engine is 302 cuin small block V8; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. On the scales it comes to 3827 –. 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 109.9 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Where it sits
In the Lincoln line-up the Lincoln Versailles has a clear place: it replaced the Mercury Grand Monarch Ghia; it handed the line to the Lincoln Continental (1982; indirect); the factory was Wayne, Michigan. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the BMW 7 Series, the Toyota Supra, the Lotus Esprit. Its Lincoln stablemates include the Lincoln First Call and the Lincoln Funeral Car.
Owning one today
There is no federal ownership record for the Lincoln Versailles — 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.