Yes, Barnaby Jones and Cannon. I grew up watching Barnaby Jones. I think he always drove that Ford LTD that had a lot of luxury. But lately I've really gotten into Cannon. In the show, Cannon drives 1970 to 1975 Lincoln Continental 2 door with Sunroof and the tiny oval side back window. I would love to have one of those cars. The interesting thing is that cars in those shows made a lot of tire squeal and body roll when car was making turns at faster speeds. Modern cars don't have that issue.
1973 Lincoln Continental / Ford LTD reliability and longevity.
- Thread starter Bill7
- Start date
True, I was looking at some mid 2000 Lincoln town cars. The fascinating thing is that all those Ford LTD taxi cabs from the mid 2000's typically go 400,000 miles. The only thing Ford ever was good at was making big heavy sedans and large Vans. They are no good at making small cars.
I had read that Ford had some big issues with their 3 valve per cylinder V-8's. Do you know which are the model years to avoid?
GON
$100 Site Donor 2024
Like you, I would love to have one of those older Mercurys or Lincolns.
Do you want to really have a daily driver than needs points and condenser? How is your timing light tool doing? How about that choke on the carburetor?
Having a local mechanic as the servicer is a high risk. What happens when is not able to do the repairs for a multitude of reasons? Heck, dealerships are turning down work on cars just 15 years old.
A 80 year old friend has a vw bug based dunbuggy. He is no longer able to do the maintenance himself, as he had done for decades on the dunbuggy. Although he lives in a major metropolitan area, he can't find a competent mechanic.
Idea of a old merc is great, as long as you can yourself do the maintenance and repairs. If you need someone else for maintenance, lots and lots of issues and risks.
Do you want to really have a daily driver than needs points and condenser? How is your timing light tool doing? How about that choke on the carburetor?
Having a local mechanic as the servicer is a high risk. What happens when is not able to do the repairs for a multitude of reasons? Heck, dealerships are turning down work on cars just 15 years old.
A 80 year old friend has a vw bug based dunbuggy. He is no longer able to do the maintenance himself, as he had done for decades on the dunbuggy. Although he lives in a major metropolitan area, he can't find a competent mechanic.
Idea of a old merc is great, as long as you can yourself do the maintenance and repairs. If you need someone else for maintenance, lots and lots of issues and risks.
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SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
Really? The rate of oil consumption is your main concern? The cost of feeding it gasoline would be the primary thing on your mind as to upkeep. Mechanical parts are not a major issue. Heck you can find parts for 100 year old Model T's pretty easy. It's body and interior pieces that are hard to get and expensive. Nobody repros them like they do for more popular models like the Mustang.
First car was a 72 Marquis in 1978 that I got screwed on. Thing only went 50 miles on a quart of transmission fluid. It was a big ole boat that drove like you were on a cloud the few times I actually drove it, but got rid of it a few months later and still made a few bucks. Wouldn't mind having another one, but people still want $5000 for beat up examples.
So it sounds like the idea of having a 1970's Ford LTD or Lincoln is a great aspiration to have, but in reality the repairs might be very frustrating to deal with as the parts availability and finding a mechanic that knows how to troubleshoot the issues (obviously no obd2 scanners) would be difficult. And the consensus here seems to be that having one as a daily driver is not a good idea (More frustrations than pleasure). Is that a good summary...
Nothing wrong about using it as daily as long as it isn't your ONLY available car. They are a heck of lot easier to diagnose and work on than the computerized emission choked cars of the 80's and early 90's. Not a whole lot to go wrong.
220 net.
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Depends on the year. The high compression era was good to all big American V8s. Most had at least 250hp, and up to 400.
Ford tended to use small carburation for their V8s. Many had the reliable 2 barrel Autolite 2100 or 2150. The autolite 4300 is the one to avoid, best replaced with a Holley.
The smog era of cars really started in the mid 70s, that's when HP went to abysmal numbers.....like 150HP and less for 351s etc.
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NY, isn't that part of the rust belt?
Unless you found a garage queen, I'd avoid it.
If I were to find one, after going thru all hoses/lines/seals/gaskets/rubber, I'd probably convert to FI, keep the catalytics(or newer high flows), and lose the egr and various emissions mess.
I've had no issues with the c6. Back in the day, drop/rebuild/reinstall a couple before lunch. Too bad no one adjusted or serviced transmissions back then since they'd all last much longer. They had 'lifetime' transmission fluids and filters too!
And, you get to run 15w40, 20w50, or some really thin 5w40 and no one will bat an eye.
There are no good years. If you're not a competent mechanic, good luck finding one. Old cars, boats, RVs, younger wives... all are expensive hobbies.
Unless you found a garage queen, I'd avoid it.
If I were to find one, after going thru all hoses/lines/seals/gaskets/rubber, I'd probably convert to FI, keep the catalytics(or newer high flows), and lose the egr and various emissions mess.
I've had no issues with the c6. Back in the day, drop/rebuild/reinstall a couple before lunch. Too bad no one adjusted or serviced transmissions back then since they'd all last much longer. They had 'lifetime' transmission fluids and filters too!
And, you get to run 15w40, 20w50, or some really thin 5w40 and no one will bat an eye.
There are no good years. If you're not a competent mechanic, good luck finding one. Old cars, boats, RVs, younger wives... all are expensive hobbies.
Here is a '79-
1979 Lincoln Mark V - cars & trucks - by owner - vehicle automotive...
1979 Mark V w/53,300 miles. Just taken out of storage after 10 years. New Fuel Tank, New Fuel Pump, New Belts, Rebuilt Carb., In Very Good Condition. Sometime the driver side window works and other...
allentown.craigslist.org
I drove a '70 and '72 LTD with the 390 and 429 engines. Neither really had much power and both got 14mpg highway and about 10 around town. They handled terribly, but did ride nicely if you could take the rattles. Transmissions were Ford C-6 3 speed units that would last about 80K miles.
Probably the strangest green color I've ever seen too. Not sure what to call it. It looked a lot like this:
Metallic Pea.
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Grew up in them, took my drivers test in our 1978 Grand Marquis - I think it had the 351M.
The issue with all these cars is they were pre galvanized sheet metal, and it was much thinner than cars from the 50's - so it rotted out even without road salt. Also no one wanted them and no one saved them. I do see the occasional 70's grand torino floating around here in the South, essentially the same car.
As for repairs - you can fix them with a stick and a board. Ford 9 inch rear end - last forever, parts still available. C6 3 speed auto - also very reliable if serviced properly. The "M" Ford midland engines weren't great, they liked to burn up valves and wear out rings, etc - but its a 2 valve iron everything V8 so easy to rebuild. Ignition on Ford's were electronic from I believe 1973+ - so pickup coil in the distributor and black box on the fender, mechanical and vacuum timing advance. Factory would be a motorcraft 2 barrel for most which everyone hated but I have no idea why, more or less similar to a 2 barrel Holly.
I think we used to get like 16 on the Hwy at 55mph. Faster than that wasn't good.
If you like one and can find one buy it. But if you can't fix it yourself I wouldn't, because there is no OBD port meaning any mechanic under 50 will have no chance.
The issue with all these cars is they were pre galvanized sheet metal, and it was much thinner than cars from the 50's - so it rotted out even without road salt. Also no one wanted them and no one saved them. I do see the occasional 70's grand torino floating around here in the South, essentially the same car.
As for repairs - you can fix them with a stick and a board. Ford 9 inch rear end - last forever, parts still available. C6 3 speed auto - also very reliable if serviced properly. The "M" Ford midland engines weren't great, they liked to burn up valves and wear out rings, etc - but its a 2 valve iron everything V8 so easy to rebuild. Ignition on Ford's were electronic from I believe 1973+ - so pickup coil in the distributor and black box on the fender, mechanical and vacuum timing advance. Factory would be a motorcraft 2 barrel for most which everyone hated but I have no idea why, more or less similar to a 2 barrel Holly.
I think we used to get like 16 on the Hwy at 55mph. Faster than that wasn't good.
If you like one and can find one buy it. But if you can't fix it yourself I wouldn't, because there is no OBD port meaning any mechanic under 50 will have no chance.
The engines and transmissions ran a long time. The killer was the miles of vacuum lines and worn out carburetors.
The plastic teeth on the cam gear stripped and jammed the oil pump, candy canes the oil pump driveshaft and ruined the engines if not caught in time.
Vacuum pods for the dash are pretty much not obtainable.
Sometime in the 70's ford went to a fender mounted ignition module that failed a lot. Everyone carried a spare one.
The plastic teeth on the cam gear stripped and jammed the oil pump, candy canes the oil pump driveshaft and ruined the engines if not caught in time.
Vacuum pods for the dash are pretty much not obtainable.
Sometime in the 70's ford went to a fender mounted ignition module that failed a lot. Everyone carried a spare one.
Ford used 3 valve v-8's in some early 2000's pickups, not sure about the cars. Pretty sure Crown Vic's, Marquis, and Town Car's from early 90's to late 2000's all used the anvil reliable 4.6 2 valve v-8.
I was taught how to pull plug wires to find a miss,set points etc. It's easier than today's new fangled cars
All my cars were bought used so I don't know the past history except for the 77 Merc. It belonged to my buddy's father in North Dakota. I did all the maintenance on them myself and after putting back all the vacuum lines to original the cars all ran pretty good. i never had a lead foot so the gas milage was pretty decent. I used to change the oil every 3000 miles and added a quart between changes.
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