Our Lincoln Mark Series coverage continues today, and we pick up at the end of 1958. After Ford dumped many millions into the Continental Division and quickly shut it down, the company then spent a lot more money to develop an all-new unibody platform for Lincoln’s usage. In an attempt to woo customers away from Cadillac, the new Lincolns for 1958 wore some of the most shocking styling ever to come from Detroit.
All three of Lincoln’s new “models” were really just trim levels of the same car. Said models included Capri, Premier, and the top-tier Continental Mark III, which was not a Continental except in trim badges. At least it had a Breezeway window! At the 1958 launch of Lincoln’s new unibody line there was a steep recession across the globe, as lots of Americans decided they didn’t actually need a new car every year or two. Nevertheless, the Continental Mark III made up 62 percent of Lincoln’s sales that year. Lincoln veered off on a revised course in 1959, hoping to improve its lot with some more “new” models.
Lincoln somewhat abandoned the Continental Division branding tactic it tried for 1958. Instead of the prior Continental Mark III with “Continental III” badging, the 1959 was officially the “Mark IV Continental.” It was a surprising case of model escalation, and a change in tack from how Marks operated previously.
Up to that point a new generation, not a new model year, earned a new series of Mark. Continental and Mark IV were no longer together on one badge, but separate pieces of trim as the Mark became a version of the Continental model, which expanded to cover more illustrious territory. The Mark IV name was always listed before Continental in marketing materials for 1959. Additionally, phrasing like “every Lincoln and Continental” attempted to position the Continental as something separate.
Lincoln returned with the same Mark body styles in ’59 that it used in 1958: Two-doors in hardtop or convertible guise, as well as four-door pillared sedan, and four-door hardtop marketed as Landau. In addition to the standard Mark IV body styles, there were two brand new four-doors in 1959: Mark IV Continental Town Car, and Mark IV Continental Limousine.
The Town car and Limousine took the Mark IV to a more exclusive level in 1959, and formed the halo offering of the model. In that addition, the convertible was relegated to second tier. Both new versions of Mark IV were of a more formal style, to appeal to the higher-end customer for which a regular Mark IV sedan was too casual. It was the first time the Town Car name was used on a factory-built Lincoln.
The Town Car’s primary difference to the standard Mark IV was in the rear window. Town Car swapped the reverse-angled Breezeway setup for a more traditional forward-angled piece of glass. Altering the window’s angle meant there was more room in the back: Lincoln moved the rear seat back by several inches to give the Town Car more rear legroom than a standard Mark IV. It was clever rework, as it allowed for a marketable interior change but required no sheet metal edits.
To create the even more special Limousine version of the Mark IV, Lincoln’s designers added a glass rear partition. Both Town Car and Limousine offered a vinyl roof option, and even separate air conditioning units for front and rear passengers. In a move that would have made Henry Ford smile, the Town Car and Limousine were offered only in black.
Of course one of the most important big news aspects in cars of the Fifties was the annual visual update. Given Ford had just spent so much on Lincoln, the changes from 1958 to 1959 were mostly minor, and intended to reel in the excessive (and broadly disliked) looks of the ’58. At the front end, the Continental toned down its canted quad headlamps by integrating them into the grille.
As the lights were no longer in separate pods, the grille was free to extend into the lighting area. That made the front end look more cohesive. The eggcrate grille (surprisingly) remained the same for 1959, though it gained a new decoration above it via a chrome trim strip. Like the grille, the new strip blended into the headlamp housing to make it look less ridiculous.
Under the grille resided a new bumper, which lost the boob-inspired Dagmars of 1958. In their place was a smooth surface that had a smaller license plate cut-out area than before. The simpler bumper looked less heavy, and ended in two jet-shaped decorative chrome spears. The vertical area of the spears was slimmer than before, but the tail end of the rocket newly extended into the front fender near the wheel.
From a side view, the Mark IV was a bit less jarring than the Mark III. The protruding front and rear fender scallops were smoothed considerably, and appeared much more as an outline than a raised platform. The roof line and other aspects of the side profile carried on to 1959 unchanged.
The rear of the Mark IV experienced fewer edits than the front in its transition to 1959. The most notable change were ovoid rear lamps which still numbered six, but now looked better integrated via their own chrome trim ring. The concave rear grille design of 1958 was reshaped for the following year, and became convex and softer looking. There were no other changes to the rear bumper or fascia.
With its new less is more type styling, the Mark IV Continental was slightly smaller than the Continental Mark III. Overall length shrunk by almost two inches, from 229″ to 227.1″. Width remained the same record holding 80.1 inches, and height increased very slightly from 56.5″ to 56.7 inches.
Weight ballooned on the Town Car and Limousine with all their extra luxury equipment, and it’s believed the two hold the title of heaviest American standard wheelbase sedans since World War II. The 1959 Continental coupe was 5,220 pounds, while the pillarless Landau shaved four pounds off the 5,306 of the sedan. The convertible was the heaviest standard offering at 5,330 pounds. Lincoln didn’t publish the weight of the Town Car or Limousine, but encouraged buyers to ask their dealer.
As the 430 cubic inch (7.0 liters) MEL engine was new for 1958, Lincoln only made one small change for 1959: Detuning. The 375 horsepower of the prior year was sapped to 350 in 1959. The three-speed Cruise-O-Matic (Turbo-Matic) remained unchanged as well.
Less styling, more weight, less power, but a better economy. Did that mean the Mark IV Continentals sold better than their predecessor? No! While total Lincoln production was 26,906 in 1959 (much better than the 17,134 of 1958), there were actually fewer Continentals sold even though there were more models available.
Total 1959 Mark IV production was 11,126 (down from 12,550). The best selling model was the Landau at 6,146 examples, followed by the convertible at 2,195. The hardtop coupe sold 1,703 examples, while the standard sedan with its lack of flamboyance shifted only 955 examples. The limited production Town Car sold 78 times, and the Limousine managed only 49 sales.
Part of the sedan’s appeal problem was its matching $6,845 ($68,991 adj.) price to the Landau hardtop. The hardtop two-door was $6,600 ($66,522 adj.). Forcing the exclusivity of the Town Car was its price, a shocking $9,200 ($92,728 adj.), topped only by the Limousine’s $10,200 ($102,807 adj.). Overall, prices in 1959 were about 12 percent higher than 1958. One of the rare instances it works, one can get a good inflation calculation of 1959 prices in 2022 by simply adding a zero.
Lincoln wasn’t finished with its unibody Continental edits however, and the elephants would see one more model year before Lincoln threw in the Mark series towel for nearly a decade. We pick up next time in 1960.
[Images: Ford]
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Jay Leno has one of these Lincolns in his collection and it is truly a mammoth.
If an old zebra (with red stripes and a six-foot string of pearls) like that one wanted you to jump into her car, I’d suggest you run for your life. She’s a cruel schoolmarm, out looking for a masochist, willing or unwilling.
That’s my kind of game…
Yeah I watched it on youtube. Very detailed video including under the car and under hood and what details made it a luxury car. It was a different civilization, yet 1969 was approaching fast.
My dad must have been, for some reason, enamored with late ’50s Ford products. As with the ’58 Edsel model he bought me, he also bought me an AMT 1/25 scale ’59 Lincoln 4-door hardtop model which I painted red with a white top. Maybe Dad was trying to tell me something by buying ugly car models for me…
Wait…he bought you an actual 58 Edsel Citation model? Or was it a toy?
I’m assuming model. The Citation (Corsair?, I always get those two confused – we’re talking the next to the top model line) two door hardtop in teal and white was the common dealer promotional model for that year.
Yep, an AMT 1/25 scale ’58 Edsel convertible.
Gotcha…!
When I was a child I had a friction engine model of a 4 door 59 Lincoln I got for my birthday and at the time I thought it was beautiful but now as an adult I don’t find them that attractive. Not the ugliest car I have ever seen but far from being beautiful. Lincoln missed the mark with this generation but truthfully not many of the new cars in 58 and 59 were beautiful most were over chromed behemoths. The 1958 Buicks and Oldsmobiles were memorable for being among the most over chromed. I would say that the 57 and 58 Mopars were overall the better styled but by the early 60s Virgil Exner lost his mojo and got canned after the 1962 Plymouth and Dodge.
Dinky Toys did a (nominal 1/43 scale) model of the 58 Lincoln Premiere (search on eBay with Dinky Lincoln 532). Even at that scale, those cars were mammoths.
Enjoying this series, very entertaining and I’m learning a lot about these Lincolns and Continentals. Thanks Corey! – Michael B.
Glad you’re enjoying!
And if you were in the market for a domestic luxury automobile in North America in 1959 would you really prefer one of these to a 1959 Cadillac.
While these may have aged better it is because they are far more conservative in their styling. The Cadillac was ‘futuristic’, gaudy and epitomized Pax Americana and the optimism of that era.
I’ll take a 58-60 Lincoln over a 59-60 Cadillac any day. They bother were overblown and overdone, but the Lincoln at least had a bit of design coherence to it. The 59 Cadillac is the most overrated car of the 50’s, slightly beating out the 57 Chevrolet.
Neither this car nor the ‘59 Cadillac were notable for their good taste, but the Cadillac’s design hangs together a LOT better than this Lincoln’s. The Caddy is fanciful; the Lincoln is just plain ugly.
Interesting note was Ford outsold Chevy in 1957 because many people at the time saw the Chevy as a dated design and the Ford was all new for 1957. Chrysler introduced the 1957 Chrysler, Desoto, Dodge, and Plymouth with a newer more appealing design “suddenly its 1960” and caused GM for the 1959 MY to rush a new design to compete. For 1957 Chrysler product sales increased but the 1958 Recession hit and the poor quality caught up with Chrysler and sales plummeted. The 1957 Chevy is now the popular classic car and the number of survivors of 57 Chevies outnumber Fords and Chrysler products from 1957. Steven King’s Christine popularized the 57 and 58 Plymouth Fury but the actual Christine was not a Fury but a Belvedere and Fury for 57 and 58 was a sportier trim of the Belvedere. During 1957 Chryslers were all new and set the mark for the most innovative design and the car reviewers praised Chrysler.
I like excess, but when I see these a made-up word comes to mind. Vomitudinous.
I’m a pretty staunch Ford guy and Lincoln’s are one of my favorites. But…. these late ’50s Fords & Lincoln’s were some of the most grotesque, over styled and absurd cars ever built. Edsel’s feel into that same bucket. Not surprised they got buried by Cadillac that year! The only positive thing is it led to the Elwood Engel Lincoln’s which totally atoned for the earlier version’s excess.
I always liked the design of the 57 Ford Fairlane and 57 Thunderbird but the Ford ruined the 58 with the tail lights which were more along the lines of an Edsel. I always preferred the single headlights and the round tail lights of the 57 Ford. 1958 was not a good year for vehicle designs. Agree about the 1961 Elwood Engle Continental just a beautiful car and Engle would go on to design the 1964 Imperial with styling cues similar to that Continental.
Aaaah. The thoroughness of this series is great but it keeps being a flinch moment when I realize we’re not to 1961 yet. At least this time you warned us there’s one more!
You’re going to be disappointed when you remember this is a Mark series, not a Continental series!
Oh no. So I’m going to have to wait all the way until 1977 to feel properly Continental.
Yes I think so!
Agree but it is easy to confuse Continental and Mark especially when Lincoln later uses them together similar to Chrysler and Imperial later to call the Imperial the Chrysler Imperial. The question is when is a Continental a Mark and when is it not? Corey thanks for the reminder because I have to stop and remember that this is a series on just the Mark and not the Continental.
“we’re not to 1961 yet”
I’m a big fan of 60’s era Galaxie’s. They had some cool and now extremely collectable vehicles. Any restored “R” code Galaxie is a 1/2 million USD item. “Lightweight’s” are in that category as well.
The 1960 Ford Starliner was a cool car and I always liked the 1963 and 1964 Ford Galaxie XL 500 with the hardtops that looked like convertible tops with the front bucket seats and the console. A girl in my high school that graduated with me had a beautiful red with red interior 2 door hardtop 63 Galaxie XL 500 but traded it for a new Toyota Corolla when she graduated. The Galaxie was like new and such a shame to get rid of it but back in the early 70s these cars had no value but today that same car would be worth some money especially with the bigger block high performance V-8. I like the later ones but the 1960, 1963, and 1964 are among my favorites. Not as fond of the 1973 thru 79 big Fords–I don’t hate them I just like the earlier ones.
I don’t care for them after 1968. On a side note, panther frames are almost identical.
I still see those Panthers on police forces and on the road although fewer. Those Panthers were time tested and had all the bugs worked out of them. I do like the 71 and 72 Ford LTDs but not as much as the earlier ones but the same applies to Chevy as well. By 1971 the oversized GMs lost what made them great.
In the summer of 1980 I worked for a Ford dealer who kept a Skyliner in the showroom. He had occasionally driven it but the retractable roof was just too problematic.
My favorite thing about these series is the photography. There’s a warmth and depth to it that you don’t see in today’s digital photos.
Apparently this Continental inspired people to drape fabrics all over their interiors. That’s power!
Later on in the late 70s it inspired AMC and Ford to have designer editions the ultimate broughams.
The ’59 brochure one of the first I’ve seen that acknowledges that women actually buy and drive cars.
What an amazing assortment of paint and interior fabric colors by today’s standards. Nowadays you could print it in black and white and it wouldn’t look much different.
Note that Lincoln and Continental/Mark each had their own star logos. I guess the Lincoln eight-pointed star died in 1961.
True black interiors and limited exterior colors. Much less expensive but that is true of most consumer products. Bean counters rule and consumers have less choice.