I love these videos. The progression of John Davis as straightforward announcer from the early 80s to the animated enthusiastic showman of the late 90s is awesome. He seems very nice.
During the first season, or two, he used his professional NPR voice. Later he seems to have become more true to himself. Also possible, with the success of the show they had more stuff to review or talk about he didn't need to stretch the segments.
As a viewer from England I absolutely love these retro reviews of old American cars. There seems to be some great features in this car for 1982, onboard computer, rack and pinion steering and 4 disc brakes all round! Even 19mpg on test for a 5.0 V8 doesn't seem too bad given the era this car was built.
Funny how this era is considered the dark days of American cars. This is when we were getting flooded by a sea of Japanese and German metal that quite literally forced the American automakers to improve.
Please ignore the "fuck England" remark that was posted. Clearly not all of us Americans have manners! I actually love England and have ancestry from there, and in the traditional sense, American cars and English cars couldn't be more different. Especially in 1982, when American auto makers were struggling. I always value the british perspective/opinion, such as when Top Gear tests an American car. Likewise, I love british cars, even with their less than reliable electrical systems. Peace be with you.
@Nigel Cam You're an idiot. American cars built in the '70s going into the '80s were awful, just awful. Their quality was abysmal and reliability was atrocious. They could rust even in AZ and were not as well built as in the '60s. Government requirements with safety and emissions in the early '70s really put reliability, quality, and performance on the back burner while they were forced to comply. When CAFE dropped their mandate on fuel economy in the late '70s, it kept American performance down for at least another 5-7 years before they started to rise again
Would be cool to have John re-trace this route and do this drive again, when the new Continental comes out, to show how much the car and the area have changed!
Miss these days when cars were such a sight to look at. Now whenever I go to buy a car its like it doesn't even matter anymore cause all the cool stuff is vintage now.
@@MallocFree90 Opinions in the car enthusiast world are nearly evenly split between this and the (vaguely) similar looking Seville. Personally, I think the Cadillac looks too wide and the Lincoln too narrow to make this styling work.
@WAXQBrentwood - I agree though in the first few years of the Mark VII they were gutless wonders. The first decent one was in 1987 though the true collector will be the 1988+ LSC and Bill Blass models with the 225 HP 302 V8.
@@joe6096some years ago when these cars were very popular I saw 2 in the wild. Both in Brooklyn, NY. I had a mint one back than. It was a relatively straightforward conversion. The most difficult part was having the drive shaft modified.
In 1982, my folks traded-in their 1979 Town Car for a new 1982 Continental. I was just beginning to drive & got a couple of speeding tickets, lol. The 1982 Continental had an amazingly tight drive, and was very quick on the highway. And as he pointed out in the film, you felt very "isolated" in it. I still remember the feel of those plush dark red seats.
That bustle butt trunk was just like the gen 2 Seville. Yeah these cars were just low-power ultra relaxed cruisers. AC, nice stereo, cushy Seat, and tomb-like.
2:37 "Pulling out of the studio parking lot was uneventful..." Certainly makes one wonder why this was worth noting....had there been a history of events leaving the studio? Thank you MW for helping me through the Covid-19 lock down.
a friend of mine that had one, I think a 86, old me she never had a car cost so much to keep going and dumped it and bought a Buick LeSabre. Those suspension repairs were very expensive at the time
In my personal opinion, Lincoln did this Connie & the Mark VII BANG ON. Only those who REALLY knew cars knew that there was a Fairmont underneath both cars, which could not be said of the Versailles.
@@rickjohansson4257 I moved back to Florida a few years ago, this state is all pretty much straightaways...yuck. Few sweeping curves, except for freeway on ramps, and even those are being straightened...I assume to accommodate trucks. I miss driving in the northeast United States with hills and curves and shorter, often blind, straights...like a rollercoaster ride.
These were the best looking Contis Lincoln ever designed in my opinion. It was very sleek and stately and looked like a Rolls Royce Silver Spur. This was the first car I bought used back in 1992, mine was a black over silver 1983 Givency.
Thing I miss the most on modern Lincoln's is that Ford didn't find a way to keep the grille. Other car companies have kept some semblance of their grilles of the past, but Lincoln went with the winged grille which just looks bad.
Love this model Continental, especially the first year or two while the grille was still vertical, rather that protruding. The designer editions were eye-wateringly expensive, though adjusted for inflation not unlike a 2018 Continental Black Label.
A) I love, love, love film. B) I want this car. So bad. Like, this exact one, except, maybe with leather. Love the two-tone. I have had a lot of Lincolns including one FWD Continental, two late 70's Continentals, three generations of Town Cars (98, 88, 08), and a Mark VII LSC (hot rod!). However, this car intrigues me. It has all the wonderful gaudiness of a proper Lincoln without the size and heft OR looking goofy. Some, like the Versailles, just don't look quite right. I. Want. This.
I love the dash layout. The large side to side black ribbon is very tasteful, especially for all the way back to 1982 . For me personally, the interior would be a big selling point. Nice work Lincoln.
Hard to believe 40 years ago, great show John Davis still doing a fine job. beautiful car ahead of its time. Appreciate this archival vid, unfortunately it's a little on the dark side. Videography has much improved over the years. I like the mention of the LSC, another beautiful grand tourer that was on the horizon 👍🏽
The 1982 Continental was right on time and for its time. Over time, the auto industry has devolved to unprecedented levels of conformity and ugliness. What we have today is right on time and the cars are a bulbous and unappealing as most car buyers.
I had one of these back in 82. My driver was beaten up and the car was stolen in Manhattan Only had the car for a few months. The few times I rode in it were comfortable. .
+manthony225 I think it's a Dodge Aspen because of the light wood surrounds. The Plymouth Volare had bright metal and black trim around the wood grain panels (I learned to drive in a 1978 Volare Premier wagon). The Chrysler LeBaron was similar to these two. Also, who doesn't love a trunk model Pinto with tiny bumpers? I drove one for a few years in high school.
+Joey Baby we had a 72 Pinto Runabout hatchback with a roof rack in our family. The cargo area carpeting was faded from the sun due to the big rear window
I remember when everybody in my moms family all drove Ford Pintos, of every body style, then they all went to driving Chryslers and Dodges after the K Cars came out.
@@gxdjoeybaby07 I grew up with a Plymouth Volare from my folks and and dodge dart before that. It had the coldest a/c of any car I had been in. Thanks for pointing it out!
Yeah, I noticed that burnt orange Pinto. Don't see them on the road anymore. I had a 72, it was Calypso Coral. Actually a pretty trouble free little car, FAR more so than the Vega I later owned. I rented a Plymouth Volare once on a vacation, and after a few hours of driving it my wife, who never notices anything about any car unless a wheel falls off, turned to me and said, "This is really an horrible car, isn't it?". It was.
I like how the drivers seat had a "Gangster Lean" to it when it was new. Kinda be neat to get one, though even if that 5.0 was what a whopping 140 HP back then?
130 HP for 1982/83 unless you went with the V6 which made only 112. Oddly both engine choices for this car were carbureted for 1982 only. The V6 was dropped for 83 and throttle body FI was now standard. All other Lincolns from 1980 onward used TBI 302 V8's with 1980 also offering a 2 BBL 351
Not many were looking for high speed runs in these, so the decent torque from engine displacement was good enough for the time. And low end torque is what gets you off the line, unless you own an old 80s/90s non turbo Honda lol
+mhmrules Good catch. At October 1981, this comes from the earliest days of the show, and considering the in-studio footage is video it appears they were following the old "video inside, film outside" rule that some TV productions (most notably the BBC) followed back then.
daz samuels Yup. But also considering how other reviews of '82s are all in video, it makes me wonder if this comes from the very beginning of the show and they maybe hadn't quite nailed down their equipment situation yet.
Love these old classic videos love the way they dress love the way they handle them selves in there announcing it’s with class and style and a little bit of thought.
Bad ass car. My Grampa had one in a dark aqua color with matching leather and Uniroyal Royal Seals with the thick white walls. Quiet as a tomb, smooth as hot butter. He kept it perfect. That car was ballin’! Love to have that back. Cars are bullshit now.
I remember at age 12 going to the L-M dealer to see Chauncey the cougar (L-M mascot) and saw the new ‘82 Continental, black with deep burgundy mouse-fur interior. I fell in love. The sales guy was trying to convince my mom to trade her ‘81 Town Car for it (she got an ‘83 380SEL, like what JR drove on Dallas). I may drive a new S-Class and SL today, but my love for 80s Lincolns will live forever!
+Whitney Black He gets a lot more excited with time. He's this droll and calm for the first few years (1980 to 83' or so) and progressed slowly to the constant yelling he's at now.
Daniel McLean Gotcha. The way he talks now cracks me up. He anunciates every syllable of every word like a robot. I love motorweek though, and I just discovered recently it's on some weird channel on cable tv. It's crazy how long this show has been around.
+Whitney Black yeah the unaired pilot (comparing the Citation, which they thought was great, and the Fairmount) and the actual pilot episode, both from 1980. It's interesting to see both how john and the times change. The doom and gloom of predicted fuel price increases is palpable in the early 80s videos, and I've he noticed the gradual decline in the number of times John says "Orient" in Japanese car reviews.
Having had my own experience with this model and year, I can provide an addendum to this review. Everything they said about this car was true, WHEN IT WAS FRESH OFF THE DEALER'S LOT. Give it a couple years, then you run into the real facts, many of which are not quite so pleasant. This car, the successor to the Versailles, carried over one of Versailles's biggest flaws: The variable-venturi carburetor which made the Versailles a warranty nightmare in its first three years of production. This was one of the most unreliable fuel-delivery systems Ford ever had the poor experience of pushing to market, held to the same level of esteem as GM's Oldsmobile diesel engine or Cadillac 8-6-4 system. To complicate matters, that carburetor was the primary hook-up point for the entire dash; so once it malfunctioned (not a question of "if," but "WHEN"), so did the whole digital dash, the only reliable reading one would get would be from the odometer, which was still mechanical. To add insult to injury, Ford dealers were anything BUT helpful in dealing with carburetor failures. Quite the contrary, they were toxic to the idea of performing any service, even for money. Their excuse? "It's an obsolete part"...this despite the fact that by law they are required to be able to service every car they sell for 10 years from the car's model year. "Obsolete" is a moot argument for that time. Yet, that was my grandmother's experience with the '82 Continental she bought in '83 (at my mother's insistence); by mid-'84 the carburetor was toast, and NOT ONE Ford dealer would do a thing about it. She could very easily have blazed the trail for a very embarrassing lawsuit against Ford; why she chose not to I'll never understand. She finally gave the car up in '89, to a mechanic who said he would be able to do something about the powertrain's flaws. I regret that this additional review is such a bleak appraisal of one of the finest-looking cars of the 1980s. I did always think the car was gorgeous in its styling and its equipment layout, and I still do to this day. In fact, I dare say that, although the overall design of the body was a clear rip-off of the Seville, which took to that style in 1980, Lincoln did that style better than Cadillac did. But that VV carburetor...not to mention the fact that the trunk lid would rust itself out completely in six years (but that's beside the point). Knowing what I know about cars now, I would probably see into retrofitting a TBI fuel-delivery unit, which was introduced in '83 (finally and forever ditching the VV unit). Or, maybe, with some carburetor buffs having learned about the VV and how to rebuild one nowadays, that could be a second option.
Thank you for the insight on your experience, although I haven't found the exact number for the Carburetor, the 79' Versailles should've been equipped with the Motorcraft 2150, assuming it succeeded to the Continental, that I've heard is a reputable carburetor, especially when compared to previous VV in 70'-73 Continentals. I know of a 82' Continental owner that has a carburetor in need of a replacement as advised by a mechanic shop, although the Digital cluster went out, it was replaced by a new one that works, which made me think of your statement but can't tell whether it's the carburetor that caused it or just the Cluster itself. Your experience is valuable & I hope you make a video to discuss about these points, also what are some points you can think of in regards to buffing the VV Carburetor?
@@xxtaas777 Actually, I can't. I never followed up with any VV when I started getting mechanical. All I learned above was from my grandmother's experience, my old mentor's experience with them, and the experience of some prior owners on the Lincoln Forum. A few on the last had said there was a way to rebuild the VV and make it more reliable, but that was years ago and I cannot remember if they gave any details to that effect. Actually, there was no VV in '70-'73; that was a fuel-economy venture, which was not a concern in those years (yet). There was the 4300/4350, which many Forum members called a rip-off of the Rochester QuadraJet GM used and proved to be troublesome as well...though not quite to the point the VV was.
@@aloysiusbelisarius9992 Hello again, thanks for responding even after 2 years of your comments, I understand but I'm grateful for redirecting to search in the forums. I forgot the exact name but I think that was the part, the 4300/4350.
See that!! 19 MPG in 1982 from a big American car. And yet the manufacturers today say they cant build the big V8 American cars with good fuel economy. Bull freakin crap!! They just don't want to.
Meant to last? In those days it was an event if cars made it to 100,000 miles and that was with lots of maintenance. Today's cars easily last much longer, are safer, and require much less maintenance.
V8 Lincolns from the 80's were bulletproof when it came to the engines. Yes..the electronics failed and you had transmission issues..but back then this was common with all brands. However..repairs were cheap..and still are today..and NOTHING rode as beautifully short of a Rolls Rolls than an 80's Lincoln Town Car.
This took the place formerly occupied by the 1977-1980 Lincoln Versailles, which looked and felt too much like the less expensive U.S. version of the Ford Granada, which could trace its lineage back to the 1970 Maverick and the 1960 Falcon. This Continental was derived from the 1980 Thunderbird, which was derived from the 1978 Fairmont, but Ford did a much better job of giving it a unique style with better comfort, noise reduction and refinement than its humbler ancestors. I'd say they did a great job with what they had, given the technology, and regulatory situation of 1982.
Interesting that rumors of the Mark VII LSC were around in '82, same with the diesel option. I have one of each, a 91 LSC SE and an 84 Continental with the diesel.
I own an 83 and they definitely went overboard knowing it would be the last of the massive 8ft hood models, looks almost like this one but it has tailfins that stick out and flip up headlights
I like how this generation connie is fox-based. with little modification, you can theoretically jam the drivetrain and suspension from a terminator cobra, which I want to do some day :D
This was downsized to the Fox Fairmont platform to compete with the Seville, it sold a lot better than the granada based Versailles, and the nameplate continued to the Taurus platform
As much as I like the styling of this car, I probably would have avoided it if I were a potential customer just because I hate digital instrument clusters.
Yeah; they had LOTS of problems & recalls with those digital dashes (early '80s computer technology...what could go wrong?). I think I remember Ford offered plain analog gauges on later models as a no-cost option.
But this was available with the turbo diesel for 2 years. BTW, the turbo diesel had MORE horsepower than the standard V6: 112 versus 115 horsepower. When Ford wisely discontinued the gas V6 they almost directly replaced it with the inline 6 turbo diesel.
This is one of those Ford chassis that was really designed to have an extra 200 hp and still have the exact same driving dynamics, just that it would be A LOT faster and fry the 15" whitewalls from a dead stop. Ask me how I know, buddy bought an 83 model with a blown trans for cheap, stupidly clean, put in a built 302 and a 5 speed from a Mustang.
