We made it! It’s Friday, which means it’s time for us to do something a little special. Today, we’re celebrating the start of New York Fashion Week, in the only way we know how. But before we get to today’s supermodels, we need to finish up with yesterday’s Brits:
Surprising win for the tatty Triumph! Lots of you loved the cute-as-a-button Minor (I know my wife did), but in the end the allure of open-air motoring and some actual horsepower won the day.
Today’s theme was suggested by reader MaximillianMeen, who was shocked to hear that I had no idea that today marked the start of New York’s famous Fashion Week. Sorry, Max; I am not a dedicated follower of fashion, unless flannel shirts from Costco are in this year. I am, however, a Kinks fan, if that counts for anything.
It seems that automakers will try just about anything to make their cars seem special: high-performance variants, stripe-and-wheel packages that look high-performance but aren’t, special editions commemorating this and that, and the focus of our studies today, the “designer editions” that were so popular in the 1970s and 80s. There are still some around: I have recently become the proud caretaker of a John Varvatos Edition Chrysler 300, though it will surprise no one who knows me that I had to look up who John Varvatos is. I do, however, remember the two cars we’re going to look at today, one with a tie-in to famed jeweler Cartier, and the other to leather and handbag specialist Mark Cross. Like all things with designer labels, both of these are ridiculously overpriced, but we’ll let that slide today.
1979 Lincoln Continental Mark V Cartier Signature Series – $22,900
Engine/drivetrain: 400 cubic inch overhead-valve V8, three-speed automatic, RWD
Location: Medford, OR
Odometer reading: 61,000 miles
Runs/drives? Yep!
1979 was a bad time to be selling a personal luxury car. Gas prices were up, the economy was down, and if that weren’t bad enough, John Travolta was popular. I was six years old, and even I knew shit was bad. And in the midst of all of this, Ford Motor Company was trying to sell a two-door luxury car the size of an aircraft carrier. Miraculously, they managed to move nearly a quarter million of these over the course of three years.
This Cartier Series is one of several designer series Mark Vs sold, alongside editions from Bill Blass, Givenchy, and Emilio Pucci. Each designer series had its own color schemes available, and while I generally am not a fan of white cars, I think this works. The Mark V is such a grand and bold design that it doesn’t need further embellishment. And the white leather seats against the blue carpet is just fabulous.
This Lincoln has only 61,000 miles on it, and it’s just about spotless. It’s powered by the smaller of two V8 engines available, a 400 cubic incher topped with a two-barrel carburetor. Ford’s monstrous 460 was also available, and it got a four-barrel. Transmitting the engine’s power and torque to the rear wheels is, of course, an automatic transmission. Only three speeds; this car pre-dates overdrive automatics.
It’s more than nineteen feet long, it likely gets single-digit gas mileage, and it’s too much to use every day, unless you’re a fictional oil tycoon. But if you’re looking for sheer presence, nothing else even comes close.
1985 Chrysler LeBaron Town & Country Convertible Mark Cross Edition – $15,000
Engine/drivetrain: Turbocharged 2.2 liter overhead-cam inline 4, three-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Riverside, CA
Odometer reading: 18,000 miles
Runs/drives? “Like a dream!”
Taste. Refinement. Subtlety. These are all qualities that no one in their right mind ever associated with the K-era Chrysler LeBaron. Lee Iacocca may have had a winning business formula, but his sense of style was sometimes a bit, well, gaudy. Chryslers of this era adopted a “more is more” approach to styling elements. But if you’re going to get wet, the saying goes, you might as well go for a swim.
The Chrysler LeBaron, and its Dodge 400/600 sister, brought the American convertible back from the dead after six long open-air-less years. Originally powered (if you can use that term) by the K-car’s standard engine choices of a Chrysler-made 2.2 liter or a Mitsubishi 2.6 liter four, the LeBaron got a much-needed infusion of horsepower in 1984 from a turbocharger and multi-port fuel injection. It was about a fifty-percent increase in power, taking the LeBaron’s performance from dismal to merely adequate. (Though I do have a soft spot for turbocharged Chryslers from the mid-80s, due more to the circumstances surrounding them than the cars themselves.)
I wasn’t exaggerating with the name of this car above; that’s really it. This car has more names than Dumbledore. The Town & Country part refers to the exterior fake-wood treatment, with the Continental kit apparently being a rare factory option (I wonder why). To find the Mark Cross part, you need to look inside.
The interiors of ’80s Chryslers was always the best part, and the Mark Cross edition has nice comfy leather seats, and is embellished with little logos on the door panels. The seller does say that it runs and drives perfectly, as you would expect with only 18,000 miles on the clock. And you can rest in the knowledge that, no matter how the rest of the car may hold up, the sound system is indestructible.
Honestly, I don’t know who the buyer is for either of these cars, at the prices they’re asking. You have to really love the car, and have the money to spend, and that’s going to be a rare combination for either of these. But for the sake of argument, let’s say you have the money. Which one is going in your garage?
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
I’ll take the Chrysler because a convertible is always better than a hardtop. It’ll go twice, maybe three times as many miles per gallon as the land yacht, will be a bit faster, and if anyone doesn’t like it, that’s their problem, not mine. The spare tire on the rear bumper would get excised, if it can be done without too much trouble.
The interior of the Lincoln is nicer looking, except for the blue seat belts over white seats.
Back to reality, none of us would buy either of these overpriced, obsolete Grandpamobiles. We know better, and won’t pad the wallets of the used car dealerships where they are parked.
Gosh, that Lincoln is spectacular. Those oval opera windows OOZED class.
If I can’t get it in Wasabi green, I’ll take this beige Trains-Planes-&-Automobiles-mobile! 🙂
I voted Lincoln but both of these are cars are overpriced by about 2x. If you’re going to get this era Lincoln, steer clear of the 400 and go for the 460 available 1973 – 1978 in this body style. Much better motor.
And they are still K-Cars. I hated them forty years ago, I hate them now. Besides, none of that matters if you prefer the Lincoln, because none of those are why you want it.
Both cost too much. However, since this is a thought exercise, I think anyone who would spend one thin dime on a K-Car has spent nine cents too much. And that’s before we get to the part about how absolutely GLORIOUS that Lincoln is.
Bigger is better, baby. Lincoln all the way.
Lincoln all the way. Cruise the Interstate at 80 mph while playing the theme song from “Cannon.” That poor Chrysler didn’t look good with the top up or down, and the wood trim was atrocious.
Only way I could wrap my head around these choices was “pretend they’re free”. Since I am not going to respect the designer edition I want to desecrate one. Oops, Lee already did that to the k-car. That leaves me with the MKV, which I will paint haze grey with white hull markings reading MK-5. Then tear the engine down and take the block to a good machine shop. Don’t stop putting go fast bits on it until it’s fun. Leave the interior alone, it’s nice.
There is nothing like driving that land yacht. You can’t judge them by other standards. Once you get on the superslab, you’re coddled. It’s got style like nothing else, too. I wish that I had the coin to buy it right now. I would be driving it home right now, with a big s-eating grin on my face.
You don’t have to be John Voight to appreciate that convertible.
This shouldn’t be a hard decision. The prices are way too high for both these cars, so I’m going to forget about price for a sec. I drove my grandfather’s 1979 Plymouth Fury for a few years in the late 90s – I know this Lincoln is substantially bigger than that, and I miss the long highway cruises in these types of cars, so I still lust after a boat like this, especially in such great nick.
But there is something so f-cking tacky and absurd about the LeBaron, plus the fact that it is a convertible, so everyone could see who exactly made this horrible life decision… I know it would probably explode in a ball of wood veneer sooner than later, regardless of the low miles and seemingly great preservation, but this thing needs to strut its stuff. It’s so disgusting, I can’t look away. It would be like hooking up with the ugliest person at a party and they’re also horrible in bed, but you still had the time of your life regardless.
Both remind me of Tonald Drump.
Hell no.
I’d better walk.
Great kitsch.
I’ll take mine topless.
My vote goes to the Chrysler. Even though it looks more cheesy, it’ll use way less fuel and be faster/better to drive than that old Lincoln with the Cleveland 400M V8.
Plus the Chrysler is $7000 cheaper. And it has fuel injection.
So it gets my vote.
I don’t have nostalgia for the old carb’d boat-cars of the 1970s as I remember how crap they were from when I was young.
Carbs from the US automakers from that era were often unreliable junk.
That’s not to say fuel injection systems were always trouble-free. But in my experience, they were a huge improvement.
I agree, for the very same reasons. If you’re going to blow too much money on an old car, at least blow seven thousand less. Convertible is better, 4 cylinders is better than a thirsty old boat that you could never resell if you tried. The Lincoln does have a nicer interior, but I would rather ride a bicycle than drive that pretentious, humongous whale. At least the Chrysler is humorously ironic in that it is an economy car playing at being a luxury car.
Those LeBarons were like roaches on the road back when they were new. The K car was not oK – they were krap, with the early ones being slightly-mobile chicanes. With the Lincoln, as least you’ll be able to get out of your own way (although just).
” With the Lincoln, as least you’ll be able to get out of your own way (although just).”
No… that old Lincoln has a much worse power-to-weight ratio than that turbo Chrysler.
For 1979, Ford sold that 400 Continental with just a single exhaust… which meant only 158hp if left stock… and it’s driving at least 4700lbs… 29lbs/hp. You could stick on a dual exhaust and increase that to about 180hp… or 26lbs/hp
The Chrysler has 146hp pulling around 2500lbs… 17lbs/hp.
The Chrysler will be way faster and handle better. I’ve driven K-cars… they may feel cheap, but they were still hugely better to drive in terms of acceleration, braking and handling compared to the malaise-era land yachts.