[Bill Murray]

I own a 1998 Continental and a recently inherited 1992 Town Car.

The Webmaster has been kind enough to add these vehicles to the board and I hope we can get something going on these two Lincoln vehicles.

From a personal point of view, I love the TC and I have serious problems with the Conti which are based on the way the vehicle was presented and the result I/We may have gotten.

My wife loves the Conti, I do not. I love the TC and she does not.

Let's get something going here on these two very interesting and hopefully collectible vehicles.

 

[Marqman]

Invite your fellow owners on over to this forum. Thanks for joining.

 

[bigbronco85]

here's another post!!!!Woo Hoo!

I have an 82 Mark VI, basically looks like the bastard child of a 1980 Lincoln Town Car and a 1979 Lincoln Mark V. Personally, I dislike the new continentals because they lack the one thing that makes a Continental, the simulated tire hump!
I saw the new Mark IX concept on blueovalnews.com, and I think that may have one, but the Continental definitely should have one as well.
Personally, I like the town car style you have better that the 98-present town cars, maybe someday I can get my hands on a clean 97 model...

Later,

 

[BLUECOLLAR]

Cont. vs. Town Car

Bill, I used to work on both on a daily basis. The cont. has got one of the best rides on the planet....but like everything....has its drawbacks! There's this thing called multi-plexing, where all the modules talk to one another. There are many on a continental. When it works....it works great....when it doesn't, its a headache waiting to happen. You can hookup the "New Generation Star Tester", and turn on the winshield washer to the dome light. All this is really cool and all, but it will come at a heavy price "one day many moons from now!" The Town Car has some goodies on it as well, but not to the extent of the conti. The Town Car will still be on the road long after the continental is in the scrapyard. One rule always stands true.....
"the more sophisticated a vehicle is...the more potential problems there are in the future." More toys means more things to go wrong later. Thats my 2 cents!:wink2:

 

[Bill Murray]

Bluecollar:

Thanks for the reply:

You are correct I am sure in that the Conti is a "compromise" vehicle in that it is cobbled up/off of another much cheaper platform.

Briefly, I worked for both Volvo and SAAB for 25 years before being knocked out of my "Cat Birds Perch" as a Vice President with Saab when General Motors purchased same in 1989 (I lasted until 1991 but it was ugly).

Although I had devoted almost half my life at that point to working for Swedish car companies, I had continued to have a great interest in muscle cars and street rods.

Having been sort of shafted by my Swedish colleagues, i said "OK" I will switch my allegiance back to American vehicles. As I was very used to what I guess I will call European Touring Cars, I hoped to find a similar type car in the American Catalog. First try was a '96 SHO that was, well not a disaster, but a terrible disappointment. Great motor, just great. Chassis left a lot to be desired but the greatest failure was the transmission, or more properly said the programming of the engine management that robbed the car of most of it's potential. Like shifting an old vacuum shift '41 Chevvy. Slooooooow. It was of course an automatic.

I needed a pickup and got one but still wanted a true American Touring Car close to what I had been used to.
So, late 1998 I leased a '98 Continental for my wife.

This $40K car is just really aggrivating to me. Not only does it have the same lazy trannie, but the engineers put on some really high performance tires that make so much road noise that I generally refuse to drive the car on any kind of long trips anymore. I accept that same noise in/on my Lightning as it is a pure gut wrenching performance machine but I do not like it in a car that was positioned to be a quick responsive touring car in the European tradition. Maybe the current LS is better, but it is a bit small for us.

As a side note, absenting that it is no canyon carver, my recently inherited '92 TC is actually more what I thought the Conti would be. It shifts harder, revs quicker and generally is a neat car to drive considering it's size and it is definitely my car of choice now to take a trip in. I am sure it is slower in absolute terms than the Conti but you don't notice it too much and it also gets about 25% better fuel consumption on cheap gas.

Hindsight being 20/20, I was not aware of performance chips/filter mods and the like a couple of years ago. I have made these mods to my Lightning and am a very happy camper. I will do likewise to the TC as I own it and I am sure it will become an even better car.

Again, thanks for your input, it is always good to hear from someone who actually works on these vehicles.

Bill

 

[BLUECOLLAR]

Tire noise

Hey Bill, One thing I faught regularly on the '95- continentals, was tire wear. I would strongly suggest getting an alignment. I'll even take it further, you need to "bribe" the best alignment tech you know into doing a ...what I called..."a zero-tolerance alignment". This includes subframe alignment and the whole thing! Get the alingment the closest to perfect as humanly possible! Plus rotate your tires every 6,000 miles....religiously! NO MATTER WHAT FORD SAYS....PUT 35 P.S.I. IN THE FRONT TIRES! It WILL ride a little harsh, but if you can live with it, the tires will love you.

As far as those big car companies go......they can be awfully brutal when they want to be...huh?:CraZ:

 

[Bill Murray]

Evening BC:

Yes, I forgot to mention the tire wear issue.
Last Oct., we were getting ready to go to the annual Hobby Show in Chicago and I turned the Conti in for a normal service. About 20K miles and all I asked for was a LOF and tire rotation.

I got a call from the Service Mgr. stating that the two front tires were worn down to the cord on the inside. Bear in mind that the car is babied and the rest of the front tires had at least 50% tread left as did the rears.

$600 later, we were good to go on our trip, but not too happy. Said Service Mgr. also stated that the Conti was their "highest maintenance cost vehicle by far".

As a side note, I am about to have to purchase a set of front rotors (the third and the car is now out of warranty).

Honestly, I am not a chronic complainer, but it is frustrating that some of these vehicles are, in my humble opinion, rather under engineered or victims of the bean counter mentality that apparently dictates that cost is a more meaningful measure than quality and perhaps customer satisfaction.

It sometimes comes to mind that I could have spent the same amount of money on a Toyota/Honda/Nissan product and maybe not had to have gone through all this aggrivation.

Just a thought

 

[Guest]

01 Lincoln Continental

I have a 01 Continental. I havent had a problem with the car untill a lady in an old Nissan Hit the passanger rear door and has been in the body shop for over a month. It has the DOHC 4.6 in it. (The only reason I got it over the Town Car with its SOHC 4.6.) I have yet to take it to the track to see what numbers it will put out but you can feel all the power when you get on it and has tons of T-steer from a dead stop with the pedal to the floor. I would expect mid to low 14s. Does anyone have any times for the car?