Faults:

Carburetor.

General Comments:

Great freeway car, awesome on trips. This Lincoln has had the kinda doggy 400, 6.6 ltr engine with the 2 bbl carb, smog engine. Driving on mountain grades was not good, so I did some engine work right after I bought this beauty. I put in a new Melling RV camshaft, lifters and pushrods, put in a timing gear set from a 1971 non-smog 400, put on an Edelbrock performer 4 bbl carb intake manifold and a 625 CFM carter AFB carb, and took off the 2 catalytic converters, since here in Nevada, 1981 up needs catalytic converter.

The torque and power is amazing, it will out perform a 460 of the same era. The torque of this engine will snap you head back now.

My gas mileage improved, from 17.5 MPG to a flat 20 MPG on the freeway, and the 400 is easier to work on than the 460.

I love her more now that she rolls like a locomotive down the road.

This is my 6th Lincoln Continental from the '70s, and my favorite also.

Faults:

Carburetor.

Several starters.

Brake Hydro-boost.

Radiator.

Power steering high pressure line.

General items like brakes, tires, battery...

General Comments:

I bought this car right out of college. 87k miles and it cost me $1200 in 1988. I drove it for 5 or 7 years and ended up selling it at around 213k miles. I saw it 3 years later on the road (I could tell because of the 2 bumper stickers I had) and it was still going. Very little rust, no leaking fluids, no burning oil, and still passed the emissions tests back then.

It was an old car when I got it, and while I owned it a few things broke. I had multiple starters because the local auto parts store rebuilt starters were not that great. I went through about 5 in 3 months. One lasted 3 starts. When I brought that one in they said they switched to a new supplier and that was the last starter I ever needed.

I replaced the starter, the radiator, and the carb myself. Easy to work on and cheap parts (found the radiator at a junk yard).

What can I say? It's a freaking BOAT that got 9 or 10 MPG. The A/C was ICE COLD and the heat was great. A smooth ride. I backed over a metal garbage can and dragged it down the block as it was stuck under my rear bumper and I didn't even know it. A person walking their dog tapped on my windows and said "Did you know there is a garbage can stuck under your bumper?"

A great car for taking your friends out. I could fit 7 people total in the car. 3 in front and 4 in the back. Street parking was difficult in the city.

It did have a nice 460 V8 with a 4 barrel carb. It was not much off the line, but once it got moving it would pass anything except a gas station.

It felt safe too. Like being in a German Tiger Tank. Hondas and Subarus just bounce off this thing. I accidentally dozed off one night when driving and clipped some of those metal construction horses with the little flashing light. I bumped liked 2 or 3 going 40 and no damage to the massive chrome bumpers. It was smooth like riding on glass.

Mine had a trailering package which included a 3 core radiator, 4 wheel disc brakes, and a posi-traction rear end. It was great in the snow. The extreme weight along with the better rear end meant I never got stuck. It didn't fishtale very easily either, but once it did, watch out. Lots of weight = lots of momentum.