28th Jul 2004, 01:30
If you have driven a fast car, you will realize that older Lincolns are slow. All of the Lincolns from the eighties have no power. 150 horsepower in a 4,000 pound plus car is nothing. THe only cars you will smoke are late seventies and eighties sportscars with six cylinder engines. Sorry it's the truth.
8th Oct 2004, 09:01
I also agree that compared to today's powerful cars those Lincolns of the 80's were, or are, extremely underpowered. However, for their day, they were fast compared to the competition.I'll never forget my elderly aunt next to a Fleetwood Brougham at a red light. As soon as the light turned green, my aunt punched it,much to my bewilderment. Imagine a 60 year old lady flooring anything, much less a Lincoln. Needless to say the Caddy old lady must have had a hot foot as well, because she stepped on the gas too. However, the Lincoln's smaller weight and more "powerful" engine allowed the Continental to accelerate very quickly to speeds I thought Lincolns from the 80's could not reach. The Fleetwood lady caught up to us eventually, at the next red light that is!
15th Sep 2009, 19:53
These Lincolns make perfect sleeper cars. They were built on a stretched Mercury Cougar platform, meaning all the high performance Mustang and Thunderbird parts can be swapped over (OEM or aftermarket).
The mushy suspension comes from using soft oversized bushings in the control arms and soft springs (air bags or coil springs). Upgrade to Thunderbird Turbo Coupe steering, suspension and sway bars.
These flat tappet cam engines are cheaper to upgrade than HO roller engines, so cam kits and headers are a good first step. The MAF mass airflow conversion kits or junkyard parts swap are a good idea if you're going for a lot of power and you don't want computer problems. The Ford Explorer 5.0 L V8 engines use the newer better version of the GT40 heads, so if you need to replace a worn out engine, look for the Explorer version and you can find one, often for less money than the older Mustang GT engines go for.
5th Mar 2004, 19:40
I don't agree with the above comment. I own a 1984 Lincoln Continental (not Mark VII) and it is certainly not a car that will many drag races. The only cars you might blow the doors off of are diesel powered cars. I would describe the power in these cars are merely adequate, especially the older ones with CFI fuel injection.