1978 Lincoln Continental Mark V Hardtop Coupe

For 1978, Lincoln's large personal luxury coupe had a list price of $12,100 and produced 72,602 examples. Few exterior changes were made; the refinements they made were mechanical along with new standard wheel covers. Ford offered a special Diamond Jubilee Edition to commemorate the company's 75th Anniversary. It came in a choice of special Diamond Blue or Jubilee Gold clearcoat metallic paint. They had a Valino grain landau vinyl roof with matching Valino grain accent molding. They had a unique hood ornament, a special paint stripe on the hood, and the vertical grille bars were color-keyed to the body color. Other unique features included bright-edged fender louvers, coach lamps, and special opera windows with 'Diamond Jubilee Edition' script and a simulated diamond chip laminated in the beveled glass.

Inside were Diamond Jubilee leather/cloth bucket seats with a unique style and power lumbar support. There was real simulated ebony woodgrain inserts, unique keys with woodtone applique inserts, and leather-bound owner's manual and a leather-bound tool kit. A leather-covered console held an umbrella. They had an illuminated entry, interval wipers, tilt steering, and several other amenities.

The Diamond Jubilee editions rode on dual wide-band whitewall steel-belted radials.

The Mark V came with two engines choices; a 6.6-liter V8 with Selectshift or the 460 CID V8. The 6.6-liter version produced 166 horsepower while the option 7.5-liter offered 210 horsepower.

The option list included digital miles-to-empty indicator, integral garage door opener, lighted outside thermometer, wire wheel covers, and power retractable CB antenna. A Designer Series was also available. Bill Blass had midnight cordovan body color with light champagne landau vinyl roof in Valino grain. The Carier edition was finished in light champagne body color with light champagne landau vinyl roof. Mark's Pucci edition came in light silver metallic body color, with black landau vinyl roof in Cayman grain. They had the Pucci logo, black body side moldings and unique paint/tri-tone tape stripes.

The Givenchy edition came with the double-G Givenchy logo, bodyside moldings, dual paint stripes, and were finished in midnight jade body color. They also had a unique forward half-vinyl roof in light chamois color pigskin. The interior was Jade leather and vinyl interior trim and a unique broad lace insert in the seatback.

By Daniel Vaughan | Nov 2013