Specifications:
Name: 1977 Lincoln Continental Mark V
Year Produced: 1977-1979
Number Built: 80,321
Class: Full-size luxury car
Body Type: 2-door coupe
Engine: 8-cyl. 400cid/179hp 2bbl
Power: 179 hp @ 4000 RPM
0-60mph: 12.6 seconds
Top Speed: 111 mph
Transmission: 3-speed automatic
Length/width/height: 230.3 in/79.7 in/52.9 in
Wheelbase: 120.4 in.
Base Price: US$11,396
Current Value: (?)- not $95,000!!
Why would you not drive a 1977 Lincoln Continental Mark V?
Well Murray Mitchell has decided that he is better off paying for storage rather than drive this classic car. So far Murray has spent over $95,000 storing his 1977 Lincoln Continental Mark V since driving it only 5,587 kilometres in the first year of ownership. The Lincoln has spent the majority of its entire life in storage. So why has he done this?
Murray declared “After some time, I didn’t want to put any miles on the car because it may be the lowest mileage Continental of that year in existence.” To be more precise, Murray has owned his car for a total of 456 months, has stored it for 444 months at an average cost of US$200. Doing the math, that means he spent US$88,800 for storage rental alone not including the cost of maintenance. With such rising costs for the car’s storage, Murray is now considering of finding his Lincoln a new owner. The only question is if he can sell his classic for more than its storage and maintenance cost. A similar 1977 Lincoln with an even lower mileage was sold for only US$28,000.
What do you make of this?
Meanwhile, Hagerty gives this brief overview of the Lincoln Mark V, considering this as the epitome of automotive luxury of its time:
“Following on the great strengths of the Continental Mk III and Mk IV, Lincoln introduced the 1977 Continental Mk V as an evolution of its predecessors. The new car had a more squared-off appearance, but several styling characteristics carried over: concealed headlights, turn signals incorporated into the leading edge of the front fenders, an upright chrome grille, the trademark hump across the edge of the trunklid, and the oval “opera windows” in the C-pillars… The Mk V marked the apex of Lincoln luxury and engineering, as subsequent cars became victims of stricter federal requirements, badge engineering, and shifting buying habits”.
In case you haven’t notice, this Lincoln Continental was also featured in several highly rated TV shows in the 70s such as Dallas, Starsky and Hutch, Knots Landing, and CHIPS.
With such history behind this classic, we surely hope that Murray will have a run for his money.
I understand his point but at this juncture, the only value those super low miles will have will be when he sells the car at a big name classic car auction. And it will only be valuable if he happens to attract someone who absolutely can’t live with out a ’77 Mark V with low miles. Otherwise, it will only be worth what someone will pay him for it.
And he’ll most likely NEVER recover his storage costs. Very doubtful he’d get $95K+ out of his Lincoln.
And it’s doubtful he’d recover his storage costs. No way he’d get $95K+ out of his Mark V.
To me it seems like a silly decision to take it off the road and store it for such a long time. I personally don’t consider much past ’72 to be a classic. I doubt I’m alone in that thought. Someday we’re all going to be dead, he should have enjoyed it while he could. Good luck to ya buddy…