[dirt_cheap_fleetwood]

But I bought a Lincoln. :hmm:

Yep, I was flipping through Craigslist tonight and came across this, a 1988 Mark VII LSC. Its got 107k miles and he wanted $1700 for it. I went to have a look, and its in rather good condition. No rust anywhere, there is just a little bubbling on the leading edge of the trunk. I paid $1500.

I talked to the guy for a while to find out its history. He has owned the car for the past 15 years and has taken pretty good care of it. The suspension was completely replaced a few years ago, both the bags and compressor. It has newer Michelin Hydroedge tires on it and the A/C has been converted to R-134 and is in working order.

It has a few minor issues. The radio does not play actual radio, but the tape player works flawlessly. Que the mp3 tape adapter and I'm good to go. The cruise does not work, but I don't really need that for my around town daily driver. The driver seat was torn but he put a cover on it, so there is no perforated leather for me bum. There is a short in the dash so the tach and the fuel gauge are inoperative when the headlights are on, no big issue there either. The power steering pump may also be on its way out, but that I can replace myself with relative ease. He even included all the factory service manuals for the car. Its mostly just little things that I will simply deal with and not waste time trying to fix. Nothing a little TLC can't solve. As I said, this is just an around town daily driver to keep me from putting miles on the Brougham while I wait for my grandparents to sell their Infiniti. I should be able to sell the car for what I paid.

Now the fun part, performance. Yes. It is not blazing fast, but its got some definite go under the hood. It handles like you wouldn't friggin believe. On the way home there was a time when there were no other cars within a half mile of me on the highway so I decided to do some rapid lane changes at 65mph. It was fun. The ride is also superb, easily on par with my old '95 DeVille. This thing soaks up the bumps perfectly but you can whip it around a corner if you wanted to. Interior noise is so so but not unbearable. The owner also had Mustang GT mufflers installed recently so it has a very nice grumble to it when you get on the throttle.

The interior is nice, a little snug, but I am tall so its hard to find one I fit nicely in. There are so many buttons, I am in heaven. :cloud9: The seats are extremely comfortable and even has leg supports that are power adjustable.

That's all for tonight, more pictures to come tomorrow in the daylight, hopefully.

 

[gdwriter]

Congrats; should make for an entertaining daily driver so you can keep that beautiful Brougham in as nice a shape as it's in.

 

[Aron9000]

Moar buttons=Moar luxary!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've always liked those from a design perspective. They were one of the first cars to use composite headlamps in this country too. Did those cars have an IRS or was it a solid axle?

 

[DopeStar 156]

I miss my 89 Mark VII....

 

[Night Wolf]

Sweet, another Lincoln owner! Hopefully I'll get myself off my butt to sell mine soon. Desire to drive it lately? None.

Should be a fun ride tho. You may want to change the TV bushings on the trans as perventative maintenance, if it goes out the trans will be done in a matter of miles.

Check out lincolnsonline for excellent tech writeups.

 

[96Fleetwood]

Unexpected happens... I was supposed to purchase a new G8 GT... and came home with a Ferd... errr... Marauder thing :suspect: Good thing is our Cadillacs stay preserved!

I remember my Father purchased a '87 Mark VII new... he traded it on a '87 Vette later that year because the Mark leaked oil since new and the small town dealer refused to fix it. I was only 7 at the time, but I do remember all the gadgets (the removable top in the Vette made up for the lack of buttons).

Enjoy it! Gotta love these uber cheap "throw away" cars as daily drivers!

 

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

I like those! The Mark VII's are always overshadowed by the Mark VIII's, but the VII is a heck of a cool car as well. The styling is very cool, and pretty timeless, especially considering it was originally penned in probably 1981 or '82. John, I know you're like me when it comes to this, but big square cars rock! Nothing like having hard-edged curves and razor sharp lines.. How's the 302's power? Does it compare well to the 4.9's power in your '95 DeVille? Is it a lot faster than your Brougham?

Aron, it has an IRS. Four bar link with air spring on lower arm and a stabilizer bar.

You got a heck of a good deal for $1500, be proud! Is it a greyish color or like a light blue? I have the 1989 and '90 Mark VII brochures at home and I can tell you the exterior color name. The interior color is called shadow blue. Are you planning on bringing this to the track during the meet? I'd be curious to see what it runs.. You and Brian need to have a "who can buy and sell more cars in a year" competition. I think he's up to four now. Is this your 4th as well?

Enjoy it! Now go make a burnout video! :lildevil:

 

[RightTurn]

Nice. Now we need those daytime pics.

 

[dirt_cheap_fleetwood]

First thing to fix is the power steering pump, its going. It makes fantastic noises when you turn at stop and the fluid is nice and milky. Yum.

Chad, the power is fairly good, but less than what I expected from what is essentially a fancy Mustang or Thunderbird. From a dead stop it is a dog but at high RPM it is much quicker. The thing is a rocket from 25-65 and pulls pretty well all the way past 85. It is easily the best performing car I have ever owned, but that is not saying much (Isuzu FTW!). The '95 had much more off the line power and so does the Brougham but above 30 they both died off significantly. The Lincoln is also the only car I have owned to have headers and true dual exhaust. It is a light blue exterior.

I forgot to mention this thing has automatic high beams, just like the Caddies did back in the day. It will automatically turn the high beams on and off when it sees oncoming traffic. It works pretty well and I was playing with it on the way home.

 

[hueterm]

I love Mark VIIs.....

 

[Florian]

I think you overpaid.


F

 

[billc83]

Congrats on the new ride.

 

[orconn]

Sure has got alot of buttons, assuming tey all do something signicant you should have fun! I very rarely see Continentals of that vintage here in Richmond, actually I don't remember them being that common when they were new. My step-father had a 1985 Thunderbird Turbo that we inherited when it had 17,000 miles on it (it was 9 years old, my mother had used it to get groceries after my step-father passed pass away). These mid 1980's Ford products were the companies attempts to put some quality back into their cars. They were also the first of the "Jelly Bean" cars along with the Taurus and Sables. The Thunderbird Turbo was a darling of the Car press at the time. Truth be told it was OK when it got its' boost up but was a dogoff the line. The suspension was prretty oogd and those huge tires really did their job. The Turbo ended up being my son's high school car and was stolen (really) from in front of the house just before I was to try and sell it! The only car I have ever had stolen.

 

[gdwriter]

That damn Craigslist. :histeric:

I was just browsing Craigslist for Cadillacs right before the February Chicago meet when I found that '02 Seville, and that got me thinking about an upgrade. Although I didn't buy that car, it did keep me looking, and I found a nicer Seville with fewer miles for a better price. Win-win-win! And four months and 6,000 miles later, I'm still crazy about the car.

 

[MauiV]

Nice buy, love those cars. Tons of go-fast parts for that 5.0.

There is a burgandy one here in town with a cam, headers and tach/shift light on the dash. He thought he wanted some of the Caddy one day, he was wrong.

 

[dirt_cheap_fleetwood]

Well, here's the daytime pictures. As I said, the body is damn near perfect, which as others can attest is rare around here. A little bit of work to get rid of the yellow in the headlights and it will look great. There is just the one small bubbling spot near the trunk. It looks very close to the color of the Brougham but it is slightly lighter. The interior is worn but not completely beat to hell. I had no idea you could have so many controls just for headlights.

 

[Red_October_7000]

Damn! That's a nice car! Needs some tender loving care with Armour-All and a trip to the scrap yard for some fresher parts, but those things asside, it's awesome! Those Lincoln Coupès were sweet, I'd love to have one and mod the piss outta it so it'd blow the doors off anything else. Best of luck with it!

 

[Guest]

The Mark VII has always been a body style I love. About 6 months ago I went and test drove a black '88 LSC with 17" Black Bullet wheels and a 5 speed (owner modified). Looked sharp but drove like crap. The manual transmission just felt bad throws were too long and the clutch would not go all the way down, etc. Needed paint and the interior was falling apart. That specific one was great in concept but terrible in excecution.

 

[Eric Kahn]

but you really wanted the 84 turbo diesel version

 

[Red_October_7000]

There was one, I can't remember, it was a sedan that looked like that, that you could get with the manual from the factory. Was a very low production option like the diesel IIRC. I've pictues of one somewhere.

EDIT: Ah, I figured it out. It was an option on the GTC, which itself was a rare option on top of the LSC. Combined a High-output 5.8 litre engine with the 5-speed and a different rear-end ratio. Exactly what I want as a "turnkey" solution. The production figures I saw, though, were so low I doubt any GTC cars still exist (fewer than fifty were made) much less any with the 5-speed (part of the top package on the GTC, it had the 5.8 litre and the 5-speed, only a handful were ordered.)