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Junkyard Gem: 1979 Lincoln Continental Mark V Bill Blass Edition

The car news in 1979 America wasn't all bad, despite gas rationing and Detroit V8s producing 25 horsepower per liter of displacement. That's because some of the plushest, flashiest, white-powder-ready luxury coupes in history were rolling off assembly lines at the time. Ford's game was strong when it came to such machinery; there were long-snouted Thunderbird Town Landaus, opulent Cougar XR-7s and — best of all — the special-edition Lincoln Continental Mark Vs. The Lincoln Division had partnered with four prestigious fashion houses to lift the Mark V to unheard-of levels of conspicuous snazz, and I found one of those cars in a Denver car graveyard. The design houses that worked their magic on these Mark Vs were Givenchy, Pucci, Cartier and Bill Blass. Each had a distinctive color scheme and mob-boss-grade interior. The Pucci cars were the rarest, with only 763 built during the 1977-1979 model years whereas 6,720 Bill Blass Mark Vs were built during that period. Today's Junkyard Gem is the second 1979 Bill Blass Mark V I've found in this very junkyard; the previous find happened back in 2015. Bill Blass was an Indiana native who began his design career as a member of the 603rd Camouflage Battalion of the United States Army during World War II, helping to deceive the Germans with a fake "Ghost Army" poised to hit the beaches far from the actual D-Day sites. Blass worked with Ford from 1975 through 1992, when the last Bill Blass Mark VIIs were built (Cartier stuck it out much longer). The 1979 Bill Blass Mark V came with "Tu-Tone Midnight Blue Metallic" and white exterior paint, while the interior was done up in white or blue leather with contrasting straps and buttons bearing the Blass logo. This one is pretty icky after 44 years, but hints of its former glory can be seen. A white padded-vinyl "carriage roof" was standard equipment on the Bill Blass Mark V. It was a $1,200 option (about $5,286 in 2023 dollars) on ordinary Mark Vs. The one on this car trapped water against the sheet metal and caused it to rust out. All 1979 Mark Vs got the Cartier clock, with calendar function. A 400-cubic-inch (6.6-liter) V8 was mandatory on all 1979 Continental models. This one made 159 horsepower and 315 pound-feet, which was grim for a coupe that scaled in at nearly 4,600 pounds. The MSRP for the '79 Bill Blass Mark V was $16,546, or about $72,880 in today's money. The Collector's Series Mark V cost even more that year: $22,029 ($97,031 after inflation).

Ford launches mobile coronavirus test program with partners

For its latest coronavirus act, Ford has joined forces with a Detroit university, its affiliated physicians group and an Arab-American human services nonprofit to launch a mobile Covid-19 testing program for symptomatic first responders, health care workers and corrections officers in Michigan. Since Monday, Ford has been supplying Lincoln Navigators and drivers from the Lincoln Personal Driver pilot service, both offered through its Ford X in-house incubator. They’re equipped with tents, sanitation, power and Wi-Fi. Partners Wayne State University, the Wayne State University Physician Group and Dearborn-based ACCESS are providing staff and medical kits. The program is billed as an extension of drive-through testing sites operating in Detroit and Dearborn, but capable instead of bringing testing to locations and people who lack access to it. The mobile Navigator test vehicles will be capable of testing up to 100 people per day at no cost, with results returned within 24 to 36 hours. Testing will start at sites in southeast Michigan and then branch out to other parts of the state, including Battle Creek, Lansing and Grand Rapids. Michigan has been a major epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., with 27,001 confirmed cases and 1,768 deaths as of the most current data from Tuesday. The state has been under a stay-at-home order since March 23. With its factories remaining temporarily idled for vehicle production, Ford has kept busy branching out into the fight against the novel coronavirus on multiple fronts. It kicked off production of a waist-mounted, powered air-purifying respirator it designed with 3M on Tuesday, and it plans to begin building ventilators at a plant in Michigan next week. Earlier this week, Ford announced it was helping a supplier that makes airbags use the material instead for reusable medical gowns for health care workers. Employees are also manufacturing protective face masks at its Van Dyke Transmission Plant, plastic face shields at a subsidiary near Detroit and helping a medical device company ramp up production of Covid-19 field testing kits. Related Video:     Ford Lincoln SUV

Lincoln reveals the posh and powerful 2018 Navigator

If you were a fan of the Navigator concept from last year's New York show, we've got good news. The production Navigator looks just like it. Sure there are subtle changes. The gullwing doors are gone, but no one should be surprised by that. A side effect is that it has conventional chrome door handles, too. The lower grille in the front bumper is a tad different, and the rear taillights are a bit thicker, but the overall look has stayed the same. That includes the tall, regal grille with a mesh consisting of Lincoln badge outlines, the side vents on the fenders, and those beautiful, intricate turbine wheels. On the top-of-the-line Black Label models, the Navigator gets an illuminated badge that lights up with the puddle lights when the driver approaches. View 15 Photos Since the Navigator is based on the Ford Expedition, it's unsurprising that they're very similar mechanically. The Navigator has aluminum construction, and it's propelled by a version of the twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 found in so many Ford products. However, the Navigator's engine makes an impressive 450 horsepower compared with the expected 375 horsepower from the Expedition. Those plush ponies goes through a 10-speed automatic transmission. Inside, the Navigator stays true to the concept, and most important, shares essentially nothing with the plebeian Expedition. Like in the concept, the dashboard is low and wide and features plenty of wood and leather. The instrument panel is a configurable 12-inch display, and to its right is an upright, floating touch screen for infotainment. The buttons for shifting hang off the trailing edge of the dashboard, where a gap opens between it and the center console. The console houses the climate control buttons, and rises to meet the dash. Aside from the luxurious dash, occupants are treated to the Continental's 30-way adjustable front seats, which are heated and cooled. The interior should be whisper quiet as well, thanks to laminated front and side glass. This should allow passengers to better enjoy the available 20-speaker Revel II sound system even more. Plenty of gizmos and tech are at the fingertips of Navigator drivers, too. One of the more unique tidbits of technology are the adaptive headlights. At low speeds, the headlight beam is very wide to illuminate objects or pedestrians on the sides of the road. However, at high speeds, the beam narrows to reduce glare from street signs.