2003 Lincoln Town Car Signature Sedan 4-door 4.6l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Junkyard Gem: 1979 Lincoln Continental Town Car

Ford built Continentals from the 1940 through 2020 model years (with a couple of pauses during that period), and the biggest and arguably most extreme Continentals of all were the 1977-1979 models. That's what we've got for today's Junkyard Gem: a 1979 Continental Town Car with Cream paint outside and plenty of Light Gold Jubilee velour inside, found in a self-service boneyard in Sparks, Nevada. Thanks to the big 5 mph crash bumpers, the overall length of the 1977-1979 Continental sedan stretched to an astounding 233 inches. That's more than a foot longer than the 2024 Lincoln Navigator, though the Navigator scales in at more than a half-ton heavier than the '79 Continental sedan. For the 1980 model year, the Continental went onto the Panther platform and shed 10 inches of wheelbase, more than 13 inches of length and 500 pounds of curb weight. Considering the geopolitical events of 1979 and their effect on fuel prices, this turned out to be good timing … but the downsized '80 Continental didn't look as imposing (or as white-powder-dusted) when it pulled up to the valet parking stand at the disco. When your sedan weighs 4,649 pounds, you want serious power under its hood Â… and that was a rare commodity among 1979 automobiles sold in the United States. This is a 400-cubic-inch (6.6-liter) pushrod V8, essentially a stroked 351 Cleveland, rated at 159 horsepower and 315 pound-feet. That means that each of this car's horses had to drag 29.2 pounds, a ratio that's quite a bit worse than that of the much-maligned-for-slowness 2024 Mitsubishi Mirage (though the respectable torque made driving these cars tolerable enough in most situations). The interior was all about cushy seats and space to stretch out. The silver-faced gauges were very classy. Opera lights? You bet! This would have been an excellent, if thirsty, long-distance highway cruiser for its day. There were some 1999 coupons inside, suggesting that the car had been parked for a quarter-century before coming to this place. The high-elevation desert sun is murder on vinyl roofs. On January 10, 1981, people associated with this fine luxury automobile played golf at Willow Glen in San Diego. On the same day, Richard Boone died and Jared Kushner was born. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. A standard by which luxury cars are judged.

Slew of Ford recalls affect more than a million vehicles

Ford is closing out September with the sad task of alerting owners to five different recalls, two of them camera related. The first is a safety compliance recall affecting 620,246 units of 12 models from the 2020 model year: Edge, Escape, Expedition, Explorer, F-150 and Super Duty, Mustang, Ranger, and Transit, plus the Lincoln Corsair, MKX, and Nautilus. On these vehicles, the circuit board in the rearview camera suffers from insufficient electrical conductivity. The issue can cause the resulting image to not appear or to be distorted, which can lead to an accident while reversing. Ford will begin notifying owners as of November 7 to get their vehicles to dealers for replacement of the rearview camera. The internal Ford reference for this recall is 20C19. The second camera-related issue affects the 2020 and 2021 Ford Explorer, Lincoln Corsair and Lincoln Aviator with the 360-degree camera. Technically, if you own a 2021 Explorer that only has a rearview camera and not a 360-degree camera, neither the above recall nor this one apply to you, but it's probably better safe than sorry here. There are 354,330 crossovers covered by this action. A video output issue could cause the displayed image to cut out, increasing the chances of a reversing accident. Ford will notify dealers starting October 7, the fix being to have a dealer update the Image Processing Module software. The NHTSA campaign number for this recall is 21V735, Ford’s internal reference number is 21S44.  The F-250 and F-350 Super Duty are in for another recalls thanks to potentially improper welds on the front axle's wheel end yoke. A bad weld could alter steering performance, getting the truck to pull left or right, or change the sensitivity of the steering. There are 9,628 affected trucks in the U.S. and 961 in Canada. Dealers will replace the axle assembly if any bad welds are found. Ford's reference number for this is 20S56. The fourth recall affects 38,005 Mustangs in the U.S. and another 2,873 Mustangs in Canada and Mexico from the 2020 model year. In this instance, the brake pedal bracket might fracture during sudden stopping, which can decrease brake pressure and increase the chances of an accident. Ford's internal reference for this recall is 20S52, the fix being to have a dealer replace the brake pedal bracket assembly. Finally, 126,033 units of the 2011 to 2013 Explorer are being recalled over a potential suspension issue.

Sunday Drive: Trucks and SUVs of all shapes and sizes

The American automotive marketplace is dominated by trucks and SUVs, and so was the last week of coverage on Autoblog. By far, the most popular story of the week was our First Drive of the 2018 Lincoln Navigator. It may look like an old-school lumberer, but in reality Lincoln's flagship is a thoroughly modern, turbocharged-V6-powered, three-row, luxury people mover. The Jeep Wrangler is the world's most recognizable vehicle. So it's no surprise that the next version looks a whole heck of a lot like the last one, and the one before. It's all in the details, which is why we were so excited when Jeep decided to unleash a trio of images showing both two- and four-door Wranglers for us to dissect ahead of the SUV's official debut at the L.A. Auto Show later this year. Past that, spy photos of the next Chevy Silverado and Ram 1500 were predictably popular. See both of those below, and the cap it all off, check out the entire week's worth of SEMA coverage – including the bonkers Hennessey VelociRaptor 6x6 – in our mega image gallery at the bottom of this post. Enjoy! As always, tune in to Autoblog next week for a front-row seat to all the happenings worth following in the automotive industry. 2018 Lincoln Navigator First Drive | From black sheep to flagship 2018 Jeep Wrangler revealed: First photos released before L.A. Auto Show debut 2019 Chevy Silverado looks slim and clean beneath the camo 2019 Ram 1500 gets vertical touchscreen infotainment system 2017 SEMA Show Mega Photo Gallery Chevrolet Jeep Lincoln RAM Truck SUV recap sunday drive