Retro Lincoln Continental Video.
These are just a few ideas of what a new Lincoln Continental could look like. If Ford was interested in giving Lincoln a big luxury sedan, that is…
Most very modern sedans now seem to look like something out of China. Even Buick is trying very hard to compete with designs that appeal to the local market. However, I truly think American luxury brands are just sitting on a mountain full of wonderful ideas and design cues from the past. Designs that could, and should, influence modern cars and give them a sorely missing dose of personality.
A Cadillac doesn’t have to look like an Audi, and a big Lincoln sedan shouldn’t look like an Xpeng sedan.
Even though Lincoln used the name Continental as early as 1939, the one we all know the most is the fourth generation that came out in 1961. The 4th generation Lincoln Continental was mostly the same until a redesign in 1966. The fifth generation, produced from 1970 to 1979, never had the presence of the 1960s designs and had become one of many huge American sedans. With far less personality than before. It just wasn’t special anymore. A redesign on the same platform in 1975 definitely gave the car a bit more presence. You can still see a lot of these if you find old 1970s TV shows to stream. They seem to have been Hollywood TV studios’ favorite rich bad guys’ cars.
Later, the Continental shrank on a platform that would later become the Town Car. It then became even smaller, effectively replacing the Versailles as a Cadillac Seville competitor. The 8th generation actually grew in size and adopted a more stately and upscale design. At least it looked the part of a large American luxury car. However, it was now based on an FWD platform shared with the Ford Taurus. That generation was quite popular, with sales doubling from the previous “Seville wannabe” model.
The next generation came out in 1995 and tried hard to look like a sedan version of the Lincoln Mark VIII coupe. It also gained its V8 back. Which didn’t really help since the 8th generation was never as popular as the previous one, and production stopped in 2002.
There was a revival in 2017. Which was pretty much a disaster. All throughout its history, the most popular Continentals were the ones that had that classic American luxury car look. It seems design experiments turned Lincoln buyers off, at least as far as the sedans are concerned. The 2017 model was basically a new generation Lincoln MKS called Continental (Probably a last-minute name change).