The Lincoln Town Car is a model line of full-size luxury sedans that was marketed and produced by the Lincoln division of the American automaker Ford Motor Company. Deriving its name from a limousine body style, Lincoln marketed the Town Car from 1981 to 2011, with the nameplate previously serving as the flagship trim of the Lincoln Continental. Produced across three generations for thirty model years, the Town Car was marketed directly against luxury sedans from Cadillac and Chrysler.
Marketed nearly exclusively as a four-door sedan (a two-door sedan was offered for 1981 only), many examples of the Town Car were used for fleet and livery (limousine) service. From 1983 to its 2011 discontinuation, the Town Car was the longest car produced by Ford worldwide, becoming the longest mass-production car sold in North America from 1997 to 2011. While not a direct successor of the Town Car, the Lincoln MKS would become the longest American sedan until 2016 (overtaken by the Cadillac CT6).
From 1980 until 2007, the Lincoln Town Car was assembled in Wixom, Michigan (Wixom Assembly) alongside the Lincoln Continental, LS, and Mark VI, VII, and VIII. After Wixom's closure, Town Car production moved to Southwold, Ontario (St. Thomas Assembly) alongside the similar Ford Crown Victoria and the Mercury Grand Marquis. The final Lincoln Town Car was produced on August 29, 2011.
Within the Lincoln model line, the Town Car was not directly replaced; the nameplate was used from 2012 to 2019 to denote livery/limousine/hearse variants of the Lincoln MKT. For 2017, the revived Continental replaced the MKS, closely matching the Town Car in wheelbase and width.
Background Etymology In the 1900s–1920s, a town car was a vehicle design that transitioned from horse-drawn carriages to limousines (functionally similar to the brougham). The design featured an open chauffeur's compartment with an enclosed rear cabin for the passengers. In French, the term "de Ville" described the design as "for town (use)", as such automobiles had few provisions for carrying luggage; the design was Anglicized as "town car" or "town brougham" (with Brougham adopted as a popular trim level during the 1970s and 1980s).
In 1922, Edsel Ford purchased a custom-built Lincoln L-Series town car as a personal vehicle for his father, Henry Ford.
In 1949, Cadillac introduced the Coupe de Ville, followed by the Sedan de Ville in 1956. Though not adopting the namesake design, the Cadillac de Ville series became the primary rival of Lincoln for the second half of the 20th century.
Continental Town Car Prior to becoming a stand-alone model line for 1981, the Town Car nameplate saw use for two different generations of Lincoln Continental sedans.
1959–1960
For 1959, Lincoln augmented its flagship Continental line, adding the Town Car and Limousine formal sedans above the Mark IV; the vehicles were jointly manufactured by Lincoln and coachbuilder Hess and Eisenhardt. In contrast to the standard Mark IV, the Town Car/Limousine underwent several major design changes. For 1960, the two vehicles adopted the Lincoln Continental nameplate.
While the doors were retained, the Mark-series reverse-slant roofline was replaced by a formal-styled C-pillar, covered by a fully padded vinyl top and inset rear window (fixed in place); the hardtop roofline gave way to a fixed B-pillar (the frameless door glass remained). In addition to adding more conservative styling, the redesigned roofline was a functional change, as it allowed the rear seat to be repositioned to increase legroom without any modification to the wheelbase.
The Town Car was developed for use as an owner-driven vehicle; the Limousine was to be chauffeur-driven, adding a retractable glass partition behind the front seat. The variants were offered with every Continental option included as standard equipment (including air conditioning). Town Cars were fitted with broadcloth upholstery for both seats; Limousines were fitted with leather-upholstered front seats. In addition to being specified with identical features, all Town Cars and Limousines were painted Presidential Black.
Production of the Town Car and Limousine was limited by Ford to two vehicles daily, leading the models to become among the rarest vehicles ever built by Ford Motor Company. In total, 214 Town Cars and 83 Limousines were built during 1959 and 1960.
1970–1979 For 1970, Lincoln revived the Town Car name, reintroducing it as a trim package option for the Lincoln Continental, featuring leather seating surfaces and deeper cut-pile carpeting. For 1971, the brand commemorated its fiftieth anniversary by marketing a limited-edition Golden Anniversary Lincoln Continental Town Car; 1500 were produced.
For 1972, the Town Car name returned permanently, becoming a flagship sub-model of the Continental line. Taking from its name heritage, nearly all examples of the Continental Town Car were specified with a vinyl top that covered the rear half of the roof (a full-length top was optional); to incorporate coach lamps on the B-pillars, a raised molding was included, also marking the transition between the metal and vinyl roof. A two-door variant of the Town Car, named the Town Coupe, was introduced for 1973, featuring nearly the same roof design. When Lincoln redesigned the roofline of the Continental for 1975, the Town Car was fitted with the oval opera windows from the Mark IV coupe; the Town Coupe received a large rectangular opera window.
The Continental Town Car proved to be a success for the division, becoming the most popular Lincoln vehicle of the 1970s (as the Mark IV and Mark V were not technically branded as Lincolns).
1980 For 1980, Lincoln became the final American brand to market downsized full-size cars; in addition to doing so nearly four years after Cadillac, Lincoln trailed Ford and sister division Mercury by a year. However, the redesign shifted the brand from marketing the largest production sedan in North America to giving it a smaller exterior footprint than either Cadillac or Chrysler. The Continental Town Car returned for 1980, again serving as the flagship trim of the Lincoln Continental.
Alongside the downsizing of the Lincoln Continental, Ford replaced the Continental Mark V for 1980 with the smaller Mark VI. The first all-new generation of the Mark Series since 1972, the Mark VI shared its chassis and much of the body with the Continental to reduce development and production costs; a four-door sedan was designed to attract additional customers. In line with preceding generations of the Mark Series, the Mark VI was officially branded as a Continental and marketed and supported through Lincoln-Mercury.
In spite of bringing downsized full-size sedans to production to meet high consumer demand, from a marketing standpoint, the 1980 update of the Lincoln model line would prove catastrophic. In early 1980, the slow-selling Lincoln Versailles mid-size sedan was quietly retired; as before 1977, Lincoln again offered solely full-size cars, with nothing to sell against European-brand luxury vehicles. The deletion of the Versailles also left Lincoln to market three versions of the same model line, as the Continental, Continental Town Car/Town Coupe, and Mark VI differed little in appearance.
For 1981, Lincoln's model line underwent a revision to transition its full-size model range from three nameplates to one, commencing a multi-year transition throughout all three Ford divisions. All full-size Lincolns (introduced for 1980) became Lincoln Town Cars; the Lincoln Continental nameplate went on hiatus for the model year, reappearing on an all-new mid-size sedan for 1982 (not replacing the Versailles). The Mark VI remained in production, ending its model cycle after the 1983 model year; the mid-size Mark VII that replaced it for 1984 represented a near-complete break from design tradition for the Mark Series.
First generation (1981–1989)
A model year removed from the extensive downsizing of its full-size model range, Lincoln underwent a similar revision of its nameplates for 1981 as it renamed the Continental as the Lincoln Town Car. Following the retirement of the compact Versailles sedan during the 1980 model year, Lincoln was left marketing three nearly identical model lines (Continental, Continental Town Car, and Continental Mark VI). Along with introducing the Town Car, Lincoln introduced a redesigned Continental for 1982, moving it to the midsize segment alongside the Mark VII (introduced in 1984).
With the exception of nameplate badging, the Lincoln Town Car was identical to the 1980 Lincoln Continental. Alongside the four-door sedan, a two-door sedan was also offered for 1981 (dropping the Town Coupe name). Largely overshadowed by its Mark VI counterpart, the Town Car two-door was dropped for 1982; following the retirement of the Mark VI, full-size Lincolns were sold exclusively as four-door sedans.
At the time of its launch, the Town Car had been slated for replacement by front-wheel drive model lines (in anticipation of further volatility in fuel prices); as fuel prices began to stabilize, demand initially rose for the model line, leading Lincoln-Mercury to produce the Town Car through the 1980s with few visible changes. In 1982, the Town Car overtook the Mark VI to become the best-selling Lincoln model line (a title it would maintain until its discontinuation); after its 1985 revision, sales of the model line increased to over 100,000 vehicles per year (partly following the negative market response to the Cadillac downsizing of its Sedan deVille model line). For 1988, over 200,000 Town Cars were sold (the highest-ever for the brand); part of the record was established in Ford starting sales of the 1988 Town Car in March 1987 (making for an 18-month model year); conversely, in only six months, Lincoln managed to sell over 76,000 1987 Town Cars. Even after the launch of the eight-generation Continental for 1988 and the anticipation of the 1990 redesign, the 1989 model year became the second most successful for the Town Car.
Chassis The 1980–1989 Lincoln Continental/Town Car used the Panther platform shared with Ford and Mercury. Delayed to the 1980 model year due to engineering issues, the Panther platform meant radically different exterior dimensions for the Lincoln models. Although extended three inches in wheelbase over its Ford/Mercury/Mark VI coupe counterparts, the 1980–1989 versions would have the shortest wheelbase ever used for a full-size Lincoln at the time (10 inches shorter than its 1979 predecessor). The 1980 Continental/Town Car was the shortest Lincoln since the Versailles. In the interest of fuel economy and handling, the Panther chassis reduced weight by up to compared to the 1970–1979 full-size Lincolns. As the lightest full-size Lincoln in 40 years, the 1980 Continental/Town Car came within less than 200 pounds of the curb weight of the compact-sized Versailles. The new Panther platform meant reduced overall size, better suspension geometry, and upgraded power steering with a reduced turning diameter by over 8 feet (compared to the 1979 Lincoln Continental). For 1984, gas-pressurized shocks were added.