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Kinda OT, but one other note if interest, but I think I remember reading in Krause publications before back when I did alot of car weight/price research in the 1980s, that the 1974 Lincoln Continental 2-door was SLIGHTLY heavier than the 1974 Continental 4-door. Always thought that was odd.
AH, here it is... I found it in the actual ad. Note at the bottom right side at the curb weights put out from Lincoln... the 2-door weighed 5 pounds MORE than the 4-door and the Mark IV weighed one pound more than the 4-door Continental. HOWEVER, I noticed in the footnote that with the Town Car or Town Coupe option, that in this case, the 4dr Town Car was slightly heavier than the 2dr Town Coupe, which made the 4dr Town Car the heaviest of them all. So the non-Town Car optioned 4dr was the lightest, but the Town Car optioned 4dr was the heaviest. Strange. The 1974 Town Car 4dr weighed 5414... this has to be one of the heaviest production (non-limo) cars made! I did look and the 1975 Town Car sedan was even heavier (5424) than the 1974, but 1976 slightly lighter, so the 75 was the weight winner here.
How strange that the curb weights of all three were so close and that the 4-door was the lightest. Dont remember if this applied to the other years or not... also strange that while still a huge car, the Mark IV was shorter in wheelbase, overall length and width, etc, yet was basically the same weight as the base Continentals.
I remember our 1976 Town Car 4dr was a tank! My 1978 Town Car was basically the same car, but it had been toned down some by 1978 and where our 1976 had a 460 and the 1978 had a 400 the 1978 was probably 200-300 pounds lighter. According to the brochure, the 1978-79 Continentals were down to the 4850 pound range.
Last edited by Tennesseestorm; 11-22-2009 at 12:00 AM..
Is this for two doors or four doors? In a related note, how much shorter are the two door versions, and what is last year of the two door hardtop Continental?
Of the tests I posted...
1968 2-door
1969 4-door
1975 (both) 2-door
How strange that the curb weights of all three were so close and that the 4-door was the lightest. Dont remember if this applied to the other years or not... also strange that while still a huge car, the Mark IV was shorter in wheelbase, overall length and width, etc, yet was basically the same weight as the base Continentals.
I remember our 1976 Town Car 4dr was a tank! My 1978 Town Car was basically the same car, but it had been toned down some by 1978 and where our 1976 had a 460 and the 1978 had a 400 the 1978 was probably 200-300 pounds lighter. According to the brochure, the 1978-79 Continentals were down to the 4850 pound range.
I would suspect, since these figures came from an actual Lincoln brochure, they would be the most accurate, but of seen the Mark IV listed as being 100-250 lbs lighter in other car manuals. The Lincoln sedans along with the Cadillac DeVilles & Fleetwoods and the Chrysler Imperials were listed as the heaviest cars made in the U.S. Incidentally, the Thunderbirds made during the same years as the Mark IV's were also heavy, but hovered just over 5000 lbs if I remember correctly.
Check your weights on the 77-78 Lincolns versus the '79. If I remember correctly, Ford curbed a few more pounds off the 1979 when they eliminated the 460. If you've driven many of these cars, you might have noticed that the late 70's Lincolns seemed to have much better handling than the mid-70's. Less wallow, more precision in cornering and ride comfort. I remember riding in a '78 Town Car frequently, and was amazed at how incredible the ride was. GM & Chrysler had nothing to compare, the Cadillac ride was not even close.
Indeed... lighter as the late 70s went on. The 1971-76 GM big GM wagons easily tipped the scales at 5000 and beyond as well... especially the 1973-76 models. I think the 74 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser 2-seat wagon tips the scale at 5239 (see below). I think the 3-seat version is around 5300. I think my 72 Caprice Estate wagon 3-seat with the big block option is very near 5000. 5002 to be exact.
Ironically there is a local 78-79 Town Car for sale... extremely nice for $1000! I passed by again tonight and someone was looking at it. Its light green. It must be a 78, because I dont see that color in the 79 brochure.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1979
I would suspect, since these figures came from an actual Lincoln brochure, they would be the most accurate, but of seen the Mark IV listed as being 100-250 lbs lighter in other car manuals.
The brochures would typically list shipping weight which was lighter than the actual curb weight.
An example, my '76 limo.
Shipping weight as listed in the brochure is 5,889 lbs. I had mine weighed and with a floor jack and bicycle in the trunk and 1/4 tank of fuel it weighed in at 6,040 lbs.
I'll offer the guess that if the '74 car really does do the 1/4 faster, it's just because the design of the '68 car did not consider 1/4 mile ET, period. The rear end gear was selected for quiet cruising and maybe with some thought towards fuel economy, but the target audience for this car simply didn't care about standing-start acceleration, beyond "adequate".
Then in 1974 with the weight of the car going up with all the mandated big bumpers and etc., and the engine making way less power, the designers put in a higher-numerical gear to try to get some torque multiplication so the pig could get out of it's own way.
I'm guessing, but the story above would make sense to me.
I was looking through the '77 Cadillac brochure. They really cut the weight for the downsized '77 Cads compare to the '76.
For instance, the '77 limo has a shipping weight of 4,806 lbs; the '76 weighed 5,889 lbs. My '69 Fleetwood Brougham, with an actual curb weight of 5,060 lbs, actually weighs more than a '77 limo!
A few more examples:
'77 Coupe de Ville----- 4,186 lbs
'76 Coupe de Ville----- 5,025 lbs
'77 Sedan de Ville----- 4,222 lbs
'76 Sedan de Ville----- 5,127 lbs
I was looking through the '77 Cadillac brochure. They really cut the weight for the downsized '77 Cads compare to the '76.
For instance, the '77 limo has a shipping weight of 4,806 lbs; the '76 weighed 5,889 lbs. My '69 Fleetwood Brougham, with an actual curb weight of 5,060 lbs, actually weighs more than a '77 limo!
A few more examples:
'77 Coupe de Ville----- 4,186 lbs
'76 Coupe de Ville----- 5,025 lbs
'77 Sedan de Ville----- 4,222 lbs
'76 Sedan de Ville----- 5,127 lbs
I can't believe how lightweight the 1977 Caddies were compared to the 1976 Caddies
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