1978 Lincoln Continental

Coupe Coupe

8 - Cyl.

Automatic

BY81A937897

Gasoline

Amazing 1978 Lincoln Continental Coupe One of the Longest Cars Ever Built Over $4000 in Recent Refresh Costs Alone Last of the True Land Yachts! Beginning in 1961 and every three years thereafter, my father bought a new Lincoln until his death three years ago. After he died, I went on a search for a vintage Lincoln I could restore in his honor. I took me two years to find this car and I have loved restoring it. Unfortunately, I have a new job which includes a company car and I have no room to continue to store the Lincoln (It is always garaged under a cover), so it has to go. This is a beautiful car midnight blue car with a chamois interior and vinyl roof I purchased from the original owner in December of 2009. He was (and is) a prominent surgeon who apparently treated his car like his patients. Every receipt for every oil change and all maintenance work done on the car over its entire life is included as documentation... Plus receipts for the all of the restoration work I have done since buying the car. All work done is listed below. After driving the car back and forth to the hospital only for a number of years, he became so fond of the car he kept it for over 15 years after replacing it as a daily driver. He told me it hadn't been driven 1000 miles in over 10 years before he sold it to me. I still communicate with him today, because he wants to keep up with the car. After buying the car, my wife and I flew to Dayton, Ohio and drove it 500 miles to our home in Lake Wylie, SC (outside Charlotte, NC). The car ran and handled like new, but since the car had not been driven more than a few miles a month for a very long time, after a 500 mile road trip, it began leaking from every pore. The engine was gone through... all belts, seals and gaskets were replaced. Shocks, brakes, and master cylinder were replaced. All synthetic oil and fluids were used. Bugs did a lot of damage to the paint on the flat front, so the front end was repainted. There was a small amount of rust on the bottom leading edge of the driver's door which was cut out and replaced with fresh steel. The color on the front seat had faded, so it was dyed. Since I was raised when white letter tires were popular, I put a new set of white letter Continental tires on the car (so the Continental has Continentals... sorry, couldn't resist). By the way, I also still have the nearly new, but almost 15 year old whitewall tires I took off of the car. After 15 years I just didn't think they were safe, but the new owner may want them anyway. The original single exhaust was replaced with custom dual exhausts using the original catalytic converters and two Flowmaster 40 series mufflers. The car is still quiet, but has a great sound. Other than that, the car is still all original. It absolutely runs like new and everything on the car works... even the Cartier clock... well, whenever it wants to. In terms of size and weight, the car is 233" long (19' 4"), possibly the longest production coupe or sedan ever produced. It weighs nearly 5500#. It was surpassed at that time only by the Cadillac Fleetwood Limousine. (Wikipedia.com used to say it was the longest, but I have done no research to prove it, so I changed the ad copy accordingly). I was pleasantly surprised that on the highway it got 16 1/2 MPG. In case you wondered, it uses regular unleaded gas. Premium gas is NOT required on modern Lincolns. However, I put Plus in it.... it runs smoother... at least I think it does. Factory options and other interesting things included with the car: 7.5 Liter 460 CID Big Block V-8 (the largest production engine at that time) Forged Aluminum Wheels 6-Way Power Bench Seat Cartier Clock Original Window Sticker ($13,014.00) Original Bill of Sale Factory Build Sheet (recently found under the rear seat) Owner's ID Card and Owner's Manual Power Radio Antenna Driver Accessable Mechanical Side Window Controls Original Spare Tire (never been on the ground) Analog Mobile Phone (note roof mounted antenna and trunk mounted control box in pictures) Restoration Costs Date Part or Labor Description Cost 12/17/09 Ford Power Steering Gear Box Rebuild Kit $34.00 12/17/09 Polish Solid Aluminum Wheels $200.00 12/18/09 LW Auto – Dismount & Remount Tires for Polish $85.00 12/18/09 Full Set Of Gates Belts – $75.38 12/18/09 Rear Brake Cylinders and Rear Brake Shoes $38.49 12/19/09 Monroe Sensa-Trac Shocks (4) $105.55 12/22/09 Valve Cover Gaskets and install labor for above items - $309.95 1/29/10 Repaint front end, touch up all repaired dents and dings – $692.00 1/29/10 Remove all dents and door dings $425.00 2/18/10 Repair rust on front of driver’s door, repaint, realign door driver’s door and window $574.39 2/20/10 White LetterContinental Tires (4) $388.86 2/22/10 Master Cylinder $24.59 2/23/10 Install Master Cylinder $36.00 2/25/10 Install Continental Tires $60.00 2/26/10 Custom Dual Cat Back Exhaust with Flowmaster Series 40 mufflers using the original catalytic converters $500.00 3/8/10 Dye front seat, then reposition, pad and glue carpet $375.00 3/15/1o Set of OEM Lincoln Floormats $100.00 Total so far $4024.21 The car is not perfect... but it's close It's a beautiful head-turning survivor. I elected not to do some things in order to keep it original. Like a car show judge told me when I asked what changes I could make to improve the car, he said "It's only original once." It has been entered in two local shows and won two trophies. You are welcome to email through Ebay or call if you have any questions at 704-517-0024. A $500 deposit via Paypal will be due within 24 hours after the sale is closed. The balance will be due within 7 days by cash or certified bank check only. The buyer will need to make their own arrangements for pickup or delivery. I will work with the buyer any way I ca n to accommodate any special needs. Thanks for looking.