- Seller: Charlie E
- Location: Warrenton, Va 20187
- Mileage: 57,900 Shown
- Chassis #: H8YM420950
- Title Status: Clean
Life in the fast lane isn’t always what an enthusiast seeks when searching for a classic car to park in their garage. Isolating themselves in a vehicle offering a luxurious motoring experience can prove irresistible, which is the opportunity this 1958 Lincoln Continental Mark III provides. It is an original and unmolested survivor that offers a new owner the choice between restoration and preservation. However, that is a decision they can make once acquainted with their new purchase because it has no urgent needs. The owner feels it deserves a new home and has listed the Lincoln with us at Barn Finds Auctions.
The 1958 model year marked a significant change for the Lincoln Continental. The company turned its back on traditional body-on-frame construction, pursuing the unibody path with its latest model. The first owner ordered this classic in Presidential Black, one of the more popular shades available to buyers in 1958. It helps accentuate the car’s long and low styling and is nicely contrasted by the chrome trim, which is relatively restrained for the era. Lincoln was serious about the new Continental Mark III’s presentation, applying two coats of baked enamel color over three primer coats for an exceptional appearance. Therefore, it is unsurprising that this car retains a warm and pleasant shine and looks very presentable in its current form. The winning bidder could preserve the car as an original survivor, which would undoubtedly command respect if they pursued that path. The hood has an area with no paint that requires attention, which might serve as the motivation for performing a straightforward cosmetic refresh on a garage-kept car that is rock solid and as straight as an arrow. The driver’s window is cracked, but the remaining glass looks excellent for its age.
Lincoln adopted a “one size fits all” philosophy with the Continental Mark III. Every buyer received a 430ci V8, a three-speed automatic transmission, power steering, and power brakes. “Power” seems to be the operative word because that V8 wasn’t found wanting on that front. It produces an impressive 375hp and 490 ft/lbs of torque. This means that while it tips the scales at a relatively heavy 4,888 lbs, performance is far more sprightly than might be expected from a vehicle of this type. Of course, most owners were more concerned about the car’s ability to cruise comfortably at freeway speed rather than storming the ¼-mile, and the Mark III does that effortlessly. The car’s odometer shows 57,745 miles, which is believed to be original. This gentle giant runs and drives, allowing the new owner to experience immediate classic motoring pleasure.
The Lincoln’s interior is a surprise packet because it would look striking following a deep clean. There is wear on the driver’s side of the front seat and carpet wear on the same side, but no other upholstered items are begging for replacement. The dash looks nice, the “floating” gauge cluster shows no signs of problems, and the bright trim condition is impressive. This classic doesn’t feature air conditioning, although with the power-operated “Breezeway” window offering exceptional flow-through ventilation, it isn’t necessary. The new owner can sink back into an exterior with power windows, a six-way power front seat, and a “Travel-Tuner” radio with dual power antennas.
The 1958 Continental Mark III was a ground-breaking car for Lincoln as it set its sights on outselling Cadillac. It was the longest passenger car produced by a Ford marque until the advent of the 5mph bumpers that appeared in the 1970s and was the first Lincoln to utilize unibody construction. This one is rarer than most. The company sold 12,550 examples of the Mark III across all derivatives, but only 1,283 were the 4-Door Sedan version. That makes this a rare classic, and the fact it is an unmolested and original survivor adds to its appeal. It has spent the last ten years safely parked in the owner’s warm and dry garage, and it would be wonderful if that trend continued at its new home. If owning a rare and luxurious classic has always been a dream, this Lincoln could make that dream a reality at an affordable price. That makes submitting a bid worthwhile. What do you say?
Arranging and paying for shipping is the buyer’s responsibility
Bid On This Vehicle
Louie bid $1,500.00 2023-11-28 16:26:38
Lewis bid $1,000.00 2023-11-27 18:21:18- Louie bid $200.00 2023-11-27 14:13:41
The seller should be proud of this car. Rare and beautiful.
What a beautiful Lincoln! I was just reading a listing yesterday, of course I can’t find the link, about a similar 58 or 59 triple black Lincoln for sale with the formal (non breezeway) padded roof. It underwent a full restoration in the 90’s and won a number of serious awards. It was noted these this generation of Lincoln’s were the largest domestic unibody cars built to date
Probably a ’59, because what you described was either a Limousine or Town Car variant, both of which were offered only in ’59 and ’60. I dare say they were the largest unibody cars ever, bar none.
I’m sorry but my opinion of almost all 1958 cars is that they are fugly, Chryslers are the better ones, But most 1958 cars are big over-bloated (If that’s even a word) and way over chromed styling monstrosities.
Maybe a new prius would be more to your liking
Absolutely UGLY as He//! IMO
You aren’t alone. The design is enough to make Edsels look conservative. It was so bizarre that many just couldn’t abide it; it didn’t help matters, either, that a recession suddenly hit the country when these cars hit the showrooms. One designer who worked for Ford back then (but wasn’t involved with these cars) said he attended a meeting where the spokesman said, regarding the first several thousand Lincolns built that year, they should have been pushed into the Rouge River…a bit extreme in my opinion, but it showed that Ford was quickly embarrassed by this design. The Imperials and higher-trim Chryslers did look better, but they had their share of problems as well–namely, rusting with a vengeance. Really the only thing to say about these Lincolns is that they outdid Cadillac in everything except sales.
Ironically, the same men responsible for this series also designed the revolutionary ’61 Lincolns.
Whenever a parked car has something to block the wheels, it could be a bad sign.
A new Prius has nothing to do If 1958 car styling.
Just some free firewood, ha ha
It seems the styling dept. threw everything that had at this. Nothing says 1958 luxury better than this, but by 1961 they were outdated. When the new ones came out they said style and elegance. If you buy this you will sure to be the only one on your block to have one. Kinda funny how styles changed so fast back then, Now mfgs. keep body styles for 15 years. Also does anybody see the back end of the ’63-’64 Merc. here?
Yes,a Comet looks very similar in the rear, maybe a Parklane too.
I see more 1961 Mercury in a big way.
Well it was1958 the year of the Edsel pandemic out break 😂
Aw, c’mon, Edsels are conservative-looking compared to these cars. But I still like seeing examples of both, at least in a nostalgic perspective.
Boys, boys, Hold on a second here. Did you ever drive a ‘58 Lincoln? I did! In 1965, my dad bought one just like this from our neighbor Mac for $800. Dad sold his ‘59 dodge Royal (black beauty) since the rust had started. One trip was Kalamazoo to Marquette (450 miles) at night doing 80+ mph on 2 lane roads in the moonlight. The car just rolled out the road and rode smooth all the way. I could lay down in the back seat with my girlfriend and listen to WLS rockin in. The antenna went up/down with a motor. 7 motorized widows. Electric everything. 30 cent gas and 8 mpg. Read drive and 4800 lbs means a great car in snow. Life was good.
Ugliest dashboard in production, along with the ’57 Mark ll
The Lincoln was ugly but a real head turner, just like my girlfriend. Nobody ever turned down a ride or double date in that black Linkin! Diva you are correct of course, Caddi’s are pure silk. My dad sold the Lincoln in ‘66 and not a used Devilke and drove it 259k after adding his own fuel injection kit.
I took my driving test in one of these in 1964. It was my mom’s car. My brothers showed mom how to burn out, boy was that fun. My dog took an adventure by walking out the back window when it was down and was standing on the trunk before we knew he was there. These cars are so heavy it is like riding in a boat. Maybe she needed new shock?
If it was a ’58 or ’59, the problem was intrinsic to the rear-suspension design. The coil-spring design they adopted, to offer an air-suspension option to compete with Cadillac’s offering (which was troublesome in itself), tended to twist and give disconcerting feelings of instability, forcing them to ditch that setup by ’60 in favor of more-stable leaf springs.
The seller is to be commended for all the excellent pics! I have a hard time picturing these new…
Although Ford had eliminated the short-lived “Continental Division” from its corporate flow chart, the “Continental” name was used to designate the top of the line trim level for this model, and after 1960 on, it was used across the line, forever merging “Lincoln” and “Continetal.”.
The poor Mark III, IV, and V from 1958,’ 59, ‘60 were entirely forgotten like a bastard child when the 1969 Mark III was introduced.
My father, showing off for a function, convinced car lot owner to let him borrow one of these for the weekend. While with a red interior. What a sled. Thoroughly embarrassing to my mother.
Building a unit-body car this large posed some unique challenges, particularly with structural integrity and noise/vibration. Unit-body construction is supposed to reduce weight, but by the time Ford reinforced the structure and added tuning weights to control noise and vibration, these were 400lb heavier than the ’57.
As for styling, it’s enough to note that Ford quickly toned it down for 1959, integrating the headlights into the grille and revising the “pre-dented” fenders.
agree on all, but in this day of “lose me in the parking lot” styling on silver and beige cars, I find something admirable about this car’s excesses
What they did still wasn’t enough. In addition to their inexperience with large unibody construction, the welding machinery at Wixom apparently was not functioning properly, forcing dealers to rent out welding equipment all over the country to try and repair the structures as best they could.
They did, however, learn a lot of lessons in how to sturdy up a large unibody to a reliable level; the ’60s models were testament to that.
I know someone may ask this: Why did they do unibody for these cars? Because many knowledgeable engineers in the automotive industry back then believed unibody construction was the way of the future (go figure 🙄!). Engineers at Ford wanted to get the jump on the rest of the industry, which was why they built the Wixom plant. They had already committed to making the Thunderbird a unibody car, but those alone were not enough to recapture the cost of the plant. They needed another car to build, one that could keep Wixom busy but didn’t necessarily have too large a demand in order to keep construction in control. The Lincoln qualified.
Geez, guess the seller is certainly not looking for top dollar, considering he couldn’t be bothered with cleaning it up even a little bit. Looks like this car has been sitting a long time. The window sticker shows that it has only been driven about 5K miles in the last 46 years. And those modern additions he added: the scented tree and the bungee cord battery tie down. Tells me a lot about the maintenance this car has had.
I was 11 years old in 1958 and a woman in our rural northern California area drove a car like this only in pale yellow. She never allowed her kids to ride the school bus so I’d always see that big Lincoln at the school for drop off and pick up. For the most part the men in our area were construction workers and never drove new cars or at least not Lincoln or Cadillac models, so her car stood out like a sore thumb. If you’ve ever watched the tv show Perry Mason you probably notice Paul Drake driving a convertible 1958 Lincoln at one point.
God Bless America
If by “garage-kept car” he means “left outdoors for years” I’ll definitely agree with him there.
These Lincolns are the best examples of the late 50s excess everything. These Lincolns have it all, size and styling , and luxury. It’s easy to see Ford through every over the top excessive styling cues of the era. These Lincolns show up in late 50s movies and TV, they had such a presence, that makes them very photogenic. I was just 3 years old in 1958. But I remember seeing them on the streets of Los Angeles. They were very popular with the Hollywood celebrities and you can see why. I always ask myself how did the automotive stylists come up with such interesting designs like the canted headlights and sculptured body lines. It’s safe to say this kind of styling wasn’t for everyone, but I like it. Chrysler used the canted headlights on the 6262, I mean to say the 61and 62 full-size Chryslers. It’s an interesting design in any event. It’s also safe to say we will never see this kind of creative styling ever again. So in their own ways they are a major part of automotive styling history. The late 50s American cars capture the industry capabilities available for the first time and it s a icon of the times. They made cars like this because they could. Lincolns have always been known for their progressive designs and that’s what an American luxury car should be. I love cars and our Lincolns are one of the many reasons that I do. 50 years from now there won’t be any cars for us to be fascinated by. No one will be fascinated by the boring used bar of soap in different shades of grey and black plastic cars we have today. I for one is sick of seeing nothing but SUVs everywhere I look. No one could have ever seen this is what was going to happen to those beautiful works of art that was once the automotive standard. That’s so sad.
There’s a story that some states had issues with the size of these cars, threatening to mandate truck lights on them. Lincoln wanted to outdo Cadillac in every way; and they did just that, except in sales. But the recession that hit the country at the same time caused pain for most of the industry, so it wasn’t a Lincoln-exclusive problem.
I had a 60 convertible and a 59 convertible. Like a dum dum, I was talked into selling the 59. Rust free unlike the 60 that was showing its age. I knew I was in trouble when I replaced the brake lines. Long story short one day while bebopping around the car was making banging noises. Like the Titanic, the ship was breaking, yup, the body sagged and the doors would no longer open and the top,”which I had working quite well” no longer would screw to the windshield header. I switched to a 60 Caddy convertible which I still have. All that remains of my Lincoln is it top boot and wheel covers. I still have a soft spot and actually would prefer a 4 door if I ever decided to get another.
Not exactly the best looking car in 1958,i would agree with others here,Chrysler had some of the best looking cars in 58′ and just as powerful.One of this car’s best features is that 430 cubic inches under the hood…
I suppose the lack of A/C is the reason this car weighs in at a relatively measly 4,888 lbs.; most A/C-fitted cars go over 5,000. Still, it’s surprising that an example of the largest unibody car ever built is so relatively light. This car is nicer than many others I’ve seen, save for one white example I saw in central Texas 20 years ago. These cars unfortunately had issues with their construction, which apparently was revealed back then. A designer who worked for Ford then said the then-new welding machinery in the Wixom plant didn’t work properly, which left dealers to deal with repairing the welds, causing a shortage of rental equipment across the country. As if the structure wasn’t enough trouble, the rear suspension caused problems also, forcing Lincoln to ditch the coil/balloon design and revert to leaf springs by ’60 (and ditch the air-suspension option after ’59). That said, I still have an interest in seeing these cars. I hope this one gets to a good home.