Lincoln Town Car - Matt Garrett

Lincoln Town Car, Signature Series, Touring Suspension, Astro Roof, JBL/Sub/10 Disk, Loaded. One owner, garaged and original throughout. This is a car I drive right now. Miles are low, but not super low like the collector cars you see... In the 50s. This is not really a collector, but rapidly on its way. Incredible original paint and mint example in every aspect. Not a bump and grind, not a carriage top, not a gold, brown, ivory or tan car, not a wimp suspension car... not a Florida sun dried raisin or a NE bucket of corrosion... but an exceptional example that will be very hard to ever say "I saw one just like yours"... This does not come easy and the good ones are going away fast that are still out there. This car is still sitting on its Michelin tires... Date coded 1997 on all 4, and still in very good shape with an untouched spare. Car is on original brake pads and they are lots of life.... These are just indicators on how babied this car has been. Body lines are perfect, not a ding in the car.... and these are HARD cars to find without some level of parking rash... even with 2000 miles on them...... I would not have a car like this in my collection if it were not exceptional and this example is one of the better for sure.

Being a Cadillac guy and knowing the Town Car too, this final year 2nd Gen car really is starting to prove its worth with the passing of time. It is doing so probably more than any other sedan of this age and era. It certainly holds up better than any of the FWD cars of this era, especially the FWD unibody Cadillac, and when you compare these to the RWD Cadillacs, the size is a little more manageable yet is a very comparable car. However, Cadillac really ended in 1996 but continued on as a rebadged suburban if you buy the good one (escalade ext), or otherwise just a re-badged light duty Tahoe on the light frame (baby escalade). All other Cadillac's beyond 1996 are unibody construction, but have some good technology in them too. However, they are not a classic design and I will wager anything will be more trouble until they are simplified in design. The town car stayed with us till 2011 on what started in 1978 when the "Panther" platform came to us from the downsize of the full size Fords in the 70s. The panther platform has more real world trial and error than really any other car made.. so the longer it was built, the more it was improved on. This 1997 is the only year of this style car made with there was not a competitive Cadillac and is the final year of the town cars that looked like this.

By the 2000s, the Town car 3rd gen was improved year after year and really became a superior car to the previous RWD Cadillac in terms of build quality, real world usability, etc. The LT1 Brougham will still out power it, but the 4.6 will out rev the LT1, so there are some trades there and the town car will run out on the highway pretty well. The town car is not a heavy car either... It weighs within 100 lbs of as a new mustang or camaro and LESS than a mid size BMW or new ford Taurus! None of those have full frames either, this does! These cars are not big.. they are just long and low. Put them next to a new Ford Taurus, that that Taurus will tower over a Town car. Cars just get heavier each year... and the reason is to protect you from SUV side impacts... The Town Car will not fair as well with the rapidly enlarging US fleet. Why?? Its NOT BIG ENOUGH!!! Well lets just say not tall enough.....especially for side impacts, so that is one of the reasons it was not redesigned. The main one was the full frame is costly to build.. so lower quality is what you get now but in a heavier, bigger and taller vehicle! Possibly just not quite as long is all.

These "panther platform" cars just go and go. As with the crown vic and grand marquis, you see Town Car examples out there with 500K+ and still going and usually under pure neglect conditions. Hard car to kill. With the final year in 2011, I speculate you will see Town Cars being collected 20 years, and top examples trading at very high prices. I will be stocking up as they come available at 10 years old or older myself. As I am seeing with the last year Broughams, I speculate you will see the right and saved Town Cars trading at higher prices than saved corvettes, and saved muscle cars of their era. No one will save the town car is why and low mile good ones will be rare!

The term "they dont build them like they used to" really does apply to the body on frame cars. You cant say that about anything else as all new cars are built better than older cars... but when you start talking the platform the car was built on, the body on frame is king vs the faster constructed and less costly unibody. Today full frame is gone except in full size trucks, never to return in the interest of saving a buck on the assy line. Its probably a matter of time before you see the full frames being phased out on light trucks and large SUVs too. Right now (2013) the best vehicle made is the F-150/250/350 and the GM trucks too. Why??? Well they are still full frame. When those see their end, they will represent their own end of an era like the Town Car is now... when that happens....

Its really kind of ironic; the town car (new) was affordable new compared to non frame cars like BMW and Benz. You can argue all day long which one felt better new and had more gadgets, power, performance, etc......but take this exact town car here and put it up with a 97 7 Series BMW kept just like this, exactly like this, same miles, apples to apples... and lets see which one is still going with less maintenance and actually has more real world life left in it. The answer is obvious, and if you think different, you just don't know cars.......

This particular Town Car I have here is nice just because it was saved by luck of the draw. Not in a collection, not something someone bought and put away, but a car that was simply ordered very correctly, cared for all its life, garaged and really not driven a whole lot. It is an incredible color combo, and is optioned to the hilt other than heated seats and factory phone. Seats because its from the south, phone... well who knows... The most critical option to me is the touring suspension. I could not drive a town car without it. It takes the "boat" feel of these cars right out and becomes more in line with the Crown Vic sport, but not quite the Crown Vic HPP cars... Very good balance though, and you can whip this car in corners without it wallowing over on itself... having people wondering what is up. With the touring option, the car had higher spring rates, larger sway bars, larger and wider 16" wheels, quicker steering, dual exhaust and 3:27 gear ratios. Performance wise, these cars pack more than they appear with the touring package, but they are not race cars. Handling, they are really good. This was an easy upgrade for the Town Car, as the Crown Vic is the same platform, so those parts generally interchanged. A Town Car without this option is very much a floaty and marginal handling car... so for me its mandatory. However I am a performance guy at heart, you may not be!

With the lack of good Broughams to drive anymore, and the fact what has been saved are all going collectible, the town car is a heck of a good car as an alternative. The good ones in the future will be collectible too, but for right now, I don't think money could buy you a better car at the prices these can be had at today. Get em while they are available as this car is something that wont ever come again in a full frame car, making it one of the few cars you can use the term "they don't build em like they used to" with.

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Plates for Display Only

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Below.... The last full size platform to really justify an astro roof. The 3rd gen town cars had too much of a curved roof to make it practical, had no headroom with along with a silly look.