March 2005. I had just sold Rusty, the '77 Continental sedan. The week or two before I had seen this car on ebay and remembered it from the Lincoln show the previous spring. I liked it a lot then, but I never got a chance to meet the owner. I wanted to let him know that I was interested in acquiring the car if he ever decided to sell it.
While my favorite 70s Continental is the '77, the early 1970s cars are interesting too. The 1970 is my favorite year with their coffin-like, Cord-esque nose and their lack of peak molding. Not many are still around though. Rarely is a good one for sale. By 1973 the big horsepower was gone, and the peak molding was back, but when you dress it in triple black, its hard not to love the car.
So now, a year later I was suprised to see this '73 on ebay. I didn't bid, but the car did sell with a reasonable reserve. I thought I had missed the opportunity. I emailed the seller and told him I'd like to buy it should the high bidder not complete the transaction. In typical ebay fashion, the high bidder never responded and ten days later I was negotiationg to buy the car. A few weeks later the car was delivered to me from Dallas.
The car is basically a very well cared for 30-plus year old car. It hasn't been messed with much. It wears its original paint and vinyl except for part of the left front fender where it must have been in a minor accident years ago. It has some of the typical rear window bubbling and the header/nose panel has road rash, but basically its ready to go.
The car has the Town Car package, which was comparatively rare in the early 70s. This adds extra wood, plusher carpet, vent windows, a different seat pattern and Town Car insignia. Its also equiped with a slightly newer Town & Country radio.
