1981 Lincoln Mark VI from North America - Comments

While Lincoln may have been the best AMERICAN luxury brand in the 1970's, 80's, 90's, it certainly was not the best car in the world. That title goes to Mercedes who used to build the most solid, most dependable, and most advanced cars in the world.

For those of you who don't know, Cadillac introduced a trip computer in the late 70's on its Seville model. The 76 Seville was also the first american car to have fuel injection as standard eqiupment. Lincoln didn't offer fuel injection until 1980.

As for digital dashboards, the big three offered them all about the same time. Cadillac on the Seville, Lincoln on the Mark VI, and Chrysler on its Imperial, which also had a digital odometer. All introduced around 1980.

As for Cadillac vs Lincoln from a technology standpoint, a 1980 Cadillac Seville had front wheel drive, 4 wheel independent suspension, standard fuel injection, and standard digital climate control. It took Lincoln several more years to come out with that.

By the way Ford's variable venturi carburetor is one of the worst carburetors made.

You guys need to research automotive history to find out how many automotive firsts Cadillac had, which is the reason for years they were called the standard of the world.

Tucker led the way first.. Kaiser was the second.What about the Packard I love my Mark, but it sure wasn't first. Cadillac had automatic dime in the early 50s Danny.

I think the Mark VI was a modern, usable car that had the "new line" design that typified the Italian coachbuilders like Touring, and Pinin-F who did classic GT's... like the Aston db-4 and Maserati 3500's, Ferrari 250 cabs. of the 50's...

As such, I m planning to cut myself a drop on one.. I know will need bracing, etc...but I see a perfect size for today, open classic.. of a euro flavor.. not the gaudy overdone, vinyl roof carriage of the IV and V era... and lites always up, too! Any suggestions?

And you should see what I'm doing to Studey Hawks by the way!! Not many GM or Mopars fit this bill..!

While the Mark VI was a wonderful vehicle of its day, I can never get past the thought of it as being a Mark V that was left in the drier to "shrink". I can't see myself owning one. Plus the steering wheel was a horribly ugly thing.

I bought my 1981 Lincoln Mark VI new in 1980. It's a great car and I love it. I've had it stored for the past 7 years, and the fuel gauge has always worked. Recently when I filled it all the way up, something malfunctioned and it's now reading zero and saying 0 miles to empty. The gage still has power, but with no bars. Anyone know what could be happening?

You could check your sending unit.

The only thing Cadillac had going for it at that time was the '76-'79 SeVille. Great looking for the time and still holds up well today. Why on earth Cadillac didn't use the 350 in the other series is beyond me, remember the 4.1L or the 4,6,8 motor, what a mistake that was for dear old Cadillac.

The Lincoln Mark VI was so much more, classy lines of the older Marks all wrapped up in a neat, smaller, lighter, more technological package. All the well known designers at the time had their hand in with the Mark series, Cartier, Bill Blass, Givenchy, Pucci, Valentino, Signature Series, all with there own exterior and interior colors and treatments. Ah the '80's, they were great; gaudy, but great...

"And you should see what I'm doing to Studey Hawks by the way!! Not many GM or Mopars fit this bill..!"

If you're chopping the tops off Studey Hawks... well, that's something I'd rather NOT see...

I'm not sure about who was first with a lot of things, but I have a 1983 Mark VI that is a peach! I've had many people tell me it rides so much better than a Cadillac, including Cadillac owners. It only has a 302 (5 litre) engine in it, so in some cases it's under-powered, but most of the time it's fine. It does fine while passing even with that size engine. It gets great gas mileage for a car its size, 21+ mpg on the highway doing 70 mph with the A/C going.

Now for the Cadillac case; I had a 1965 DeVille convertible that was loaded and then some. It even had a cruise control on it. I took it to a Caddy garage in Maine and mentioned that and the chief mechanic told me they did not have one and said he'd worked there for over 25 years, and knew they did not have one. I showed him mine and he was astonished. It also had 6 way power seats, power window "wings", regular power windows, auto headlight dimmer, Twilight Sentinel that turned the lights on at dusk and off at dawn, adjustable headlight timer that kept the lights on long enough for you to get to your house, power antenna, power steering, A/C (neat for a convertible- Ha.), etc.

I've had several Caddies, but none ride as good as this Mark VI. It has 150,000 miles on it and runs like a top. And you can't beat that classic Lincoln look! It was the last big Mark. What a shame that Lincoln lost that look.

Ron K. in PA.

Since mid-1980s I have owned several large, heavy automobiles as my second car, mostly for my own use, not family. First was a 1981 Sedan de Ville with 4-6-8 motor which was very good except while in the transition (6 cyl) mode it was a bit rough, naturally. I tried to find a "Fix" that would allow manual selection of operating cylinders. No luck. One day my wife ran down the battery and during the "Jump start" procedure, the control mechanism got zapped. Afterwards it operated only in the 8 Cyl mode. Gas mileage wasn't affected and she ran great! Sold it to a friend who needed dependable transportation.

Subsequently I owned: 1984 Town Car; 1989 Fleetwood Brougham; 1991 Sedan de Ville; 1997 Town Car and last year bought a mint condition 1983 Mark VI (Four door) with very low miles on her. What a Dream Car!

For comfort and ride and handling, I agree with all the others... The Big Lincolns beat Cadillacs.

PapaJerry, Florida.

I wouldn't classify the Mark VI as "Big Lincoln Luxury". More like Ford panicked and chopped the Mark V to appease the government regulations. I look at it as an imitation Mark V. Now that is "Big Lincoln Luxury" If you want a real Mark series car, get a 1968-1979. Anything after that was down hill as far as the Mark's were concerned. Oh I'm sure you all will rebuke with all the "technological" advancements of the Mark VI over its predecessors, but they are just so damn ugly.

Freakin BOX-MOBILE with a little pimple on the trunk that is supposed to be a continental kit... Couldn't give me one.

I have a 83 mark 6 with the gas gauge problem of being full, but reading 0 miles to empty after storing the car for a few years. I too would like some input on what to do for it?

I have a problem with my throttle body burning too rich. Can someone please help?