1978 Lincoln Town Car review from North America

Sending unit in fuel tank no longer works, causing the gage to read 1/4 of a tank all the time.

Rear driver side door power lock doesn't work.

The town car is the most comfortable car that I have ever owned. It rides like it is floating on air. With the huge leather seats I can drive for hours and never get uncomfortable. I routinely drive back and forth from college, a five hour drive, and feel rested and refreshed when I get there.

The car is extremely reliable. Even with the 460, just a touch of the key starts it up every time, even in the -20 degree Iowa winters. When I first got the car, I replaced the starter and solenoid, about $40 and 30 min. of work, and have never had a problem.

The gas mileage is really not that bad. I took off all the emissions equipment and I get up to 18 mpg on the highway, if I can keep the speeds down. City driving is a little bit less at around 12 mpg, but compared to my 170 hp Catalina with a 2bbl 400 that only got 8-9 mpg, the town car is great.

The car is by no means a sports car, but with the big 460 it can really get you to where you need to go. Without the emissions equipment and a higher flowing exhaust, my town car has a much higher horse power rating then the advertised 220, and it really shows. With a 2.75 axle ratio acceleration is still fairly slow from a stop until about 40 mph, but it has a heck of a passing gear from about 70-90, and can really get up and move over the long distance. Despite the lack of acceleration, I still gave it an 8 on performance because any car that can go as fast as this one should get a good performance mark.

Driving a car this big, people always ask why I don't get rid of it and get something with better gas mileage. It might only get low to mid teens on average for gas mileage, but for car that cost me only what it took to get it running, and a new set of tires, I couldn't afford not to drive it, and even now if anything ever went wrong on it, almost everything on it I can replace for less than $100 and a trip to the scrap yard.

The only thing I don't like about it is that this particular one does not have a moon roof. I had a '76 that had a moon roof, but it only had the 400 engine. Also I wish the fuel gage worked, but it costs to much to fix it. It is not a problem now, but the first time I drove it, before I knew exactly how far I could drive on a tank, it ran out of gas.

The drive train is nearly bullet proof. The 460 C6 combination is about as heavy duty as any ever made. I can't imagine anyone having any problems with less than 100k miles. Mine has 115k and I hope to get at least 175k before having to rebuild it.

For the big American luxury cars, the 1970's was the peak of their popularity. At nearly 20 feet long, over 5000lbs, and some even sporting 500 cubic inch engines, these cars ruled the roadways. I have owned a '72 Cadillac, '76 Catalina, two '76 Cadillacs, a '76 Lincoln and my '78 town car. Of all those great luxury cars, my '78 Lincoln town car is by far the best. It has the best ride, is the roomiest and most comfortable, and has been the most powerful and reliable of those cars. I would recommend any one of those cars to anybody looking for a nice car for only a couple hundred bucks, but if you want the best, go with the town car.