1964 Lincoln Continental: Sheer, Sunny Elegance!

My love for the Lincoln Continental goes way back. My first ride in one was probably in the car that belonged to my grandfather, Bob Klockau—a triple navy blue ’77 Continental Mark V. That car was traded in when I was seven, but I still vividly recall riding in the back seat of that car, peering through the oval opera window that was so classily inset with the Continental star.

But before I came into the world, my grandfather had a bottle-green-metallic 1966 Continental sedan with the classic coach doors, green leather, and a green vinyl roof. It also had a factory-optional 8-track tape player, which my dad recalls vividly.

Another reason he remembers the car well is due to, er, late-night and unauthorized excursions in the Continental. He didn’t drag race it or anything, just cruised. Getting the car out of the garage without being caught was tricky, though, because the driveway had an incline, and the house, built in 1958 by my grandparents, had the master bedroom directly over the built-in two-car garage. The sound of the running car was a dead giveaway.

Pulling it out was far easier, as you simply opened the electric garage door with the manual override, put the car in neutral, gave a gentle push and it coasted down to the street.

Getting it back took some skill. To coast down 35th Street at just the right speed to make it into the garage on inertia alone, and not have it stall on the driveway hill.

At any rate, no harm ever came to the Connie, and it was traded in for the first new Continental Mark III coupe that was allocated to Bob Neal Lincoln-Mercury in Rock Island. It too, was triple dark metallic green.

So I’ve always loved the Continentals. Pretty much all of them, but especially the 1961-69 Continental sedan and convertible, and the Marks III, IV, and V. When I was about ten, a neighborhood friend, Nick, had a bunch of his dad’s old Matchboxes from the Sixties. He gave me one of the Mercedes “Binz” ambulances as he had two of them. I still have it today.

He was, however, shall we say, not as appreciative of the cool vintage toys as I was. One day I walked over to find him and another friend taking these survivors and, well, no way to sugar coat it, throwing them against the brick wall of the house.

There were about a dozen in the grass, as yet unmaimed, and I was shocked to see one was a little turquoise Continental. I pleaded my case for acquiring said Continental, and he gave it to me, with the stipulation that I not say I got it from him, or his mom might get mad.

Due to kid logic, it never occurred to me at the time that destroying toys by throwing them against the wall of the house might have made her even more mad. Ha! So I claimed I found it in a desk drawer at my grandmother’s house. I’ve never told anyone until now. I still have the car, though, still in the same fair shape as on that day in 1990 or so. It was saved!

That Matchbox car was a 1964 Continental, just like today’s featured subject, finished in the gorgeous combination of what appears to be Royal Maroon Iridescent, with lovely white leather with black trim, and the seldom seen front bucket seats with center console, a factory option.

There were only two Lincolns on offer in 1964: the $6292 four-door sedan and the $6938 convertible (technically, a small number of limousines were built in ’64 and available through L-M dealers, but they were built by Lehmann-Peterson in Chicago). At the same time, Cadillac had myriad models, and even Imperial had the Crown, LeBaron, and the Ghia-built limousines. The Continental sedan was perched a bit higher than the Sedan de Ville and Imperial Crown, however, its most direct competition was likely the $6455 Imperial LeBaron four-door hardtop and the $6366 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special. The convertible’s primary competitors were the $6003 Imperial Crown convertible and $6630 Eldorado Biarritz.

But none of the competition had a four-door convertible. As unique as it was, however, it didn’t translate to huge sales. While 32,969 Continental sedans were sold, a mere 3328 Continental convertibles came off the line in Wixom, Michigan.

All 1964 Continentals had the 430-cubic-inch V-8, producing 320 hp at 4600 rpm and breathing from a Carter four-barrel carburetor. And these were big cars, with a 126-inch wheelbase and overall length of 216.3 inches. For comparison, a standard-wheelbase 2024 Navigator is 210 inches!

This car was seen, along with my friend Humberto Garcia’s luscious ’76 Mark IV Givenchy Designer Edition, at the Geneva, Illinois, Concours d’Elegance last August. As with Humberto’s car, I was taken in by the fabulous color combination. I just love white interiors! What could be a better al fresco choice for a nice drive in the country this summer?