Re: 2018 Concours at St. John's

Posted by Mahoning63 On 2018/8/27 19:06:33

Thanks for the clarifications, was a bit careless with the Buick and always happy to learn new things about the industry.

Found it interesting that the 1958 brochures referred to the lower priced cars as "1958 Lincoln" while "Continental Mark III" had no model year affixed to it, recalling the industry's series naming convention of yore and suggestive of a more timeless, lasting product. For 1959 the name changed to "Mark IV Continental" switching the placement of the words. The differences between all these mostly look-alike cars was in interior and exterior trim and backlight, except the convertible which as you said only Continental offered. One roof stamping was used for all 58-59 cars while the lower priced cars got a new roof shape for 1960 that migrated towards the 61 shape and aligned with FoMoCo design practice of the day. IMHO the real Continental Mark III for 1958 was masked by Ford styling front and rear and given the name Thunderbird.