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While others may have had great service from the lincoln versions, most I've known had to resort to destroying the cars to escape the money pits. Here's the story of mine. I had a 1983 Mark VI Bill Blass 2dr that, when it ran, rode great and was a good solid car. The thing ate fuel pumps, sensors, plug wires, unlisted firing order and demon-possessed electronics. Took 3 days to change a heater core, burnt out ACT and crank sensors every year and fuel pumps every 9 months or so. Even with a rebuilt engine it could barely average 51MPH driving from PA to Atlanta. It got worse gas mileage than anything from the 70's with less than a big-block. Averaged 10-11 MPG with 14 highway. Fuel guage only worked at nearly full or nearly empty. Could not get the seats into any comfortable position. The firing order was unlisted in any manuals or on the manifold. Had to spend hours at champion ford looking through old invoices to see if someone had written it down. Even Ford mechanics couldn't get it to run right. I tried to give this car away and no one took it so I junked it. I'll possibly buy a crown vic again but no more Lincolns after 79 EVER again.

ChuckLTD. Did u buy the Bill Blaas lincoln new or used????
How old was it when u bought it and how many miles were on it????

To be fair, 1983 was a pretty dark period for all the domestics, they were still trying to get engines that dated back to the 1950s to make emissions with bolt-on gizmos, then the new religion of fuel economy happened, they were trying to hit all of these targets using a carburetor, and the results were about what you experienced.
10 years later there were new engines, electronic fuel injection and successful lock-up torque converter OD trasmissions (Ford bought a twin-Ultramatic from a local collector to study in the late 70s) and everyting got better in a hurry. I have always found Lincolns expensive to keep 100% functional after a certain point, age or miles. We had a few in the fleet I maintained in the 90s and early 2000s, yes, they could sensor/R&R/little motor servo you often. We had a Ford E-150 panel van at the same time (same engine) and that thing was great, we beat the hell out of it, used it all week long, moved ourselves with it on the weekends and it gave great service, relatively few repairs.
The Cadillacs we had from that era were by and large pretty reliable, a '92 Seville that gave few troubles and a 91-'2 ish Brogham, the last of the Texas Cadillacs with a small block Chebby, that gave very little trouble. The Allante was a dissapointment, it was just OK, replacing the battery was a chore.



[quote] While others may have had great service from the Lincoln versions, most I've known had to resort to destroying the cars to escape the money pits. Here's the story of mine. I had a 1983 Mark VI Bill Blass 2dr that, when it ran, rode great and was a good solid car. The thing ate fuel pumps, sensors, plug wires, unlisted firing order and demon-possessed electronics. Took 3 days to change a heater core, burnt out ACT and crank sensors every year and fuel pumps every 9 months or so. Even with a rebuilt engine it could barely average 51MPH driving from PA to Atlanta. It got worse gas mileage than anything from the 70's with less than a big-block. Averaged 10-11 MPG with 14 highway. Fuel guage only worked at nearly full or nearly empty. Could not get the seats into any comfortable position. The firing order was unlisted in any manuals or on the manifold. Had to spend hours at champion ford looking through old invoices to see if someone had written it down. Even Ford mechanics couldn't get it to run right. I tried to give this car away and no one took it so I junked it. I'll possibly buy a crown vic again but no more Lincolns after 79 EVER again.

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Looking back, most of the troubles with it were beacause of one-year-only parts and unavailability of information. 1984 wasn't much better. I bought it used at a local car lot. It had one prior owner who was some sort of state legislator. It still had the dealer invoice which said the car was almost $30,000 when new. Mileage could not be determined since the tens section of odometer turned every tenth of a mile. In other words, 1 mile appeared to be 100 miles! The car was 15 years old at that time. If I find a pic of it I'll share it. Supposedly the car was fine until it's first scheduled tuneup after warranty ran out. Doing a tuneup on this car was nearly impossible since all reference material available was wrong and all parts bought for it did not match the car. The car was last seen a year ago at EZ pull junkyard in New Ringold PA.
I've heard of later crown's and others running for a couple hundred K miles but after this one, No more.
Afterthought: It did have a great ride when it moved and was easier to push than my 76 Caddy was!

"The firing order was unlisted ... Even Ford mechanics couldn't get it to run right."

What is so special about an 83 Bill Blass Lincoln engine???? Most likely the fireing order is the same as any other lincoln V8 prior or maybe after 1983.

Was the fuel pump on the side of the engine or first years for in the tank?????


I'm not familiar with 83 lincolns. At this point i can only guess that your problem was not the car or the parts but rather the Dealer.

Or let me put it another way. I sincerely doubt that there was anything special about the Bill Blass edition other than a little trim here and there. It was just a Lincoln. The problem is that the dealer just didn't want to work on a 15 year old car.

This car had a one year only cam. The correct firing order had the wires split straight down the middle. Whenever I'd try buying parts for it, the stores always gave me 1978 LTD or 79 Tbird parts. I've owned both of those cars so I know what they used. The 83 required a wierd 3-prong rotor and used monolithic timing. Firing order was 1-3-4-8-6-5-7-2. The fuel "pumps" I should say, were in the tank and on the frame. Had a high pressure pump on frame and a low pressure one in the tank. Some 84's also used that setup. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking Lincolns in general. In fact I love the Mark IV and V, but the VI was a POS. The technology needlessly added to the car was overkill.

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What is that tail fin setting in the foreground???? 1960 Cadillac????? Finally got a REAL car eh???

The tail fin looks like the one from a 1957 Ford.

That pic was from 2 years ago at my house in Georgia. The fin in the lower corner was on a 60 or 61 Hawk. Every car my family is owns is between 1978 and 1941.

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