This is the 1978 Lincoln Continental Mark V that was chosen by Jeremy Clarkson for The Grand Tour Presents: Lochdown, and then kept by him after filming wrapped and added to his personal collection.
Lochdown was filmed during the Covid-19 pandemic, when international travel restrictions kept Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May in the UK. The special episode of The Grand Tour turned those travel limitations into its core theme – a road trip through Scotland in enormous 1970s American luxury cars. Because reasons.
Fast Facts: Clarkson’s Lincoln Continental Mark V
- This 1978 Lincoln Continental Mark V was Jeremy Clarkson’s car of choice for “The Grand Tour Presents: Lochdown,” filmed during Covid-era travel restrictions. Finished in Wedgwood Blue, the lengthy 230 inch coupe became a central part of the Scotland road trip and was later kept by Clarkson for his personal collection.
- Lincoln built the Mark V from 1977 to 1979, selling 228,862 examples. It kept the Mark IV’s 120.4 inch wheelbase but used lighter construction and a smaller standard engine for better fuel efficiency. The 1977 model came with a 400 cubic inch V8, while a more powerful 460 V8 remained optional through 1978.
- The Mark V became one of Lincoln’s most successful personal luxury cars, outselling its Mark IV predecessor and Cadillac’s Eldorado during key years. Designer Series models carried Bill Blass, Cartier, Givenchy, and Emilio Pucci trim schemes, while the lavish Diamond Jubilee Edition marked Ford’s 75th anniversary in 1978.
- Clarkson’s car has a 6.6 liter V8, velour upholstery, power accessories, automatic climate control, cruise control, and a Cartier dashboard clock. During “Lochdown” it received a nitrous oxide system that never worked properly. Clarkson kept the Lincoln afterward, complete with television-era details including the NOS equipment and bagpipes in the boot.
History Speedrun: The Lincoln Continental Mark V
Lincoln built 228,862 Continental Mark Vs for the 1977, 1978 and 1979 model years, and each of those years beat the best annual sales total that the earlier Mark IV had ever managed. The new car went on sale in the fall of 1976 at just a smidge over 230 inches long – this made it a little longer than the Mark IV it replaced, and more than 8 inches longer than the newly downsized Cadillac Sedan de Ville that arrived at about the same time as its key competitor.
Lincoln built 228,862 Continental Mark Vs for the 1977, 1978 and 1979 model years, and each of those years beat the best annual sales total that the earlier Mark IV had ever managed. Image provided by the Ford Motor Company.
Lincoln And The Original Continental
Henry Leland and his son Wilfred formed the Lincoln Motor Company in 1917 to build Liberty V12 aircraft engines. Henry named the company after the first president he had voted for. After the war the factory switched to luxury cars, and the first Lincoln was completed in September of 1920. A difficult economy, intense competition, and disappointing sales pushed the company into receivership, and in February of 1922 Ford bought it for $8 million.
The Lincoln Continental began as Edsel Ford’s personal car, after a trip to Europe in 1938, he had designer E.T. “Bob” Gregorie rework a Lincoln-Zephyr convertible. The hood was lengthened by 12 inches, the body was lowered by four inches, and the spare wheel was mounted outside at the rear. The prototype was delivered to Edsel’s winter home at Hobe Sound, Florida, in 1939, his friends showed so much interest in it and wanted their own – so Ford set up an assembly line that October.
Lincoln built 404 Continentals in the first model year and 5,324 in total before production ended in 1948.
The Continental name returned on the 1956 Continental Mark II, which was built by a separate Continental Division under William Clay Ford. It cost around $10,000, a princely sum at the time, Ford apparently lost money on every one, and production stopped at ~3,000 cars. After Ford discontinued the separate Continental Division, the 1958, 1959, and 1960 Continentals were designated Mark III, Mark IV, and Mark V.
The modern Continental line began in 1968 with Lee Iacocca’s Thunderbird-based 1969 Continental Mark III, which ignored the 1958-1960 cars in its numbering. Iacocca proposed its two signature features – an upright grille inspired by Rolls-Royce and a simulated spare tire molded into the decklid. The 1972-1976 Mark IV kept both, moved to a 120.4 inch wheelbase, added opera windows, and in 1976 they also introduced the Designer Series trim packages.
Designing The Continental Mark V
Ford seriously considered downsizing the Mark V and stylists worked through several designs on the 114 inch wheelbase of the intermediate Torino and Montego, which is the platform the 1977 Thunderbird used. The plan was dropped months before the 1973 Oil Crisis because refitting the Wixom, Michigan, plant to build a smaller car was judged too expensive. A proposal to use the upcoming Fox platform also went nowhere, perhaps unsurprisingly.
The Mark V went on sale in the fall of 1976 at just a smidge over 230 inches long – this made it a little longer than the Mark IV it replaced, and more than 8 inches longer than the newly downsized Cadillac Sedan de Ville that arrived at about the same time as its key competitor. Image provided by the Ford Motor Company.
The production design came from Ford’s Corporate Advanced Studio, there, Allen Ornes, John Aiken, Bud Magaldi, and Dave Turner developed a new version of the larger car. Don DeLaRossa, the studio’s former manager, later said it owed a good deal to an alternative Mark IV that Steve Sherer and Ron Perry had developed under him in 1968 and 1969.
The flatter body sides reflected the preference of Design Vice President Gene Bordinat. The flared wheel openings were drawn for a low-profile, extra-wide Michelin radial that never made it into production on the car, which is why the 15 inch wheels tend to look a little small in the arches.
Engine + Chassis Specifications
The Mark V kept the Mark IV’s perimeter frame and 120.4 inch wheelbase, but Ford used thinner sheet metal and glass, fixed the rear quarter windows in place, and fitted a smaller standard engine. Together these changes cut 400 lbs from the Mark IV’s curb weight, close to 10%.
For 1977, the standard engine was a 400 cubic inch (6.6 liter) V8 with a twin-barrel carburetor, rated at 179 bhp and 329 lb ft of torque. The four-barrel 460 cubic inch (7.5 liter) V8 had been standard on the Mark IV, but on the Mark V it became a $133 option, initially rated at 208 bhp and 356 lb ft, and it wasn’t sold in California for emissions reasons. Both engines sent power back through a 3-speed C6 automatic. Four-wheel disc brakes were fitted as standard, and Sure-Track anti-lock rear brakes remained an option.
A period Car and Driver road test of a California-spec 1977 car, which had 181 bhp and a 2.75:1 axle, recorded almost 12 seconds to 60 mph and a top speed of 102 mph. The car managed no more than 12.5 mpg on the highway, and the testers compared its handling to the big American cars of the 1950s and 1960s. Their test car was a Givenchy Edition that listed at $14,746, and few Mark Vs left showrooms for less than $13,000.
Sales Figures + Special Editions
Lincoln sold 80,321 Mark Vs for 1977, 72,602 for 1978, and 75,939 for 1979, against a Mark IV best of 69,437 in 1973. The 1977 figure was about 70% higher than Cadillac’s 47,344 Eldorados, the key competitor.
The Designer Series versions of the Mark V included the Bill Blass, Cartier, Givenchy, and Emilio Pucci cars, each specified a paint, roof, and trim scheme, and each designer’s signature appeared in the opera window glass. Image provided by the Ford Motor Company.
The Designer Series versions of the Mark V included the Bill Blass, Cartier, Givenchy, and Emilio Pucci cars, each specified a paint, roof, and trim scheme, and each designer’s signature appeared in the opera window glass. The Givenchy package cost $2,100 in 1977. Cartier was the most popular, with about 8,500 cars for 1978 and almost 9,500 for 1979.
For Ford’s 75th anniversary in 1978, Lincoln added the Diamond Jubilee Edition in Diamond Blue or Jubilee Gold. Nearly every option was standard, and it also came with bucket seats, a console with an umbrella stored in the armrest, a leather tool roll, and opera windows with a simulated diamond chip set into the glass.
The End Of The Big Mark
The 460 V8 was dropped after 1978 to improve fuel economy, as federal fleet targets rose to 19 mpg for 1979 and 20 mpg for 1980. Sales stayed strong through early 1979, then the second Oil Crisis left Lincoln dealers with a large surplus of unsold cars. The 1980 Continental Mark VI moved to the smaller Panther platform, and Mark sales fell by half.
The 1978 Lincoln Continental Mark V Shown Here
This is the 1978 Lincoln Continental Mark V that Jeremy Clarkson chose for The Grand Tour Presents: Lochdown, the feature-length special released in July of 2021 in the midst of the Covid pandemic. It was Clarkson’s entry in the trio’s attempt to understand why large American cars of the 1970s never really found the same following in Europe, and he went about answering that question with one of the largest personal luxury coupes Ford had ever built – the 4,762 lb (2,160 kg) Continental Mark V.
Finished in Wedgwood Blue, the Lincoln measures in at 230 inches, or 5.8 meters, from nose to tail. Power comes from a 6.6 liter V8 producing a quoted 170 bhp, which is sent through an automatic transmission to the rear wheels. The car is packed with the sort of equipment that helped define American luxury in the period, including button-backed velour upholstery, electrically adjustable seats, power windows, electric quarter lights, cruise control, automatic climate control, and a (genuine) Cartier clock mounted in the dashboard.
That last detail became something of a favorite of Clarkson’s during filming – he singled the Cartier clock out for praise, and of course it remains fitted to the car today.
The Lincoln was used throughout the Lochdown adventure, negotiating the narrow streets of Edinburgh before being taken to Knockhill Circuit for a comparison with a Hillman Avenger. From there, Clarkson, Hammond, and May continued north through Scotland and eventually towards the Outer Hebrides.
Predictably, a car almost 19 feet long wasn’t always the ideal tool for narrow Scottish roads, and the Lincoln suffered its share of mechanical trouble along the way. Clarkson also decided that 170 bhp wasn’t quite enough, so a nitrous oxide system was installed during the trip, as you do. The conversion didn’t work as intended because the supporting modifications required to make the system function properly hadn’t been carried out, but the NOS equipment remains fitted to the car today.
What makes this Lincoln particularly interesting is what happened after filming finished, rather than moving it on, Clarkson kept it as part of his personal collection after admitting during the program that he had grown genuinely fond of it.
This is the 1978 Lincoln Continental Mark V that Jeremy Clarkson chose for The Grand Tour Presents: Lochdown, the feature-length special released in July of 2021 in the midst of the Covid pandemic.
It still carries several reminders of its television career, including the nitrous system, the Cartier clock, and even the set of bagpipes left in the boot. More recently, the car has been maintained in-house and is now being offered without reserve, with an MOT valid until August the 13th, 2027.
It’s now due to roll across the auction block with Iconic Auctioneers in mid-November and you can visit the listing here if you’d like to read more about it or register to bid.
Images provided by Iconic Auctioneers
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
