There were many great 2-door luxury cars in the 1970s, but the 1977-1979 was the best of the best. Watch the video to find out why the Lincoln Mark V was tops.
The oil embargo of 1973 threw the US. automobile industry into turmoil, forcing all the US. Automakers to produce smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. Even the American luxury car brands weren’t exempt. The Cadillac Seville, Chrysler Cordoba, and Lincoln Versailles were all examples of the US.
Automakers move to much smaller luxury cars. Lincoln, on the other hand, with its popular two-door Mark series 4, decided not to go in this direction. Instead, it went with a slightly larger car. This was a big surprise since the 1973 to 1976 Lincoln Mark 4 was a massive car. The 1977 Lincoln Mark 5 had a length of 230.3 inches, a width of 79.7 inches, and a wheelbase of 120.4 inches.
To get an idea of how big this is, the 1977 Mark 5 is only two inches shorter in length than the full-size 2021 ford f 150 raptor pickup truck. Considering the car climate back in the late 1970s, it’s truly amazing that the massive 1977 to 1979 Mark 5 was ever built on Ford’s full-size platform. Ford had transitioned the full-size two-door thunderbird to a midsize platform for the 1977 model year.
The 1976 Thunderbird was also a two-door personal luxury coupe that shared the same full-size platform with the 1976 Mark 4. It would have seemed logical that Ford would have made Lincoln do the same with the 1977 Mark 5.
However, Lincoln knew its customers still wanted an ultra-large two-door personal luxury coupe for the 1977 model year. With the new 1977 Mark 5, Lincoln used the overall exterior design theme of the Mark 4 and made the lines more squarish and the angles more sharp. This gave the Mark 5 a more modern look.
However, the Mark 5 still had all the Mark IV’s popular exterior items such as hidden headlights, oval opera windows, a vinyl roof, the traditional vertical Lincoln front grille, and the traditional spare tire bulge on the rear trunk lid. The 1977 to 1979 Mark 5 exterior styling was very attractive, yet it still had the sporty short deck lid and long hood design that many two-door personal luxury coupe buyers preferred at the time.
The Mark 5 exterior design has stood the test of time aging very well. It has become a reminder of the best of the 1970s American luxury car styling. One very distinctive feature of the Mark 5 was the new three vertical slats located on each front quarter panel. The biggest benefit of the Mark five’s massive size was an extremely spacious interior which could fit six passengers comfortably. The Mark 5 also had a long list of standard luxury features and many available luxury options.
The 1977 Mark 5 had a base price of $11,396, but it was easy to add several thousand dollars worth of options. There were different special editions which included unique interior and exterior appointments. One of the most popular of these was the 1978 Mark 5 diamond jubilee edition. The Mark 5 had a trunk with a very large cargo capacity and a very nice luxury car ride. Even though the Mark 5 was slightly larger in size than the Mark 4, ford engineers did the almost impossible.
They were able to shed a few hundred pounds with the introduction of the Mark 5. Both cars used Ford’s full-size platform. The 1977 to 1979 Mark 5 was standard with a 159 to 179 inch small block V8. It may have been light on the horsepower like most cars of this era, but its 315 to 329 pound-feet of torque helped to move the heavy Mark 5 with relative ease in most driving situations.
From 1977 to 1978, the Mark Five was available with an optional 208 to 210-inch big-block V8. It was certainly the best engine choice, especially when you take into account its almost limitless for its day 356 to 357 pound-feet of torque, which gave the Mark 5 the same driving feel of a big American luxury car produced before the 1973 oil crisis. All Mark 5 S were equipped with a three-speed automatic transmission. The Mark 5 was a massive success. An incredible 80,321 units were produced, which was a 43% increase over 1976 Mark IV production.
Sales remained very strong, with 1978 production being 72,602 units and 1979 production being 75,939 units. Considering the Mark 5 was an expensive upscale luxury car on the market during the hard economic times of the late 1970s, these were excellent production numbers. If you take a 360 view of the Mark 5, it is easy to see. It was the ultimate apex of 1970s automobile luxury and opulence and it was the last of the massive two-door personal luxury coupes. Not to mention the Mark 5 was one of only a few remaining cars offered in the late 1970s equipped with large displacement V8 engines.
By 1980, the Mark 5 was replaced by the considerably smaller Mark 6. When you understand all the many things the Mark 5 had to offer, is it any wonder why mint-conditioned Mark 5 s are today skyrocketing in price?
