Ironically, the Continental Mark IV is the most “American” car ever. It’s the ultimate counterpart to that most continental/ European car ever, the VW Rabbit/Golf Mk I that appeared about the same time. The Golf was a brilliant triumph of modern design: space efficiency, economy, light weight, visibility, sparkling performance and handling. And in Europe, the Golf became known as the “classless” car; one that didn’t make a statement about its owner. The Mark? Well, take all those qualities, turn them upside down, inside out, and then toss them out the window. Americans have long had ambivalence about “modern” anyway; it hinted at socialistic and intellectual influences that didn’t always sit so well. The most modern American car ever was the Corvair, and look how that turned out. Even the Kennedy Lincolns were a touch too modern. America was ripe for the first true post-modern car, and Ford was the obvious company to make it. (Read More…)
Tagged as Cadillac Eldorado, continental, henry ford, Henry Ford II, lee iaccoca, Lincoln, Mark III, Mark IV, Mark V, Mark VI, mcmansion, ronald reagan, zephyr
Recent Comments
CelticPete - When I read Nissan I just think “more CVTs”. I hope the modular stuff doesn’t work for them and they go out of business. The...
CelticPete - This doesn’t seem great looking. Still if you are in the sub 30k range Mazda makes some nice cars.. Reminds me of an an impreza. I hope they put the 2.5...
Tosh - One might draw the conclusion that people are afraid of the unknown.
Big Al from Oz - The Mazda3 has become the biggest selling vehicle in Australia. You can see why, Zoom, Zoom, Zoom :) They must be doing something correct here. I’m not...
Prado - I don’t care for it at all. Much prefer hatchbacks with more classic styling, proportions….and visibility, like the Golf Mk7. From pictures, the 2014 Kia...
ect - “we got out for cheaper than the Fiat Fiasco”. Huh? From what I can see, GM hasn’t “gotten out” of PSA. They bought shares,...
wsimon - The problem with MFT isn’t the lack of buttons, but instead is how painfully slow the system operates. If Ford doubled the processing speed (okay, maybe...
wsimon - If only I could just get a Panda…the proportions work on the Euro-market Panda, the 500L not so much.
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AMC_CJ - Actually on the Liberty a hitch fits up nicely up into the rear bumper, and the one I installed nearly 4 years ago hasn’t shown the first bit up...