Land Yacht is the word for a luxurious floaty boaty American cruiser like this. Europeans might mistake it for a Cadillac, but in fact, the Lincoln Continental Mark V was more expensive than its GM counterpart. So far these were only available in 1:18 scale in resin, unsurprisingly by MCG´s sister company BoS, now MCG gives us this (as usual, unfortunately, sealed) budget model. It comes in three different colours of which this here currently proves the most popular in sales. There is a dark red one that might be just a little too red but seems to be yet more popular with collectors than the gold one that closely resembles the 1978 Diamond Jubilee Edition with a jubilant golden colour inside and out, including the wheel spokes that made the original car the most expensive of them all.
Our colour option here bears the nearest resemblance to the 1977 Bill Blass Designer Edition: it’s “darkly brilliant midnight blue contrasts with a frenched Landau vinyl roof in chamois and pigskin texture”, as the 1977 brochure informs us. The dark blue paint on the model really is brilliant, with no flaws on all this surface, but brilliance taken all too literally to be true to the original. The metallic paint is lovely to behold, but the real car´s paint was solid, not metallic. The then-fashionable Landau vinyl roof might be a little too light in colour and does not show any texture, which might be preferable to, say, Anson´s treatment of such roof sections on their ancient Cadillacs.
In this colour scheme, the Mark V Bill Blass Edition was only offered in 1977 (colour specs changed significantly in subsequent years) and hence has the most powerful V8 under the sealed hood, as engines were continuously detuned as the malaise era progressed. With an estimated 3000 built in this very specification, it remains pretty exclusive. Fewer were only sold of the green Givenchy Edition – and it is not hard to see why. All Designer Edition Mark Vs came with the Turbine-styled cast-aluminum wheels and white-wall tires, and so does the model, of course without tire branding or valves at this price point. That the front wheels are non-steerable can be (with a grain of salt) taken as a nod to the fact that these barges never went round corners too well, but preferred steaming on in a straight line.
A rather nice touch is the golden pin-striping along the waistline on this version, including the triangular shape on the front fender´s foremost corner. In its original, the pinstriping was in a double line, though, while on this model (in contrast to BoS where it was correct) these merge into one thicker line. Similarly, all-wheel arches and windows are framed by a silver line that sometimes bleeds into the blue a little. The pin-stripe highlighting the arched faux spare-wheel hump in the trunk lid ought to be gold, not silver. The lettering on this signature feature of Lincoln´s two-door luxury coupe is nicely and orderly printed on, while the “Mark V” badge is photo-etched lettering underneath a transparent square sticker. The plastic Lincoln emblem on the rear might seem a little thick but resembles the original faithfully. The Lincoln hood ornament on the photoetched breakthrough Rolls-Royce-esque radiator grille is delicate metal and MCG did not fail to add the “Continental” scripts on the hidden headlight´s cover in photoetched metal.
The lights of the model add particular value to it: The vertical wedged lenses on all four corners are all shine-through transparent, the rears with the silver sectioning applied on top three-dimensionally, the front ones nicely having the Lincoln logo chiselled into the lens. The horizontal taillights in the trunk lid are the same as the wedged rears. Only the front side markers and cornering lights visibly have the ugly pin attaching them to the body, the reversing whites in the rear bumper are clipped into their recess more elegantly and the rear side markers stand out as merely paint-on. The chrome on the bumpers and radiator shell is as to be expected on a budget piece. The black lines resembling rubber lend more credibility to it, but like all fine lines can have unfortunate rub-offs or may bleed into the chrome.
Another hallmark of the Lincoln Continental Mark V is its Ford-oval-shaped “opera windows” in the vinyl C-pillar with a Lincoln emblem and a fine script for the Edition models. The brochure says: “There´s Bill Blass identification in the opera windows.” But squinting hard, the barely legible script in the model´s opera window clearly starts with a “C”: “Continental” rather than “Cartier” (for the Cartier Designer edition) is what it seems to say here, but certainly not “Bill Blass”. Nice attempt to add such fine detail, but I suspect the red non-Edition model will (wrongly) have it too, while the resin BoS siblings did not have this. Peeping through the bigger windows (that have the advantage over BoS to be solid and not peel off) you see quite a nice sumptuous interior, without any seat belts, though, but still nicely detailed and true to original for a sealed budget model. “Chamois was also chosen for the interior”, again matching the Bill Blass Edition spec. That the windshield has a blue-tinted stripe at the top again adds realism.
My collection is undeniably luxury-car-themed, but usually not American and hardly budget. This here drew my attention when I was looking for a ride for two soon-to-arrive wealthy Texan characters joining my 1:18 figurine cast of a 1977 road movie. I had given up on getting their Cadillac that has become unavailable now and wasn´t convinced by alternative land yachts when I stumbled on this new release … and immediately fell in love. Actually, the two might find it quite worthwhile, matching the colours of their apparel, actually even an upgrade to their Cadillac. And as the Sheriff´s and his son´s ride is from the wrong franchise too, I don´t mind too much. At less than 70 Euros I found this diecast model absolutely worth buying, probably better value for money than its more expensive resin counterparts. Or is it just sour grapes over not getting their red 1976 BoS Cadillac Eldorado Convertible for the Burdette’s? What do you think?
Thanks, Karsten, for another great review. Not much to say here, as the subject matter seems to fascinate fans out east more than west, likely due to the fact that these yachts were commonplace here. Not a huge fan of this era of cars, though it does bring memories of dad’s 1978 Ford Cougar!
Thanks for the review. The Mark V is one of the few Malaise Era cars that I admire. I saw photos of the red one posted on a Facebook group and was immediately intrigued. For the money this car seems to be quite good. I ordered the blue one and am looking forward to receiving it.
Another great and very informative review by Karsten! Personally I do not have any vintage Lincoln in my collection, but I have to admit that these kind of cars are highly detailed inside out and thus very intriguing for any collector with a soft spot for this kind of cars.
When I was a little kid, I remember seeing these kind of cars on american 70’s and 80’s movies on TV and I always was fascinated with them, due to their size and unique design. Huge, luxurius and very detailed inside and out! And with massive engine displacement! I always wanted to see one from up close.. Here in Greece the only opportunity to see these kind of beasts, is to go to classic / vintage car festivals, such as Concours d’ Elegance, etc and I was very lucky to see many of them, in such festivals. I took many photos and I also had many discussions about them with their owners. Impressive and they are really huge!.. :))
Thanks for your feedback. I am very much like Kostas: In contrast to America and Canada, I never saw any of these land yachts in their day. A neighbour had a Camaro Z28 whose roar was extraordinary for us. These were the cars that featured in all the American series on our TVs during our childhood days and hence fascinated us. They would not fit into our garages, sticking out for a metre or so and so wide that it would be impossible to get in or out. My Ford Fusion/Mondeo just fits in and usually is slightly too long to fit into a standard parking space outside the supermarkets etc. So Americans will understand the fascination Europeans have for these.
Hi Karsten,
Thanks for the nice review. For me there is one questionmark left: is the model really 1:18 or did they make it let’s say 1:21 to fit it in the standard box? The real car measures 5,85 m long, so the model shoud be 32,5 cm in lenght. Hope you can tell me.