1972 Lincoln Continental Coupe - The Good Doctor

 

On the blue collar block I grew up on back on Long Island, somewhat oddly, there lived a young pediatrician and his family, and it was obvious they were loaded. Not only did they live in the only post-War house in the neighborhood, but they were constantly improving it. In a day and age when window units were still a novelty, they added central air conditioning, automatic, in ground sprinklers, an alarm system, a fully finished basement, a fully modern kitchen with a microwave oven and so on. And The Good Doctor drove a Lincoln Continental coupe like this 1972. 

Therefore, these cars have always been "money" to me. What's more, he and his family were wonderful people, even my cranky parents liked then, and I learned it was possible to be rich and successful and be graceful and elegant; traits that aren't always mutually exclusive. I was enamored of the big Lincoln and humbled by it at the same time; I would feel small next to it, and in more ways than one. 

These Lincoln Continentals replaced the famous and distinctive "suicide-door", 1961 to 1969 Continentals. Come 1970, gone were the rear-hinged doors, the four-door convertibles and the unibody's and in their place were these dressed up, long wheelbase Ford LTD's that had a more than their fair share of General Motors design ethos in them. 

Made sense since despite the uniqueness of the previous Continentals, Cadillac kicked their tailpipe at the box office year in and year out. Well, as they say, if you can't beat 'em...

In many ways, though, in terms of creature comforts, these cars were the equal of anything Cadillac had to offer. With regards to richness of materials and giving off the aura of wealth and prestige, they had it hands down over Cadillac. Lincoln tried harder but they made little more than a dent in big daddy Cadillac sales. 

Lincoln built these hard top Continental coupes through 1974, the oh-so-boxy, 1975-1979 pillared one's pale in comparison to these dreamboats. I'm a GM girl at heart but there are a Ford or two I wouldn't kick out of my garage. I'll take a Continental like this one with it's smaller, pre-1973 safety bumpers please. 

The Good Doctor and his family moved off of our humble little street in the mid-1970's to a much tonier zip code on the Island's North Shore. I don't recall if he was still driving that big Lincoln. I know by the time they left he had upgraded his wife's car to a Mercedes Benz.