Talk:Lincoln Mark series

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Contents 1 MKX vs Mark X 2 Name 3 Mark VI design revisions 4 POV

[edit] MKX vs Mark X

http://www.seriouswheels.com/top-Lincoln-Mark-X-Concept.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_MKX There appear to be two very, very, very different concept cars with the name Mark X. Will either or both actually be produced, and, if not, perhaps an explanation or somethin' about the Mark X coupe concept car would be relevant to this article. I know I'd find it fascinating. Anyone in the know? MrZaius^talk 14:15, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

Yes, a coupe concept by Lincoln would be relevant to this article, but the Mark X you're refering to, which will carry the name MKX, is a crossover SUV which will be prduced and sold for the 2007 model year and thus does not fit into this article. Thank you for your contributions. Regards, Signature^brendel 05:43, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

There were two different cars there. The first link is to a coupe concept car that the site claims would have carried the name Mark X. If anyone can verify/validate the source and explain why Lincoln chose not to implement the design, it would be relevant to the article. Anyone know anything about it? MrZaius^talk 13:05, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

Yes, Lincoln indeed had a Mark X concept coupe, but as the crossover SUV market looked better than the coupe market, Lincoln decided to give the MKX designation to the successor of the Aviator (previously known as the Aviator concept). Regards, Signature^brendel 06:35, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Name

Is someone seriously saying there was a car ever called just the "Mark"? Surely this is just as we still use the term in the UK, as in the Mk 2 Jag, or Mk 4 Golf, and that sometimes gets into the official car names? So the first of these cars must have been called just the "Continental", with no "Mark" in sight... -- Hotlorp 20:59, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

Actually, yes- its's Lincoln Mark (look on Edmunds or ebay for a quick check) but the the car is also referred to as the Mark Series. The Mark or Mark Series was a Lincoln model where every generation had a different roman numeral attached to the name (Mark V = Fith Generation Mark). Obviously it is not appropriate to have a different article for the Mark III, Mark VI, etc... This is how Mark articles used to be organized and it was too confusing. Gerdbrendel 18:52, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

A bit of googling and it seems that the first of the Continental line was never called the "Mark". This is consistent with British use of the word "mark" to indicate the number in a series of generations of a car of the same name. BUT - the first of the line is only called "Mark 1" retrospectively, after the introduction of its replacement. For example, we are now on VW Golf Mark 5 (Mk. 5 for short), but the original Golf was only called "Mark 1" after its replacement came out in 1983. Regarding the Lincoln specifically, the following extract is from http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hall/3703/3948mark.html

"From my first sighting of the 1946 Lincoln Continental in my hometown I began to read about the development of the Lincoln Continental. These first were not originally designated "Mark I," rather just Lincoln Continental. In fact the 1940 model carried the name Lincoln Zephyr Continental and was offered in two models, a cabriolet (see the picture at the beginning of this document) and a coupe."

So, what seems to have happened is that at some point Lincoln illogically dropped the "Continental" name, confusing people into thinking that the "Mark" was the basic name of the model. Since the term "Mark Series" does indeed seem to be in wide use, unless you object I'll move the "Lincoln Mark" page to "Lincoln Mark Series". Of course, each of these cars in the series needs its own page, which will solve the problem for good. -- Hotlorp 19:37, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

In fact, please make the page Lincoln Mark series if you change it... the "series" is not a proper noun here. Thanks. -- Hotlorp 19:38, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

Renaming the article from Mark to Mark Series makes sense. I don't however understand the connection you have drawn between the Golf MK5 and the Lincoln Mark since Mark really was the cars name. Concerning the Continental, as you may have known, the 1956 Continental Mark was not actually not manufactured by Lincoln. At this time, Continental was its own brand (together w/ Edsel). Lincoln adopted the Mark name in 1968 and used until 1998 for its line of personal luxury coupes adding a roman numeral for each gengeration, and yes, strangly enough there never was a "Mark I," neither was there a Mark II. Lincoln somehow wanted to connected the '56 Continental Mark's ultra-luxury prestige to the Licoln Continental Mark by calling it the Continental Mark (until the Mark VII) and by starting at roman numeral "III" (Implying there was a previous generation, even though there really wasn't any!).

The Continental four-door sedan who started production in the 40s shouldn't be confused with the Continental Mark coupe; giving both cars, at least partially, the same name was a marketing move-nothing more. Thanks. Gerdbrendel 04:47, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

Another company that started a series of large cars around this time, and one which makes a better analogy than the Golf, is Jaguar. Consider the Jaguar Mark V, Jaguar Mark VII, Jaguar Mark IX, Jaguar Mark X and others. Yes, the work "Mark" is part of the name of those cars, but is inextricably linked with the number that follows it – a series number for the saloons from that company. Also consider that the word Mark, when applied to a series number in any car model, including Jaguar, Lincoln and VW Golfs, is often written in abbreviated form: "Mk." I can't imagine this happening if this were a normal part of the name. However, I'd be interested to hear from the Lincoln enthusiast community what their current usage of the word "Mark" is – if you are a member of one of these communities, then I defer to your judgement. In case I am not clear, I would like to see this page moved to Lincoln Continental, where one would have links to the cars in the series, much like SFoskett did recently over at Bentley Continental. Regarding your last point, isn't it curious that the first of the Mark series was the Mark II, if this early Continental had truly nothing to do with the later ones? Every act of car naming is "a marketing move"! -- Hotlorp 18:27, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

I moved the "Lincoln Mark" article to Lincoln Mark Series, because yes series is better. Since I am a Lincoln Lincoln enthusiast I can assure that the Mark Series was not part of the Continental. Yes until the VII generation it was called the Lincoln Continental Mark, but the Marks was a model in its own right. Merging those two pages would be like merging the Jaguar X-Type with the XJ just because they both have the letter "X" in them. The Mark was Lincoln's personal luxury car from 1968 to 1998. The Continental was the flagship sedan from 1946 to 1980, then mid-level from 1981 to 2002. Of course, every car name is marketing; what I was trying to explain is that Lincoln called it the Continental Mark to make poeple think of the 1956 Continental Mark (which wasn't a Lincoln!) because that car was at the time as expensive Rolls-Royce; Lincoln thought- "let's take that name so our new '68 coupe sounds like that ultra-luxury car from 1956. By generation VII Lincoln however decided that adding Continental as a suffix did help the prestige anymore, especially since the car was most often reffered to as just the mark; so they drop it. Let me also reassure you that the 1956 Continental Mark was not a Lincoln; at this time there was a Ford subsidary called Continental (1956-1958). If you any more questions let me know ;-}. Thanks, Gerdbrendel 21:59, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

From what I can see, all Lincolns in the '70s were badged as Continentals as well. You had the fullsize Lincoln Continental Town Car and Town Coupe, and the Lincoln Continental Mark III, IV, V. I have also seen advertising that implies Lincoln Continental was the name of the marque itself. Just a thought, what do you all think? --Sable232 23:36, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

That's true in the 1970's until the arrival of the Versailles, all Lincolns were named Continental. Perhaps a remnant of the Continental brand of the late 1950s. Best Regards, Signature^brendel 00:24, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mark VI design revisions

The article states that the Mk VI design revisions were minor; this is wildly inaccurate as the Mark VI was moved onto an entirely new platform, the Panther as shared with the Crown Vic and Grand Marquis and eventually Town Car. The car shed nearly a thousand pounds curb weight due to this change; that's no "minor revision". --Mfree 15:35, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes but the esthetical effect was minor. The Mark VII was completely new, the VI still looked like its predecessors, only a bit smaller. But if there isn't already add a mention that the vehicle was moved on to the Panther platform. Regards, Signature^brendel 18:23, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

This is true, stylistically the V and VI are quite similar. But to actually look up the specs you'll see that the VI is drastically downsized in the terms of the automotive world... 6" shorter wheelbase, 14" shorter overall, 500 pounds curb weight reduction (and 11 gallons less fuel, accounting for quite a bit more), etc. I will add the platform blurb, a link, and some note of dimensional shrinkage. --Mfree 15:59, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

Alrighty that sounds good. BTW: I know they had to downsize the VI due to the then new Federal Fuel Economy Standards, the remark about minor revisions was in regards to esthetic changes only. Best Regards, Signature^brendel 17:50, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] POV

It seems like this page is a POV magnet. I cleaned out some stuff a few months back, but now someone is adding several paragraphs that, in addition to being unencyclopedic, look like they were copied and pasted out of some online review of some sort. I think the same thing was pasted into the Continental page as well. Other thoughts? --Sable232 22:03, 3 December 2006 (UTC)