Continental 80th Anniversary Coach Door Edition

[Dan Szwarc]

Another article

http://fordauthority.com/2018/12/2019-l ... -revealed/

[linc64]

A reported 8,000 requests for the 80th Anniversary Coach Door Continental came in. The order bank is now closed.

The Continental lives on!

[TonyC]

WHOA!! Eight thousand?? That's a hundred times the number the article said Lincoln was going to build!

---Tony

[trouble]

just not digg'n it sorry guy's

[Dan Szwarc]

I’m all for the fan service, but this just seems like a money grab. It could be a test, which I think shows that people will pay for something they consider special, but the market won’t accept this price point because It isn’t sustainable.

In 5-10 years, will these cars be collectible or will they just be flukes?

I wouldn’t be surprised if more than half are shipped overseas, initially or eventually.

As for the rest of you, clamoring for RWD and a V8 will get you nowhere. It should be AWD.

[ContiFan]

A reported 8,000 requests for the 80th Anniversary Coach Door Continental came in. The order bank is now closed.

The Continental lives on!

I’m sure most of those were just curiosity/information seekers and "speculators" (e.g. those looking to sell the car or order number/position to the highest bidder on eBay). This sort of thing happens with limited production vehicles. The real test will be how many of the "wider production" 2020 coach door Continentals sell.

If, however, it convinces Ford to continue producing the Continental beyond 2020 then that would be good news. The next generation was to move to the new modular C/D6 platform which could be configured as FWD/AWD or RWD/AWD.

[jtheye]

I have said it over and over that these suicide/coach doors would have saved Lincoln. This is proven with a limited 80 numbered cars receiving over 8000 orders. Worst of all, the car is not even being made by Lincoln. It is being built by a Lincoln approved modifier, Cabot Coach Builders in Massachusetts. This is why it will cost $100k plus. This company has to take the Continentals that Lincoln sends over, remove all interior, lengthen by 6 inches and custom make the rear hinged doors. This of course putting it a hair, I mean a whole wig out of my reach. I still stand by what I have said before. If Lincoln would build their cars and SUV's with these doors right from the factory it would bring down the cost. Easily a $1000 option, if not standard and their sales would skyrocket. Lincoln/Ford can do this very easily. Just as they have done with every extended cab pickup truck since 1997. Every unpopular model that production is being stopped would have sold with these doors.

[action]

Worst of all, the car is not even being made by Lincoln. It is being built by a Lincoln approved modifier, Cabot Coach Builders in Massachusetts. This is why it will cost $100k plus. This company has to take the Continentals that Lincoln sends over, remove all interior, lengthen by 6 inches and custom make the rear hinged doors.

This is a way to test the market without investing in a lot of tooling.

Ford has done this several times. The did this in the early 1980s with Mustang. The tooling was not available to make convertibles. AND Mustang had been talked about being cancelled or replaced, (Both Mustang and Crown Vic models had been scheduled to be ended) So the company went out and got a contract with a vendor to cut off the top of coupes and make convertibles.

IF Continental becomes successful with coach doors, the process will go in house in Flat Rock. And the MSRP will come down.

>>>>>>>>>>>>Action

[jtheye]

What you say may be true, but over 4 different reports that I have read have stated these are not a "test" car. That these are the "going out with a bang" model. A limited numbered series. The failure of the Continental, with production already confirmed to stop mid to end of 2019. If it is a test model for production, 2 reports of Lincoln shutting down the "pre order" option on their website because of over 100 times the available cars qualifies as a successful test. Even if 80% of those orders did not follow thru with actually buying one, it is still 1520 cars over the 80 they are building. So long Continental. Somebody screwed up.

[linc64]

And many uninformed people were declaring Lincoln dead ten years ago. They're still here.

[ContiFan]

Ford has done this several times.

Yes and not just Ford/Lincoln but plenty of other manufacturers as well. Many "custom" (convertibles, extended wb, etc.) limited production cars offered by manufacturers over the decades had been outsourced.

[ContiFan]

And many uninformed people were declaring Lincoln dead ten years ago. They're still here.

Fortunately, most of those "naysayers" on here seem to have disappeared...but Lincoln is still around.

it's too bad the overall sedan market in the U.S. has fallen off so much, though.

[Ken Stevens]

IMHO the 2002 Continental Prototype was a more successful "coach" door look than this production version. I'm sure side impact requirements forced it's clunky B-pillar, but the result is certainly not a $100k-looking car.

[ContiFan]

People also need to keep in mind that the $100,000+ price tag is not just related to the coach doors, longer wheelbase and limited production numbers but also the fact the 80th Anniversary edition cars are to be top of the line, loaded up "Black Label" level models. Had the "conversion" been offered on entry Premiere trim Continentals you'd probably be looking at a starting price of around $67,000 or so which is less than even the base price (converted to today's dollars) of Continentals in the mid-1990s. Obviously, it's a much different sedan market these days especially in the U.S.

[Gerald F. Chase]

Let me tell everyone why I would NOT buy one of these cars. I wouldn't even keep it if my Saudi friend gave me one.

Why, you ask? It's simple: the center console is MUCH TOO WIDE!!! There are lots of Americans (and others) who need more width where they sit in a car. My wife's 2011 Buick Lacrosse has the same, stupidly TOO-WIDE console design! Why, of why, when space is clearly "at a premium".. do the manufacturers have to make the consoles so wide?? At a minimum, it is poor space utilization! We need more lateral width in the knee-area --- not less!

I'm an average-sized adult male. I can't imagine how UNcomfortable one of these cars would be for someone, say, 6' 4" and roughly 265 lbs.---- which is not unusual in America these days. They would have precious little width in the knee area: they need more room laterally! I can't believe that these latter-day product designers, especially the ones that design the interiors, could be so unimaginative, so out-of-touch with reality. I don't want to feel like I'm in a commercial airliner.. where the whole seat area is too narrow.... Must a top product from FoMoCo be the same way???

The supervisors, or the bosses that must approve various areas of a new vehicle.. clearly "missed the boat" on this very UNdesirable feature. I say that the Lincoln Division needs to embark on a high-priority correction of this serious error: pronto!