Finale-the end of an era?

As the saying goes: “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it” and no one could accuse Lincoln of messing up a successful formula, as the Continental Mark III gave way to the restyled Mark IV (1972-1976) and the equally successful Continental Mark V (1977-1979). Both cars were broadly like the original progenitor, the Mark III, with long bonnets, a two-door format, formal grille and hood ornament, with hideaway headlights, padded vinyl roof and super plush luxurious interiors and of course their trademark continental spare tyre hump on the boot lid. Out back the Mark III’s elegant and understated lines that echoed the Fifties Mark II were replaced with rather more ordinary units within the bumper that coarsened its appearance somewhat, smacking of more mainstream mass-produced vehicles like the Dodge Polara. Yet the Mark series still epitomised the ‘personal luxury