THE STORY:
By 1966, "Hipster's" from the 50's and Intellectuals from
the 60's had already been experimenting with Hallucinogenic's for years in America. Even
the CIA used LSD as an experiment in Mind Control programs calling it
"Operation Bluebird", "Project Artichoke" and "MK-Ultra". By 1966, young people
all across America started to 'indulge' in drugs. Authorities moved in quickly
to immediately outlaw Psilocybin Mushrooms, and chemical's like LSD. Who would
ever guess that 44 years later marijuana would be legalized in California??
Musician's used drugs during the Sixties to enhance their ability to capture
this new audience by writing
'spaced out' song lyrics or carry drug references in their songs. Radio Hits
like "Eight Miles High" by "The Byrds" immediately shot to the Top of the Pop
Charts, despite the claim by The Byrds that the song was about a plane flight
from England. The Beatles used their 'down time' to experiment with drugs and,
hence, the animated Rock Cartoon "Yellow Submarine" was born, as well as, many
other songs like "Lucy In The Skye With Diamonds". In reality the American Youth
was split down the middle, with half of them dancing to Nancy Sinatra's
"These Boots Are Made For Walking" while the other half was 'tripping' on The Beatles "Revolver" and "Rubber Soul" Albums. The NERDS stayed home and watched
'The Caped Crusaders'- "Batman and Robin" on TV or "Star Trek". Despite it's
lackluster ratings the first three years on the air "Star Trek"
returned to be a Cult
Hit in the 70's and it still draws 'Trekkies' at movie theatres all across
America. In the News, there were Nationwide Demonstrations against the
War in Vietnam. Texas Governor, John Connolly, made front page again proclaiming
he was hit by a "second bullet" when JFK was assassinated. Casualty figures
were released in the early stages of the Vietnam war revealing 5,008 U.S.
Troops killed and 39,093 wounded. At that point the U.S. had 400,000 troops in
Southeast Asia.... far more than the effort in Iraq or Afghanistan.
At home, production records now show Ford Motor Company only built 3,180
Lincoln Convertibles out of total production of 54,755 Continentals in all forms
(Coupe, Sedan and 'Verts). They all carried the monster 462 cubic inch V8 which
put out 340 hp at 4600 rpm. Some were optioned with Limited Slip Differential at
3:00-01 ratio.... most did not have it. All the Convertible's carried an
amazing 21 Servo Solenoids to make the Top work. They
also lowered the windows automatically when the top was activated. Watching this
ingenious robotic motion is like a cheap trip to the Carnival of the 60''S. Old
News with Ford, it is basically the same engineering used on the 1957-59 Ford
Skyliners. It
makes you PROUD to be an American.
Ford boasted the new Lincoln was
"Classic Beauty in a Smart New
Size"
and "The Car That Cannot be Outdated". The Industrial Design
Institute agreed and awarded Ford Motor Company the "Bronze
Metal Award" for "Timeless Design". That helped revive Lincoln's
penetration of the Luxury Car Market and breathe life into much needed sales. Of
course, it didn't
hurt that John and Jacqueline Kennedy both drove suicide door Lincoln's to
Social Functions, Church in Palm Beach and to his
Presidential Yacht at the Palm Beach Australian Ave. Docks. Finally, after years
of trying to sell gaudy 50's super sculptured Behemoths, the 'new'
Lincoln's Continental's arrival on the car scene sent shock waves through
showroom's. Though early models were known for 'shaking' at 51-62
m.p.h., by mid-year design , Ford had rectified all the problems..... adding 20
pound cast iron 'balancers' at all 4 corners. This however, resulted in adding
even more girth to the Convertible's considerable 5215 pounds. Also
worth mentioning is that the early Lincoln's were known to have poor, fading
brakes. that was corrected by 1966. All the negative publicity caused Ford to
"Road Test" every Continental 12 miles and cover '189 checkpoints' before delivery
to the dealer. Like Ferrari's, each Lincoln engine was checked on a
Test Stand before it was installed in the car. This brought Lincoln to offer a
24,000 Mile Warranty on each new car sold.
Soon "Bumper-To-Bumper Warranties" would follow on most
American Cars. This car is considered a