1977 Lincoln Continental spent most of its life in storage

Murray Mitchell smirks and shrugs his shoulders when asked about the cost to store his ultra-low-mileage Cordovan Maroon Lincoln Continental Mark V after first getting behind the wheel on March 12, 1977.

He has driven the car just 5,587 kilometres since picking it up as the first Lincoln sold by Gordon Dam at his new Dam’s Lincoln Mercury dealership in Surrey.

Because of circumstances, he and wife Audrey, who owns the car, only drove the massive luxury two-door on trips to Portland, Ore., and Hope in the first few months of ownership and then put it into storage. And there it stayed.

This was the second Lincoln Continental the Mitchells had purchased in as many years. The first new one developed so many problems that the Ford Motor Company finally took it back, refunding the entire purchase price.

“It must have gone down the assembly line on a Friday and they finished the car on Monday,” Mitchell quips.
But the couple liked the big Lincoln Continental personal luxury cars and paid the $15,000 purchase price plus $1,050 provincial sales tax for the new fully optioned 1977 model.

Mitchell’s love affair with cars started early in his hometown of Star City, Sask. A Model A Ford caught his eye on a used car lot beside the grocery store where he worked earning $16 a week after completing high school. He eventually bought the $50 car with $5 down and a promise to pay it off with weekly payments of $5.

Because the car didn’t run, he had it towed home and his father, a carpenter, offered to help him get it going.

Unfortunately, Mitchell re-installed the distributor backwards and, when he tried to start the car, gas fumes exploded, engulfing the car in flames.

Not only did he still owe $45 for the car, it cost him another $10 to have the burnt-out hulk towed to the dump.

Despite his bad experience with his first car, he eventually moved to Vancouver and spent much of his career as a mechanic running shops in New Westminster, eventually ending up at a Richmond Ford dealership.

In the 1970s, he and Audrey were able to make some property transactions to put themselves out in front financially.

After ordering the new Lincoln Continental Mark V, they sold their house in Coquitlam to buy a 1.5-acre lot in Surrey with plans to build their dream house with enough garage space for the new car, their camper truck and a daily driver. In the meantime, they rented a townhouse in Langley with a single- car garage for excess furniture as they prepared to build the new house.

But plans went awry when their permit for a septic system was revoked and building on the lot was not possible. Mitchell rented storage for the Lincoln and put it away. The storage that started out to cost $150 a month gradually rose over the years to $250 a month for a 10 by 30-foot locker.

“After some time, I didn’t want to put any miles on the car because it may be the lowest mileage Continental of that year in existence,” he says in the rented garage he now shares with a vintage car collector.

He knows the storage costs over nearly four decades have far exceeded the value of the car. He starts the car regularly and maintains it perfectly.

When the original Uniroyal Tiger Paw tires delaminated from the car due to sitting for so many years, Murray invoked the lifetime warranty and had Kal Tire install a new set of tires supplied by Michelin free of charge.

Murray and Audrey’s car represents the height of automotive luxury in an era when bigger was better.

Under the hood is a massive 460-cubic-inch V8 engine coupled to an automatic overdrive transmission. The interior is so plush it resembles a crushed velour cocoon. Everything is power operated from the windows, seats, aerial and trunk.

The optional AM/FM sound system of the day features a multi-channel eight-track tape deck. The music seems to come from everywhere thanks to multiple speakers hidden throughout the ostentatious cabin. Over the years, only the air conditioning has stopped working.

Just two people have ever sat in the rear seat and that was for only one short trip. He has owned his car for 456 months. He has stored it for 444 months at an average cost of $200. That works out to $88,000 in storage costs.

The car has travelled an average of 12 kilometres a month since new and only 145 kilometres a year on average.

So will Mitchell continue to pay storage for his ‘nearly new’ 1977 Lincoln Continental Mark V? Now in his 80th year, he feels it’s time to look for a new custodian for the Continental and pass the torch.

He is not sure what it’s worth in today’s market because the car is so unique. He was in contact with the owner of a similar Lincoln Continental Mark V with even lower mileage about 10 years ago.

That car sold for $28,000. Mitchell is open to offers and, if he finds the right buyer, he may get a fraction of the money back that he spent preserving his Lincoln Continental Mark V since it was first purchased 37 years ago.

Alyn Edwards is a classic car enthusiast and partner in Peak Communicators, a Vancouver-based public relations company.