Google said “yes” when I asked whether the 1959 Continental Mark IV sold poorly. One reason why may be that artificial intelligence drew upon Adam Wade’s (2024) video titled “One Big Flop.” I respect Wade’s work, but in this case would beg to differ. The 1958-60 Continental was one of the Ford Motor Company’s few successes in its costly late-50s effort to make inroads in the luxury car field.
As a case in point, the 1959 Continental captured almost 37 percent of the market for high-end luxury cars. In contrast, Imperial tallied under 4 percent. Ford arguably did quite well given that it had abandoned this end of the market in the early postwar years.
The Continental line sold fairly well despite its high prices. For example, in 1959 production surpassed 11,000 units. That represented 41 percent of total Lincoln/Continental output — and rose to almost 45 percent in 1960.
In addition, the Continental consistently outsold the lower-priced Lincoln series from 1958-60. A big reason why was that the Continental four-door hardtop sedan was the single biggest-selling body style despite being priced close to a Cadillac 60 Special, which was a notch above the more popular de Ville.
1958-60 Continental laid foundation for 1961 classic
The success of the 1958-60 Continental arguably gave Ford management the confidence to ditch Lincoln’s lower-priced models. In 1961 Ford pruned its luxury-car lineup to only two models — a Continental hardtop sedan ($6,067) and a convertible ($6,713). They listed for slightly less than the most comparable 1960 Continentals but were still within the same ballpark as a Cadillac 60 Special ($6,233) and Eldorado ($6,477).
Note that the 1961 Continental comfortably outsold the 60 Special and Eldorado combined. This strikes me as a real coup given General Motors’ dominance of the luxury car field in the previous decade. The 1958-60 Continental arguably helped to build the foundation for the new 1961 models to make a breakthrough.
Also see ‘1958-60 Lincoln: Failing to beat GM at its own game’
I don’t say all of this to give Wade a hard time. The 1958-60 Continental doesn’t tend to get much respect from automotive historians. For example, Thomas E. Bonsall described the Lincoln and Continental “as big a disappointment as the Edsel” (2004, p. p. 81).
In a way Bonsall was correct — Ford’s overall luxury-car lineup failed to gain ground on the market-leading Cadillac. However, if you take the time to disaggregate the production numbers, you can see how the 1958-60 Continental represented an important victory for Ford.
NOTES:
Production figures, specifications and prices are from the auto editors of Consumer Guide (2006) and Gunnell (2002).
RE:SOURCES
- Auto editors of Consumer Guide; 2006. Encyclopedia of American Cars. Publications International, Lincolnwood, Ill.
- Bonsall, Thomas E.; 2004. The Lincoln Story: The Postwar Years. Stanford General Books, Stanford, CA.
- Gunnell, John; 2002. Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1946-1975. Revised 4th Ed. Krause Publications, Iola, WI.
- Wade, Adam; 2025. “One Big Flop: The Misunderstood (and Poor Selling) 1959 Continental Mark IV Was Not a Lincoln!” Rare Classic Cars & Automotive History. Posted Feb. 24, 2024.
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