My '90 Mark VII LSC SE

[Jonboy]

I never bothered to do much of a build thread for this car for a couple of reasons. I don't think there will be much "build" to it, and I also figured there wouldn't be much interest to it. Anyhow, here goes.....

Not only do I have a bit of a truck problem, but I also have a slight Lincoln (and Cadillac, truth be known) addiction. This is my 11th Mark VII, and probably one of the nicest, especially given the age of the car now. My family got out first Mark VII when I was a sophomore in high school, so it would have been around 1990. It was a 1985 base model, and I was hooked by the styling of the car. I soon found a wrecked '84 LSC in western Kansas, and trailered it home. After some disassembly, it was too far gone for me to save. My old man had grown tired of the 140 hp in his 85, so the obvious cure for that was a newer one with the 5.0 HO. The agreement was that if I traded my '82 Trans Am and '76 Corvette in on them (both had been rebuilders), then I could drive the car. Duh! We (well, him, anyhow) were the owners of an '89 LSC shortly after. That is the car I really fell in love with. This was in late 1991, so they were still in production, and it was pretty heady stuff for a 17 year old kid.

When the '90 models came out, they introduced the Special Edition package, with blacked out trim. There was a gentleman in my little hometown who ordered one, and it was absolutely the coolest car I had ever seen. While my other friends had Ferrarri and Lamborghini posters on their walls, I had the dealership brochure for the '92 LSC (in black) tacked up on mine.

As time passed and these cars aged, they became a whole lot easier to buy. Dealership service departments would give huge estimates to repair the air suspension, and they were pretty easy to snag cheaply. Like I said, this is my 11th one. I have had others, but the black SE has always eluded me. I had a really clean grey 90 SE (one year only color, with the lowest production) when I met my wife, and she wasn't really impressed. I got talked into selling it, and she now wears it on her finger. While that was one of teh better deals I have made in my life, I still wanted a black SE.

I found my current car on Ebay in October. I watched it do absolutely nothing during the auction. I called the seller (a dealership in GA), and made an offer, which was refused. My wife happened to catch me watching the auction right at the end, and I busted myself. I admitted I made an offer on the car, and it was refused. I was just curious to see how it was going to do. She told me if I really wanted it, up the offer, and see. I called them back the next working day, and we went back and forth for most of the week. I booked a flight to Atlanta for late Friday night, and they sent a car after me to take me to the dealership, which was about an hour away.

Seeing teh car there, I was pretty sure it was leaving with me. It is a really nice, original car, and optioned just how I would have spec'ed it out had I originally ordered it. All of the hard to find stuff is there, and in good shape. I wanted black with a light grey leather/cloth interior, and no sunroof. That's exactly what I got. The interior is nearly mint. It was a one owner car, and I was able to get a lot of the original documentation with the car. I drove it back to Dallas that afternoon, and had planned to use it as an occasional driver. The car drove so well, I sold the '03 Impala I was driving every day, and pressed this one into service. I was able to get in touch with the original owner not long after I bought the car. He had a few problems with the car, and ended up donating it for a tax write off. The paint was peeling (common), stereo going out (common JBL amp failure), and the automatic A/C had a mind of it's own. Somewhere along the line, the car got a quicky paint job, a battery, a windshield, and a fuel pump between him donating it and my buying it. It is a strong 5 footer now, but there are a few factory flaws I want to fix, and pull the trim to do it right. I have already repaired the radio and A/C, and just recently given it a tune up. Even with original 22 year old plugs and wires, the car was averaging 20-22 MPG. Anyhow, enough rambling. Here are a couple of pics from my ride bringing the car home.

[NONHOG]

I for one enjoyed seeing that. Project or not. Always liked them.
My wife and I test drove a white one some time ago for her to drive while I'm not getting her project Volvo done.
The lady wanted way above book price and we almost did it anyway but after sleeping on it we passed. Kind of wish we got it anyway.

[Jonboy]

I probably paid a little too much for this one, too. It had everything I wanted, in the right color. I bought it to use as a driver. The nice thing about that, is that it's worth what I paid to be a driver I enjoy. Even if (when) I mile it out, the value is relatively unaffected. It wasn't worth much anyhow.

I sold my grey 90 SE at about 65K miles. I was worried about the resale if I drove it. Now, I've realized it really doesn't matter. If the resale gets killed, it was worth it by just driving the thing.