Lincoln Mark series

The Continental Mark series (later renamed Lincoln Mark series) is a series of personal luxury cars that was produced by Ford Motor Company from 1956 to 1960 and from the 1969 to 1998 model years. Serving as the flagship vehicle for Ford Motor Company, the model line derived its heritage from the 1940-1948 Lincoln Continental, a model line that established the personal luxury car segment.

The Mark series was inaugurated with the 1956–1957 Continental Mark II, which was the first (and only) product line of the Continental Division, which was introduced to provide Ford Motor Company a luxury car brand slotted above Lincoln (with the Mark II serving as the most expensive car sold in the United States). Produced for approximately a year, the hand-built Mark II lent several design elements that would be adopted for the rest of the model line: a two-door coupe design (with few exceptions), a continental tire trunklid design (derived from the spare tire mounting of the 1940s Lincoln Continental), and a four-point star emblem; in revised form, the emblem remains in use by Lincoln today.

Following the retirement of the Continental Division, the Mark series became the flagship Lincoln (but not branded as such) from 1958 to 1960. After a hiatus from 1961 to 1968, the series was restarted again, becoming the Continental Mark III for 1969, serving in a similar role (though far less expensive) than the previous Mark II. Instead of competing against Rolls-Royce, the Mark III commenced a flagship brand rivalry with the Cadillac Eldorado. The new design adopted a similar configuration as its Mark II predecessor, returning a spare-tire trunklid design feature and a hardtop coupe roofline. Following the Mark IV and Mark V (some of the largest two-door coupes ever produced), the downsized 1980 Mark VI introduced a four-door sedan to the line. The 1984 Mark VII was downsized further, becoming a mid-size car; along with reverting to a coupe-only line, the Mark VII saw its spare-tire trunklid decrease in size (in the interest of aerodynamics). For 1986, Ford ended all brand confusion related to the Mark series, with the Mark VII officially adopting the Lincoln nameplate in both marketing and on an official basis. The 1993 Lincoln Mark VIII became far sleeker and saw substantial upgrades to its chassis and powertrain.

With the exception of the hand-built Continental Mark II and the 1958-1960 Continental Mark III-Mark V, the Mark series has shared chassis underpinnings with other Ford or Lincoln-Mercury vehicles. The 1969-1979 Mark III, Mark IV, and Mark V are counterparts of the 1969-1976 Ford Thunderbird, while the Mark VI uses the Ford Panther platform. The Mark VII uses the Ford Fox platform (shared with the 1980 Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar XR-7), while the Mark VIII is a variant of the 1989 Ford Thunderbird/Mercury Cougar.

Following the 1998 model year, Lincoln discontinued the Mark VIII, serving as the final generation of the model line. During the 1990s, buyer demand for personal luxury cars had declined, as luxury car buyers shifted towards four-door sedans and luxury SUVs; buyers of coupes shifted towards smaller, higher-performance cars. While the Mark series has not currently been replaced, from 2017 to 2020, Lincoln briefly revived the Continental (discontinued after 2002) as its premium sedan.

From 1958 to 1998, Mark series vehicles were produced alongside Lincolns by Wixom Assembly at Wixom, Michigan.