28 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
15 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
03 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
08 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
12 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
16 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
19 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
20 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
23 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
24 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
25 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
31 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
36 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
40 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
43 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
46 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
47 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
48 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
51 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
53 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
54 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
59 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
60 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
62 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
64 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
65 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
69 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
99 – 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass in Colorado junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
From the 1976 through 1992 model years, Lincoln sold Designer Edition members of the Mark Series personal luxury cars. At one time or another, the Givenchy, Versace, Pucci, Cartier, and Bill Blass brands partnered with Lincoln to make snazzed-up Marks IV, V, VI, and VII. I’m always on the lookout for these blinged-out land yachts as I patrol for Junkyard Gems, and I’ve managed to find a handful over the years. Today, we’ve got a tattered-but-still-glorious Bill Blass Mark VI from the waning days of the Late Disco Period.
Bill Blass got his start in the United States Army, designing phony inflatable tanks to fool the Nazis prior to the D-Day invasion in World War II. After that, his company became a major player in the fashion world, and Ford put the BB anchor design on plenty of Lincoln Marks.
This Bill Blass Mark VI got red body pinstripes and red decorative belting on the leather-upholstered seats.
A faux-convertible “diamond grain carriage roof” went on the Designer Edition Mark VI coupes (you could buy the ’82 Mark VI Pucci Edition as a sedan). This roof is on the tattered side, but you get the idea.
The “wire spoke” aluminum wheels on the Designer Edition cars look much nicer than the wire-wheel-influenced hubcaps that went on lesser Mark VIs.
The Mark III through Mark V were siblings of the Ford Thunderbird, but the 1980-1983 Mark VI lived on the new Panther platform and its closest relatives were the regular Continental and Town Car. Yes, this car is a not-so-distant cousin to the Crown Victoria P71 Police Interceptors that stayed in production through 2011.
Under the hood, we see the good old Ford Windsor 302 engine, also known as the 5.0 V8. Power wasn’t so great— 140 horsepower and 231 lb-ft— but the curb weight of the Mark VI came in at well under two tons, a 700-pound weight reduction compared to the vast Mark V.
