Mark42
Fleet Admiral
Thread starter- Joined
- Oct 8, 2003
- Messages
- 9,334
I have owned my 1998 Lincoln Town Car Touring Sedan since 2000. Picked it up from a dealer who sold it new, and had it traded in 6 months later. Sat in the show room for a year before I bought it with just a few thousand miles on it for $22K out the door.
I put about 160K some miles on it, took great care with servicing. Changed the trans oil every 60k, and engine oil every 3K. It mostly did highway cruising, and it is still on its second set of brake pads since new.
The Touring Sedan model was the performance version of the Town Car. It had heavy duty sway bars, unique gas shocks, heavy duty front coil springs, and retained the air bag suspension in the rear. High ratio steering, steering coolers, big trans cooler, high stall converter, full dual exhaust with H pipe and 3.55 gears launched the 4000 lbs car to 60 MPH in 7.5 seconds. Not bad for a big sedan.
I added performance mufflers and a trac-lock limited slip differential to get a better grip on trafic light launches. Also, a class two tow hitch let me tow either boat. The trac-loc was perfect for the snow and those slippery boat ramps. Added a overide switch to turn off the electronic traction control (who wants the brakes to go on when your trying to go fast???) A set of 17" alloy rims and 255 50 17 tires gave the car an even firmer ride and less float.
Not once did the Town Car break down. Any problems gave enough warning that I was able to get it into the shop before being stranded. Even now, at 170K miles, it still has the original water pump, radiator, starter and many other parts. I have replaced the alternator, and just reciently, the original factory installed battery!!!!! (the post corroded off inside the case). The single biggest expense was 2 years ago when the AC died. Lincoln dealer pulled the dash and replaced all components, including the heater core for about $1200. Ouch! But they warrented the work for 1200 miles or 1 year.
I spent the better part of the day washing and cleaning up the old sedan. She still looks great, runs great, does not burn oil, and shifts firm as always. The leather interior shows minimal wear all things considerered.
The Town Car made a great tow vehicle. With massive disk brakes, it would bring the speed down quicky even with 1800 lbs of trailer pushing from behind. The air bag rear suspension always pumped the back end up to level ride height. The 4000 lbs of weight kept the trailer from wagging the car, and the 17" low profile tires made it track true and firm.
Often got funny looks from people at the boat launch. Had to back the car in to the water to where the tires were in 6 or 8 inches of water. But with the trac-loc, it never spun the tires or got stuck.
Put a "For Sale" sign in it and parked it on the side yard. It sold. I'm going to miss that big sedan.
The Town Car made a great tow vehicle. With massive disk brakes, it would bring the speed down quicky even with 1800 lbs of trailer pushing from behind. The air bag rear suspension always pumped the back end up to level ride height. The 4000 lbs of weight kept the trailer from wagging the car, and the 17" low profile tires made it track true and firm.
Often got funny looks from people at the boat launch. Had to back the car in to the water to where the tires were in 6 or 8 inches of water. But with the trac-loc, it never spun the tires or got stuck.
Put a "For Sale" sign in it and parked it on the side yard. It sold. I'm going to miss that big sedan.
-did you get back most of what you put into it? pete
