looking at a collectors edition

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niteman

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Hello all!
I'm looking into getting another Mark. This one is a 98 collectors edition. It has low miles, and is all original and unmodified. It does have some minor cosmetic defects, but all in all one of the best preserved marks I've seen. It's being sold by an 87 year old man who bought it new, and can no longer drive. Ive done some research on what the car came with, and the owner does have the original badging, coins, manuals and brochures offered with the car when he got it. My question is, do the collectors editions typically go for more money than the lsc, or base model marks? His price tag is a nice one, but if the car is worth more because of it being a collectors edition, this would make much more sense. I'm more than likely going to buy it, but I was curious on whether this should be the mark that I take to work (body and resto shop) and make the car picture perfect and hang on to it for years to come, or fix the defects and flip it? Any suggestions?
 
CE's are always going to be worth more then a lsc in the same condition. How much more I don't know, but it will bring more.

It's not often that you can find a CE for sale by the original owner and with the coins/records ect. BUY IT. KEEP IT.
 
I was scheduled to go get the mark this weekend, but my trip has been postponed another week due to the owner having a commitment. I do have it bought. I'm looking forward to getting it to the shop and getting started. I'll post pics of the entire process when I am able to get the ball rolling. Due to a 3 week training cycle with the army, it will more than likely be the end of June before I can start on it. My thoughts are to make it a show car. I have experience with show quality finishes, and the intricacies they entail, and fortunately have a state of the art facility to perform the work in. (I'm very Lucky!!!)

With it having under 40,000 and being all original, I don't know if I can bring myself to modify it in any way. When it's finished there's a good chance it will be on display in the showroom at the shop for customers and other enthusiast to check out.

I don't, however have a lot of experience with this particular make/model of car, so I may have some questions from time to time about it. I do have a 97 LSC, so I'm not completely in the dark, but I'm not a mark viii veteran by any means.

I thank everyone for the advice and interest, and if there's any way I can help any of you out, let me know!!
Cheers! -Bob
 
Awesome news! You should come join us on the Mark VIII Enthusiast Community on Facebook. You generally can get responses to questions significantly quicker that way to any questions you may have.

Can't wait to see the car man!
 
There were only about 1300 CE's made. It seems like someone's always scraping one out, which I'm hoping brings their value up. Hagerty insures my 2 CE's, and they put a $10K value on them. They also insure my 94, because of condition, and low milage. I have 5 MK VIII's, but it somehow feels different when I drive a CE. Get it, keep it, and enjoy it.
 
Collectors edition 1998 mark v111

I have an awesome COLLECTORS EDITION Mark V111-1998.
One owner before me I fixed a front end smash they had and it looks and goes sweet the same as my ivory 1998 LSC so yes I have 2 and no one can drive 2 cars so I am looking to sell Make me an offer on $7,500 as it did cost this to get it back to 100% it has 153,000 miles but runs exactly the same as my 98 LSC zero oil leaks, ice air and has everything the CE came with.
Andrew.
 
Sucks to hear you couldn't grab it. Good luck. Hope she's in your hands soon. If she's sitting under 100k & she's in great shape, she can run you a good $5k. If she's sitting under 75k, expect her to be about 1k more. There's a white CE in Naples, Fl going for $7k. It has 85,000 miles on it. They're in that neck of the woods as long as they are rust free & with no accidents.

Mach 1, every time I see your ad on craigslist I hurt. I can tell she's been taken care of but the rebuilt title & the mileage ruin the price of your car hence why you've had it for sale for so long. Price on these cars are based on popular demand & unfortunately our cars don't have a high demand.
 
I'm scheduled to go get the mark this Saturday, however, the owner decided at the last second he wants to keep the coins. I was wondering how much this effects the overall value of the car? I'll break it down a little bit more for you, so you can get a better idea of where I'm at. I'm looking at paying 5000 for the car. It has 39,000 miles on it. The condition is near excellent, with only a couple minor scratches. The interior is as close to perfect as it gets. Never winter driven, always garaged, non smoker. And, completely unmodified, as it was when it was new. Honest opinions on where I stand?

Thanks guys, Bob
 
It has been years since I've seen a set for sale, though honestly I don't scour ebay all that much looking for them either.. I want to say $200-300.

Either way, 5k is a steal imho.
 
I bought it, and it is finally in my possession. When I get back from this upcoming training cycle, I'm going to get started on the minor cosmetic repairs and an overall repaint. I will be needing a replacement chrome grill in as good as shape as I can find, though. There's one in it and it's not cracked or anything, but is peeling. Other than that I don't need any parts! The car runs and rides like a champion. I had a 250 mile ride home and it was a pleasurable one. Thank you all for your advice, and I'll post some "before" pics prior to leaving for Fort McCoy. I'm truly excited to get started on this Mark!!
 
I'm looking into the grille mystery. The grille and headlight trim pieces are chrome. When I asked the owner about them, he said they were chrome when he got it new. I'm going to investigate it by running the vin at the local ford dealer. I'm actually hoping that they were paint to match. Easier to paint them then it is to find near perfect chrome. I'll post my results. Thanks for the congrats guys!!
 
Bob, I believe all LSC's had color matching grille, trim around neon, etc. Only the base had chrome stuff. I'd run a car fax. On LOD, tech section, there's a lot of info about CE's. It'll tell you when it was made, using your vin. We need pictures, pictures, pictures. My CE's are insured by Hagerty, saves a lot of $$$$, with better coverage. Good luck with the car. TONYyyy
 
CE ft view.jpg97 ready 1.jpgCE Hagerty.jpgBob, Some info for you, and pictures of the fronts of my 2 CE's. The chrome can be painted, as I did the grille surround on my 97 base. If your going to put it back to orginal condition, you should try to get the silver ignots, and any paperwork. The CE's seem to be gaining in value. 1300 made, and how many left? Get through that training, and Thanks for your service Sorry, the fact sheet I printed was too large to send. It sounds like the factory ran out od CE parts, and used what they had, or things have been replaced, maybe by the dealer before the guy got the car

CE Hagerty.jpg


CE ft view.jpg


97 ready 1.jpg
 
I solved the grille mystery. It was originally color matched. It was replaced (as were the headlight trim pieces) by request from the owner when he bought the car new. However, the grille that's in the car now does not have the gold plated Lincoln emblem. Im on the hunt for one that does. In the meantime, I'm going to go ahead and paint the chrome pieces pearl white when I do the car. I did a carfax before I purchased it and they didn't have any record of insurance claims or accident reports on the ce's vin. I believe something has happened though, because the fenders are a shade off from the doors. I pulled the beauty covers under the hood and thoroughly inspected the radiator support, etc. If something did happen it had to have been minor with no support damage or evidence of the support being modified or replaced. Thanks again for helping me out. I'm learning more about these machines every day. I'm going to pull the ce out of the shed this weekend, and I'll get some pics posted.
 
If the chrome is in good shape, it may be worth considering finding others to paint if you are painting the car. Over time the chrome does wear, and someone who has a base would probably love to have good chrome pieces.
 
Check out the tops of the front fenders under the hood, there should be a vin sticker on either side. This should tell you if they are original fenders. I believe the hood should also have a vin sticker on it.
 
On my 95 once an idiot backed into my front fender with her bike rack. Glad she had insurance. The body shop painted the hood and both front fenders to be sure it matched. Dent was about 5" tall and 2" wide, in the fender. It matched.
 
The front fenders do have oem vin stickers on them, as does my 97 LSC. I can't decipher the number well enough to tell if the fenders on the CE are the originals or not. I'm going to guess not, judging by the condition of the color on the inner jams on the fenders in relation to the color on the non cleared jams of the rest of the car. I had planned on removing the fenders and the hood during the repaint to combat any consistency issues in the color, or condition of the clear. It looks like the CE may have an underhood color anyhow, which can be a pain to match, so I'm near certain I'm going to be better off to pull the fenders and do it all in one shot. I also have learned from experience that tri coat paints don't blend well, so I'm definitely going to spray the entire car with base color, and the pearl coat, and use ppg DCU 2021 clear, which is a high solid urethane product, and results in a really brilliant gloss.

I have to ask if anyone else has tried this... I've had really good luck with restoring yellowing headlights by sanding them with 1000 then 1500 grit paper, and shooting them with a fast dry clear, and letting them dry at room temperature for 12 hours or so, then sanding them again and hitting them with the buffer. So far I've been able to make them look as close to new as you could ask for, plus, the clear adds an extra layer of uv protection that has stood up well on my crown vic, and several other vehicles I've tried it on. It seems like a process, but when your parts aren't easy to come by, it can be a big help. What other methods are people using, other than the obvious ones? I'd like to try some other out and make some comparisons.. Thanks!!

By the way, you guys' marks are absolutely beautiful. I've been a muscle car guy for years and I didn't realize that there was an enthusiast community this large for performance luxury cars. I can honestly say I should have picked up on marks a long time ago! I can't see myself ever not having one after experiencing the combination of luxury and the high hp these machines are capable of producing. I look forward to many more years of Mark VIII ownership!!
 
niteman said:
I have to ask if anyone else has tried this... I've had really good luck with restoring yellowing headlights by sanding them with 1000 then 1500 grit paper, and shooting them with a fast dry clear, and letting them dry at room temperature for 12 hours or so, then sanding them again and hitting them with the buffer. So far I've been able to make them look as close to new as you could ask for, plus, the clear adds an extra layer of uv protection that has stood up well on my crown vic, and several other vehicles I've tried it on. It seems like a process, but when your parts aren't easy to come by, it can be a big help. What other methods are people using, other than the obvious ones? I'd like to try some other out and make some comparisons.. Thanks!!
Click to expand...

Just did that tonight and the headlights look great. Before I didn't put clear on them and had to do them every year cuz they would start turning yellow again. Hopefully I don't have to do that anymore. Wished I would have taken some before pics.

IMG_0254_zpsnjdkqhtt.jpg
 
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