14.6@97MPH
Well-Known LVC Member
The Lincoln Mark VIII has passed. She made it to 250,069 miles. The official cause is a cracked head.
She rolled over the one quarter of a million miles on Christmas day 2007. My wife and I memorialized the occasion by taking some pictures of the odometer at the magical 250k mark. One December 26th at 8:50 am on Route 33 in Freehold, NJ while traveling about 40 MPH she shot the #4 spark plug out of the engine. She had 250,068 miles at that point. We (a AAA flat bed) brought her into the intensive care unit (Belmar Auto), where she spent the next 3-days. The mechanics, determined to bring her back, re-threaded the head to accept a new spark plug. The re-thread was successful but because the head was cracked the plug slipped out again. With barely any compression and 7-cylinders firing I drove her back home from the shop and rolled her over to 250,069 miles. She stayed running in the driveway with a horrible miss, loud tapping and air/compression blowing out of the open spark plug hole.
Friends came by to hear her last rumblings and console me.
I purchased my 1993 Lincoln Mark VIII in December of 1996 with 24,500 miles on her. She was born in October 1992. When I first saw the Mark VIII in 1992 I had to have one. The combination of almost perfect body lines, luxury, self leveling air suspension, and of course the powerful 280 horsepower, 32-valve, dual over head cam, 4.6 liter, V8 engine made it an ideal car for me. Over the years of happy ownership she ran a best of 14.3@97 MPH down the quarter mile, ran hard all the way up to her governed top speed of 130 MPH, she had many victories (and some losses) off stop light drags, and ripped off countless smoky burn-outs. I had it painted, changed rims twice, changed the front seats, had the motor replace 4-times (5-total motors) under warranty, had the tranny rebuilt twice, pulled out the air suspension at 200k miles and many, many, many other parts replaced.
I've been visiting this Mark VIII message board, its predecessor, and the 'other' Mark VIII boards for a long, long time, i think since 1998?! The original message board was Carcus's land shark and Mark VIII page.
I have no idea how Tommy's mark made it to 350,000 miles before he replaced the drive train.
I'll most likely replace my busted Mark VIII with another, but it won't be the same, as I doubt I'll have it for 11-years or drive it for 226,000 miles. I've got an 02 Vette as my 'nice' car now.
Ken
She rolled over the one quarter of a million miles on Christmas day 2007. My wife and I memorialized the occasion by taking some pictures of the odometer at the magical 250k mark. One December 26th at 8:50 am on Route 33 in Freehold, NJ while traveling about 40 MPH she shot the #4 spark plug out of the engine. She had 250,068 miles at that point. We (a AAA flat bed) brought her into the intensive care unit (Belmar Auto), where she spent the next 3-days. The mechanics, determined to bring her back, re-threaded the head to accept a new spark plug. The re-thread was successful but because the head was cracked the plug slipped out again. With barely any compression and 7-cylinders firing I drove her back home from the shop and rolled her over to 250,069 miles. She stayed running in the driveway with a horrible miss, loud tapping and air/compression blowing out of the open spark plug hole.
Friends came by to hear her last rumblings and console me.
I purchased my 1993 Lincoln Mark VIII in December of 1996 with 24,500 miles on her. She was born in October 1992. When I first saw the Mark VIII in 1992 I had to have one. The combination of almost perfect body lines, luxury, self leveling air suspension, and of course the powerful 280 horsepower, 32-valve, dual over head cam, 4.6 liter, V8 engine made it an ideal car for me. Over the years of happy ownership she ran a best of 14.3@97 MPH down the quarter mile, ran hard all the way up to her governed top speed of 130 MPH, she had many victories (and some losses) off stop light drags, and ripped off countless smoky burn-outs. I had it painted, changed rims twice, changed the front seats, had the motor replace 4-times (5-total motors) under warranty, had the tranny rebuilt twice, pulled out the air suspension at 200k miles and many, many, many other parts replaced.
I've been visiting this Mark VIII message board, its predecessor, and the 'other' Mark VIII boards for a long, long time, i think since 1998?! The original message board was Carcus's land shark and Mark VIII page.
I have no idea how Tommy's mark made it to 350,000 miles before he replaced the drive train.
I'll most likely replace my busted Mark VIII with another, but it won't be the same, as I doubt I'll have it for 11-years or drive it for 226,000 miles. I've got an 02 Vette as my 'nice' car now.
Ken
