Marvin Wilkins of Spencerville has owned this 1972 Lincoln Continental Mark IV for 49 years. It only has 121,050 miles on it.
SPENCERVILLE — A half-century later, Marvin Wilkins still remembers well the telephone call he received from his brother Lynn, who worked at the Lima Ford Engine Plant.
“He told me about an individual in Dayton who was selling a 1972 Lincoln Mark IV. I drove that night to look at it and ended up driving it home,” the 81-year-old Spencerville man said.
That was 49 years ago and Wilkins still has the car.
It’s easy to see why.
The 1972 Lincoln Continental Mark IV was new for that model year and it came one way — fully loaded.
Among its long list of luxury items were power windows, locks, seats and antenna. There was air-conditioning and a wooden dashboard that housed an electric clock. Setting it off from the outside were oval opera windows, hidden headlights, a Greek temple-style grille and a vinyl roof.
If that wasn’t enough, an extra $179 would get you leather lounge seats — which this car had.
All of that came with a price tag of $9,584, according to the window sticker the original owner kept in the glove box.
Wilkins bought it off that owner for $5,000. However, he never envisioned keeping it for nearly a half-century. It only has been driven 121,050 miles.
“I just got too good of a deal to get rid of it,” Wilkins said. “I’ve always kept it up. Ford’s garage in Spencerville has done the mechanical work when needed and Wayne Lawson of Harrod has done the body work.”
At a length of just over 18 feet and a width of 6.5 feet, the Lincoln Mark 4 easily and comfortably has room for five people. It is powered by a 460 cubic inch, big-block V8 engine.
Wilkins and his wife Rebecca recently took the Lincoln to the Happy Daz Cook Car Cruise-In. It was the first time they took it to a car show.
“We received some nice comments from people,” Marvin said.
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• Mail: Real Wheels, Newsroom, The Lima News; 205 W. Market St., Suite #100A; Lima, OH 45801.
• Email: [email protected]
• Include: Photograph of your car; year of car, make and model; how many years you have owned the vehicle; car’s history; best memory of car; your name, address and telephone number (the phone number will not be published).
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