1988 Lincoln Town Car Signature Sedan 4-Door 5.0L- Low Miles! Beautiful!

1988 Lincoln Town Car

GENERAL DESCRIPTION:

This is a beautiful 1988 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series. Somewhere between a survivor and a collector car, his boulevard cruiser is in excellent condition and turns heads wherever she goes. There are 93,544 original miles on the clock. First, hy am I selling this car? Financial reasons. Period. I have no choice. Otherwise, would keep it forever. This car was purchased new by a dentist in Canton, hio. The original warranty card is still in the leather bound owner’s manual case. After his death, is wife drove it sporadically while it was garage kept for years. There were 72,176 miles on the car when I bought it. I’m the second owner of the car and I live about 10 blocks from the original owner, o the car has been in Canton, hio all of its life. It is presently in heated storage at a garage where it has been all winter. During winter storage, t is always started once a week and also driven around the block if the weather permits. This car is in near perfect operating condition. You could get in the car right now, tart it up with no fanfare and drive it across the country and back. It’s just that nice. In 2014, took the car on a nationwide trip across Route 30 and back. Put about 2500 miles on the car with absolutely no problems whatsoever. She’s ready to go and I would not hesitate to drive her anywhere.

This is a top of the line Lincoln and has just about every option you could get at the time (minus the digital dashboard, hich is probably a good thing in terms of maintenance). Power windows, irrors and seats, uto lamps, uto dim headlights, ower antenna, emory cruise control with recall, M/FM stereo cassette with the premium sound and amplifier option, xterior lighted mirror mounted thermometer, eated mirrors, ou name it…. It’s got it. Awesome dealer installed moon roof from 1988. Huge expanse of glass and is like riding in a convertible when the top is open. Works flawlessly with no leaks.

She runs, rives, hifts, rakes, teers and sounds almost as new and the ride is like heading down the highway on a magic carpet made of steel. On the highway, his Queen Mary of a car can be operated with your pinky finger on the wheel. It’s the most comfortable and enjoyable car I’ve ever owned. Road rage? Can’t happen. I’m so happy when I’m in this car I don’t care what the rest of the world is doing. That’s the fun of the car. You’re in a velour upholstered, uiet world of your own. It’s 1988 all over again. This was the car of corporate CEOs, rug dealers, nd what Ronald Reagan was chauffeured around in. Back in 1988, ou were "the man” when you were driving around in this baby.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION BY CATEGORY:

Body:

The body of this car is in very good condition. Almost excellent, ut not quite. Original paint minus some areas that I had touched up. There is no rust through or rot in the car. There are two bubbles of surface rust---and I do mean surface rust. As shown in the pictures, he paint is intact and the spots are not noticeable. About the size of a quarter. Those spots were touched up by a body shop at a cost of $750.00 in 2014 and it took about two years but they are just starting to show again. There is some rust starting to form at the door edges but no rust through. This is shown in the pictures. The vinyl top was completely and professionally replaced with a new one in 2014. That cost $1400.00. The top is absolutely gorgeous. The headliner was also replaced at this time by the same shop (see interior description below). There are some very small dings on the rear passenger side door from parking lot bumps by other doors. The front of the car has some bug and stone chips on the front. Aside from those issues the paint doesn’t just shine, t gleams. It gets waxed with Macquires white car wax once every three months. Old wax stripped off and reapplied, very three months, eally whether it’s needed it or not. I’ve been pretty obsessive about keeping the car looking good. The paint is all original except for the spots I had touched up. Although a minor issue, did note that when I raised the hood to take the pictures that the hydraulic pistons that are supposed to hold the hood up are tired. Those need replaced. Currently, he hood needs to be propped up to stay open.

Undercarriage:

The undercarriage of the car and frame are in excellent condition. Factory rustproofing is still in place. The underside of the car is clean with no visible rust. Floor pans are excellent. Like I said earlier, he exhaust is new as of two years ago with no exposure to salt or winter weather since that time. The gas tank is in great shape. Emergency brake cable is good and emergency brake works just fine.

Drivetrain:

The drivetrain is in excellent condition for just about any car, et alone one that is 28 years old. Original 302 C.I. V-8. New battery and alternator in 2014. Alternator is upgraded from the original 90 AMP to a later model 135 AMP alternator from a later model Ford. This is the only upgraded equipment on the car (aside from the stereo) and I only used the new type alternator due to the original equipment’s tendency to catch on fire. Receipted oil changes with full synthetic every 3,000 miles or as time required over the winter when in storage.

Transmission:

Original Ford AOD transmission in perfect operating order. Transmission removed, ebuilt and reinstalled in late 2013 by AAMCO. When I bought the car, he TV cable grommet had broken and the tranny had lost overdrive and third by the time I acquired the car. The transmission was completely rebuilt with an as new warranty. It shifts and operates perfectly and smoothly. Shift points are adjusted to factory original and it shifts right where it should. The original factory plastic grommet was replaced with a new metal style so the issue never happens again (this was a common problem in these cars).

Exhaust:

The exhaust is in excellent condition. That's because I had itcompletely replaced in 2014 from the engine back. It is in almost new condition.

Brakes and Suspension:

Excellent brakes with new front pads and rotors 3 months ago. All new brake lines 2 years ago. Good alignment, eads straight down the road. Steering wheel straight when the car is straight. It’s just that simple. FYI, his car is NOT equipped with the somewhat rare rear air suspension option for those who know these cars.

Interior:

The interior is beautiful. I don't know how else to say it. Brand new headliner in 2014! Headliner is basically brand new! Dealer installed sunroof operates perfectly and does not leak a drop…ever. All windows operate perfectly including the front vent windows. I replaced the passenger side rear power window motor in 2013. The velvety navy blue velour seats and deep pile carpets were professionally cleaned two weeks ago. The interior is maintained in completely detailed condition. There are only a couple of real flaws. The first is the glove box door. As with every Town Car of this era, he glove box doors warp. There is almost nothing that can be done about it without physical modifications to the door and replacement doors are almost impossible to find (because they are all bent). The only good news is that this glove box door bend is very minor. Not very noticeable. The other flaw is a spot that has rubbed where the driver’s seat belt is mounted. These issues are shown in the pictures

This Town Car came from the factory with the Premium sound system, hich was an AM/FM stereo cassette with a trunk mounted factory amplifier and six speaker system. The original unit was working when removed and the original head unit goes with the car, long with a spare premium sound head unit as a back up---I don’t know if the extra one works. Meanwhile, had a new head unit professionally installed in 2014. The new unit has a 1/8th inch auxiliary input and a USB input for direct connection of your smart phone. None of the factory wiring was disturbed. It’s literally plug and play. The unit fits into the original factory space nicely and the stereo display is green to match the dash lights. The factory external amplifier is still in the trunk and wired properly If you want to reinstall the original head unit, ll you would need to do is take out the new one and plug it back in. The factory amplifier is presently bypassed by an aftermarket amp bypass harness, o again, one of the factory speakers or wiring was fiddled with in any way. Oh, he new stereo also has a remote control which is kind of nice.

Original factory spare tire in trunk. Trunk is clean and in good shape. Factory trunk release and the auto closing feature work beautifully. Working factory amp in trunk currently bypassed with a proper wiring harness. Simply remove the bypass harness and the factory amp will work (the amp is bypassed because the new head unit has more power output on its own than the factory amp).

SUMMARY OF CONDITION AND OPTIONS:

Signature Series with original factory stainless trim in great shape

New factory spec white vinyl top with correct stitch pattern

Dealer installed moon roof, orks perfect, o leaks

Professionally installed new factory-correct headliner

Original 302 c.i. V-8, uns quiet and smooth

Professionally rebuilt AOD transmission, hifts exactly as it should, ew metal TV cable grommet

Upgraded 135 amp alternator and battery with new heavy duty alternator cable that won't catch fire like the factory harness

Power windows, eats, oor locks, irrors, ntenna

Power trunk release and closer

Working cruise control with recall feature

Factory keyless entry with programable code feature

Auto lamps (headlights automatically come on when it is dark)

Auto dims (bright lights automatically dim- this feature is a bit flaky)

Factory premium sound system and amplifier with a backup head unit

Original stereo wiring completely intact

Modern head unit with USB and AUX out

Original factory speaker system and wiring- no blown speakers (the stereo sounds absolutely incredible! I tend to favor the Bee Gees while driving this…)

Excellent navy blue velour interior

Working Cartier clock

Signature Series seats with tufted pillows

Comes with a fresh synthetic oil change

Induction system recently cleaned

New plugs and wires 2,000 miles ago

Two year old white wall tires have 60%+ tread left, hey have been rotated every other oil change

Factory turbine wheels

Extra that come with the car:

OBDII Reader that works with the car (no codes by the way—I just bought it to be able to read the engine codes if I ever got a check engine light)

Original factory premium sound head unit- working when removed

Extra factory premium sound head unit from junk yard- condition unknown

Replacement rear stainless trim panel (I just bought this from a junkyard as an extra in case the original got dinged)

Spare dashboard panels both plastic and metal

Extra headlight in the trunk (all four headlights have been replaced within the last two years

So, s there anything wrong with the car?

Not really. I guess it depends on how you define "wrong."

1. The “auto dim” system is a little flaky. It generally works, ut sometimes gets stuck in high beam or low beam, o I leave it off. Operating the headlight dimmer manually with the turn signal stalk works just fine.

2. There is the bubble of surface rust starting to form as shown in the picture where my thumb is. There is another one just below the vinyl top trim on the driver's side. It is so small it does not appear in the picture despite my best efforts. It is less than the size of a dime and appears to be as a result of slight damage that the upholsterer did when he replaced the top. You can also see in one photograph where the upholstery shop scratched the paint on the passenger side right beneath the top. That scratch is about half the vertical length of my pinky finger print. There are tiny stone chips on the front of the car from my trip across the country.

3. When it is really cold, he speedometer cable is noisy until the car warms up. At some point, he new owner might want to replace the speedometer cable.

4. The hood pistons that are supposed to hold the hood up are weak. The hood needs to be propped up.

5. There were theft prevention locking nuts, ne on each wheel. I removed those and replaced them with regular wheel nuts, ecause the locking ones were a pain.

6. The turbine wheels have a galvanic corrosion spot here or there where wheel weights were placed in the past.

As far as I know and have experienced, hat is absolutely all that is wrong with this now 28 year old automobile.

FINE PRINT:

Not much fine print really. Here it is--

Keep in mind, his is a 28 year old car, o it is being sold as-is and where-is with no warranties, xpressed or implied.

I will need a $500 deposit within 24 hours of the auction close either cash or deposited into my PayPal account.

This car is on the market locally too. If I get a good local offer, his car could go at any time.

Email with any questions. More photos available on request. I can possibly deliver the car or could meet you half way. That would have to be negotiated. Please contact me if you want me to deliver it or meet you prior to sale. I’ve driven it across the country and back and would have no problem doing it again.

• Condition: Used
• Make: Lincoln
• Model: Town Car
• Type: Sedan
• Trim: Signature Sedan 4-Door
• Year: 1988
• Mileage: 93,544
• VIN: 1LNBM82F6JY714811
• Color: White
• Engine size: 5.0L 302Cu. In. V8 GAS OHV Naturally Aspirated
• Number of cylinders: 8
• Power options: Air Conditioning, Cruise Control, Power Locks, Power Windows, Power Seats
• Fuel: Gasoline
• Transmission: Automatic
• Drive type: RWD
• Interior color: Blue
• Options: Cassette Player, CD Player, Sunroof
• Vehicle Title: Clear
Want to buy? Contact seller!