Lincoln Mark VIII: From Luxury Coupe to Pickup Truck

Lincoln’s flagship model, the Continental
The coupe lineup Mark series
Recently, it made a peculiar appearance in the market

Excluding the Z currently sold in the Chinese market, Lincoln, an American brand, sells only SUVs. Surprisingly, they did not begin developing SUVs until the 2000s. Initially, Lincoln specialized in producing sedans and coupes, huge vehicles, where the brand showed its strength. The Continental is one of their iconic vehicles, but there are also famous models like the Town Car and the Mark series, all of which share the same roots

The Mark series, a branch of the Continental, is fundamentally a coupe lineup. It briefly transitioned to a sedan for the Mark 4 and Mark 7 models but returned to a coupe for the final model, the Mark VIII, which is now discontinued. The last model, the Mark VIII, was recently auctioned in the U.S., attracting attention with its unique look that sets it apart from other Mark series models.

What kind of car is the Lincoln Mark series?

As mentioned above, the Lincoln Mark series is a model that originated from the Continental. Starting with the second-generation model, a sub-name “Mark” was attached to the coupe model, and with each generation change, the number increased by one. Eventually, the last 8th-generation model was released under the name Mark VIII, without the Continental in the model name.

This was because the brand strategy was changed during the Mark 7 period to attach the name “Continental” only to sedans. From then on, sedans were distinguished as Continentals and coupes as Marks. While the Continental continued through the 9th and 10th generations until it was discontinued in 2023, the Mark series was discontinued in 1998 with the 8th generation.

Surprisingly, the Mark VIII recently auctioned off is in the form of a pickup truck.

One such Mark VIII was recently put up for auction in the U.S. However, there is one peculiar aspect to this vehicle. It has been modified into a pickup truck. The auctioned Mark VIII had its roof and rear window removed, the rear seats removed, and a new cargo bed and rear window installed. The original trunk has been modified to open downwards, like a pickup truck.

Other than the modification into a pickup truck, it is identical to a regular Mark VIII. The body size, the V8 4.6L gasoline engine that produces a maximum output of 280 horsepower, a 4-speed automatic transmission, and rear-wheel drive are all the same as the original model. As an aside, the vehicle up for auction has a total mileage of 100,389 miles

Sedan-based pickup trucks
are more common than you might think

The pickup trucks we are familiar with are usually SUV-based. However, surprisingly, there are quite a few sedan or coupe-based pickup trucks (in the U.S., SUVs and MPVs are not considered sedans). There was even a time when sedan-based pickup trucks were the trend for production efficiency.

Some notable models include the Chevrolet El Camino, GMC Caballero, and Ford Ranchero. If you expand the range to include domestic cars, the Kia Brisa pickup and Hyundai Pony pickup also fall into this category. While the Mark VIII drew attention for being a modified version of a model that initially had no pickup truck lineup, a sedan-based pickup truck is not a particularly unusual vehicle