As summer 2003 approached, my wife and I were preparing for our move to mid-Missouri. Besides the usual "checklist" of items to be completed, we were also discussing the fate of my daily driver at that time, my 1984 Cadillac Coupe de Ville, (see my other Rides for more info.). While still a nice car, it had developed its share of concerns, such as the damage Bambi inflicted to the passenger door when she ran into me on Interstate 99. The A/C had quit working, along with the cruise control, two items considered really, really desireable on long trips. The question at hand was "do we take it with us?" We decided to start searching for a replacement, but would take the Caddy with us if we had to.

I had known the previous owner of this Mark VIII as a good customer at Bedford Ford Lincoln Mercury in Bedford PA, my employer at the time. He was talking to me while I was working on his car one afternoon, and casually mentioned that due to circumstances beyond his control, he needed to sell it. Fortunately, I was paying attention when the light bulb in my head came on, and started asking a few questions. Turns out, he was the second owner of this 61k original mile garage kept car. He had expressed to me that he REALLY needed to sell it, without telling my why.

As the conversation progressed, I realized that this deal sounded very, very good. After a test drive, I was hooked, and signed the papers on June 7, 2003. On June 11, 2003, exactly 4 days later, the car got its first "test" with an 830 mile trip to Missouri, where it performed perfectly - it was super comfortable, fast, and got 28 mpg on the trip.

Equipped with the 4.6L DOHC 32 valve V-8 making 280 hp, the big Lincoln had no trouble running low 15's in bone-stock form (see my photo gallery). After all, this engine is the same one found in the 1996 Mustang Cobra.

Over the next 5 years as my daily driver, it performed almost flawlessly. Aside from normal maintenance, which I performed religously, I only had to replace a faulty injector during my 69k miles of ownership. In January 2008, with 130k miles on the odometer, I traded it for my 1998 Jaguar XJ8-L (see my other Rides).