One of my favorite movies is The French Connection.  William Friedkin’s Oscar-winning masterpiece is so many things:  Gritty, exciting, violent, dark, authentic, even funny at times.  So much has been said about the cast of this film, but I feel not enough has been said about one key character:  The brown Lincoln.  Whenever I see a Continental Mark III at a show (which is rare), I can hear Gene Hackman in the back of my head saying, “That car’s dirty, Cloudy.  We’re gonna sit here all night if we have to.”

The ’61 Continental is commonly cited as the high watermark of Lincoln design (personally, I would argue that the ’56 is more significant).  Owing to this fact, and its short production run, it’s no surprise that the Mark III doesn’t get as much attention.  But it should.  And not just because it was in a major motion picture.  Basically, what we have here is a rolling sketch — especially from the rear view.  The lines are so lean and graceful that you can easily forget this car weighs over 4000 pounds!  The proud grille and sharp fenders seem to reach out beyond the front end, as if towards a vanishing point.  The wheels are set way in, typical of the era.  But this actually adds to the jauntiness of the overall theme.  Also, this is one of the few occasions where the spare tire hump really works as a styling element.  The license plate and reverse lamps complete the graphic below the leading edge of the bumper.

One final point:  The Continental Mark III is similar to another rolling sketch with a short production run — the ’67-’70 Cadillac Eldorado.  Granted, they have completely different form languages.  But both possess a slender, elegant profile that stays with you — long after they’ve rolled out of sight…