said he never had a chance to drive his Here are some facts: The wheelbase Valiant to death on the weekends). How- INTERNATIONALUNDERDOGS BY MILTON STERN new car, and the pilot concludes with him was 120.4 inches, and they weighed in at ever, their asking prices and what they are driving it at breakneck speed along a desert around 5,000 pounds, give or take a few selling for are all over the map. To me, this highway. When the show was picked up, hundred depending on year and the size is a sign that their desirability is waning. the producers made a deft move by placing of the steel girder bumpers Ford so loved. I’ll say it again: If you want one, chances the corpulent detective, who lived in a high Engines were usually 460-cu.in. V-8s until are you already have one. Cannon’s Mark IV rise, cooked his own prime cuts of beef, the Mark V’s debut, when an underpow- As of this writing, there is a very and had a few glamorous ex-girlfriends, in ered 400-cu.in. V-8 became standard. I nice (seriously, I mean very nice) copper the driver’s seat of a new-for-1972 Lincoln owned a 1979 Lincoln. It was an absolute and tan 1976 Lincoln Continental Mark YOU MAY COLLECT PERCOLATORS, Continental Mark IV. He lived a life of pleasure to drive, but oh-so-slow. This IV for $2,800 that just listed. There are rotary phones, AM clock radios, cabinet adventure and personal luxury and his car was the last chance to get a “traditionally others from $2,000 to $15,000, and many TV-stereo consoles, kitchen appliances, reflected that, right down to the rotary-dial sized” luxury car, hence the high sales have been lingering for a very long time. etc. but chances are you collect the items Motorola MTS car phone. He never dialed figures, so many customers were willing to All appear to be in the same condition, from your youth. The same can be said for while driving. He always pulled over first. sacrifice performance. very clean, driveable, and showable. Of old cars. And this hypothesis holds most And did you know that , While AMC started the designer se- course, there are a few listed for three truly when we speak of the cars from the the actor who portrayed Frank Cannon, ries with Gucci and Oleg Cassini, Lincoln times these amounts with words describ- 1970s, especially the land yachts. Yes, was the original Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke was able to capitalize on its snob appeal ing them as “rare” and “one-of-a-kind.” one can argue that there are those in their when it aired on radio? with Givenchy, Emilio Pucci, and Cartier. Here is the part that will surprise those 20s who would love to own a 1974 Buick Replacing the Lincoln Continental But arguably, the most magnificent of the listing theirs as such: There are 51 for sale, Electra, but not as many as those who are Mark III, the car my mother declared the designer series was the Bill Blass edition, and that is just the Mark IVs. There are 47 middle-aged. most beautiful she had ever seen, the Mark in his signature yachting colors of nautical Mark Vs for sale, with the same wild range If someone wants one of these heavy, IV was larger and wider, but a bit more blue and white. of prices. And these, too, have lingered for gas-guzzling, but oh-so-luxurious cars cramped, with less trunk space. But that So how did these cars that epitomize quite some time. with a boulevard ride from the disco era, didn’t matter to buyers: Sales were up by the zenith of the personal luxury class end What is your takeaway? If you’ve chances are they already have one, which 20,000, to 48,600, and would only in- up in my column? It’s quite simple. Lately, ever considered one of the most fabulous is why in the last few years, the values crease from there. The best year was 1977, I have seen quite a few Mark IVs and Vs 1970s personal luxury cars, you are in have either flattened, or in some cases when the switch to the Mark V delivered for sale through various channels, and luck. With a little patience, you can find dipped slightly. It’s simple economics— sales of 80,300 units, thanks to crisper the story is the same. As with most luxury one for the same price collectors are pay- supply versus demand. styling (on the same platform), 500 fewer cars, they are in beautiful condition con- ing for Chevettes these days. Then again, For my generation, the cars driven pounds, and more trunk space. The 1979 sidering their age (dad washed and waxed Chevettes are gaining in popularity. I’m by our favorite television characters have Mark V brought in 76,000 customers. the Imperial, while the teenagers beat the not kidding. a special appeal. Six years ago, I wrote 1972 about Kojak’s brown Buick Century, and it generated quite a nostalgic response. Star- sky and Hutch had a Gran Torino, whose paint scheme the DC Taxi Commission adopted a few years ago. Quincy drove a Matador station wagon. Barnaby Jones drove a Ford LTD. The cars were important in character development, so it only made sense that an ex-cop turned high-end private eye 1975 would drive a Lincoln, which is why Frank Cannon drove a four-door 1971 Lincoln Continental in the two-hour pilot. He even mentioned the car in the end, when he

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