According to a sales database assembled by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the popularity of the 8-track tape peaked in 1978 with $4.4 billion in revenues (about 22.9 percent of total revenue across all formats).
By 1982, the 8-track was largely defunct as sales had dipped to just one percent for the industry. Lincoln was one of many auto manufacturers that contributed to the 8-track craze by putting players into many of its cars in the late 1970s.
Featured on AutoHunter is this 1977 Lincoln Continental Coupe. It is being offered by a private seller in Brooksville, Florida, and the auction will end on Monday.
And yes, the 8-track audio system already has a tape in it by The Four Seasons, so the road trip soundtrack is ready to rock and roll!
The car’s Light Cordovan paint (code 8P) is complemented by a white vinyl top. Despite being boxy, the body has some sleek aerodynamic features like hideaway headlights and rear wheel skirts. A dealer badge on the decklid shows this car came from Ken John’s Lincoln-Mercury of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Southwest-region ownership is good news for collectors, as cars from that area typically aren’t subjected to the same type of corrosion as cars from The Rust Belt. The listing says that the car has been stored in a climate-controlled facility.
As one would expect, the cabin offers all the creature comforts expected in a luxo-cruiser of the late 1970s. The equipment list includes red leather bench seats, a fold-down center armrest, wood-grain trim, air conditioning, cruise control, power steering, and power windows.
In order to promote the Continental’s highway cruising comfort, a magazine ad for the 1977 Continental said, “Judge any luxury car by this standard. Full-sized, full-luxury, to give you the pleasures of space, of comfort, of superb handling on the highway. That’s because it’s a Continental. Unmistakable from its redesigned front end to its winning Lincoln ride.”
This big-body coupe hails from the fifth generation of the Continental (dubbed the Mark V, accordingly) which was produced from 1970 through 1979. One of the key design updates toward the end of the decade was a waterfall-style grille that replaced the lower, wider version in 1977. That year, there were 27,440 coupes and 68,160 sedans produced.
Power comes from a rebuilt 460ci big-block V8 that was factory-rated at 208 horsepower and 357 lb-ft of torque. It is mated to a rebuilt C6 three-speed automatic transmission. According to the listing, the radiator, carburetor, intake manifold, fuel pump, alternator, starter, and spark plug wires have been replaced. The odometer shows 87,112 miles, although the title reads mileage-exempt.
By the way, this won’t come as a surprise to most of our readers, but according to RIAA’s data, the most popular form of modern audio entertainment as of 2023 was via paid streaming online subscriptions – an industry that accounted for $10.1 billion in revenue that year. Are you one of the people who has kept your collection of tapes or CDs after all these years? I did a quick search on eBay and found over 100,000 8-track tapes for sale.
If you can find a tape by a recording artist you like, we have the perfect car for you to enjoy it in. The auction for this 1977 Lincoln Continental Coupe ends Monday, March 24, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. (PDT).
Visit the AutoHunter listing for more information and a photo gallery
