On this edition of old vs new Tommy pits his grandfather’s 1978 Lincoln Continental against Roman in the brand-new 2017 Lincoln Continental. These cars are separated by roughly 40 years of innovation and technology, so how do the two compare? Roman and Tommy hit the drag strip to find out.
The Cars
The 1978 Lincoln Continental has a 7.5L carbureted V8 which made 208 horsepower and 356 lb-ft of torque from the factory. It sends that power to the rear wheels through a three-speed automatic transmission. Performance figures were the least of anybody’s worry in the 1970’s. This car was made to exude luxury and class. Luxury wasn’t defined by performance, so much as it was defined by the number of cylinders you had under the hood and the type of upholstery on your seats.
The 2017 model, by contrast, defines its own genre of luxury through some different parameters. This Continental comes with a 3.0L twin-turbocharged V6 that makes 400 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque. Power is sent to all four wheels through an 8-speed automatic transmission. The main difference between these two cars is that these performance figures are very much a part of what defines the new Continental’s luxury. All wheel drive and a 0-60 time under 6 seconds are both standard features of almost every luxury sedan on the market today.
While the two cars come from very different eras, it is still interesting to see what similarities and differences they both have. However, it is even more fun to watch Tommy attempt to beat the new car in a drag race. To find out if he was able to make it a close race, be sure to watch the entire video.
