1965 continental

[motormike40]

hey im looking to buy a 65 continental and i was wonder is u can tell me some cons about it. how will the convertal top hold up on it? i was wondering if u can tell me some info on it? what are the pros of the car? what is the average going price for one thats in decient cond. thx

[blakey2000]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...e=STRK:MESE:IT

[Symax]

Just bought one myself. The only cons I can think of; parts will be hard to come by. It has the body of the 61-64 with the bumpers of the 65-up. Lights for that car cannot be swapped with any other model. It is the only model with front signal lights built into the corners. Also, it was the last year production for the 430 super cobra. That motor can still be rebuilt but there is no other tranny that will bolt on to it (will never be converted to OD tranny, unless you put a remote unit from gear vendors for 2500$).
Weird bolt patern also, mine is different front- back. Don't know if it came that way of not....For window motors, available on E-Bay not long ago. I guess ford used the same for over 10-15 years...
Sly

[peppermrj]

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/car/135644752.html

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by Symax

Just bought one myself. The only cons I can think of; parts will be hard to come by. It has the body of the 61-64 with the bumpers of the 65-up. Lights for that car cannot be swapped with any other model. It is the only model with front signal lights built into the corners. Also, it was the last year production for the 430 super cobra. That motor can still be rebuilt but there is no other tranny that will bolt on to it (will never be converted to OD tranny, unless you put a remote unit from gear vendors for 2500$).
Weird bolt patern also, mine is different front- back. Don't know if it came that way of not....For window motors, available on E-Bay not long ago. I guess ford used the same for over 10-15 years...
Sly

The C6 trans from '66 and 67 Lincolns will fit, but, as you say, it's not an OD.
All mechanical parts are available, as stated, some body parts were unique to the '65 year and are rare.

The front end is a bit weak, 70k miles or so will completely wear out the ball joints and steering linkage.

Beware of rust. These cars are all unit body - unusual for a car of this size.
Structural rust can be expensive to fix.

Buy the BEST car you can afford. A fixer-upper will cost you way more to fix than it will be worth, the exception being the convertible. These are worth much more than a hard top, but the power top is complex to repair.

The convertible has big, heavy tuning weights behind the bumpers at each corner. The hard tops have a more rigid structure and do not use these.

The engine is the MEL block (MEL means Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln.) The engines were quiet, torquey, strong and very heavy. It has 3 thermostats, not just one, like all other engines.
These were first produced in 1958. Most were built as a 430 cid 2 bbl carb, although the 66 and 67 cars used a 462 cid version with a 4 bbl. The engines were quite different that all other Ford V8's and were rarely used, except in Lincolns.