Rare Find: 1984 Lincoln Continental with Factory Installed BMW Straight-Six Turbo Diesel

Did you know that Lincoln offered its mid-1980s Continental sedan and Mark VII coupe models with a factory-installed BMW straight-six turbo diesel? It may sound bizarre -to say the least- but it is true.

The BMW-sourced 2.4-liter inline-six turbo diesel engine, which was used in the shark-nosed 1980s 524TD, delivered an output of 115HP and was backed by a ZF four-speed automatic transmission. It was available optionally in 1984 and 1985 on the Continental sedan and Mark VII coupe models instead of the standard 140HP 4.9-liter gasoline-fed V8.

One of these extremely rare [since few buyers opted for the diesel] BMW-powered Lincolns has been found for sale on Craigslist with the asking price set at $2,800.

Here's the seller's description:

"This is a limited edition from Lincoln, it is only 1 of 2500 ever made. It has a 2.4 liter BMW turbo diesel form the factory. This car is in very good condition, It has always been stored for the winters and has no rust. The mileage is unknown because the odometer is digital in it dosen't work. It runs and drive great. It was purchased from an estate sale about 5-7 years ago. This car is all original. Seats are NOT ripped but worn a bit. This is a Rare car you will not find another one of these for a long time."

Via: VWvortex , Source: Craigslist

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US Trying to Perfect its Safety Rating System; Can't we Just Meet EU Standards and Call it a Day?

US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has announced a new and improved 5-star safety rating system for 2011 vehicles. If you're interested about your new car, scroll on down for some of the vehicles tested. As of now, the BMW 5-Series (RWD) and Hyundai Sonata are the only vehicles to be top-rated (33 of the 55 models to be tested have been graded thus far).

The NHTSA says the new protocols will also test "side-pole" accidents and crash-prevention systems, as well as using new dummies (hopefully these will be set up properly). One new addition will be the use of a smaller "female" dummy to gauge accidents involving women. Also, new "injury criteria" will be implemented, as well as the use of an Overall Vehicle Score.

NHTSA Administrator David Strickland says, "We want consumers to embrace these new safety technologies as a way to make vehicles safer. We believe electronic stability control, lane departure warning, and forward collision warning offer significant safety benefits and consumers should consider them when buying a new car." Well, yeah.

By Phil Alex