I think it's a valid point about their age. I think that Lincoln-Continental have been together so long in marketing that they've become synonymous. Then there's the Lincoln drivetrain and the fact that it was sold through Lincoln dealers. I can see where the confusion comes from.

Plus, it was kind of an obscure car. I don't remember seeing any clips of TV advertising. All I've ever seen is print. It seemed almost quietly marketed. I had never heard of one until I was 14 and I grew up in the largest concentration of Mark IIs, anywhere. If you go through the records you'd see that Continental's biggest customer was Ford.