Barry,
Interesting to hear when you first became aware of the Mark II.
I still remember being smacked in the jaw by the elegance of this car, even though I was even younger than you.
My family traveled between Kalamazoo, MI and Homestead City, FL frequently from around 1957 to about 1961 when my dad was building houses in Florida. I would have been between 5 and 9.
I was a rotten kid, and I took delight in annoying my dad. But, we did share a love of cars, and he taught me to recognize every car on the road in those days, probably when I was closer to 5 than 9.
One late night when we'd been driving too long, my mom finally insisted that we stop at a pretty "up town" looking inn. We drove in the circular drive, past the fountain that dominated the front entrance. Parked directly in front of the entrance was a long, low black Mark II, the most stunning car I'd ever seen, and for once a car that I did not recognize.
We just kept driving around the circle...out to the street, looking for another place. My dad explained that if the inn attracted a customer driving a Mark II, it was obviously a budget buster for his young family.
Much later, my dad always drove Lincolns, and had two of them when he finally quit driving. I know he's smiling somewhere, looking down (or up) at me driving that very same car that forced us out into the Georgia night looking for a cheaper motel....