Vehicle weights have come into question again of late, with the new BMW M5 making headlines for all the wrong reasons. For a non-electric vehicle, its curb weight of 5,390 lbs is pretty hefty. But it’s far from being the heaviest sedan ever built.

Depending on how you want to split it, there are a few candidates you could name for “heaviest sedan ever built.” If you want to count limousines and one-offs and limited-production super-luxury vehicles, we’ll be here all day. If we’re talking about EVs, well, there are more than a few candidates. Ultra-luxury models from Rolls-Royce and Bentley have also tipped well past the 6,000-pound mark in years gone by, but did you know a relatively mainstream model from over 60 years ago is still one of the heaviest sedans ever built?

The 1960 Lincoln Continental outweighs the mid-1970s Cadillac Fleetwood 75 by just a few pounds, tipping the scales at an incredible 5,712 lbs. For a sedan with absolutely no form of electrification in its powertrain, that’s a heavyweight even by today’s standards.

If you’re a fan of mid-century aesthetics, the golden age of the American highway, if you want something big and bulky to roll down Route 66, these third-gen Continentals are actually more accessible than you might think. Whether they’re a wise investment, though? That’s a whole ‘nother story. Here’s what you need to know before buying a sixty-five-year-old land yacht.

The following is based on research into the classic car market. Any opinions or conclusions offered thereupon are those of the author unless otherwise attributed.

A Look At The 1960 Lincoln Continental

When you read that the 1960 Lincoln Continental’s hefty V8 engine produced an incredible 315 horses – sharing its engine with that era’s Ford Thunderbird – you may imagine this thing scorching the quarter-mile to the tune of Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. But you’re forgetting just how heavy this thing is. At two and a half tons, the 1960 Continental’s weight means that it needs that 315-hp powertrain just to keep it moving.

The Lincoln Continental was a luxury sedan, which means that the car’s leaf-spring suspension was cushy for the time, and it still does a fine job of cushioning the cabin from bumps in the road, considering this car’s immense weight, but the only word for it in 2025 is “primitive.” If you’ve never driven a mid-century car, expect to lean hard on sharp turns.

On the other hand, the 1960 Continental did have power steering and power brakes. It’s not exactly a “horseless carriage” you’re driving, here, it’s just primitive by modern standards.

What’s A 1960 Lincoln Continental Worth In 2025?

The Town Car and Limousine model Continentals are incredibly rare. Lincoln only made 214 Town Cars and 83 Limos. Hagerty suggests that this scarcity hasn’t actually driven the price up that much, estimating a sale price of around $20,400 for a four-door in good condition, but when one of these cars actually does hit the auction block, well, it’s a seller’s market, so there’s no telling what price it will actually fetch in practice.

As a consolation prize, the two-door Convertibles are much easier to find, and we were able to dig up several recent auctions for these models.

Convertibles Go For As Little As $23,750

The lowest price we were able to find for a Lincoln Continental was at an auction that closed just a month ago for a convertible model with 77,000 miles on the odometer, selling for a mere $23,750. For a not-very-common mid-century sedan with under 100,000 miles on it, that’s not a bad deal.

At the other end of the spectrum, we turned up a $55,000 convertible, sold last June, with just 17,000 miles on the odometer. Somewhere around the middle of the pack would be a 78,000-mile convertible selling for $42,500 back in 2022.

Is A 65-Year-Old Car Worth The Cost Of Ownership?

If you’ve never driven an honest-to-goodness antique before, one thing you need to understand is that these cars make no sense as your daily driver.

For starters, let’s consider the fuel expense. If you drive 15,000 miles a year, and you’re spending $3.15 on a gallon of gas, a 9-mpg sedan is going to cost you $5,250 at the pump over the course of twelve months. The most generous estimates we’ve read for the convertible suggest you might get as many as 12 miles to the gallon, but that still has you paying $3,973 a year.

As for maintenance, even if we assume that you’re actually getting a car in good condition, that you’re not spending five, ten, twenty thousand dollars to restore the car before you can even take it on the road, every broken gauge and pump is going to have you going on an adventure to find pieces that haven’t been in production since your grandpa was a teenager.

Depending on who you ask, a sixty-plus-year-old car could cost anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars to maintain each year, but it’s difficult to provide any specific, meaningful estimates, because it’s not a matter of simply driving it down to the nearest Lincoln dealership for regular servicing, and sourcing the parts is easier said than done.

A Mid-Century Classic Can Be Fun, But Be Prepared For Headaches And Heartbreak

If you really have the passion for mid-century American vehicles, and if you’ve got the money, time, and energy to take care of one, don’t let us talk you out of buying a 1960 Lincoln Continental. There’s something about pulling up to the car show in a luxury cruiser as big as a boat, you just can’t get that from modern cars.

Just be ready to put a lot of time and energy into the project. This isn’t a 2012 Dodge Challenger or a 1989 Ford pickup. This was the car John F. Kennedy rode around in while he was President of the United States of America. You’re not just a collector when you drive this thing, you’re a historian.

Sources: Bring a Trailer, Hagerty, Lincoln