Row Your Boat: 2002 Lincoln LS 5 Speed

Lincoln tried to change their act around Y2K but got their pee-pee slapped pretty dang hard. As a result, it’s no wonder they surrendered the American enthusiast sedan market to Cadillac shortly thereafter. Put a positive spin on it and the Lincoln LS is essentially a 4 door Mustang with independent rear suspension and an available manual transmission. Look at it as a pessimist and it’s just another millennial American sedan shrouded in crappiness.  Find this 2002 Lincoln LS V6 with a clutch pedal here for sale in Port St. Lucie, FL for $2,400 via craigslist.

A Lincoln with a 5 speed manual; talk about a tough sell in coastal Florida. If you are old enough to vividly remember the sinking of the Titanic without reminder from a movie and want a 2000’s Lincoln, you certainly don’t want a 5 speed. Conversely, those of us who want to be able to stall cars ourselves generally don’t want a Lincoln and if we do, we want the V8 that you couldn’t get with a manual. Death at every door.

Perhaps instead of viewing this as a forlorn and ignored Lincoln, we should collectively change our attitudes and start treating them like an American attempt at an Aussie Falcon rather than just another Contour-like rattle trap that happens to be RWD. Burnout car build anyone? LS swap your LS?

See a more unusual manual? email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com

Matt, a self-proclaimed bottom-feeder of the classic car market, spends half of his time buying cars, half of his time retrieving them, and the remaining third on keeping them on the road.