Dashboard clock

[Roadsurfer]

Hello, I AM NEW TO THE FORUM AND I do not own a Lincoln town car but I'm in the market to buy one from 2003 - 2011. I LOVE that they have an analog clock on the dashboard. How reliable are those clocks? Are they easily replaced?

I am in North Florida and would love to get a Lincoln under 100,000 miles on it for under $7000 if possible.

Are there any model years in the final 11 years of production that everyone agrees should be avoided?

Thank you so much,

Anthony

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Hello, I AM NEW TO THE FORUM AND I do not own a Lincoln town car but I'm in the market to buy one from 2003 - 2011. I LOVE that they have an analog clock on the dashboard. How reliable are those clocks? Are they easily replaced?

Welcome aboard!

If by “reliable” you mean “do they keep accurate time,” yes they do. If by “reliable” you mean do they break down and have to be replaced,” I’ve never seen anyone on this forum mention any problems with them.

Except perhaps the bulb burning out. If that happens, it’s hard to find a new one with the green tint, and if you can, they’re expensive (at least for a bulb.) IIR the bulb itself is something standard, but it has a green plastic “sock” on it. It might be possible to retain the sock and use a regular bulb. The dash trim is easily removed to access the clock (plenty of YouTube videos on the subject, typically related to removing the stock radio).

Are there any model years in the final 11 years of production that everyone agrees should be avoided?

Again, that’s not something I’ve ever seen mentioned here. I’ve seen it alluded that perhaps the last couple of years the quality wasn’t as good as earlier, but I’m not sure what exactly.

One known “bug” is the 2003 Cartier model, the tuner in the stock Alpine radio is prone to failure. However, we’ve determined that a 2004 Soundmark model is a drop-in replacement.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

My 2003 Cartier

 

[G-405218]

Thank you Wayne. That's good to hear. By "reliable" I meant do they last a long time. A broken analog clock is more annoying than no clock at all.

 

[N1ASS]

Thank you Wayne. That's good to hear. By "reliable" I meant do they last a long time. A broken analog clock is more annoying than no clock at all.Clocks are plenty around in salvage yards and Ebay to be had.So far I have not heard of anyone having problems with the clock,The bulb I have replaced on both of Designers with LED and they work Great!!

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[Uncle Poncho]

I have a 1998 Cartier. Only 63k miles but the 26 year old clock is still operating.
My previous Town Car was a 2001 Signature without dash clock.

 

[Roadsurfer]

I have a 1998 Cartier. Only 63k miles but the 26 year old clock is still operating.
My previous Town Car was a 2001 Signature without dash clock.

OK, good thank you. Also are the later year cars like 2009 2010 2011 harder to get parts for because they were so few produced? They were very low numbers for those years compared to previous ones. Or are the mechanical parts more or less all the same from 2003 to 2011?

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

I expect the only thing potentially hard to find in the future would be any unique electronic modules they may have had. Not saying there are unique modules, don’t really have any idea. But if there are, those may be hard to find in the future.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

My 2003 Cartier

 

[Roadsurfer]

I expect the only thing potentially hard to find in the future would be any unique electronic modules they may have had. Not saying there are unique modules, don’t really have any idea. But if there are, those may be hard to find in the future.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

My 2003 Cartier

OK, thank you Wayne.

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[04TC]

2003 model had problems with the rear axle, but other than that the different years of the '03-'11 generation were all close to each other in terms of reliability. The mechanical parts were very similar throughout that year range '03-'11

 

[Uncle Poncho]

OK, good thank you. Also are the later year cars like 2009 2010 2011 harder to get parts for because they were so few produced? They were very low numbers for those years compared to previous ones. Or are the mechanical parts more or less all the same from 2003 to 2011?

Unfortunately I don't have an answer for this question. I have no experience with models that new. I can only say that the Panther platform has gained a pretty good reputation over the years for durability.