Ford went through the Oil Crisis of '73-'74 with the Lincoln Continental Mark IV as its flagship car, a nineteen foot long coupe weighing most of two and three quarters tons, powered by a 460cid V8 and which struggled to top 8 miles per gallon. It was replaced with the even-longer-but-lighter Mark V.
When the next oil crunch, triggered by the Iranian revolution, hit in late 1979 however, it arrived at the same time as a newer, smaller Continental Mark at the top of the Ford heap.
Debuting in autumn of 1979 as a 1980 model, the new Lincoln Continental Mark VI was almost a foot shorter and a quarter ton lighter than the car it replaced.
Where the final year of the Mark V had been powered by a 2bbl 400 cube V8, the newer car came with either a throttle-body injected 302 or a 351 Windsor with a 2-barrel Motorcraft carb. Since both motors were rated at 140 net horsepower (the 351 gave a slightly higher torque output at lower revs) and it was the middle of a gas crisis, few 351 cars were sold and it was dropped after the 1980 model year. Incidentally, this was the debut of fuel injection on Ford's 5.0 small block.
Ford had intended to downsize the Mark more radically than they did, by moving it to the Fox compact sedan platform, but financial constraints meant that the Mark VI would be built on the new full-size Panther platform along with the regular Continental and the Town Car, which is why there was a Mark sedan for the first time since the label's revival in 1969. The Fox-platform Lincoln didn't happen until the Mark VII debuted for the '84 model year.
The car in the photo is an '80-'83 Lincoln Continental Mark VI sedan in Bright Red.
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