In order for the division to attain fuel economy targets mandated by the federal governments through CAFE, Ford abandoned the use of its 400 and 460 big-block V8s in its full-size cars.
Introduced in the Lincoln Continental for 1980 and marketed in all Panther-platform vehicles in 1981, the Lincoln Town Car was equipped with the 4-speed AOD automatic overdrive transmission, the sole transmission of 1981-1989 examples.