Many of you will remember my joyful posting several years ago when I acquired my 2007 Lincoln Mark LT. It was (and still is) a beautiful truck. Alas, it’s usefulness diminished, and, finally, it became in some ways, an inconvenience. Yes, I loved the 4×4 capability (without the truck feeling the need to trumpet it to the world with tacky stickers on the side). I dressed it in a Bedrug, which cushioned and protected its bed. I topped it with a sleek Leer topper to keep the bed contents dry and lockable.

Then hubby got his 2009 Navigator L, with its rear view mirror camera, retractable running boards, front and rear proximity sensors, heated and cooled seats, dual climate control, and capability to carry an 8′ sheet of plywood in the back. It put my cute little truck to shame. I still loved my truck, but I wished it could do some things it couldn’t. Finally, I knew it’s trade-in value was sinking fast. What to do?

Hubby thought I should look into the Lincoln MKT (the Lincoln version of the Ford Flex — you’d never know it by looking at them, but they are siblings. In my eyes, the MKT was the ugly sibling. Try as I might, I could not bring myself to love the MKT. Wednesday, hubby and I stopped in to North Park Lincoln (no more Mercury, sob!) to talk to James about arranging an overnight test drive of an MKT. I desperately wanted to try to fall in love with the car, and we talked about next week. But on the showroom was a 2011 Lincoln Navigator L. In Sterling Grey Metallic. With Stone interior. With no options. For the same price as the the MKT was going to wind up costing me, and a Navigator L is a vehicle I could love. I knew I could. There was one nagging problem. I talked to James, and he said it would be no problem to do an overnight MKT test drive. We agreed to do it next week.

Hubby and I left — we had other plans for the afternoon, and James was delivering a new vehicle to another customer. But that Navigator would not leave my head. The only problem with that vehicle was no heavy duty towing package. That’s not a problem if you’re rarely going to tow or just tow a small utility trailer — it had a Class III/IV hitch and 4-pin light plug. It also had an anti-sway bar. It would be fine for light duty towing if all I ever hauled was our utility trailer — and usually, that would be all I haul. Hubby hauls the heavier stuff. And that’s the capability I’d have if I got the MKT.

But with a Navigator, even a two wheel drive version, I knew I’d feel better if it had the heavy duty tow package — transmission cooler, heavy duty cooling, rear load leveling, 7-pin and 4-pin light plugs. It’s just a more mechanically sound vehicle with that option installed. I searched on line inventories. Anything that had the heavy duty towing had other stuff I didn’t want. The only thing to do was talk to James.

Hubby had plans to do something at the house yesterday, but he said, you know, if you want the Navigator, you’re going to have to clean out your truck and talk to James. So I emptied my truck, took it to the car wash, vacuumed it out, and washed it. Then we cleaned up and headed out to talk to James. He confirmed what we already knew — the exact vehicle we (I) wanted was not to be found. We looked at a couple that would possibly be acceptable and decided on a Sterling Grey Navigator L 4×2 Limited Edition with Canyon interior (a rich, luxurious deep cattle tan), two rear seats with console (instead of the bench), and a stupid moon roof. It had the fancy 20″ wheels, which I don’t care for, but he offered to swap for the stock 18″ wheels (and reduce the price accordingly). Of course, it has the heavy duty towing package. It also appears to have remote start, which I know some people love, but it doesn’t do much for me. It has the Monochrome Package as well, which means, no chrome. So, once again, I have an understated grey vehicle. Here it is:

And here are the two of them together (they are the same size; I need to get a better perspective shot):

Take one last look at the Mark LT, taken this morning before I drove it to North Park Lincoln to take delivery on the new Navigator (If you’re in the San Antonio area and need a nice, clean luxury pick up, head over to North Park Lincoln Mercury and talk to James Puckett–he’ll take good care of you–whether you get my old truck or not):