In whatever era you look at since near the beginning of the automobile, there have always been a few cars that have surprised us with how great their performance is. They could be sleeper cars or luxury cars with unexpectedly huge amounts of power, but sometimes, they can also come from an era that people don't necessarily equate with sports car prestige. That's definitely the case with the car we're about to talk about. It comes from a period of automotive history in America where performance cars weren't exactly the main focus. The '90s Produced A Bunch Of Unexpectedly Great Performance Cars Bring a TrailerA lot of people think of the '90s as a bit of a malaise era in American cars. That can certainly be said for some of the more ordinary vehicles that came out of that time. But, through all that, there were some genuinely great performance cars that nobody would have expected. The third-generation Ford Taurus SHO had true V8 performance hiding behind its divisive, bug-eyed bodywork. There's also the twelfth-generation Cadillac Eldorado, which had up to 305 hp from its 4.6-liter Northstar V8.One of those unexpectedly great performance cars is part of the last true generation of Personal Luxury Cars. It's a big, luxurious American coupe, like the twelfth-generation Eldorado. But, it's one that was designed to take that kind of car fully into the modern age. Part of the reason why it ended up being an unexpected performance king was that it had an engine that would soon go on to power some celebrated muscle cars. The Lincoln Mark VIII Is A Plush, '90s Luxury Coupe That's Surprisingly FastBring A TrailerIn the world of American luxury coupes, none of them are quite as underrated as the Lincoln Mark VIII. This was the final proper Lincoln coupe ever made, and it's easily one of the best. This incredibly plush personal luxury car has 280 horsepower and 285 pound-feet of torque in its base model configuration. The LSC pushed that power up a bit more to 290 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. That gave the LSC a 0-60 mph time of 7.5 seconds. It's also been estimated that it could reach speeds of nearly 150 mph with the electronic top speed limiter disabled. For a car with a slushy 4-speed automatic transmission and a focus on comfort over most other characteristics, it's very surprising that it's this fast! It Was The First Car To Use The Ford Modular V8 Bring A TrailerOne thing that often gets forgotten about the Lincoln Mark VIII is that it was the first car to use an engine that would become a gold standard across all the Ford brands. That's the 4.6-liter Modular V8. It was known as the InTech in Lincoln models, but it's still exactly the same engine that appeared in many of Ford's best cars from that era. This included V8-powered versions of the SN-95 Mustang that were built after 1995.As it uses the Modular V8, it's not only got a proven and reliable engine, but that engine can also be easily and extensively tuned. You can do everything from simple ECU tunes to turbocharging or supercharging it, bumping the power up to crazy levels in the process. Do these kinds of modifications to a Lincoln Mark VIII, and you could end up creating an incredible sleeper build. It Was Very Advanced For Its Time Bring A TrailerWhen the Ford Motor Company was designing and developing the Lincoln Mark VIII, it wanted to have a luxury car that could seriously challenge the best that Europe and Japan could offer. As a result, it was the most advanced American car you could buy at the time. It had computer-controlled air suspension, an all-speed traction control system (originally an optional extra, but made standard after 1996) and a dashboard that was full of digital systems. This made it seem as technologically advanced as the Japanese luxury coupes of its day, such as the Lexus SC300 and the Mazda Eunos Cosmo. It's An Absolute Bargain On The Used Market Bring A TrailerThe Lincoln Mark VIII has become a relatively unloved part of Lincoln's '90s output. That's nothing but good news for enthusiasts, though. It means you can get these retro-futuristic coupes for almost hilariously cheap prices. The average used value for the Lincoln Mark VIII is $11,059, and prices aren't significantly rising. You can also still easily get base model Mark VIIIs for less than $10,000. If you've ever wanted one, now might be the time to go out and buy one. As the appreciation of '90s cars as modern classics grows, there's no way these cars will stay cheap! The Tenth-Generation Ford Thunderbird and Seventh-Generation Mercury Cougar Are Built On The Same Platform via Bring A TrailerThe Lincoln Mark VIII is a unique-looking car, and it was the first Ford-produced car to use the Modular V8. But, under the skin, it was actually based on proven architecture. Its basic platform was the Ford MN12. This was also the basic platform that the tenth-generation Ford Thunderbird and the seventh-generation Mercury Cougar used. These cars both came to market earlier than the Lincoln Mark VIII - the tenth-generation Thunderbird first appeared in 1988, and the seventh-generation Mercury Cougar first appeared in 1989. Both cars also ended up using the Modular V8 for their V8-powered variants after 1993.These cars are also both absolute bargains on the used market. Tenth-generation Thunderbirds have an average used value of just $7,508, and seventh-generation Mercury Cougars are even cheaper at an average used value of $5,619. If you want real bargain-basement American luxury, these could be better choices than the Lincoln Mark VIII in some cases!Sources: Cadillac, Classic.com, Ford, Lincoln, Mercury