Call me crazy - Lincoln update.

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support :

58limited

58limited

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 27, 2006
Messages
2,209
Location
Port Arthur, Texas
I decided to buy another Lincoln and sell the blue one I bought last month. The new one is a 1977 Continental convertible. I worked it out with the bank for a 5 year note that will not be a large monthly payment. This car was sold under value, several interested people made offers but I got it. The seller sold it cheap due to medical reasons - he needed money quickly.

It has new leather seat upholstery, new top, was repainted within the last 7 years. Engine is a 460 V8, same as my blue '78 Lincoln. It needs a dash pad and an A/C compressor, otherwise everything works and looks good. Its from New York state, never driven in winter (seller assured me that the undercarraige is nice). He added a 1" thick wood floor to his garage to park this car on in the winters - he feels it is not good to set a car on concrete for long periods.

6-11-2007-12-41-16--58limited.jpg
 
Wonderful . . .

I seem to recall that you've been after one of these rare convertible conversions for awhile, and it looks like you got a good one! Nice color combination, just right for summer cruising.

Do you konw who the coachbuilder was? I know that in the '80s some builders of hearses (or "professional cars" if you prefer) did some conversions. A buddy of mine had a Chevrolet Celebrity convertible by Hess & Eisenhardt, and the quality was really excellent and appropriately professional. They also did other GM versions of the Celebrity platform, but I don't know any more about their convertibles. Outside of the hearse builders, Richard Strayman did very nice conversions, but I think most all of his stuff was on non-American cars like the Ferrari 400i or even conversions of older Ferrari Daytonas into Daytona Spiders.
 
I do not know which coachbuilder did the conversion, but there were at least three that did the Lincolns: Silcco, Coach Builders or Amer Custom Coach. I also heard that Hess & Eisenhardt made some. The seller cannot find an identification mark from a manufacturer.

The seller called while I was writing this and I'm really happy with how well he cared for the car. He is very concerned that I know the deficiencies (not many) and he said he might pay a little of the transport costs out of his pocket. He seems to really appreciate my interest in cars and Fords in general and wants to make this as smooth of a transaction as possible, and he is concerned about it going to someone who will keep and care for it, rather than try to resale for a profit - the car is worth a few thousand more than his asking price.

This car will be like my '58 Limited: I will never sell it if I can help it.
 
Good Sentiments . . . may the Goddess always bless you with a really large garage 'cuz those two are gonna need it!

I am surprised that there would be no coachbuilder's identification plate on the car. How were these cars ordered new . . . from the dealer or directly from the coachbuilder? Since (to my knowledge) there was no official approval or cooperation from Ford, I would think there would have been some way to address ordering any parts unique to the conversion, such as special trim items or convertible top parts. Obviously now all that stuff would be unobtanium, but given the cost of the conversion if something packed up when the car was only a few years old I'm sure the owner would have been at a dealership complaining loudly if there were no way to figure out who made it. Good luck in researching this!
 
These cars were promotions offered through the dealerships. You ordered the car at the dealer, the car was sent from the factory to the coachbuilder, and then to the dealership for delivery. The conversion price was $10,000 - $15,000 which doubled the price of the car.

One source told me that the convertible top frame was a modified early '70s Ford LTD top frame. Pretty extensive conversion when you consider that the Town Coupe did not have roll down back quarter windows, but they were added to the convertible conversion.

The seller told me that he had to have the top custom made - he could not find any standard made top that would fit. They looked for a manufacturer stamp on the frame when it was stripped, and in the glove box, door pillar, and under the hood.

There is an ad (from a '77 Playboy Magazine) showing a dealership in Ohio selling these cars (the only Lincoln dealer authorized to sell the conversions in Akron - did Akron have more than one Lincoln dealership?). - I'm going to try to buy it. I called FoMoCo 10 years ago and talked with the Lincoln archives division - they had no info on these cars, so they weren't factory authorized. Although, I have been told that Ford had to give approval for anything like this to be sold at their dealerships, so the general manager probably called and got some VP to send a letter saying he could sell customized vehicles - no real records other than a memo filed somewhere. There were some Lincolns converted into trucks - like an El Camino - during this time (wow, that was an expensive truck!).
 
Here is part of the ad - sorry, I got mixed up. It is for a dealer located in Aurora, IL, not Akron, Ohio. The seller cropped the scan "to prevent unauthorized duplication" so I can't read all of the info. I'll have to buy it to see.

6-11-2007-19-16-12--58limited.jpg
 
Exploder

I have not sold the blue Lincoln yet - I want to fix the power windows first. A college buddy is interested in it, so I might give him a good deal.
 
Well they both are beutiful cars.. scince i lost my explorer eairler this year i am searching now for something special to replace it.. Looked at a similar 4-door beige/tan with red interior 1978 Lincoln Town Car with 86K original miles..Will need some work, mainly belts and hoses and mantince stuff, runs fairly good from what i can tell.. Bid on it at the estate auction saturday.. Still haven't herd back. One of our neighbors as a kid had one and I loved theres.. She and her husband bought it used in 1986 and drove it until 1999ish when she bought a taurus. It had over 250K miles and was still in good shape.. So these where cars i have a huge place for in my heart for these. These and Dodge Caravans from the late 80's.. I want one of those too... V6 SWB SE.. They also had one of those they bought in 1988 and drove until 2002... When there son traded it in.. ANy way.... I always will love these big cars and hope i might have one soon
 
Lincoln El Camino?

Um, don't you mean a Lincoln Ranchero? Now Ford might have allowed that! Years ago I saw a mid '70s Cadillac Coupe de Ville which had been converted into a gigantic El Camino type truck. The opera windows were retained but opened to the front of the bed. I know I've heard of others so it wasn't a one-off. Perhaps the same coachbuilder did the Lincolns.

Regarding the operable rear quarter windows, I've seen one of those late '70s Town Car conversions with the top up, and I'll bet the windows and mechanism are straight from the '70-'72 Town Car coupe, which was a hardtop with operable quarter windows. The top frame would obviously have to be a pretty special item . . . even figuring that a '71-'72 LTD is a huge car, you'd still have to add a bunch of metal to stretch that over the Lincoln.
 
Late 70s Lincolns - They are wonderful quality cars that get mediocre gas mileage. I live close to work so it is not a big deal to drive mine, but I take the 1998 Olds traveling - 30+ MPG.

I would contact the estate and see if your bid was considered or if they are still offering the car - bid again. Belts and hoses are minor, insignificant items if the car is in good shape. Just takes a coule of hours, or less, to change them.
 
I'm thinking back in 1977 Eagle Coachbuilders, and also Armbruster, were a few professional car builders that did Lincoln conversations.

BTW---
Whereas Lincoln did not offer a factory built professional chassis, Cadillac did,(Fleetwood 75 Series) well into the 1980's. So the companies that built funeral cars stuck with Cadillac for the most part,and that was fine with the funeral homes too. (A "matched" fleet always looks good in a procession.) The Oldsmobile 98 and Buick hearses and ambulances sold pretty well and were great cars, (as were the Packards) and they had been around for years.

So it has taken Lincoln a long time to catch on with the funeral profession. (It did not help that the Lincoln conversions had a reputation for poor quality either.)
Lincoln really began getting popular with the change in body style that they still use now, first introduced in the late 1990's. IMO Eagle builds a beautiful (and high-quality) Lincoln hearse.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top