Western National Meet – Palm Springs, California, May 4-8, 2022

Western National Meet – Palm Springs, California, May 4-8, 2022

“A Martini Lifestyle, are you ready?”

Click here to register now!

Click here to view event and hotel information.

Pull out the suntan lotion, your sunglasses, gloves and hat.  Get that gallant Lincoln serviced and ready.  It is time to head down the road to the “Playground of the Stars”.  A week of movie stars, classic cars, fresh air and fun await you.   You may see Ann Hathaway (The Devil wears Prada) or Leonardo DeCaprio (Titanic) visiting their homes in the area.  John Travolta’s plane, grey with a large orange “T”, can be seen hanging at the airport from time to time.  Suzanne Somers (Three’s Company) and Barry Manilow are often seen out together for dinner at one of the local restaurants.  If you want to live in one of the star’s homes, Sylvester Stallone’s house is currently on the market.  However, if the glamour of stars does not appeal to you, and you would rather spend time on a golf course, there are about a hundred available, with all different levels of difficulty and beauty.  If you have a more rugged nature side, there are over a hundred hiking trails around canyons and through groves of native palm trees or maybe a scenic horse ride along one of the many beautiful oases appeals to you.  The famous Pioneertown is only a short drive away.  Walk down Main Street just as Roy Rogers and Dale Evans did along with Son’s of the Pioneers in their TV series.   The point being, there is plenty to see and do while you are in the area.

This highly anticipated Car Show Meet takes place Saturday, on the Desert Princess Country Club and Golf Course in Cathedral City adjacent to the Double Tree Hotel, our host hotel.  It will be a gathering of some of the very finest cars our members have to offer, in a picture-perfect desert setting.  Featured car classes will meander down the golf course set aside for our use.  What better way to feature those glamorous Lincolns.

Plans are being finalized to add technical seminars to the list of activities.  The renowned “Lincoln Whisperer” is ready to help you understand the hallowed secrets to making that convertible top work more than once.  There will also be a technical program on a/c systems and repairs, what works best to keep you cool.  Who knows, there may be our own version of “Click and Clack” questions and answers to those other car issues too.  Some slight changes are in progress to the standard weekend format, such as Friday Night’s event will take place at a large warehouse housing several private collections of cars.  Friday night’s event will include adult beverages, food plus a silent auction.  We understand the fabulous jazz singer Kathryn White will be performing there for your enjoyment that night too.  Our drive tour will take you by homes of several stars culminating at yet another large private automotive collection.  We have not forgotten those less car crazed among us, which I call “Car Widows”.   We are preparing other great events to choose from.  We have 24 exciting ideas we are narrowing down to which ones will fit into our schedule.

Even though the dates state May 4-8, you will need more time to take in and enjoy all the fun.

Registration will be open this December.  Go on line now to reserve your room at www.doubletreepalmsprings.com while we still have some rooms in our reserved block for LCOC.  Be sure to mention the LCOC name for the best room rates.  Should you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us at WelcomeToPalmSprings@gmail.com.

We look forward to seeing everyone in Palm Springs, for “A Martini Lifestyle”, a weekend years in the making.

John Burge & Ron Cressy, co-chairs  

View Western National Meet 2022 Promo Video

Graveyard of the Zephyrs

Graveyard of the Zephyrs

By Bob MacDougal

Originally published in the January/February 1996 issue of Continental Comments (Issue # 207).

While vacationing in Cape Cod over Columbus Day weekend, I was reading want ads in the local paper, and came across an ad for an antique auto yard sale of 100 old cars, including 21 Lincolns,  mostly Zephyrs and some Continentals. The sale started the next day at 10 am. Our son, Mike was staying with us for the weekend and said he would like to come along. So we borrowed some tools from my neighbor, packed a lunch and left at 8:30 am. so we would be there when it opened.

We were some of the first ones there, and the owner told us that his father had passed away and left him the cars and trucks, and left his sister the house and land. She had given him one week to remove the cars, as she was going to clear the property and sell it. By now, it was raining a downpour, so we put on our raincoats and headed into the brush and trees. The place was a disaster. The cars had been driven or pushed into a field, and the brush and trees had grown up around and through them.

I gave Mike a crash course in 1940 to ‘48 Lincoln grilles, and he went on ahead. I kept hearing calls of “here’s another one”, as I checked out the ones we had already found. I yelled back “keep talking” so I can find you. The brush was so dense that when I was checking out a 1941 five-window coupe and turned to leave, there was a 1942 Lincoln sedan only 15 feet away and we hadn’t noticed it.

The owner was very adamant that he only wanted to sell whole cars and not parts. The Lincolns were just rusted-out hulks and wouldn’t even make fair parts cars, let alone something to be restored. We came back the next day and managed to talk him into selling us some water pumps and exhaust manifolds off some V-12s which were lying on the ground covered
up with old car hoods. He told us that he might sell parts off the cars on Friday and Saturday if we wanted to come back then.

I returned on Saturday morning with fellow LCOC member, Howard Ryan and plenty of tools. Howard brought his trailer, as he hoped to get the Mark II that was there. The owner wanted $1,800 for the Mark II but was now down to $500. It was so badly rusted, it wasn’t worth that, so Howard salvaged some parts from the ‘42 while I worked on a pair of ‘41 sedans.

We were working less than 100 feet apart but still couldn’t see each other. We just yelled back and forth to keep in touch on our progress. After spending most of the day working on and checking out cars, taking pictures and talking to the owner, we called it a day.

All together, we counted 11 pre-war Zephyrs, mostly 1940-’41, including two ‘41 convertibles, three post-war Lincolns, three post-war Lincoln Continental Cabriolets, one ‘49 Cosmopolitan, two 1956 Lincolns and one Mark II. All of the cars were in such extremely bad condition that very little was salvageable. If you opened a hood or trunk lid it would break off at the hinges. When I tried to open the door of the ‘41 five-window coupe I found myself sitting on the ground with the door handle in my hand and the door still closed.

On the long drive home, I had time to think about how sad it was that all these cars, not just the Lincolns, had gone to waste. The owner told us that this was the second time the yard was cleared. During the Korean war, his father and uncle had sold for scrap metal a yard full of cars and then started collecting all over again.

Neighbors that we met while we were looking around told us that the father and uncle would never let anyone on the property or sell a part. The owner was going to save one of the 1941 convertibles and fix it up. He’s about 20 years late.

Out of respect for the owner’s privacy, I will only say that the yard was located somewhere in Massachusetts, and by now all the cars have gone to be crushed.

Mark V Collector’s Series

Mark V Collector’s Series

An Idaho member who tracks them down discovers that there are two extremely rare models unknown to most collectors.

By (uncredited)

Originally published in the January/February 1996 issue of Continental Comments (Issue # 207).

During the 1979 model year, Lincoln-Mercury Division heavily advertised the fact that the Town Car/Town Coupe and the Mark series body styles were going to be different next year. The top of the line Collector’s Series Mark Vs, Town Cars, and Town Coupes were referred to in Lincoln-Mercury Division news releases as “special limited production models being built to mark the final year of these traditional full-sized luxury cars”. It does seem like an unusual marketing tactic, but even when the ‘79 Lincolns were new, the buying public was reminded not only of their high resale value, but also of the collectability of the soon to be discontinued models.

According to then Ford Motor Company Vice President and Lincoln General Manager, Walter J. Oben, during the 1979 model year, collectors were buying every new Mark V the factory could produce.

Contemporary factory literature and brochures identify two 1979 Collector Series Mark Vs—one in white, the other in midnight blue. The ‘79 Collector Series Mark Vs were dressed much like the previous year’s Diamond Jubilee models, except that the Collector’s Series Mark Vs, “Collector’s Series” insignia replaced the opera windows.

The midnight blue and white Collector’s Series Mark V’s were introduced at the start of the 1979 model year. Pictures and descriptions of them are included in the factory brochures.

It will come as a surprise to most of us, that in March, 1979 two additional limited edition Collector’s Series Mark Vs were offered, one in silver and the other in Diamond Jubilee blue (light blue). Diamond Jubilee blue is the same Diamond Jubilee blue that was used on the 1978 Mark V Diamond Jubilee model. The only place we know of that you can find any reference to the silver and the Diamond Jubilee blue Collector’s Series Mark V is in the 1979 Dealer’s Color and Upholstery Book as a March, 1979 “glue in” supplement. Bob Bowen, St. Maries, Idaho, has ‘79 Collector’s Edition MarkVs in blue, silver and white. Grant and Joan Milne, Lucerne, Colorado own a silver Collector’s Series Mark V. To date, Bob has located only one 1979 Diamond Jubilee blue Collector’s series Mark V, and it has been wrecked.

In a letter dated August 1, 1984 to a collector in Colorado, Lincoln-Mercury gave the following production figures for the 1979 Collector’s Series Mark Vs.

Midnight Blue: 3,900
White: 2,040
Silver: 125
Diamond Jubilee Blue: 197
Total: 6,262

If any of our members know of any other Diamond Jubilee blue or silver 1979 Collector’s Series Mark Vs out there, please write and let us know about them.

Thanks to Bob Bowen for the information, photographs, and a copy of the supplement to the 1979 Dealer’s Color and Upholstery Book explaining about the additional Collector’s Edition Mark Vs.