1958 Lincoln Restoration Story with a Happy Ending

by Tim Howley

Originally published in the May/June 1999 issue of Continental Comments (Issue # 228)

Our cover car is a (Matador?) Red 1958 Lincoln Continental Mark III Convertible which won a Ford Motor Company Trophy at the 1998 Eastern National Meet in Fort Myers, Florida. It is owned by John Hofmann, Tampa, Florida, and was restored by Herb Scheffer of Mainly Convertibles in Tampa, Florida.

Since 1958 Lincoln Continentals were extensively covered in Continental Comments #193, Third Quarter, 1993 we will only dwell briefly on their history here while going into a detailed account of this car’s restoration.

1958 is the most unique of all 1950s Lincoln Continentals. It is a highly controversial car from a styling and body engineering standpoint. It had extensive problems as a new car, making it difficult to restore. It is much misunderstood by the public at large, and even Lincoln collectors tend to either love it or hate it.

In 1955 there was a belief in Detroit that unitized construction was the wave of the future. Therefore, when Lincoln broke ground for its new Wixom plant, 15 miles northwest of Dearborn that year, they decided to design the plant to build unitized automobiles, both the Lincoln and the forthcoming four-passenger 1958 Thunderbird. While Thunderbird, due to its smaller size, was not a problem to build the Lincoln was because nobody had ever built a unitized car this large before.

The new Lincoln, because of all the strengthening required for its unitized construction, turned out to be the heaviest and longest car built to date since World War II, a 131-inch wheelbase, 229 inches overall, and 4,927 pounds in the convertible.

The stylist in charge of the 1958 Lincoln project was John Najjar who was told explicitly by Division head Ben Mills that the objective was to beat Cadillac. The new unitized construction dictated a new direction in big car styling. The overall height, well below five feet, still permitted more interior room than the 1956- 57 Lincoln. The new Lincoln in no way made styling concessions to the round and roily polly 1958 Cadillac with its infamous fins or the wedge shaped Chrysler. It was as square as a 1958 house and nearly as large.

In the beginning, John Reinhart designed a 1958 Continental, which while large, had softer lines. But when the decision was made to scrap the Continental program and disband the Continental Division the Reinhart design went out along with it. The final design became a very different car with the Continental name and roofline tacked onto the 1958 Capri and Premiere body.

Like the car, the engine was all new, a 430 cid V-8 which was so much more successful than the car that it was continued through 1965. In the original 1958 version, this engine had 10.5:1 compression ratio, Holley four-barrel carburetor and developed 375 horsepower. With a Mercury Marauder three two-barrel carburetor option, horsepower was raised to 400. After the first model year, Lincoln chickened out on the horsepower, dropped the Marauder option and lowered the horsepower rating to 350 in 1959 and 315 in 1960.

Initial reaction to the 1958 Lincoln and Continental was encouraging. Buyers were pleased to see a Continental at half the list price of the 1956-57 models and with a choice of body styles. But 1958 soon turned out to be a year of poor sales for nearly all U.S. makes. It was a combination of a sharp and unexpected recession and a sudden public turn to smaller, more economical cars. In 1958, American Motors and Studebaker actually enjoyed an increase in sales, and Volkswagen made a tremendous sales leap forward. The Lincoln, standing as the largest of American cars, was hit hard. After 41,123 Lincolns had been produced for the 1957 model year, only 29,684 Lincolns and Continentals were produced for 1958.

The 1958-60 Lincolns and Continentals quickly developed a reputation as inferior automobiles. Herb Scheffer, who restored our cover car, does not go along with the factory and car hobbyists at large who for years have been very critical of these cars. He says, “These are wonderful cars, beautiful in their strangeness, an attempt to be creative and innovative, an attempt by the auto industry to move forward and try different things. Yes, they have their flaws and problems, but their virtues outweigh their faults.”

When you talk to Herb you will find that he really loves and cares about all 1958-60 Lincolns. When almost everyone was down on these cars, when you could barely find parts for them, when nobody was willing to help you with them, he went to work on restoring them and supplying parts for them.

Herb points out that the the second two years seem to be more refined in the assembly process but they still inherited many of the 1958’s basic flaws. Herb further comments that while the three years look very similar they are vastly different. However, Herb says that while 1958-60 Lincolns are tough cars to restore, a 1963 Lincoln Continental, for example, is a far more intricate car and in many respects is far more difficult to restore.

Herb also notes that the 1958 cars have an inherent vibration problem, and this is not simply due to the large unitized bodies. The way the headlights are designed, they grab the wind.

Our feature car was not completely restored by Mainly Convertibles. Herb Scheffer bought the car from a California owner who had done much of the restoration groundwork. He had done a lot of small piece repairs and detailing. He had gotten a lot of the parts for the interior trim, dash and instruments. He had done the undercarriage overhaul and detailing His efforts made completing the restoration a lot easier for Herb.

This was probably a California car most of its life, meaning no rust. The owner, either himself or through Mainly Convertibles had put in much effort and had purchased a lot of parts, and is to be commended said Herb, but the owner finally concluded he did not have the twenty some thousand dollars needed to complete the car with paint, upholstery, chrome, etc. So he sold the car and all the parts to
Herb in partially disassembled condition. Herb was not sure what he was going to do with the car so he put it aside for a year. Then he pulled the motor out, media blasted all of the body, and proceeded to complete the car. Knowing the problems with 1958-60 models, and expecting to experience the worst in the restoration, Herb was in for several pleasant surprises. Herb says he has never seen floor pans in such good condition, no rust, which is unusual for any convertible, especially a 1958 Lincoln. Herb discovered that the car had been in a collision many years ago and they had done a very poor repair job. The car had been hit in the left rear quarter, but there was no rear “frame” or structural damage. The front of the car was never touched and barely had a parking lot ding on it.

Herb believes that this was a low mileage car. He thinks that after it was damaged it was poorly repaired and then not used very much. He concluded that the car had been used as a pickup truck at one point because they had taken all of the top mechanism out.

There are two morals to this story. Some of the best old car buys come in baskets, and while 1958-60 Lincolns as a general rule are difficult to restore, there can be exceptions.

But this owner had spent lots of money on the car. For example, he had the dash padding redone by Just Dashes which is a $750 expenditure, and the car came with no end of small trim parts. There was even all new vinyl with the heat sealing in it. The owner had upgraded parts, and the motor was wonderful. Still, Herb took the motor down to be sure. The bearings were perfect. And this was an original motor. Herb did have to go through the transmission and all of the engine subcomponents and accessories.

Herb also redid the body repairs properly, did the prep and paint, the reassembly, installed new tires, brakes, the metal lines, and the exhaust system. He put in all new leather, a trunk kit and did a great amount of detailing. The list was endless.

A lot of the electrics were still in good shape but Herb went through them anyway. All of the top mechanism hydraulics were replaced. Stainless steel lines were installed for brakes, fuel lines and transmission. The stainless trim was polished. Some of the chrome was redone, but not all of it. The front suspension was in very poor condition and had never been properly rebuilt until Herb went through it. Fortunately, many new suspension parts came with the car.

Since the accident caused no structural damage, the body lined up perfectly. Herb took all the windows out and when he put them back in they lined up perfectly. “Everything on this car just worked when restoring it,” Herb comments. “This car was friendly, it pretty much did what it was supposed to do, and it’s rare that they do that. A lot of times they just fight you all the way. But the owner had done things like rebuilding the carburetor, redoing the instruments, had put the cloth lining in the glove box, he had done just a lot of the little detail work. He had filled little bags with parts that were all painted and ready to be put in”.

While Herb was putting the car back together with really no plan for its disposal, John Hofmann called. Hofmann had known Scheffer for seven years and his brother has a 1959 convertible. When Herb told him that he was working on a 1958 convertible Hofmann expressed an interest in seeing the car. When he saw the parts of the car freshly painted, he bought the car at an agreed upon completion price. The car won a Ford Trophy at its first LCOC National Meet.

Classic Lincoln Caraven

with Rick Parker

Originally published in the November/December 1999 issue of Continental Comments (Issue # 231)

President Truman’s 1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan Convertible

by William J. McElroy, Tirrman, Ohio

Originally published in the March/April 1999 issue of Continental Comments (Issue # 227)

The Buck Stopped with Harry S. Truman, and so did the use of General Motors cars for Presidential service.

The dealership, like most of the country, believed that President Truman was going to be defeated in the 1948 election. The dealership did not want the public to associate them with a public official who was thought to become a loser in the upcoming election. Remember that even the newspapers were so convinced that Truman had lost they carried headlines of Dewey’s victory, and, in fact, even Truman went to bed on election night thinking that Dewey had won. But earlier, Ford dealerships were asked to provide automobiles for the President’s campaign and vacation visits. The White House turned to Lincoln-Mercury and several Lincoln dealers in Florida. The Ford dealerships agreed to these requests.

The unwillingness of the General Motors family to provide cars during the campaign remained in President Truman’s memory. After Truman’s famous defeat of Governor Dewey, the President told his aide, John Steelman, to have all GM products removed from the White House garage. Ford was then asked to supply 35 Lincoln and Mercury convertibles for the inauguration ceremonies. President Truman thought the 1939 Lincoln Sunshine Special to be outdated in its looks and wanted a more modem look for the 1949 Inauguration. President Truman and Vice-President Alben Barkley rode in the 1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan convertible which later became known as 4-X. But if you look at photographs of the Inaugural Parade you will see that in addition to Lincolns, there are two 1938 Cadillac seven passenger phaetons and a 1948 Dodge convertible. According to Cal Beauregard these two Cadillacs were in White House service until 1956 when they were replaced by two new Cadillacs. So evidently the White House did not get rid of all of its Cadillacs per Truman’s request.

After the Inauguration, 34 of the 35 open Ford products were returned to the Ford Motor Company, the Inaugural vehicle being retained by the Secret Service to be used as a backup parade car and follow up car. This vehicle was later modified with runningboards, red fog lights, dual antennas, dual mirrors, dual spotlights and inside grab handles for the Secret Service agents while standing on the running boards. The electrical system of the car was also modified to handle the added electrical radio equipment. It was the Secret Service who named the car 4-X.

Little is known about 4-X’s life in public service. It was retired in 1961 probably because President Kennedy did not want
to be associated with such an old car. The car did spend some time at a used car lot (Bill Shier Motors) in Cleveland, Ohio and eventually ended up at Wards Auto Sales on Venice Ave. in Sandusky, Ohio. There was an advertised auction to take place at Ward’s and 4-X was one of the cars to be auctioned. Ford Sterling of Fredericksburg, Ohio was at the auction.
4-X went through the auction unsuccessfully and was not sold. Mr. Sterling arranged for the purchase of 4-X after the
sale. The 1949 Cosmopolitan convertible was taken to its new home in Fredericksburg, Ohio where is was driven occasionally until 1966 when it was last licensed. After that, 4-X remained in Mr Sterling’s barn – covered up on the second
level of the barn. Ford Sterling was a good friend of my family and we visited Ford on many occasions. My first recollection of seeing the big black Lincoln in his barn was in the early 1970s. I was four or five years old at the time. The car remained
there until Mr. Sterling died suddenly in 1992.1 purchased 4-X from the estate.

After six months of repairs, 4-X was once again on the road. New tires, fuel lines, brake lines, brake shoes, brake cylinders, window and top cylinders, hydraulic lines, belts, hoses, battery and radiator repair, exhaust system and much hard work hand rubbing out the paint job.

In 1996, I rebuilt the engine and transmission due to oil leaks. I then had a new top installed on the car and had the front
seat reupholstered. All the lights in the running boards were broken and gone except one. From that one light, my father
and I made a set of lights like the originals and repaired the running boards. The rest of the car is as it was.

By Tim Howley

Originally published in the Nov/Dec 1999 issue of Continental Comments (Issue # 231)

Both the President and Executive Vice President of LCOC have recently acquired Continental Mark VI Bill Blass Series. However, the Mark VI has yet to achieve the popularity in our Club of the Mark V.

Given the temper of the times it is hard to understand how Lincoln was able to downsize so quickly for the 1980 models. The revolution in Iran brought about a sudden fuel crises in February which brought about an equally sudden decrease in car sales, but not in the sale of Lincolns, at least not at first. Things got much worse in the spring of 1979 and finally times caught up with Lincoln. By summer it was clear that the day of the big Lincoln was over. By now Lincoln inventories were so huge that production was halted on June 8. Yet, knowing the required lead times for new car designs in Detroit, Ford and its competitors had to be anticipating the trend to smaller luxury cars as early as 1977, and redesigned and re-engineered accordingly.

The downsized 1980 models were introduced in the fall of 1979, and at first sales were not much better than for the 1979 models. The Mark VI two-door chassis was down from 120.3” in 1979 to 114.4” and the overall length was down from 230.3” to 216”. A new addition to the Mark lineup was a four-door sedan on a 117.4” wheelbase, same wheelbase and essentially the same body as the Lincoln Continental which was downsized from a 233” wheelbase in 1979. The overall length of the Mark VI four-door and Lincoln Continental was 219.2”.

Lincoln four-door buyers now had a choice of the mid-sized Versailles, Lincoln Continental, Lincoln Continental Town Car option, Continental Mark VI, and Mark VI Signature Series.

With all of this downsizing one might expect that all of the full-sized 1980 Lincolns would be much smaller inside. Not so. In most models the interior dimensions were increased as a result of the new body styling. Rear seat legroom was increased and even luggage capacity was increased. The styling done either by or under Eugene Bordinat was extremely square and crisp with knife edges on the fenders. To this day the downsized styling remains controversial. Lincoln lovers tend to either love it or hate it.

1980 was the first year that the Continental Mark two-door was no longer a pillarless hardtop. The Lincoln Continental Coupe became a pillared two door sedan in 1974, but the Mark remained a true hardtop through 1979.

With all of the models, colors and options available for the Mark VI, 1980-83, it would take a small book to cover everything in detail. Therefore we will limit this article primarily to the Mark VI Designer Series and the changes in this series for each of the four years. The Designer Series seems to be the most sought after now, and we are beginning to see a few of them show up at our national meets. Our President and Executive Vice President are taking the lead.

The 1980 Mark VI offered the eight colors of the Lincoln Continental, plus Bright Red and Pastel Rattan on the two door only, Dark Maroon on the Signature Series only, and Medium Pewter Metallic, a standard Lincoln Continental color was
offered on the Cartier Series only. In addition there were nine optional colors as opposed to eight on the Lincoln Continental, the ninth color being Silver Metallic offered on the Mark VI Signature Series only. There were 14 Valino grain vinyl roof colors and 13 accent stripe colors.

Getting down specifically to the Designer Series: The Bill Blass had a white carriage roof with the look of a classic convertible complete with the Bill Blass anchor. (All of the Designer Series Models carried the designer’s signature in
one form or another. ) Body uppers were white. Body sides and body side moldings were Dark Blue with dual gold accent
stripes. Lower body sides were stainless. Lacy spoke aluminum wheels were color keyed. The leather seating surfaces were
in White with Midnight Blue accents or in all Midnight Blue. (A personalized engraved instrument panel nameplate further
defined all of the Designer Series models.) The Bill Blass was the only model in the Designer Series that lacked the oval rear window.

The Givenchy Mark VI had a light Fawn Metallic vinyl roof, body uppers and lowers, and Bittersweet Metallic body sides and body side molding. Accent stripes were Light Fawn on the Bittersweet panels and Bittersweet on the Light Fawn panels.  Wire wheel covers further defined the Givenchy Series. The seats were Bittersweet leather with no accents.

The Cartier had a Medium Pewter Metallic vinyl roof and body uppers, Light Pewter Metallic body side and body side molding and stainless steel body lowers. On the Cartier the vinyl roof was the landau type. The Cartier had single dark red accent stripes. Wheels were color keyed turbine spoke aluminum. Buyers had a choice of leather or cloth seats in a combination of Light and Dark Pewter.

The Pucci had a Light Fawn Metallic landau type vinyl top and uppers and Medium Fawn Metallic sides and lowers
and moldings. There was tri-band pinstriping. The wheels were color-keyed lacy spoke aluminum. Seats were medium champagne leather with light champagne bolsters.

The Designer Series was only available in the two-door sedan in 1980. A four-door in the Designer Series did not appear until 1982.

The standard engine for 1980 was the 302 with Electronic Fuel Injection and Electronic Engine Control. The optional 351 Cleveland or Windsor engine was equipped with a Variable-Venturi carburetor which proved extremely troublesome. Both engines had automatic overdrive transmissions. The 302 developed 132 hp, which was not nearly enough, and the 351 developed 140 hp which was probably a conservative figure. All 1980 Lincolns and Marks had EEC, a new Electronic Engine Control that incorporated an onboard computer and seven sensors to monitor engine operation. The Mark VI had an Electronic Instrument Panel with Message System, optional on other models. The Message center told you miles-per-gallon, distance to empty, had a Trip log, and monitored 11 vehicle functions. In practice this early computerization was not very reliable, and one or all computer units were frequently replaced, if not within the warranty period, after a few years or maybe 70,000 miles or so. A much more reliable new feature in 1980 was the keyless entry system which was standard on the Mark VI.

For 1981, the Signature Series and Designer Series were continued. There were 21 body colors offered on the Mark VI and seven were new. There were 11 standard colors, eight optional moondust colors and two Signature Series only colors. New interior colors were Nutmeg, Light Fawn, Medium Fawn and Gold.

The Lincoln Continental and Continental Mark VI engine was now reduced to one choice, a 302 developing 130 hp at 3,400 rpm.

In the Designer Series Mark Vis, the Cartier came in a Medium Pewter Metallic with matching landau style vinyl roof and matching leather or luxury cloth seats. Accent stripes were dark red. The Givenchy had its upper body sides in black, body sides in Dark Pewter and lower body sides in stainless steel. The interior was in Pewter with leather or cloth seats. Wheels were color keyed lacy spoke aluminum. The Givenchy also had a black vinyl landau style roof. There were red and gold accent stripes on the hood, body sides and decklid. Body side moldings were black. Wheels were wire spoke aluminum. The Pucci came in a Medium Fawn Metallic with a Light Fawn interior. The Pucci had a full vinyl roof in Fawn, tri-tone accent stripes on the body sides and decklid and Fawn body side moldings. Wheels were wire spoke aluminum. The Bill Blass had Medium Blue Metallic body sides with lower body sides in Light Fawn Metallic. The carriage vinyl roof was a midnight blue cloth. There were dark blue accent stripes on the body sides, and light fawn accent stripes on the decklid contours. Body side moldings were Light Fawn. The wheels were color-keyed lacy spoke aluminum. The interior was dark blue with light fawn bolsters. Seats were leather.

In 1982 the horsepower of the fuel injected 302 was raised to 134. The newly introduced Continental also offered a V-6
engine—and a Givenchy Designer Series. The Lincoln Continental Town Car became a separate series for the first time
and now added a Cartier Designer Series. The Mark VI was continued in the standard series and Signature Series. The
1982 Mark VI Designer Series was reduced to a Bill Blass two-door and a Pucci four-door, although a Givenchy two door
appeared later in the year. The Cartier was eliminated. There were minor trim changes on all models. There were 11 standard colors, five optional moondust colors and three two-tone paint options.

The Pucci was painted with Pastel French Vanilla uppers over French Vanilla Metallic body sides. The lower body section
was all stainless. There was a Pastel French Vanilla specialty roof in Bayville textured vinyl. Accent stripes were deep Dark Brown and Gold. Wheels were turbine spoke aluminum. The interior was all French vanilla with leather seats. An excellent example of a 1982 Pucci sedan is Richard Fiolek’s car from Detroit which won a Ford Trophy at the 1999 Eastern National Meet in Ellenville, New York.

The 1982 Mark VI Bill Blass was an interesting change from previous years which were always dark blue and a lighter contrasting color. There were now three Blass color combinations. One was a White Diamond Carriage Grain roof, white uppers, rich red midsection and white lowers. The second combination was a White Diamond Grain carriage roof over a stark white body. Both of these combinations had Opal leather seats dramatized by Red straps and buttons.

The third combination was a Black Cambria carriage roof, black body uppers, red body midsection and black body lowers.
The interior was all black with either black cloth seats or black leather with contrasting Red straps and buttons.

On all models accent stripes were white and red, and wheels were either aluminum or full wire, not just wire wheel covers.

The Givenchy Mark VI had a Black upper and Medium Dark Pewter Metallic lower with a black vinyl grain coach roof. Lower body sides were stainless. There was either a Pewter cloth or leather seat trim with Givenchy seat buttons. The Givenchy further had black body side moldings, and Red and Gold dual accent stripes.

Those who attended the 1999 Eastern National Meet had the rare treat of seeing a black and red 1982 Bill Blass recently
acquired by LCOC Executive Vice President Mike Simco. Brad Luse found the car for him on a used car lot in Albany, New York. It was owned by an old couple who bought the car new and only put 84,000 miles on it. Just before selling the car they spent $1,100 on the computer electronics and replaced the Black Cambria carriage roof. The car is loaded with accessories including a CB radio located in the glove compartment. The car still drives like new and gets 23-24 mpg at
highway speed utilizing automatic overdrive.

For 1983 the Continental was offered in a Valentino and Givenchy Designer Series. (Evidently the V-6 was dropped. The horsepower of the V-8 was back down to 130. Eleven new colors were available on the base Marks plus seven new dual shade combinations. These colors were the same as the Lincoln Continental except Antique Mahogany Mist replaced Scarlet. The Givenchy Designer Series was dropped and the Pucci was now available in a two door as well as a four-door. The Pucci was painted Blue Flannel Mist and had a carriage roof in Dark Blue Cambria cloth. Opera windows were deleted. There were wide body side moldings with a dark blue vinyl insert and silver sparkle accent stripes. Lower body sides were stainless. Wheels were turbine spoke aluminum.

The interior was Academy Blue with either leather or cloth seats. The Bill Blass was either Midnight Black uppers and lowers with French Vanilla body sides or French Vanilla uppers and lowers with black body sides. If the car had Midnight
Black uppers and lowers there was a black Cambria cloth top and French Vanilla interior with leather seats. If the car had
French Vanilla uppers and lowers then the top was a French Vanilla vinyl grain and the French Vanilla interior was cloth. Body side moldings matched the predominant color and accent stripes were the reverse of the body color. Wheels were
wire-spoke aluminum.

Our front cover car is Doug Mattix’s 1983 Bill Blass Mark VI photographed in back of his home in Rowlett, Texas. Doug purchased the car about two years ago from a member in San Diego, California. The car has since received much  mechanical attention and will soon have a later model 302 engine.

Doug Mattix points up several problems with 1980-83 Lincolns and Marks. If the 302 engine was not cared for from the time it was new and if the oil was not changed regularly the oil has a serious problem of stopping up the oil screen and the oil pump and the engine loses oil pressure. Plus the timing gear and timing chain are weak spots on any of the 302 motors from this era. They have a plastic cam gear that wears and a timing chain that stretches and at 70-80,000 miles they need to be changed. If you wait for the cam gear to break then you lose timing and it bends the valves and you go through even more damage than if you replace the timing gear and chain in time.

They also had an EEC2 (engine management system) that was only used in 1982 and 1983. They had several problems with this system which they never did get worked out so they went to an EEC4 system in 1984 with a throttle body fuel injection, and then in 1986 they went to a sequential port fuel injection and a different engine management system which has proved to be virtually trouble free.

To overcome the inherent problems with the 302 in Doug’s 1983 Mark VI, he has decided to replace the original engine with a later model sequential fuel-injected roller cam engine. Instead of having hard lifters that ride on the camshaft like in a racing engine. They started putting in the roller camshaft engines in 1987. With dual exhaust these engines put out 150 hp
as opposed to a mere 130 hp in the 1983 Lincoln. By changing the chip in the computer you can probably get 175 hp out
of these later engines.

In purchasing any 1980-83 Mark VI two-door today you will probably find that the driver’s side door panel is worn. Good
used panels for this door are not easy to come by and you will probably end up respraying the door panel you do find to
match the rest of your car’s interior. Since the Town Cars with their shorter door panels are more plentiful you can buy a
cover that glues on and you can dye it to the color of the door panel. It is not a perfect fix but it is an easy and cheaper fix
than buying a whole door panel. Unfortunately, they do not make these covers for the two-door models.

We do not know why there are so many more Mark Vs than Mark Vis showing up at LCOC National Meets. Production is certainly not the reason. From 1977 through 1979 Lincoln produced 36,562 Mark Vs. For 1980 there were 20,647 two-door Mark Vis, then 18,740 for 1981, then 11,532 for 1982 and 12,743 for 1983. This is two-doors only, not four doors, and in most years four-door production was greater than two-door production. There is no production breakout for the Designer Series.

The conclusions for the limited number of the Mark Vis surviving as collector cars are rather baffling. Despite the much higher production of the Mark VI than Mark V, far more Mark Vs are in our club, and in fact, today you will probably see more Mark Vs on the road than Mark Vis. The reason for this could be the problems that Doug Mattix has pointed out with the earlier 302 engine. It was not a very powerful engine, which made for not a very popular used car. The problems with the engine resulted in engine failure at an early age and when the engine went the car was junked.

Doug Mattix believes that right now the Mark Vis are at their low point in value, and now is the time to buy one, if you are
lucky enough to find one with low miles or in otherwise premium condition.

Second straight 1-2-3-4 win again proves Lincoln King of the Road!

Originally published in the Fall 1976 issue of Continental Comments (Issue # 126)

Here are the Official Results

Fred & Lyn Hunter’s 1941 Lincoln-Zephyr Ambulance

Cover Car Story by Tim Howley

Originally published in the March-April 1999 issue of Continental Comments (Issue # 227)

Technically this vehicle, which won a 1st in the Modified Custom Class, is not a Lincoln-Zephyr, but a Custom Limousine. It is not even a conventional Lincoln ambulance in that it does not have a raised roof.

How many of us remember these vehicles from their day? Since this and other Lincoln ambulances have been featured in The Way of the Zephyr, it is fairly safe to say that few remember them racing to accident scenes before, during and shortly after World War II. This ambulance is linked to a 1937 model. There is evidence that Derham built Lincoln-Zephyr ambulance conversions up until 1938.
A 1938 Derham Zephyr ambulance was used by a hospital in Chester, Pennsylvania. They were seen on the streets of Beaumont, Texas. There was a 1937 model in England during World War II. The Henry Ford Hospital in Dearborn, Michigan had a 1941 model with a raised roof. If any of our members have recollections of any of these, or any others, reports of sightings would be appreciated. Like UFOs, Lincoln-Zephyr ambulances are elusive. But one has definitely landed in Florida. While its origin remains somewhat mysterious, much of its history has been documented.

This ambulance and a 1937 model belonged to an ambulance service in Pasadena, California, maybe not since they were new, but certainly during the World War II era. In 1948, the owner of the service supposedly retired and put the two ambulances in storage, so the story goes. The 1937 model was sold at an undetermined date, and there are only rumors that it still exists. This 1941 model was sold in 1970 when the owner died. In September, 1970 it was advertised for sale by Dale Weller of South Pasadena, who was selling it for the estate. It was then a two-tone, light blue top and darker blue bottom, was dirty and was not running. It was purchased for $350 by Sig Caswell, a well known collector in the Los Angeles area. It was at that time not considered much of a rarity because Caswell removed the engine and transmission. The engine is still in another Lincoln-Zephyr. The next owner put a 1942 Ford V-8 truck engine in the vehicle and rented it out to the movie studios. At some point during the ‘70s the ambulance was repainted to a light blue body with medium blue fenders.

In the early ‘80s it was bought by Merv Adkins, a well known collector of Lincoln-Zephyrs and dealer in parts. Adkins retrieved the original transmission from Caswell and coupled it with a 1942 Lincoln-Zephyr HV-12 engine. He then returned the vehicle to duty-this time carrying parts to Pomona and other swap meets. The vehicle showed up at the 1984 LCOC Western National Meet in San Diego along with Adkin’s customized Lincoln-Zephyr pickup truck. In the fall of 1994, Adkins sold the ambulance to Fred Hunter, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who completely restored it. The restoration was not done to the exact original. The color was changed from blue to red. The interior was done in tan leather, originally it was in black leather. However, no alterations were made to make this an old ambulance with modern running gear. Even the performance modifications are correct to the era.

According to Jim Farrell, “This particular ambulance started life as a 1941 Lincoln Custom Limousine. It was built on October 15, 1940 and was shipped to California where it was originally titled as a limousine. It came with power windows, electric wipers, a divider window and rare under seat hot water heaters. It was originally painted black and had a tan pinstripe. To convert the limousine to an ambulance, a custom-built rear section was added to the roof, but the roof was not raised as on other ambulances. The back quarter window frames from the Lincoln Custom were extended for the longer back side windows used on the ambulance. The back door was custom made. It has an ash framework and is covered with sheet metal. On the inside of the patient area, there were small compartments built into the side panels, which were fabricated from sheet aluminum. There is also a built-in vent in the roof, but other than that and the gurney, there is no other special equipment.

Fred Hunter describes the restoration thus: “The extended roof was riveted on and leaded over. The lead never cracked in all those years, so we left it on. Whoever built it cut out the rear part of the floor from the back seat to the trunk and replaced the floor with an angle iron framework, then covered it with a one inch thick oak plank floor which was further covered with linoleum. A big metal panel over the rear axle provides more room. Our biggest surprise was how the body sides were stretched. The rear fenders are the same as used on the standard Lincoln Custom, but the body was widened so that, when attached, there was about 2 1/2” to 3” overlap of the body over each fender. This alteration is hard to tell from the outside except for moving the gas filler door lower on the fender.”

The vehicle always had the two roof front mounted red lights. The rear mounted roof red light has been removed in the
restoration. Fred has added a roof mounted siren. He has also added red lenses to the accessory fog lights on the grille. The dual spotlights were probably original equipment. The original rear quarter windows had a cross and the letter “M”. Fred has installed rear quarter windows with the cross within the Lincoln-Zephyr teardrop logo. Fred returned the engine back to a 1941 HV-12 with an Edmunds dual carburetor manifold, dual Stromberg 97 carburetors and polished aluminum heads. As swift as the original V-12 was it was not swift enough for all the added weight of an ambulance. Remember in the old days, it was the first ambulance service to the scene that got the business.

If you put this ambulance alongside today’s rescue vans it looks pretty simple, and is totally devoid of today’s high tech life saving equipment. Of all our modern advances, healthcare stands in the lead. One can only speculate on how many lives
were lost in the old days because ambulances were so simply equipped. We can also ponder upon the many old time accidents and other emergencies this ambulance serviced. Could W.C. Fields, William S. Hart and Leslie Howard, all of
whom died in the ‘40s, have been carried in Fred Hunter’s ambulance. Who’s to dispute it?