Oh Lordy, I now own a Fordy (a Lincoln actually)..

[njsteve]

My dad called last week and gave me the ultimatum to come and get his dad's old Lincoln or he was going to give it away to charity. None of the other siblings or cousins wanted it, even though I asked them repeatedly over the years. So I figured since I already have my grandmother's 1975 Firebird, I should at least reunite them so they can be together once again.

: https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbt...opics/486411/1

It is a 1971 Lincoln Continental Town Car Golden Anniversary Edition. They made 1040 of them painted in Golden Anniversary Moondust Metallic, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Lincoln Motor Car.

http://automotivemileposts.com/linco...niversary.html

The car is kind of special for a number of reasons. The least of which was that I remember sliding across the back seat with my siblings when he’d drive us around back in the 1970s. The thing was like a luxury liner. It had the neatest speedometer I ever saw – it was like a tube of liquid that would roll from left to right to show you the speed.

The Lincoln was my grandfather's "gold watch" when he retired. His name was Simon and he started out working as an accountant in the 1920s with a company that became Paramount Pictures. When the TV was invented and Paramount wanted to get into television broadcasting, the Federal Government, due to anti-trust laws, forbade a movie company from owning a TV company as well. So Paramount created a separate company called the American Broadcasting Company (ABC Television) and Simon split off to work for ABC.

Over the next 55 years he worked his way up to the executive level, attaining the position of Vice President in 1960. He never wanted to be the president of ABC, as that was a position held by one of his friends and Simon preferred being the guy who ran everything behind the scenes instead of the guy on the podium. He hired and fired many a famous person at ABC (for example Simon was the man who hired Howard Cosell originally). Over the years I have met several people who commented that he was the most formidable businessman they had ever met and that they knew his name well because his signature was on every paycheck they ever received.

As part of his position he met and negotiated with many a bigwig. We have photos of him with every U.S President between Truman and Nixon. He was at every Olympics that ABC covered from 1960 to 1976. He was the ranking ABC person in charge during the Munich games in 1972 when the terrorists attacked the Israeli Olympic Team. He traveled to many foreign countries and met many of the world’s leaders. Though we only got some background “off the record” stories from associates of his after his passing, I do know that he had some connections with some of the “agencies” that kept us safe during the height of the cold war. Most of them revolving around how he was able to place “their people” in locations that normal people would not normally be able to penetrate into.

The Lincoln was ordered for him in 1971 as his business car and was given to him when he retired the VP position in 1972. He went on to join the Board of Directors until 1984. He passed in 1991 and the Lincoln went to my dad. I borrowed it from my dad in 1992, had it painted and gave it back to him. It has traveled only 200 miles since the paint job 21 years ago. Most of the trips were down to the local Lincoln Mercury dealer for issues resulting from not driving the car enough. The final straw was when the service manager at the dealership asked if my dad would like to have the car junked as it wasn’t really worth them working on any more. I had a few choice words for that guy when I called him back.

In any case, here she is:

These are a couple interior shots of the mildew that accumulated from 21 years of sitting in a garage in the dark:





After mixing up a bucket of hot water, bleach and dishwashing detergent I was able to get rid of all the mildew. It now looks like this:

[njsteve]

[njsteve]

The car has 85,000 miles and EVERY piece of paperwork imaginable.

Here's the kitchen table full of invoices, broadcast sheets, warranty ID cards, even three pairs of my grandfather's prescription sunglasses, running the fashion gambit from the 1950's RayBans to the 1970's Elvis glasses.



The original bill of sale:




And here is a neat archival piece - the big bosses at ABC noting their negotiations with Ford to get Simon a 21% executive discount on the car. Interesting factoid: L Martin Pompadur is a mega-millionaire, media mogul now.

[njsteve]

Each of the 50th Anniversary cars was built to order. Here is the 24 carat, gold plated plaque and the personalized one next to it with Simon's name:





Simon was the consummate tinkerer. Even though he wasn't a mechanic, he gathered a ton of materials to really help me with the car, two generations later:



Here's close up of the trunk lid with the "OK Paint" stamp still in place:

[Xplantdad]

That's cool as heck Steve!!

[njsteve]

And the engine. It's the 460/365 horsepower, premium fuel 10.5 to 1 compression, 500 Ft/lb torquemonster.

And yes I finally own something that is supposed to have a Ford "CAUTION FAN" sticker on it.







Oh, and for you detectives out there. Notice anything strange about the A/C system???

[njsteve]

Here's some archive photos of Simon:

With Nixon in 1971. (Simon is the one with the suit that fits. He was always an impeccable dresser.)




With Jack Kennedy and a very pregnant Jackie Kennedy before the 1960 Nixon/Kennedy Debates that ABC sponsored.



Here's a cool behind the scene's shot of a nervous looking Nixon on the teleprompter while a very relaxed Kennedy responds to a question:




In Israel in 1971 drinking martinis with Golda Meir, and Yitzak Rabin

[njsteve]

I have spent the past week, changing the 15 year old oil, replacing the Champion plugs with Autolites and replacing the right hand exhaust manifold gasket which had blown out years ago and the dealer didn't want to fix...Amazingly, every single exhaust manifold bolt came out easily - none broke off.

The funny thing about this car is the reaction you get from people. I am used to driving musclecars and getting the "thumbs up" from the forty-something and younger crowds who see me drive by.

I have had this yacht for less than a week and everywhere I go it is the 60, 70, and 80-somethings that are waving at me. It's hysterical! My mechanic buddy is threatening to find me a "Huggy Bear" outfit to wear while driving it.

[Postsedan]

The size of that Lincoln, does it even fit into your garage?

Great story and pics [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

Dan

[njsteve]

I had to relocate my daughter's car to my wife's car's spot and leave the wife's car outside (it's the oldest one of the daily drivers). The Linco-saurus is 19 feet long and 5200 lbs. It barely fit in to my 24 foot trailer - with a 1/2&quot; to spare on either side.