My '62 project

[JonW]

Thanks! I hope to finally bring it home this week.

[JonW]

We've had numerous setbacks and various issues, but hopefully it's wrapped up and I can pick it up this weekend. As soon as I get it cleaned up, I'll post some photos. In the meantime, here's a teaser shot. This was taken in the garage with bad lighting and lots of reflections. The paint really is stunning.

[JonW]

To recap, we started with a very solid car, no rust, but a substantial hit to the right quarter. The repair was done well and we really didn't see the extent of it until we got the car stripped. Basically, we kept the body shell and started building from there. This particular build has never been done before, and the obstacles were many. But I had a great builder, and he was able to overcome everything that got thrown in his way. He's received numerous phone calls on "how did you do that?", so we know that this is the first classic Lincoln to have a late-model HEMI installed. It's also the first late-model HEMI installed in a non-late-model Mopar to have aftermarket cruise control. The list below is the Cliff's Notes version of what we did, but it can't begin to show the obstacles we ran into (and there were many), the fabrication skills involved, and the toil of almost 2000 man-hours of labor. As you'll see when I post pictures, the result is a stunning car that should be able to be driven any distance in comfort and complete reliability, with lots of power and much improved fuel economy.

BODY SHELL
All trim removed
Body damage repaired
Painted original color of Silver Mink
Bumpers and other chrome pieces rechromed and all trim polished
Underside finished in bed liner for quietness and protection
Interior lined in Lizard Skin for sound deadening

DRIVETRAIN
6.4L HEMI crate motor, 470 HP 470 torque
GM 4L60E 4-speed automatic transmission
9" Currie rear with True-Track and 3.50 gears
Custom articulated driveshaft
Custom stainless steel headers
Custom stainless steel radiator

SUSPENSION
Factory 4-wheel disc brakes
1" lowering springs
Gas shocks
Centerline 20" wheels, polished and powder coated clear

INTERIOR
Vintage A/C using OEM controls and outlets
OEM gauges rebuilt using modern internals, clock converted to tach, GPS speedometer
Hidden Kicker 40PXIB7502 stereo system with Bluetooth
Bench seat converted to 60/40, electric power tracks on both sides
Vacuum door locks converted to electric
Aircraft style seat belts
Cruise control
Black leather interior with contrasting stitching

LIGHTING
LED headlamps
LED Genesis taillamps and turn signals

The wheels give the exterior away, but we took great pains to keep the overall stock look of the car. Obviously, when you open the hood, you can see right away that the engine is not stock, but the installation, the routing of the lines and hoses, the fabrication of the radiator overflow tank, all that is so clean, it looks like a factory installation. The interior is even more deceiving. Great pains were taken when the seat was converted to 60/40 to replicate the OEM seat trim on the newly split seat. The seat tracks are no longer cable, but electric, and use OEM bezels for the switches. The dash looks completely stock, but conceals modern a/c and heating sytems, modern stereo, and modern gauges. Rather than hang a tach somewhere or change the look of the OEM gauges to incorporate a tach, we converted the clock to a tach. We kept the OEM steering wheel and column shifter. The trunk is fully carpeted, but under the spare tire carpet is a 4" drag wheel, which provides a little more trunk space. LOTS of engineering went into this car, more than most people will ever realize.

Pics to come soon.

[JonW]

Here's some quick pics I took today. My camera is having a hard time with the Silver Mink color. It keeps wanting to turn it too blue.

[defrang]

Stunning.

[suburban_gorilla]

That is just fantastic. Congratulations!

[bigltc]

Great work! Enjoy!!!

[HuggyBear619]

simply beautiful!!! congrats

[cliffdavis]

What a beautiful machine! Maybe our cars can meet in person next year if you Cruise the Coast.

[JonW]

What a beautiful machine! Maybe our cars can meet in person next year if you Cruise the Coast.

Possibly. I was scheduled to go to CTC this year, but the car didn't get done in time. A lot depends on when the New England meet will be next year.

[harleykids]

Great car! Sits a bit too high for my taste but nice to see a resto mod version of a '62!
Those centerline smoothies would look even better tucked up into the fender wells a bit!

[JonW]

Great car! Sits a bit too high for my taste but nice to see a resto mod version of a '62!
Those centerline smoothies would look even better tucked up into the fender wells a bit!

I agree, but my one experience with bags was not a good one. We did lower it 1" with custom springs.

[JonW]

Here's a couple of pix that turned out a lot better.

[Newchapters]

SO nice! Good work

[JonW]

Even though the car has factory disc brakes, the lack of vacuum from the Hemi and the mass of the wheels and tires made them seem like manual drums. Not a good thing. So we added a vacuum tank and electric vacuum pump along with a brake upgrade. The rears were already upgraded thanks to the discs that were used with the Currie rear end, so we added 13" drilled and slotted discs to the front with twin 52mm pistons. It stops considerably better now.