I grabbed my favorite little local rag this morning to find one of my favorite types of car pics above the fold: the "standing in the empty engine bay" shot. The remarkable thing about this one is that it was Neil Young standing in the empty engine bay of his 1959 Lincoln Continental. He's working with UQM Technologies and H-Line Conversions to put a "bio-hydro-electric" series hybrid drivetrain in what is pretty much America's largest production car ever. The 1959 Continental Mark IV is a whopping nineteen and a half feet long, keeping it out of countless garages built in the 80s and 90s. The "Linc-Volt," as Young is calling the car, will debut in a documetary that Young is expecting to start shooting in April. The biodiesel-fired ICE from H-line will drive a 200bhp/480ft-lb UQM electric motor that will supply the power to the transmission. The conversion has already started, and H-Line has a couple of pictures of Young up on their website as the work was getting started. Young follows in the alternative-fuel footsteps of rocker Willie Nelson, who now runs his entire road crew on biodiesel.
I love it when someone puts a lot of backbreaking work into the kind of car that the collectors' market doesn't yet pay a lot of attention to—because once it's done, you know it's not going to be a ride that you've already seen a hundred times. Mechatech's project is especially impressive, since he's taken literally every nut and bolt out of his '72 Continental. Everything on this car, from the trim to the insides of the frame rails, has been stripped, blasted, refurbed, re-coated, or otherwise super-thoroughly gone over. I can't wait to get a look at the final outcome of this epic frame-off restoration. Read all about it, and don't forget to check out page 4 for some gnarly pics of the big Lincoln body on a rotisserie!
There comes a time in every man's life when he has to make a decision. You should weigh the positives, and negatives carefully because you don't want to make a hasty decision and figure out it was the wrong one after its too late.** Well, while you're thinking about your decision, maybe you should catch up on the SoundDomain news:
- We told you about Realm's '63 Lincoln Conti not to long ago; the car is just plain hot. Well, apparently MC Hammer thought so too and at CES he tested out his new CD on the Conti's system and the guys at Realm snagged some video of Hammer getting down to his album. Hammer didn't hurt 'em, but you still can't touch this. Oh yeah... I went there.
- The guys at Thought Out developed some pretty unique iPod and iPhone accessories and the Ped3 for the iPod Touch and iPhone is by far one of the best desktop solutions I've seen yet.
- Tim from HzEmall Customs is back and his most recent installment for SoundDomain gives us an in-depth look into the progress on a 1969 Camaro project car. The crew is basically customizing the entire interior, re-doing most of the electronics, suspension, etc. This is going to be one big, bad-ass old school when the wrap it up. Custom seats, VERY custom car stereo install, custom center console, custom trunk, custom suspension, big 'ol LS2/6 motor and tranny swap, air bags, and chrome 18s up front and big 'ol 20s in the rear. You don't want to miss this.
- And don't forget to check out the last two installments of the Alpine Million Dollar Imprint RLS demo car build videos. In Part 3 the guys get the exterior skeleton built for the custom body panels and the fabrication of the interior panels. In Part 4, with 1 week to go before CES, it's paint, prep, and finished product. I'm surprised Gary, Steve, and Brent had any skin left on their fingers after all the sanding this project needed!
**The CarDomain editors are not responsible for pointless, mindless, babble contained in these blog posts. And what are you doing reading this anyway?? You should be reading the SoundDomain news!!
I can honestly say that life’s treated me pretty damn good. I’ve had a run as a high school social studies teacher immediately after graduating college, I owned an automotive electronics specialty store for 15 years and since then have lived the life of an automotive journalist combining my two life’s passions, driving some of the world’s greatest cars on some of this planet’s most challenging roads. This has led me to establish Automotive Traveler, an online-only digital magazine dedicated to the proposition that every trip is an adventure.
Many times I’ve been asked what’s my favorite car and what’s my favorite road and to be honest, I’ve never compiled a top ten list. That is until today when I went back and reviewed hundreds of stories and thousands of photographs I’ve taken over the last 25 years and come up with this list.
1. PCH (CA 1) in the Dodge Challenger Concept
2. The Inca Trail in a Ferrari 599
3. A832 in NW Scotland in a European Ford Focus coupe-cabriolet
4. The Furka Pass in Switzerland in an Aston Martin DB5 and
5. Driving from Tokyo to Sapporo, in a Japanese-spec Subaru WRX
6. Hafeet Mountain Road in the UAE in a basic rental car not available in the US
7. The Nurburgring in a Ford GT
8. Highway 61 in a 1961 Lincoln Continental
9. The Normandy beaches in a WW II-era Jeep
10. Route 66 in a 1968 Chevy Camaro SS/RS
After the jump I’d love to share some impressions of each of these combinations that I’ve cataloged.
Continue reading "Top 10 Driving Roads" »
Stop me if you've heard this one: A priest, a rabbi, and donkey walk into a bar.... Oh.. You've heard that one? Ok. How about this one:
- Realm's '63 Conti is one of the cleanest old school resto-demo projects I've come across in a long time. The car is just straight up sexy.
- Got some fiberglassin' skillz? Want a chance to win part of a $3500 prize pack? BassForms is holding the a box-building compeition to see who can build the loudest, hottest-looking fiberglass box. The winner will be chosen at Spring Break Nationals in Daytona Beach. Peep the deets over at SoundDomain: Does your box rock?
- Scosche loaded up our video section with a ton of great informational and How-To videos. This week's feature: Aux-In installation in a Chevy Silverado. Check it out - it's a lot easier than you think!
- Image Dynamics released the details on their new horn-loaded compression drivers. They're available in both full size and mini, but both come with full-size sound.
- Car alarms are pretty common nowadays, and unfortunately so is the sound the siren makes. Although the DonkeyLabs video is purely a spoof, they're on the right track, and this alarm certainly would get plenty attention when it's tripped!
It's no secret that sixties Lincoln Continentals are a favorite of this blog. After all, what's not to love? They came with suicide doors, an interior which can comfortably accommodate, like, 30 people, and absolutely timeless body lines. But while bone-stock is great, few would argue with the results Realm Audio achieved when they put this beauty under the knife! The integration of the amps and subs into the trunk is a masterpiece in its own right, and the dash and door panels look almost factory. Get full details on the build and check out a grip of great pics over on SoundDomain.
By Dan
Hemmings Motor News
I met Barry Wolk a few years ago at the Glenmoor Gathering and immediately knew he was my type of car guy--he appreciates collector cars of all types, but his garages are full of vehicles that are just a little out of the ordinary. And he has a thing for Continentals: witness his 1955 Porsche Continental, his 1956 Continental Mark II convertible and his latest project, a six-door 1968 Lincoln Continental limousine. Limousines make for difficult restoration projects due to their coachbuilt nature and extremely limited parts supply. But Barry has been more concerned with the serious rust issues and a previous restoration that relied heavily on body filler and rock-hard primer. He’s getting into some major sheetmetal work now, and I’m looking forward to seeing this one finished.
When I saw this murdered out '68 Lincoln Continental in Vegas, I was completely blown away. And since it won the luxury category in our Best of SEMA vote, it's pretty clear you guys were to. I didn't have any details about the car when I wrote the initial post—or even when we started voting—but I stumbled across an article about this sinister machine on PASMAG this morning, and I'm even more impressed. Built by Mobsteel of Brighton, Michigan, "the Heavy Hitter" weights 6000 pounds, packs a whopping 600 horsepower, and is loaded with a laundry list of electronic goodies. Head over to PASMAG for all the details!
A 66 year old man apparently got frustrated trying to remove a lug nut on the wheel of his Lincoln Continental, so he got out his shotgun and blasted it with double-ought buckshot. The man's legs were "peppered from his feet to his mid-abdomen with pellets, pieces of the wheel and other debris." He was rushed to the Tacoma General Hospital, where his injuries were listed as "severe but not life-threatening." It is unclear whether or not the stubborn lug nut was removed. More details at the Kitsap Sun.
Completely stock, the '68 Lincoln Continental looks really sick, and it even came with rear suicide doors. But I think the mods that have been done to this one are simply fantastic. This thing is so black, it looks like it's been polished with oil. The tint was way, way, too dark for me to get any decent shots of the interior, but I did manage to get a nice shot of the vanity plate. I wouldn't even want to breathe on this thing wrong...
There's a lot of things that're cool about this ambulance, and one of them is that the injured party has to jostle for space in the rear with a couple of nitrous tanks and a monstrous dual-carbed, mid-mounted engine. This would be the hot ticket if you had to get to the hospital in a hurry.
This dude Marco in the Netherlands has a pretty sweet 67 Continental. Actually, I like his girlfriend's 70 Continental with the cool brown flames even more, but the photo below killed me. What's that in the tray on his hood? Oliebollen?
In an effort to turn the brand around, Lincoln has released several all-new vehicles over the past couple of years. The revival of Ford's luxury branded started in 2005 with the Lincoln Zephyr. Based on the Ford Fusion/Mercury Milan, the Zephyr replaced the LS as the mid-sized entry-level Lincoln and was intended to compete with luxury marques from around the world. In 2006, the Zephyr was renamed the MKZ and was joining by the MKX, a new crossover built on the Ford Edge platform, helping further Lincoln's goal of once again becoming a player in the luxury-vehicle market. In fact, August sales of the MKX were up 82% over the same month a year ago, helping Lincoln to its 11th straight month of sales growth. And it doesn't appears as though Lincoln has any plans to slow its growth as spy photographers have spotted the upcoming MKS.
The MKS' styling is based on the 2006 MKS concept and the 2007 MKR concept, both of which were shown at the Detroit Auto Show. Compared to the concepts, the production-ready car appears to have slightly taller and narrower taillights. The headlights end at a less sharp point than on the concepts, but remain true to the design language set out by the show cars. The MKS wouldn't have any problem fitting in on the streets of Gotham City either as the spy shots were taken on the set of the new Batman movie.
The new MKS is underpinned by Ford's Volvo-derived D3 architecture--also shared with the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable--slotting the MKS in a class above the smaller MKZ. The use of this platform also means that the MKS will be available in either front or all-wheel drive configurations. Power for the MKS is expected to come from Ford's TwinForce turbocharged V6 rather than a more conventional-for-the-class V8. The V6 won't be lacking in power though, output has been reported to be as high as 400 horsepower and 415 lb-ft of torque. The MKS is expected to make its official debut at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show. More photos at Left Lane News.
