Did a commercial over the last few days. Now normally, a commercial shoot can be tough, but not like this. Most of the time, things go great if you have a professional production company. Let’s see, where do I begin?

I can’t mention the client right now, but we shot in Van Nuys and Glendale in over 100 degree heat with a 1st AD (Assistant Director) that seemed to get his jollies out of yelling at people. ‘Scuze me, did I say yelling? I meant to say “Lecturing,” then yelling.

Continue reading after the jump!

When you do a commercial, there are key things that are essential. Like, if something goes wrong, there has to be a Medic on set. By law. UNLESS, the production is too cheap to pay for one and not tell anyone. Mistake #1.

Then, in the heat (and wonderful air from all the fires we’re having) using the yelling tactic to get people to do what you need them to do only makes them do it worse forming the stress, and…. Mistake #2.

Then, people started to get hurt.

Grip Dood #1 slices his head open in a grip truck on a piece of steel. Ouch. Off to the hospital. Grip Dood #2 breaks his wrist doing grip stuff. Ouch. Off to the hospital again. Stunt Actor gets stung in the mouth by a bee in his 7up. Lip swells to gargantuan proportions. Out for the count. Am I done? Oh, no… not even close.

Actor #2, playing a scene on the tennis court gets nailed by a tennis ball,.. close to his OWN balls. Gets pissed, walks off the set. “Why is the Director beaning me with balls?” …was his only comment. That was after he threw a key prop up into a tree to retrieve a frisbee, only to have that key prop get stuck 20 feet up. THEN, he gets bitten by a red ant on the hand. You startin’ to see a pattern?

Am I done? No. Not just yet. Lead Actor #1 is setting up a scene as a food stylist walks up to heat a piece of food on a table set with a steamer. A steamer shoots out scalding hot steam to instantly heat food. Sometimes water. And in this case, a lot of water. And,… as she trips towards the table….

Water shoots out of the tip and lands on the arm of Lead Actor #1!! Giving him 2nd degree burns! Off to the hospital. And what did I do as all this was happening over 2 days? And what does this have to do with cars?

Nice Lincoln, eh? Sweet.

Now that Cash For Clunkers is officially signed into law, and a solid billion of our taxpayers’ dollars is earmarked for crushing out our recent automotive heritage, rides of the 1985-and-up vintage are more of an endangered species than ever. I’ve seen weirder cars than this Town Car limo end up junked, so don’t think that its uniqueness will save it. I’m sure the small-town limo service that currently owns the car will figure out how to turn it into a cube of steel and a new-car voucher if it doesn’t meet its reserve price. Check out the auction at eBay.

Welcome to the CarDomain Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot, a regular feature which aims to expand the notion of what a muscle car is, and to have some civilized discussion while doing so. After years of square-lined formality, Lincoln’s premium coupe took a dramatic new direction with the 1984 Mark VII. Though it shared a platform with the bustleback Continental, this swoopy semi-fastback was derived from the new-for-’83 Ford Thunderbird/Mercury Cougar. The result was smooth, distinctive, and more visually aerodynamic than any previous Mark. It also marked the return of the fabled “Hot Rod Lincoln” in the form of the LSC. Can this be classified as a muscle car? Reintroducing the Lincoln Mark VII LSC.

Continue reading after the jump!

The Mark VII held a lengthy standard equipment list, including an onboard trip computer / message center and digital instruments. Mark VII’s also came with full air suspension at all four wheels. It was the first American vehicle with electronic 4-channel anti-lock brakes (6 months before the Corvette). Mark VII also had the distinction of being the first American vehicle with composite headlights. A humped trunklid, modest taillamps in the rear fender trailing edges, and a toned-down Mark grille were stylistic links with the past, but the car was clearly aimed at a very different clientele: younger, affluent buyers who’d been defecting to high-dollar, high-status imports, a group Lincoln had never courted before. It was also a bold challenge to Cadillac’s Eldorado, which was still relatively overblown.

The Mark VII was an instant critical success, especially the performance-oriented LSC (Luxury Sport Coupe) — the fabled “Hot Rod Lincoln” come to life. Enthusiast magazines even thought it a credible rival to the vaunted BMW 6-Series and Mercedes-Benz SEC. No wonder. Where the base and Designer models had a soft ride and traditional appointments, the LSC boasted a firmer suspension with fat performance tires on handsome cast-aluminum wheels, plus multiadjustable sport bucket seats and Lincoln’s best cloth or leather upholstery. For 1985 it adopted the Mustang GT’s high-output V-8 with 165 bhp (versus 140 for other models). The ‘86 got an even hotter port-injected engine with 200 bhp (versus 150 bhp on other Marks), plus standard ABS four-wheel disc brakes and a nice set of analog gauges (replacing the digital/graphic electronic display retained for its linemates). Engine refinements extracted another 25 bhp for 1988-90.

With all this, the LSC was the most overtly sporting Lincoln since the very first Continental and the most roadable Lincoln since the “Mexican Road Race” days. It was also one terrific buy at initial prices of $23,700 — about half the cost of erstwhile German competitors. Lincoln-Mercury planners thought lesser VIIs would outsell it, but buyers confounded them by ordering more LSCs — enough that by 1988, the original four models had been cut to just LSC and the Bill Blass Designer Edition. Overall Mark VII sales were good: 30,000-plus in the first season 15,000-38,000 thereafter. Prices inevitably escalated, reaching the $27,000 level by decade’s end, but standard equipment also kept growing even as trim variations thinned. The 1990s boasted an important new safety feature in a standard driver-side airbag, which also brought a reworked, slightly more ergonomic dash.

Performance for the LSC was pretty good for the 80’s. The 1988 version recorded a 0-60 time of just under 8.0 seconds, with a quarter mile elapsed time of 16.10 Seconds, and a little over 101 mph. Top speed for this Luxury Hot Rod? Electronically limited to 120 MPH. Remember, this was with the 225 HP 5.0L V-8 that was used in the Mustang, and the LSC weighed close to 3,800 Lbs.

CarDomain Members Rides

There are over 350 Lincoln Mark VII Models within the CarDomain Community, many of them are the LSC Version, and they can all be looked at here. However, I will try and post a couple of the outstanding ones here.

Here’s Chucks beautiful White 1990 LSC from somewhere in Michigan. The 5 Spoke rims are tasteful enough, and not over the top, and the color shows off the lines of this ride beautifully. Take a look, and leave a comment.

Here’s Matt’s beautiful Silver Mark VII from Buffalo, NY. It sports what is an easy swap; Stock Mustang Rims, and they look really good. Check out his ride.

Here’s a rare one, a MK VII Turbo Diesel. It belongs to John Dancy from Primo, PA. Looks like he has a selection of other Marks as well, but this one sports A BMW Turbo Diesel Six, and that makes it a rare machine (published reports state less than 500!). Take a look at his other cars while you take a look at this rare Mark!

So there you have it, a Lincoln from the 80’s, with performance intentions, cool looking, Rear Wheel Drive, and a very lively V-8 up front. Is this enough to be called a Muscle Car, and is it Obscure Enough to be parked on the lot, or is it just another 80’s curiosity that should be forgotten. Let me know, as I look forward to each and every comment.

This weeks Showroom Showdown ended up being a bit closer than I thought it would be, but the Genesis still won, with 57% of the vote. Looks like RWD and horsepower carries the day on CarDomain. Anyway, stay tuned for another match up next week, and keep those Showdown suggestions coming!

This week’s Showroom Showdown pits a RWD V8 import vs. a FWD V6 domestic! Thanks to Michael for suggesting this match up! The Hyundai weighs 4,006 pounds and has a healthy 368 hp on tap. The Lincoln weighs 4,127 pounds and has just 270 hp. Both cars start just south of $40k. So, which would you choose?

Here’s our tenth and last DUB contest finalist, a Lincoln LS from La Puente, California. Nice work, Chuy! The voting starts tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Check out this picture of a gorgeous trio of Fords that my friend David sent me. The interesting thing is that the reason they are so shiny is not because of their paint, they actually don’t have paint. It’s because they are made from stainless steel. It all began in 1936 when the Allegheny Ludlum Steel Company got together with Ford. They produced a Deluxe Sedan made from stainless steel as a marketing tool for the new metal. It was a success and Ford and Allegheny went on to produce other models such as a 1960 T Bird and a 1967 Lincoln Continental. In total 11 stainless steel cars were built. Get the full story here. Thanks for the tip David.

This morning Katherine and I had the opportunity to sit down and talk to J Mays, Group Vice President of Global Design and Chief Creative Officer at Ford. This is the guy who is largely responsible for the 2005 and 2010 Mustang, the New Beetle, etc., etc. It’s not every day that you get to talk to an automotive rock star. But Katherine and I got the opportunity and we weren’t going to waste it!

First of all, to follow up our most recent Showroom Showdown, I asked him what he liked better, the new Camaro or the new Challenger. He didn’t hesitate: he immediately said Challenger. He said that the Camaro is ”too much of  a caricature” and seems like a “stunt” that somehow made it to production. He said the Challenger is a much more balanced car, although he took the opportunity to say that both cars are too big. Which lead us to the Mustang. Continue reading…

I asked him about the 2010 Mustang tail lights, which are probably the least popular aspect of the 2010 Mustang. He asked if we knew that they were sequential, and LED. My buddy Dale had mentioned this to me before after seeing some mules running around Detroit, but I’d never confirmed it or looked into it. Anyway, Mays said to go check them out in action and then get back to him. Obviously, it’s a bit early to talk about the next Mustang, but Mays said that for the next generation pony they would “reboot” the design language.

We then asked him about the whole wagon vs. hatch dispute. He said it’s a question of rear overhang. If the vehicle has a lot of overhang in back, it’s a wagon. So basically I was right and Katherine was wrong.

So then to follow up on some of your feedback, I asked him about the Ranger. Mays said that Ford has not abandoned the Ranger, that they are in fact working on a new one, and that Ranger fans “will not be disappointed.” Bronco fans will be disappointed, though, cause according to Mays the Bronco isn’t gonna happen any time soon. Sorry guys.

We talked about the new F150 a bit. He called the new one less Tonka-like than the previous generation. However, the new F-250 will be very truck-like.

Then there’s the new Taurus. I was suprised that during Ford’s big press conference yesterday, they kept using the word “sport” in conjunction with the Taurus. J Mays said that the new Taurus is “more hedonistic” and that it’s “for drivers.” So I asked him when they’re gonna come out with a manual tranny and he said to “stay tuned.”

We also chatted a bit about the new Fiesta and Euro Focus. And he hinted broadly that something big would be revealed in Chicago (perhaps harking back to the Ranger part of our conversation). Then we got some shots with him and Freeman Thomas and David Woodhouse in front of the cool new Lincoln C Concept. Anyway, it was a real blast talking to Mays—the highlight of the show for me so far.

We’re going to mark this one under styling gaffe. The big news for Lincoln in 1957, as seen by these photos and the press release, was the introduction of a quad-headlight front end. The move to four lights was interesting on a couple of levels, the first of which was the fact that four headlights were illegal in most states, hence the mention in the release that the lights can be used according to state law. The reasons for this are unknown to us at this time; despite our research we can’t really find a definitive answer as to why quad headlights were considered dangerous. There was probably some arcane political reason behind it. Continue reading at Freiburger’s Junkyard

We saw a ton of cool cars when we dropped by Northwest Auto Salon last week. One of them was Blake’s new ‘69 Lincoln, which he was in the middle of wet sanding. Check out his new 22″ wheels after the jump. And stay tuned for a lot more pics from our visit.