Smokestone10

Pretty far from a rat rod.... but now I have an idea for the leftover touring car body.

The '28 is a done deal- I did it as a tattered old used car that was converted into a pickup in the late '40's, then used for a decade or so and tucked away in the barn. Apperently quite a few real luxury cars had more or less the same fate during WW2. So there it is... a Mark LT 80 years before the real one. 1928 Lincoln Pickup Conversion by Chuck Most, on Flickr ?

Both are new, the MKZ is a little more "loaded" than the Connie- thus why the MSRP'S are so close. I have no real interest in buying either, the 2010 is just fine for me for the time being. That and I have to be blunt... I'm really not fond of the dashboards in either car. I can't even pick a favorite between the two. It looks like it was designed by the same people who did the Romulan ship sets for Star Trek. ? Since the dashboard is the thing I'll spend the most time looking at in the car, an ugly dash design is a deal-breaker for me. Not that I'd even call it ugly... maybe more like weird? Maybe by the time these cars are as old as my MKZ is now I'll have learned to like the interior style a bit more. Or maybe the next-gen Connie and/or the MKZ replacement's dashes will be so hideous that the current one will look downright sedate. And there's the fact that even the worst Lincoln is still better looking on the outside than anything in Cadillac's lineup. If I had to pick between just those two cars at the local dealer, I think I'd go with the MKZ. I kind of like the Connie's rear styling better, but I'm really not feeling that color the Connie at Navarre is painted. That and the whole "five grand cheaper" part. ? But that's between what's "in stock" at the local dealer. In 2026 or so, maybe I'll seek out a well-maintained 2018 Continental Black Label. Those are, what, about 70 grand brand new now?

So far, so good. ? I'm told that "if you don't look back over your shoulder when you're walking away, you bought the wrong car". I find myself looking back over my shoulder quite a bit. Often when I catch a glimpse of it out of my window or when I'm walking toward it in the parking lot leaving work, I still have a hard time believing that's my car. Almost two months in and the "new" hasn't worn off- for me that's a pretty good record.

The local dealer does have a pretty nice, blue AWD MKZ on the lot right now... ... or for a mere five grand more do I go with the Connie...

That's what happened when I had a short in my left rear turn signal. Replaced the bulb and had it checked out, and still nothing. The dealer reset the FET and the signal functioned perfectly after that. I've heard that sometimes a bulb simply burning out will also trip the FET. So... any time you replace a bulb and the replacement bulb also does not work, check the FET and reset if necessary. It may not be a bad idea to have that checked before you change the bulb to make sure that it is in fact the bulb and not some other problem. Any Lincoln or Ford dealer should be able to do this, and it only takes a couple of minutes.

You're a smarter man than I. I've owned six over the years, though half of those were strictly projects.

Sounds fun, but in my experience I've found never trust a Chrysler any further than you care to push it.

My 2010 is way past warranty but the service manager sees to it that it's washed every time it's serviced. I've never seen a dirty Lincoln roll out of the local dealer's service bays, including some rather rough looking Town Cars. ?

That one was just sprayed with a rattle can, then polished out once the paint and clear had cured. It's Testors Mystic Emerald from their One Coat line- which is one of the few things Testors makes that isn't garbage.

Forgot about this one. It's based on the same '65 kit, just an earlier issue. Going off the idea that the Continental and T-Bird were related, and the fact that AMT makes a nice '62 T-Bird, I spliced the two to create a "what if" Continental Sports Roadster. The one I just bought might end up a little closer to stock than the two you've seen. 1965 Lincoln Continental Sport Roadster by Chuck Most, on Flickr

Forgot to update THAT post... when the bulb went out, some computer board tucked into a deep, dark corner of the car cut the power to that socket. The dealer just had to go in and reset something and all is well. ?

I can't really blame you there, though to my credit I chose the more sedate version of the two wood grain patterns provided. ?

Because it comes with an optional custom wagon roof. The top of the box shows the two custom variants, the stock Continental convertible is shown on the side. It was fairly common for AMT box art of the era to highlight the custom version over the stock version. When the reissue came out I tried one as a wagon but kept the stock front and rear bumpers. I call it a "Continental Navigator" a concept car Lincoln might have tried to entice younger, upwardly-mobile family men back in '65. ? 1965 Lincoln Continental Navigator by Chuck Most, on Flickr

Went out for a trip in the MKZ and ended up haunting a hobby shop in the area, one with a pretty good selection of new and out-of-production model kits. Since Lincolns in model kit form have never really been abundant, I thought it was time to stock up and nabbed this trio. The recently-reissued AMT '65 Continental convertible, an '80's reissue of the (ex MPC) AMT/Ertl '28 Lincoln Sport Touring, and a 1979 issue of the MPC '27 Lincoln Locke roadster. Some of you who were around in the '60's might remember the '65 as an "annual" kit from AMT, while the '27 and '28 were part of MPC's "Gangbusters" line of kits from the early '60's. In the mid '80's AMT/Ertl took over MPC so some of the old MPC kits were re-released later on as AMT/Ertl kits, like the Sport Touring version I have. Being an annual (promo-based) kit, the '65 is somewhat simplified and crude in spots, but the '27 and '28 kits (which obviously share many components) are extremely well detailed, even by today's standards. Eventually I'll get around to building them. ?

Wouldn't be the first time that happened. The 460 cubic inch version of the 385 Lima big block was Lincoln-only in the beginning. Within a few years, you could get it in pretty much anything. And by the end it was a light-truck-only engine. I'm guessing there are other examples but that's the one I can think of off the top of my head.

You may be right, but I'm also thinking you might be onto something in saying that the Interceptor engine is based on the MKZ design. And you're definitely right about police engines being offered as options. Maybe it's Ford trying to squeeze a bit more out of the engine seeing as how there may be no MKZ in a few years. "Why go to the trouble of pumping up a 3.0 especially for the Interceptor when we can use the one we did for the MKZ with a few tweaks?" I also like the idea of a sedan based on the RWD Explorer platform, but I honestly think Lincoln is crazy for not using the Mustang platform for at least one model. They could have a convertible in the lineup again, as well as a coupe, and what the hell... do a four-door variant too if you want. That would probably be the volume leader anyway and it would give them something to go up against the RWD Cadillacs and the entry level German luxury sport sedans. But the Explorer platform might work just as well, and offer the availability of AWD as an option, to boot. All we know for sure is that the Connie will get back it's signature suicide rear doors sometime early in the next decade... unless plans change again. For a marque that claims to be "committed to sedans"in the future, if you look at the current lopsided lineup, I can't really buy it when they don't seem committed to sedans at the present time.

It's still exclusive, just not exclusive only to Lincoln. If it will only be used in the Interceptor it's no big deal... you can't just go in as a civilian and buy a police-spec Explorer. On the upswing it'll mean cheap junkyard replacement parts when the Interceptors start getting cracked up. Or, maybe it'll mean they'll bump the power for the Lincoln-spec 3.0 at some point. I'm still worried about the future of Lincoln passenger cars, even though Lincoln's management has said they're "committed to sedans" despite Ford's choice to largely abandon the market.

Please don't tempt me. ?

I just wanted to say thanks to the MKZ Forum and it's members. I think I've used the search feature here to find things out about my car more often than the owner's manual, not to mention I've found out quite a bit of "real world" things to know and look out for from others. Maybe the joint isn't exactly jumping, but this seems like a pretty relaxed group of helpful people who love the little Lincoln. I'm hoping we're still all here in about eight years when a decent, relatively-low-mile 2018 Black Label has (hopefully) depreciated enough to be within my financial reach. ?

They are not- the radio doesn't look like mine either (I think two head units were available in the 2010s- the one with the in-dash changer and the one without... I'd have to double check to make sure). It was linked under 2013 so I'm thinking the site has a mix up. I bookmarked it earlier after a buddy had a compass freeze on his Explorer, that time everything matched up.

I meant the plug- it's as close as I can get to a "regular cap" for my application. But it would cost me money and like I said... I've gotten used to not having to deal with a fuel cap. I"m not worried about fuel theft or anything, just seems so weird that my junky old Subaru had a locking fuel door but my fancy little Lincoln does not. ?

That is so odd. I have the capless filler, you'd think a locking fuel door would be a logical thing to have when you don't have a traditional screw-on cap. I've thought about getting a regular cap for mine but I've gotten so used to the capless one I don't want to go back to worrying about leaving it on the trunklid and driving off. ?