1960 Lincoln Premiere Coupe

When she arrived I knew that the car had been off the road for at least 10 years... and it was sitting on a set of 225-75R14 narrow whitewall radials. No. First, IMO, radials look stupid on these cars and those are way too small, original size was 9.50-14 and I ordered a set of BFGoodrich Silvertowns from Coker.

Basically to get it somewhat roadworthy I went and redid the front brakes, brake hoses, (Master cyl and "Treadle Vac" booster were thankfully good),

The fuel tank, hoses, radiator, thermostat, belts, (It uses double V-Belts), fuel pump and filter were changed, gas tank cleaned out, radiator recored (4 times but that's another story), power steering pressure line, fuel lines, one muffler, and I know I'm forgetting a bunch of stuff.

Here's what I ended up with..

To give you an idea of the size of the thing, it's parked in front of my Lexus GS350 (GS300 in the UK) in this shot..



Also, my friend picked up a nice 59 Coupe.. we finally got them together for a pic..



I've also driven it into Manhattan a few times... it turns heads like nothing else.





The black car is its' great great great great grandchild..



Took this shot outside the local Lincoln dealer..



Current needs:

It could really use a paint job, or at least the roof.
The heater cores both leak and are bypassed.
The Air Conditioning system needs a total overhaul. Yes, it uses Evaporators and heater cores on EACH side of the car.
I have a new exhaust, havent had time to put it on
Transmission is rebuilt, engine runs OK but has blowby, seems to be caused by a leaky intake manifold...

Cruise control and speedo are inop.

It's a work in process..

Garish & amazing. So they didn't chrome the roof then.

She's going to stay largely stock, I'm debating about the stereo right now. I had been running something called a redirad in it that plays aux inputs over the original AM radio, but then the radio decided to let all its smoke out.

So I'm thinking... Do I fix the radio or do I have the internals updated to play FM, hide an amp and put real speakers in the thing?

I'm also toying with the idea of a front disc brake conversion but I'm not sure that a modern booster will clear the cruise control unit under the hood, I mean bonnet. It's going to need new front drums and used ones that are serviceable are $250 each! They are unique to 1960 Lincolns unfortunately and none have been made in probably 45 years.

It also needs new weatherstripping, that's going to be quite the job... What's reproduced is expensive and ill-fitting, I haven't found anything yet for most of it that I can make work, especially the window seals.

What else... The engine is where, long term, I'm going to have fun. 58s were available with a dealer installed tri-power setup that gave them 400hp and over 500lb-ft of torque. Even a stock '58 which had 10.5:1 compression and a 4bbl carb (59+ are 10:1) would hit 60 in under 9 seconds. I figure a tri power engine with a cam and the right ignition setup would haul some serious butt.

Oh and I think I've found Bilsteins for the thing, but surprisingly it handles VERY well for a car of its size and era, much better than a comparable Cadillac or Imperial. It can easily keep up with modern traffic on curvy roads, as long as you don't have to stop.

I've also been toying with the idea of a 4bbl intake (I have one) and a hidden EFI setup, that'd also help economy as fuel isn't cheap over here anymore. It's still cheaper than in the UK, but $3.99 a gallon and 8-9mpg in town and maybe 12mpg on the highway is painful to the wallet.

Gorgeously ugly. Love these. I missed out on (or chickened out on) one of these for £1500 a few years ago. Seriously rusty mess of a car. Shame.

thats a big car,its in super condition

It's so ugly it's beautiful!

Alastair, that was probably a good move. Parts are rare and hugely expensive for them, I would NEVER restore a basket case.

Need pistons? That's $1200.

love it i would not change how it looks in any way

Love it!

Best of luck with all the work you're doing on it.