Fast and furious be damned. Cool and slow is the way to go.
Restoration progress report:
Page 01. Buying the car
Page 02. The engine is toast...
Page 03. Pulling the engine & painting the engine bay
Page 04. At the engine shop & installing the rebuilt engine
Page 05. Re-arcing & strengthening the rear leaf springs & front end work
Page 06. Cleaning the interiour
Page 07. Installing the LPG system
Page 08. Acid-dipping & respraying the trunk lid Updated October 2008
Page 09. Replacement windshield
Page 10. The view from below
Page 11. The documentation library
Page 12. Charging system woes - the 64 & 65 ammeter/amp gauge is evil!!!
Page 13. Attention turns to the trunk. Updated September 27th 2009!
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Buying the car
This 1964 Continental rolled of the assembly line at the Wixom plant on August 30th 1963. It is the 796th 1964 Continental built. It has DSO #53, meaning Oakland. I was able to track down the previous owner through the Californian title that came with the papers with witch it was imported into the European Union, port of Antwerp. I wrote him a letter and got a response:
"I just received you letter via mail and was shocked to hear about the car. I am glad it ended up with a classic car enthusiast. I bought the car from my great aunt after my uncle passed away a couple years back. The car had been sitting in the barn for roughly 10 years and I picked it up, got it running, and did a couple little electrical things to it and cruised around during the weekends. I do not have any receipts or past history of the car. My uncle most likely purchased the car brand new, drove it, and parked it until I got ahold of it. Sorry I couldnt be more help regarding the history of the car. Best of luck to you!"
I bought this '64 on April 7th 2006 at a classic US car dealer near Antwerp, Belgium. It is an honest survivor imported from Fresno, California with almost no rust, nice straight chrome and stainless trim. The car has been repainted by a previous owner in a colour that's close to the original 'Desert Sand' colour (light beige metallic). The interior has also been redone at some point in time. Immediately after I bought the car I drove it home all 200 miles to Amsterdam. No problem at all (however, a lot of time and effort has since been spent on it. You can read about this on the following pages).
The following four months were spent on getting the car ready for an inspection for registration purposes by our country's civil servants. Early August 2006 we tried for the first time (on the hottest day of the year: 36 degrees Celcius or 95 degrees Fahrenheit). They found three small things wrong with the car. Three weeks later we tried again and passed inspection (on the wettest day of the year). I finally received my Dutch registration and was able to cruise.
Here's a list of the most important repairs I've made prior to inspection:
- European approved headlights were fitted
- indicator switch and relays were replaced
- two refurbished exhaust manifolds were installed
- three of six core-plugs were replaced
- new tires: Goodyear viva 2 235/75R15
- 'cold' thermostat has been fitted
- a circuit breaker or 'kill switch' was fitted
- two of four mufflers were replaced
Monday October 22nd 2007,
The first photo was taken the day the car was put back on the road after a year of engine rebuilding. This is about as shiny as I can get it:
These photos were taken at the classic car dealer near Antwerp, Belgium where I bought the car. Notice how the absence of a white wall makes the wheels look like crap?
Page 02. The engine is toast...
A direct YouTube link to this short video:
A direct YouTube link to this short video:
A direct YouTube link to this short video:
A direct YouTube link to this slideshow:
1963 Continental gets crushed:
Car chase featuring a pink 1965 Continental:
Car chase featuring a 1966 Continental:
