This is Clara. She's named after the friend that sold her to me.

It's a 1969 Lincoln Continental Mark III convertible made by long-term LCOC member Buzz DeClerk. I'm told he made two of them.

My friend Clara had every intention of restoring this car and the shop that had it had taken it this far apart. They had even started grinding on the front fender. Apparently work slowed on her other Lincoln in the shop so she had them stop what they were doing, bolt it somewhat back together and stash it in the back of the shop.

And there it sat. As you can see from the layer of dust it had been a few years since this car had seen daylight.

I am about to bore you with another chronicled restoration/recreation of two vehicles, the 1968 Lincoln Continental 6-doored limousine and this beauty. Stay tuned.

5-5-2007

Dan came by today and we talked about starting it. We discussed the pros and cons of starting an engine that been sitting for awhile. I decided that I would probably tear the engine down anyway, I just wanted to make sure it worked. I was able to get it started with a little gas down the carb but we quickly determined that it wasn't getting any gas from the fuel pump. I'm satisfied that it'll run with a carb rebuild and new fuel pump. The trans is leaking so I was thinking of pulling them as a pair.

After awhile of close inspection I found very little rust damage. I wrestled the top down and stood back and assessed what I had. I was pleased with what I saw. It has the potential to be a stunning car. You have to look past the dirt.

I will probably do a body-off restoration. Not for show, but for the ultimate in reliability. The last body off I did was on a 1974 Triumph TR-6 in 1982. I had the chassis done when disaster struck and the garage burned down. That was the last car I did. However, after doing the trailer project http://cardomain.com/ride/340096/5 this project looks simple by comparison.

After Dan left I fiddled with some of the electrical problems. I got the drivers seat to fully function and I got the drivers window to go up and down. The electric antenna works as do all the lights inside. The horn sounded sick at first but perked right up after a couple of toots.

I couldn't get the top to work but the lights would dim every time I tried. Apparently the motor is seized, but that's easy to fix. I manually retracted the top just to see how it looked down. I love it.

The front sheetmetal was barely bolted on so I removed it. The fenders came off of a black car that was in pretty poor shape but they are restorable. The interior is real dirty but highly restorable.

My goal is to get things working as I disassemble the car. To me it's better than suprises later. It will give me a lot of time to find the right parts and have them ready for reassembly.