1948 Lincoln Continental Club Coupe

[Pages:32]Autumn 2012

1948 Lincoln Continental Club Coupe

Owned by Willie & Louise Spann Pacific Northwest Region -- CCCA

Pacific Northwest Region - CCCA

PNR CCCA Region Events

Events in bold-type sponsored by PNR-CCCA. Other events are listed for your convenience.

Details can be found at ca- or by contacting the Event Manager.

October TBD: Fall Driving Tour PNR Contact Roy Magnuson 206-713-2348

November 7th: Annual Meeting - Rock Salt PNR Contact John McGary 206-909-4499

December 2: Holiday Party - Seattle Golf Club PNR Contact John McGary 206-909-4499

2013 CCCA National Events

Thanks to Erin Kimm, the PNRCCCA has been on Facebook since April 3rd and as of September 10th we are up to 74 `likes" and climbing! We are posting photos from our events and you will also find the latest issue of the Bumper Guardian. If you have something to post, please contact Erin at hawaiicaligal@

If you are interested in viewing our Facebook page go to: . You do have to be a member on Facebook in order to view our page.

If you haven't already "liked" our Facebook page, we hope you do so soon.

2013 CARavan

May 4-26 . . . Re-Discover America CARavan

Annual Meeting

February 27 - March 3. . . . . . . . Pasadena, CA

Please make plans to attend the PNR-CCCA Holiday Brunch on December 2nd at the Seattle Golf

Club. Club Awards and a feature presentation by Sandi and Al McEwan will give us the lowdown on the September Windsor Castle Concours and

cavorting with the Queen!

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We hope you enjoyed reading the special edition of the Bumper Guardian as much as we enjoyed putting it together! It is the first time our region has ever printed an entire issue in full-color. Many thanks to Hagerty Insurance, Bill Smallwood III, Glenn Vaughn, and Conrad Wouters for supporting this issue with their advertising.

We printed many extra copies for use in promoting our Club. If you are planning to be somewhere where there will be lots of "car-people" make sure you ask Brian Rohrback for copies to hand-out.

Pacific Northwest Region Classic Car Club of America

The Bumper Guardian is the official publication of the Pacific Northwest Region, Classic Car Club of America.

The region was founded in 1963.

Officers and Appointed Posts: Brian Rohrback, Director Arny Barer, Secretary John Campbell, Treasurer Stan Dickison, Activities Val Dickison, Membership Karen Hutchinson, BG Co-editor Raymond Loe, BG Co-editor Colin Gurnsey, BC Liaison

425-836-8138 425-454-0296 425-885-5472 206-949-1115 206-546-3306 360-678-5453 360-678-9366 604-980-7429

Board of Managers: Roy Magnuson Don Reddaway Jon Schoenfeld Val Dickison Roy Dunbar John McGary Denny Dochnahl Kim Pierce Bill Smallwood III

2012 206-713-2348 2012 206-719-3370 2012 775-848-7842 2013 206-546-3306 2013 206-915-7667 2013 206-909-4499 2014 425-271-1153 2014 425-330-2665 2014 425-773-0130

Bumper Guardian Staff:

Advertising

Noel Cook

Caption Editor Bill Deibel

Copy Editor

Bill Allard

Cover Story

Raymond Loe

Staff Photographer Michael Bradley

206-232-6413 206-522-7167 253-565-2545 360-678-9366 206-255-6491

Board of Managers' Meetings: 1st Wednesday at the

Rock Salt Restaurant on South Lake Union 5:30 Social Gathering, 6:00 Dinner/Meeting.

Open to members Minutes on the web and available upon request.

Membership: Regional membership is available only to

Classic Car Club of America National members.

Advertising Policy/Rates: The Bumper Guardian will print classified advertising free of charge to members on a space available basis. Display advertising rates are available on a prepaid basis only.

Pacific Northwest Region - CCCA

Table of Contents

Calendar of Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 LeMay Museum Showcase Car:

1948 Lincoln Continental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Articles:

Lincoln Continental History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Klassic Korner for Kids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Classic Cars in Films & Literature. . . . . . . . . . 24 Technical Topics: Microtips from Members. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Startix Repair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Cooling the Aussie Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Columns: Director's Message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 PNR Member Profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Membership Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Editor's Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 PNR-CCCA Events: Flying Horse Ranch Tour Ellensburg, WA. . . . 8 Motoring Classic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Trident Submarine Tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Yarrow Point 4th of July . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Steinman Picnic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Concours at the Wood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Regional Events: Caledon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 ABFM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Kirkland Legands / Gig Harbor . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Director's Message

The days grow chilly and gray is mixing in with the evergreen ...

So, with Fall transitioning into Winter, we must continue to lobby the weather gremlins for a nice day here and there so we can keep our fluids pumping, our pressures at just the right levels, our electrical connections connected, and all the moving parts exercised. That goes for our cars too! And use the time to finally get that wood trim touched up or the clock fixed (oh wait, everyone had that idea and Abbott in Portland is booked solid). Or, look around for that lonely Classic that could use your

Continues on page 30

Autumn 2012 3

1948 Lincoln Continental Club Coupe Article & Photos by Willie Spann

Celebrating America's love affair with the automobile

Guided by one very clear objective-- to be the world's foremost

automotive museum!

SHOWCASE SPONSOR

Phone: 253.779.8490 Toll Free: 877.902.8490 Website:

My history with this car began on a sunny Friday evening in May of 1998 when I pulled into the Burger King cruise-in in Everett, WA looking for a 1939 Cadillac to restore. I saw a gentleman with a nice Cadillac and asked if he knew of one similar to his needing restoration. He mentioned knowing of an old Cadillac near Sea-Tac airport that was for sale, but he didn't know the specific year or model. As he was not interested in it for himself, he gave me the contact information. I called the owner of the "Cadillac", and asked it was still available. It was, so I went to see the "old beast." Much to my surprise, it wasn't a Cadillac after all, it was a 1948 Lincoln Continental Club Coupe that had been sitting in their garage for over 31 years. The Lincoln had 60,000 showing on the odometer and was mostly complete. However, along the way the original flathead V-12 engine had been removed and replaced with a 1956 Lincoln V-8, 368 cu in. The engine was frozen and would not turn-over. I bought the car as-is.

When I got the Lincoln home, I was planning to get the 1956 engine running to better assess its status. Unfortunately, the engine had four bent

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Pacific Northwest Region - CCCA

push rods in addition to a few loose hydraulic lifters within the engine. While working on the 1956 engine a friend told me about a Lincoln V-12 that was for sale. Luckily there were two of them that had been in this guy's back yard, under a tarp, for the last twenty-five years. One engine was for a 1941 Lincoln, the other for a 1948 Lincoln. I bought them both.

I chose to restore the 1948 V-12 and used the 1941 engine for parts. Both the cam and crank-shafts were checked for cracks and found to be okay. I then had the crank turned (to insert a rope seal) to work with a new high-pressure oil pump. Being a member of the Lincoln Zephyr Owners Club helped me find parts from all over the United States.

I located new rings, valves and valve springs and even found a set of new hydraulic lifters that had never been out of the package. After assembling the block, I checked-out the aluminum heads and intake manifold from the 1941 engine and when

found to be okay, polished and installed them on the 1948 engine to complete the rebuild.

Eager to test drive the "old beast" I couldn't wait any longer and first took it on the road with the correct V-12 engine in November 1998. This was the first time the car had moved under its own power in over thirty years and it had been even longer without the correct engine. Although there was still much work to be done, I continued working on the car during the winter months and did car shows in the summers with a note in the window explaining to onlookers "this car is in work."

I have verified that this car was assembled February 26, 1948, and shipped March 2, 1948. The previous owner had the Lincoln V-8 engine installed in the late 1950s while he was a member of the US Air Force. In 1967 he drove it from Ohio to Washington State and not long thereafter stored it in the garage from where I rescued it.

Over the following three winters I spent lots of time bead-blasting, cleaning, hand scraping and repairing all the body damage. The fuel tank and fuel lines were replaced, along with the exhaust and brake system. The power window motor had to be repaired and it took me about a year to get enough good parts to make it work. I stripped the body, hand sanded, repainted everything and had all of the original bright work re-

chromed. The car had been blue when it originally left the factory. Some time along the way It had been repainted turquoise, however, when I bought the car it was painted black. I liked the way it looked, so I repainted it with five coats of black paint and then added a final clear coat. The radio had to be replaced but the clock only had to be cleaned. Finally, I had a new, correct interior installed to complete the restoration.

After all that time of expending my sweat and elbow grease, I drove the finished car for the first time in 2001. Today, the car has been driven only 66,000 miles, the last 6,000 since I got it back on the road 11 years ago, most of which was accumulated by driving it to car shows throughout the south Puget Sound area, If you see it, please stop by and say "hello". Perhaps one of you can help me confirm this was one of the very last of the only 847 - 1948 Lincoln Continental Coupes ever built?

I enjoyed this opportunity to tell you my story and especially want to acknowledge and thank all of my friends who lent me a hand on the restoration.

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Pacific Northwest Region - CCCA

A Brief History of the First Series

Lincoln Continental Cars By Raymond Loe

The Ford Motor Company (FMC) Lincoln Zephyr, on which the Lincoln Continental was based, first appeared as a beautifully streamlined aerodynamic all-steel semi uni-body 1936 model with a new flatheadV-12 engine based on Ford's highly successful V-8. This was a new less expensive engine to succeed the earlier much larger (and costlier) V-12 used in the Lincoln K-Series throughout the 1930s.

The first Continental was conceived by Edsel Ford as a one-off special car to be used on his year-end vacation in Palm Beach, Florida. Edsel asked his good friend and famed Ford stylist Bob Gregorie to come up with a sportier version of the Zephyr and everyone who saw it in the winter of 1938-39 thought it was sensational. Scarcely a year later the 1940 LincolnZephyr Continental was being sold at about $2,850; each bringing thousands of new customers into Lincoln showrooms.

The production 1940-41 Continentals used a power train that was very similar to that of all late '30s Zephyrs, a flathead V-12 displacing 292 cu. ins. developing 120 hp @ 3,500 rpm. The first two years' models (identical except for push buttons instead of handles on the `41 doors) were a cleaner, lower sportier version of the contemporary Lincoln Zephyr. The Lincoln Continental was amongst the first cars to be recognized as a true form of "art".

Production started out slowly with only 350 coupes and 54 cabriolets in 1940, increasing to 850 coupes and 400 cabriolets in 1941. Lincoln Continental became a separate make instead of a Lincoln Zephyr series model in 1941 and the Lincoln Custom; a larger version of the family was introduced to replace the K-Series.

The year 1942 brought significant changes in terms of design and engineering. A flashy facelift prefigured styles of the immediate post-war years including a slight reduction in overall height and increasing the length by more than seven inches. Grille changes took the bars from vertical to a bold horizontal configuration and parking lights on either side -- one of which was a dummy to save a few pennies, now flanked the headlamps. Engine displacement was enlarged to 305 cu. ins. providing 130 hp. Past problems of over-heating and poor oil flow

were addressed to make the car more reliable. Prices for the 1942 Lincoln Continental went up to $3,000, however only 200 coupes and 136 cabriolets were sold before production was halted as the last prewar Lincoln rolled out of the factory on February 10, 1942.

FMC president and driving force behind the Lincoln Continental, Edsel

Ford, died of pancreatic cancer in 1943 leaving the Mark with an uncertain future as his ailing, 78-year-old, father resumed the presidency. Heavily dependent on the Ford Motor Company for defense production, the US War Production Board became alarmed at staggering monetary losses at FMC and arranged for his grandson Henry II (HF II) to be released early from the navy in 1943 to salvage the company and avoid a government takeover. A drawn out family battle for control ended when the senior Henry Ford finally stepped-down as FMC president in September 1945 leaving the task of rebuilding to HF II.

Meanwhile, automobile production had resumed at FMC in 1945 with postwar continuation of the prewar Lincoln Continental based on the 1942 body dies and chassis design. With the exception of a new two-tier egg crate grille only minor detail changes occurred in model years '46 through '48. Interestingly, in mid model-year 1946, the V-12 reverted to its 1940-41 displacement, though somehow an extra 5 horsepower had been found and it was so

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advertised at 125. Total Continental production for years 1946-48 was only 3,338 units ? 1,947 Coupes and 1,391 Cabriolets.

With each Lincoln Continental selling at a loss, plans for a 1949 successor were shelved as FMC sought to gain badly needed sales with its newly designed models. Gone were the outdated I-beam front axles, transverse springs and problematic ignition systems emblematic of earlier FMC cars as their focus shifted to modern designs and high volume production. The Mark II had to wait until 1956 when it appeared without the Lincoln nameplate as the product of an entirely distinct Ford Motor Company division.

Given Edsel's styling genius, one can only wonder about what might have been if he had lived to continue exerting his influence on products produced by FMC.

Pacific Northwest Region - CCCA

Autumn 2012 7

Pacific Northwest Region - CCCA

Tour of Flying Horse Ranch Host: Stephen Hayden August 24th, Ellensburg, WA

Article by Carl Bomstead, Photography by Michael Bradley and John Koziol

Driving Classics

Frank Daly 1935 Packard Club Sedan

Ed Rittenhouse 1931 Cadillac 5-Passenger Sedan

John Schoenfeld 1937 Cadillac Sport Coupe

In attendance:

Scott & Karen Anderson Carl & Chris Bomstead Michael & Ildy Bradley Jim Buckley & Guest

Stan & Val Dickison Jerry Greenfield & Guest Keenon Kennedy

Terry & Cherry Jarvis John & Donna Koziol Roy & Terry Magnuson

Glenn Mounger Steve & Annie Norman Kim Pierce & Norma Sola-Pierce Ed Rittenhouse & Guests

On Saturday August 25th about twenty cars, including four Full Classics, gathered at the Issaquah Triple X for a tour to the Flying Horse Ranch in Ellensburg. Under tour master Roy Magnusson's direction, we crossed Snoqualmie Pass then took some of Roy's favorite back roads to our lunch stop at the Ellensburg Pasta Company.

After lunch, our host, Steve Hayden, took us to the Ellensburg Train Station that he is restoring. An ambitious project indeed as the roof requires replacing and all sorts of birds and other animals called it home for the past many years.

Steve's Flying Horse Ranch is a short distance west of town. Our first stop was the lower building, home to his car collection and hundreds of porcelain and neon gasoline and automotive signs. The car collection includes a couple-dozen vehicles with four Full Classics including three Packard's and a 1947 Cadillac Series 62 convertible. Other cars of interest included a '53 and '54 Skylark, a couple of sensational Cadillac Eldorados and a true Yenko Camaro.

The upper building houses his train memorabilia collection. If you are a true "Seattle-ite" you remember the Great Northern display that was in the King Street Station. It displayed their routes with scenes from the various destinations. As a child, I was mesmerized by the display

Ed Rittenhouse's 1931 Cadillac

Frank Daly's 1935 Packard, Steve Hayden's 1936 Packard and John Schoenfeld's 1937 Cadillac

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