Wally Messner knew he didn’t have much to lose when he decided to buy his 1939 Lincoln Zephyr sight-unseen, halfway across the country, off some sketchy internet website.

Even if the car needed quite a bit of work to be drivable and look good, he was sure there wasn’t much risk in buying it. And it’s hard to argue with his logic.

“Like [my wife Lynn] always tells me, if you keep looking, you’re going to find something. I’m always looking,” jokes Messner, a resident of Fond du Lac, Wis. “At the time I had the ’34 [Lincoln] and I’m a big Lincoln fan. That was probably 20 years ago now … It was just on some obscure website. Normally you think of eBay and standard places where you look for old cars, but this was some website I’d never heard of in Nevada. A guy had this car for sale that he bought out of an estate, partially restored.”

“I probably shouldn’t even say this, but I only paid $6,500 for it. Obviously, the guy was only trying to make a little more for it than he paid for it at the estate sale. I bought it sight-unseen. I just figured for that price, if everything he says about the car is even halfway true, the car was such a deal!”

The good news was that the body was rust-free and had been repainted. The seats had been reupholstered and the 12-cylinder engine had been rebuilt. And the car started and ran.

The bad news was that it needed a new interior, it didn’t run right, it was missing a bunch of parts and needed a lot of cleaning and TLC. Finishing the restoration that a previous owner of the car had started was a daunting enough job that it took Messner about 10 years to finally dive into.

“I finally said this is the year that the car is not going to sit anymore!” Messner joked. “It took me about 2 ½ years from start to finish to get it done. I still have to finish the interior of the trunk. I’m not done with that yet, but that’s about all I have left.”

Even if it’s really only about 98 percent done, Messner’s four-door sedan is a stunning machine that he is more than happy to show off at local car shows. The Zephyr coupes might be a little more coveted among collectors than their four-door siblings, but Messner’s four-door is a show-stopper and a rare machine that most old car lovers rarely see.

“When I was looking for a Zephyr I had looked at a ’37 a few years before that that actually needed more work than this one,” he says. “But if had a choice, ’39 would have been my choice. They are the epitome of the style, I think.”

1936: A Star is Born

The Lincoln Zephyr debuted for the 1936 model year and was one of the most revolutionary cars of its time. The Zephyr found a home occupying the vast space between Ford’s V-8 DeLuxe and Lincoln’s glorious Model K luxury lineups. Its sleek styling, teardrop headlights, sloping rear deck, curved side window corners and handsome grille all contributed to an undeniably beautiful overall package that helped propel automotive design into the future.

Inside was fancy pleated upholstery in taupe broadcloth or tan Bedford cord, with leather on the options list. The Zephyr also used integrated body-frame construction and featured an all-steel roof, which was a first for Ford Motor Co.

The solid front and rear axles used transverse springs to soften the ride.

Power was supplied by a V-12 Ford developed in-house that was basically a 75-degree version of the Ford V-8, plus four more cylinders. Steel alloy pistons churned inside aluminum cylinder heads and twin water pumps were used for cooling. A single downdraft carburetor fed the 267.3-cid/110-hp power plant.

The Zephyr was originally offered as a four-door or two-door sedan, with a coupe and limousine arriving a year later in 1937. A major restyling was unveiled in 1938, with all new sheet metal and fenders and a longer 125-inch wheelbase. The grille was divided and utilized thin horizontal chrome bars. The back end also became more streamlined with longer, flowing fenders. Two open models, a convertible coupe and convertible sedan, were added to the lineup for the 1938, bringing the number of body styles up to six.

For 1939, the addition of hydraulic brakes was perhaps the biggest news for the Zephyr lineup. A voltage regulator also became standard equipment. The options list including upgrades like wind wings, radio, heater, leather upholstery, whitewall tires and custom luggage.

The four-door sedans continued to be by far the most popular version with the buying public in 1939, as 16,663 examples were built compared to 2,500 for the six-passenger coupe, which was a distant second in popularity. Less than 1,000 open cars were constructed.

The base price for a six-person sedan like Messner’s was about $1,360, which was a far cry from the grand Model K series that still occupied Lincoln’s top tier and carried prices between $4,800 and $7,100 — a king’s ransom at a time when the U.S. was finally starting to emerge from a suffocating Depression.

The Zephyr nameplate soldiered on until 1942, when Ford turned its attention to war-time production. By then, the 172,000 examples that had left Ford’s assembly lines had more than secured the Zephyr a lofty place in U.S. automaking history.

SMOOTH SAILING

Messner insists that one of the best things about his 1939 Lincoln when he purchased it was that the engine had already been rebuilt. He could focus on finding missing pieces and figuring out how to replace the interior. Except that there was one little problem with the carburetor, which didn’t take him long to discover.

“Somebody had the wrong carburetor on it. If you work on Lincolns, you know that the throttle linkage on Lincolns is backward from the throttle linkage on Fords. So when I started the engine up it immediately went up to full throttle. The engine just started racing!” he recalled with a laugh. “That’s then I realized that it was the wrong carburetor.”

“The seats were reupholstered, but the whole rest of the inside was missing or tattered. The interior went to United Auto in Fond du Lac. They do really nice upholstery work. He did the door panels. I bought a new wiring harness and strung the harness myself. All the mechanicals, short of the engine, which was done, I did myself. I took the radiator out, had the whole dash out …”

All things considered, Messner says that getting his Zephyr back in one piece and driving as good as it looks was surprisingly not that difficult. He had a solid car to start with, managed to find all the parts he needed, and found plenty of folks willing to offer advice in the Lincoln Zephyr Owners Club (LZOC).

“About the only thing that ever held me up was my own time to get at things,” he says. “Out of all the cars I’ve done, this one was pretty easy and I met a lot of really good people that had parts and could help me out … Not all clubs are as friendly as the Zephyr Club. The Zephyr Club is just really full of nice people.”

“I redid the brake cylinders … the interior …got the paint buffed out… It’s not 100 percent, but it’s pretty good. The grille was missing, the headlights were missing. When you are in the club you wind up finding different sources for parts, so it was not that difficult to find the window cranks and the door handles, and things like that. The grille was a little harder to get, and any grille you get is going to need to be re-chromed. Really, it was mostly a matter of putting it up on the lift out in the shop and cleaning it up.”

Messner has never been able to find out much history about the car, other than it was last titled in California and somehow made its way to Nevada, where he purchased it. It has now become of the jewels of the Messners’ collection that also includes a 1934 Lincoln K and 1967 Lincoln four-door convertible; three Jaguars; a 1935 Ford pickup and 1935 Hupmobile — the latter two of which are both projects still in progress.

Other than finishing up some panels in the trunk and installing a new ashtray in the backseat, Wally says his only goal with the Zephyr is to take care of it and have some fun. Unlike some of the other cars in the fleet, even Lynn enjoys piloting the ’39 Zephyr.

“I don’t mind driving it! It’s actually fun to drive,” she says. “When you drive that ’34, that’s so big it’s like driving a monster, but this is one is nice to drive. But you aren’t just riding in the car, you are a participant. You really have to drive it.”

It doesn’t take much convincing to get Wally to fire up the Zephyr up and take it for spin through the Wisconsin countryside. The optional Columbia two-speed rear end makes the car more than capable of handling speeds north of 50 mph without much trouble.

“For being a car from the 1930s it’s really road-worthy,” he says. “You can travel pretty much at highway speed with that two-speed rear end. I don’t know what the car would be like if it didn’t have that. They were available both ways.”

“The more I drive it the less I worry about it. It’s proven itself to be pretty reliable … I do tend to have a little white knuckle syndrome with it. But I’d say I don’t fret much over it. I want to be able to use my cars. I don’t want to be worried about ever driving one somewhere. No offense to any people that do cars like that, but that’s not much approach to the hobby. I’d rather have a car I can jump in and go somewhere.”

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Phil Malito was destined to be a Mark III man. Heck, his dad had three of them.

“When I was a kid my dad had three of them. I remember at 4yrs. old the back seat was like a football field with the comfort of a couch. He passed away and I bought one then another and preserved them to their original glory.”

“To this day nothing rivals the comfort, elegance, quality, the speed 0-60 in 8 seconds for a 5000 lb. car. Its sheer sinister look just says ‘get out of my way.’ This was dubbed when it arrived in the latter part of 1968 as the ‘mans personal luxury car.’  A lot of firsts for the car industry like abs brakes called Sure Track, 1970 Michelin radials were standard, blue-printed engines, wipers powered by the steering fluid, cigar and cigarette smoke remover and a dehumidification system. The leather was imported from England and the interior was complete with real wood inlays on dash and door panels. There was a 4-piece front grille, 4-piece front and back bumper and 150 lbs. of sound deadening insulation in its body. There was also a 365 hp motor on paper for insurance purposes, but it had more like 400 hp. underneath a civilized padded vinyl top. There was an electronic eye in on top of the back seat to tell you if a turning or brake light was out. Plus, there was an automatic temp control with flow-through ventilation.”

 If you would like your car featured in Reader Wheels click on the link below and tell us a little bit about your ride.

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What do we like about this 1971 Lincoln Mark III?

Yeah, well… pretty much everything! First off, it’s unusual. When was the last time you saw a nice one of these big babies roaming the streets? And this one is in truly magnificent shape. She’s loaded with all kids of luxury goodies, of course, she’s unrestored, and has a bunch of new parts to keep her going indefinitely.

An awesome an unusual luxury boat. She’s for sale in near Waco, Texas and listed for $22,500. 

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Danny Gove set out to assess a muscle car, and ended up coming home with a long-missing, one-of-a kind Lincoln show car from the 1950s.

“I was called over to a gentleman’s house to do an evaluation of what he thought was a Moulin Rouge ’Cuda, and I went over there to confirm or deny whether it was a Moulin Rouge car — and he had the unfortunate news that it was not — but he said, ‘Before you go, I would like to show you one more thing.’ He took me to a back barn and there it sat.”

“It” was a 1954 Lincoln Capri two-door hardtop — more specifically, the 1954 Lincoln Capri Mardi Gras, a special “color and trim” car used to add glamour to Lincoln’s stand at the 46th annual Chicago Auto Show, held March 13-21, 1954, at the city’s International Amphitheatre.

Lincoln Gets Modern for 1952

Automobile styling was in high gear by 1954 as automakers compete to build fast and fashionable automobiles in the highly competitive postwar market. In a quest for attention, automakers sometimes supplemented their production cars with fancy and futuristic show cars and with dolled-up production cars that would steal the spotlight at auto shows and catch the eye of magazine editors, who might put General Motors’ latest dream car or Ford’s newest concept car on a magazine cover.

With Carrera Panamericana wins in 1952 and 1953, Lincoln had already established a reputation for building fast cars by 1954. The wins began with Lincoln’s all-new-for-’52, overhead-valve power from a 317.5-cid V-8 engine and an all-new chassis that innovated the use of a ball-joint front suspension for more sure handling — both critical elements needed to conquer the rough Mexican terrain through which Carrerra Panamericana participants raced.

Matching its new chassis in 1952 was a fashionable new Lincoln body with fully integrated, slab-sided fenders, high headlamps level with the beltline and integrated front and rear bumpers. Lincoln offered a multitude of bright exterior colors against equally bright interior fabrics of modern design, and was sure to underscore their importance to a modern lifestyle within sales literature.

The cars were the very image of modern, and Lincoln promotions made the car part of the luxury lifestyle amid great postwar prosperity. By 1954, the third year of the Lincoln styling cycle started in 1952, ads proclaimed the 1954 Lincoln to be “Designed for Modern Living — Powered for Modern Driving,” a variation of Lincoln’s mid-century mantra.

By the 1954 Chicago Auto Show, the Lincoln’s three-year-old body was no longer fresh. Compounding the matter, the 1954 model year had brought a completely redesigned car from Cadillac, Lincoln’s top competitor. To maintain its modern car image among spectators and press at Chicago, Lincoln would need to bring dazzle to its 1954 display. It delivered a with quartet of glamorous show cars based upon production models.

Color and Trim add Glamour for ’54

Lincoln’s four production-based show cars for the 1954 Chicago Auto Show were what it called “color and trim” cars that, as the label implied, were painted special colors and given special trim, such as unique upholstery and brightwork. Those 1954 Lincoln color and trim cars were the Huntsman Capri convertible; the First Nighter Capri four-door sedan; the Premiere two-door hardtop, which predicted 1955 Lincoln styling and use of the “Premiere” model name in 1956; and the Mardi Gras Capri two-door hardtop.

These 1954 trim and color show cars actually followed a series of show Lincolns that appeared on the 1953 show circuit. One of those 1953 trim and color cars was the Anniversary, a 1953 Lincoln Capri convertible painted pearlescent white and fitted with $4,000 worth of gold-plated trim inside and out. As its name and gold-plating implied, the Anniversary was built to honor a momentous occasion — Ford Motor Co.’s 50th anniversary. According to the book “Ford Design Department Concept & Show Cars: 1932-1961,” by Jim and Cheryl Farrell, the 1953 trim and color cars proved popular enough with the public, and with dealers, who preferred them to concept cars that they said made the production cars look dated to customers, that Lincoln built new trim and color cars for 1954. Along with trim and color cars themselves, the paint and gold-plating from Lincoln’s 1953 Anniversary show car also returned for 1954.

The Mardi Gras was the 1954 Lincoln show car that most borrowed from the 1953 Anniversary. The body of the 1954 Capri two-door-hardtop-based Mardi Gras was made festive with a body painted white incorporating crushed abalone shells to give it a pearlescent effect, and the roof was painted gold. While the 1953 Lincoln Capri Anniversary had gold-plated trim inside and out, the gold plating was limited to the interior of the 1954 Mardi Gras. The Mardi Gras interior was upholstered in a combination of ice blue, red and green fabrics and leather with unique brocade accents on the door panels. Since the trim and color cars were based on production cars, the unique show car features were created by the Lincoln-Mercury interior design studio, and stylist Art Miller is credited with creating the Mardi Gras’ unique features.

Of the four special color and trim cars that Lincoln built for the 1954 Chicago Auto Show, none were known by the hobby at large to have survived. In fact, few hobbyists knew of the cars at all, especially the Mardi Gras, as it is believed to have only been shown at the 1954 auto show in the Windy City. It then vanished with the wind.

Finding a hiding show car

Danny Gove, owner of Brazos Valley Auto Restoration in Bryan, Texas, admits he was among those many enthusiasts who had never heard of the 1954 Lincoln Mardi Gras. After being shown the car by the ’Cuda owner about 12 years ago, he returned home to research it. He was able to verify that such a car had been built, but there wasn’t much information about it — only an image and caption of it on the Chicago Auto Show website, and in Jim and Cheryl Farrell’s book, “Ford Design Department Concept & Show Cars: 1932-1961,” of which the seller had a copy.

Gove was confident enough in the car’s identity to buy it, and continued to keep it under wraps while he continued with his research.

“I have had it for a while, but I didn’t want to start anything on it until I got it authenticated,” Gove said. “The most excitement I had was learning the car was on display at the Chicago Auto Show, and that’s the only photo of the car that exists. I talked to them and I tried to call the Lincoln Museum and there’s really no information. I also spoke with the coauthor of the book, Jim Farell, to try to find out where they got their info from. He gave me the gentleman’s info at the Ford archives [that he worked with], but he has since passed. It’s been a challenge.”

Not one to give up, Gove reached out to previous owners in order to help piece the car’s story together after the Chicago Auto Show.

“[The seller] told me that he had found the car in a storage lot in west Texas,” Gove said, “and I actually have the receipt from where he purchased it.”

“I tracked down the original purchaser,” he said. “The car had been gifted to Sara Allison (of California) — her husband was founder of Allison. I think they were building airplanes then, not yet transmissions. This car has an amazing story.”

Gove says he learned that Allison owned the car until she passed away. During her ownership, she had the car repainted a light blue and had a continental kit added, and Gove was given a photo of her with the Mardi Gras in this guise. The next buyer planned to take the car back to its original appearance and brought it to a restorer, who disappeared with it. Eventually, it was found in the storage lot and purchased there by the man who sold it to Gove. Unfortunately, the car weathered in the southwest heat while parked in the storage lot.

In an effort to further unravel the car’s background, Old Cars’ “Watching the Fords Go By” columnist, Phil Skinner, reviewed the Lincoln’s VIN and unusual data plate, which he said was “truly special.”

Skinner noted the serial number indicates the Lincoln is the fourth 1954 Lincoln built at the Wayne, Mich., assembly plant. If that’s not interesting enough, its production date actually puts it in sequence with 1953 Lincolns! He says the earliest-production 1954 Lincoln that he has recorded from the Wayne assembly plant was the 145th built, and it was built on Nov. 12, 1953 — at least a month earlier than the Mardi Gras show car. And it clearly didn’t take Ford Motor Co. more than a month to build a measly 145 Lincolns.

Adding evidence to the 1954 Mardi Gras’ assembly alongside 1953 Lincolns is its engine, which has the dual-diaphragm distributor used only on 1953 models.

Skinner further noted that, in the spaces for the paint and interior codes, the Mardi Gras’ data plate reads “SPEC” in each place for special-mix paint and special interior — just what one would expect to find on one of Lincoln’s color and trim models.

The fate of a color and trim car

“It surprised me the level of detail for a trim and color car,” Gove says. He notes that, despite the car’s weathered-but-intact condition, the hardtop doors still “close like a bank vault,” and it has a great amount of quality to its build.

“It has mohair carpet, and they took house installation and glued it to the roof underneath the headliner – it’s still there. They pulled out all the stops on this thing. It just sounds so solid. I am sure there is more insulation inside the car.”

The few existing period documents pertaining to the car do not mention the fine embroidery work on the interior door panels or the gold-plating throughout its interior parts — which Gove figures will make the car very expensive to restore.

“I took out the sun visor rails, I took off the mirror and 12 screws, and I had them gold plated and it cost me $1,200,” Gove says. As a result, he went and purchased the equipment to gold plate the car’s many interior pieces himself. However, the embroidery will be another challenge, one that adds to his quandary of whether or not to restore the car.

“I honestly don’t know what the best route is to do with it” Gove says. “I am comfortable with taking it back to its former glory, but those door panels – they are all hand-embroidered. That is a major challenge. That is the only thing I do not have a handle on.”

“The car is remarkable, but it’s weathered,” he adds. “I am torn — do I leave the car as it is and get it running and driving, or do I restore it? That interior is going to be the hardest part to recreate.”

In the meantime, Gove has removed the engine and transmission to rebuild them, as he knows that he wants it to be running and driving. But he’s afraid to go any farther and risk erasing the original color and trim features that make it unique.

“I don’t know what to do with it,” he says. “I don’t want to take away from the car. I just don’t know what to do with it, to be honest.”

Although Gove isn’t sure what to do with the car, it’s reassuring to know the car survives, and is appreciated for its unique place in Lincoln and Chicago Auto Show history.

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We spotted this fabulous piece of ’50s Americana on Craigslist in the small town of Clovis, N.M.  We’ve never been there, but we’d definitely show up there if we could take this baby home. 

A big ‘ol ’56 Lincoln Premier in bright turquoise blue, with that magnificent bumpers, deep eyebrows over the headlights, 368 V-8 under that massive hood … power windows, NOVI air conditioning! it’s everything we could ever want in a big ’50s cruiser. It’s gonna take some work, but for an asking price of only $7,500, we could justify sinking some restoration dollars into her.

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Old Cars is turning 50. In honor of 50 years of the privilege of bringing the old cars hobby to our valued and faithful readers, Old Cars will revisit 50 of our past featured cars in 50 days, to commemorate the half-century of Old Cars. Here’s to fifty more years of Old Cars!

 DAY SEVENTEEN: 1947 Lincoln convertible

Chuck Gilpatrick’s 1947 Lincoln is a lovely pale green with a tan interior and matching tan top. It was one of just 384 base Lincoln convertibles made for the 1947 model year, and according to the homework Gilpatrick did on the cars, “there are only 10 known to exist.”

The previous owner had bought the car in Columbus, Ohio, in the early 1990s and had it restored a few years later. The car was originally sold new at a dealership in Detroit, but Gilpatrick hasn’t been able to learn much else about the Lincoln’s history.

“I don’t know if the previous owner had gone to many Lincoln meets or anything,” Gilpatrick said. “I had never seen the car before. In fact, I had never seen a convertible before. I knew they existed and I’d seen a lot of Continentals, but not a convertible like this one.”

The base Lincolns were still largely overshadowed by their luxurious Continental siblings. The two Lincoln lines shared some basic styling features and the cars looked similar from the front, but the Continental was pure luxury and performance, where the base Lincoln was more of an “everyman’s car.” 

 To learn more about Lee’s Camaro <CLICK HERE>

CHECK OUT DAY SIXTEEN OF 50 CARS IN 50 DAYS, CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF OLD CARS HERE

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In 2005, the Lincoln collector was alerted that a long-hidden 1930 five-passenger Tonneau Cowl Sport Phaeton had become available near him in Hamtramck, Mich. The Lincoln was owned by one Bruno Rusniak, who had bought the car in 1940 at 20 years of age, but he hadn’t driven it in decades despite his listed profession of mechanic. When Bruno passed in 2004 at 84 years of age, his older sister was charged with liquidating his estate, which was relatively substantial for a man in his line of work.

When Kendall arrived to inspect the Lincoln, he found the rear of the Lincoln’s body had been damaged and there were bullet holes in its cowl.

“According to the sister, they were trying to get away from the police and backed into the police car to get away, which would put out the radiator on the police car,” Kendall said. “The rear fenders were all bent, the springs were bent, and they got away and then the car was put away.” And that was only the beginning of the car’s mystery.

While inspecting the car, the Purple Gang was referenced, although at the time Kendall had little knowledge of this crime syndicate. He was more focused on inspecting the garbage-filled Lincoln for its condition. He may also have been distracted by the sellers’ mention that there was $10,000 rumored to be hidden somewhere in the car.

“There was tons of animal remains, there was poop and pee in it and it was really dirty and scummy so you couldn’t touch it without getting crud all over,” Kendall said.

Although the Lincoln needed serious attention, Kendall bought it and dragged it home with the thought of its Purple Gang connections always in the back of his mind. Once he and his wife Gail began to more closely inspect their purchase, they became more aware of items in and on the car that made its past increasingly suspicious. The car wore a Cadillac rock guard over its grille, perhaps to mask its Lincoln identity, and it had been repainted — poorly — in 1930s Cadillac colors. That paint was lifting due to a lack of surface preparation.

“The paint is a greenish and goldish two-tone, but very subdued,” Kendall said, “and you will see spots on the fenders where the paint came right off and you can see the original paint was never sanded — the newer paint has just popped off and it’s as smooth as a baby’s butt there, so maybe it was a quickie job to cover it up from police.”

Inside the Lincoln were a number of items that weren’t necessarily cagey on their own: barber shears, a chauffeur hat, an empty 1938 Chicago Federal Reserve bank bag and 1932 maps for Detroit, Ontario and Illinois. However, once the Kendalls began researching the Purple Gang, these artifacts began to paint the picture of a potentially colorful past for the Lincoln.

A gang of a different shade

During the early 20th century, immigrant neighborhoods in Detroit (and elsewhere) experienced poverty and to survive, some residents turned to crime. The most notorious group of thugs operating with some level of organization in Detroit at this time was the Purple Gang, aka The Sugar House Gang. This gang was comprised largely of the American-born children of immigrants from Russia and Poland. The Purple Gang began with petty theft and extortion in the 1910s before expanding to the more serious crimes of armed robbery (including hijacking trucks) and bootlegging, both with notorious savagery. Given the gang’s location in Detroit, it was perfectly positioned to bridge Chicago with Windsor, Ontario, where the manufacture of liquor remained legal during prohibition in the United States. It is believed that the Purple Gang colluded with Al Capone and his Chicago Outfit and other gangs to supply illegally imported liquor to Chicago and beyond.

By the late 1920s, the Purple Gang ran Detroit’s “underworld” by controlling the city’s gambling, liquor and drug trade. However, it’s believed the gang kept up its armed robbery crimes and extortion tactics. The gang’s extortion often targeted Detroit-area laundry industry and barber unions and associations. The gang’s hit men were hired out to keep members of these unions in line and to harass non-union independents. These crimes are believed to have remained a staple of the organization from the 1920s through at least the 1930s.

Painting a picture of the past

Upon learning about the Purple Gang, the Kendalls began connecting the dots. Former owner Bruno Rusniak’s sister acknowledged the Lincoln had been used as a get-away car when she explained the rear-end damage and bullet holes in the cowl. There was the seemingly rushed paint job in Cadillac colors and the Cadillac stone guard to give the car a different appearance. Did the barber shears tie the car to nefarious acts against barber’s union members? Was the empty bank bag and chauffeur’s hat evidence from a robbery? Was it more than coincidence that there were maps found in the car of the three main points along the major prohibition-era bootlegging corridor?

On top of it all, the Rusniak name occurs mostly in the Ukraine, and Bruno had done much to hide the Lincoln since at least the 1960s.

“I talked to a neighbor who lived kitty corner across the street for 43 years, and he had a direct view into Bruno’s garage… and he never knew the car was in the garage” Kendall said. “The car was covered up, and the amount of stuff in the garage was unbelievable. It had been covered up for all 43 years he lived across the street and he never knew it was in there.”

How long the Lincoln had been in Bruno Rusniak’s garage on well-traveled Caniff Street in Hamtramck is anyone’s guess, but it’s possible it had been hidden there since 1940, when Bruno Rusniak titled it in his name. It’s possible the car was in the garage even longer since upon his passing, Bruno still remained in the home in which he was born. He had even bought the adjacent house either as a real estate investment or perhaps as a buffer to additional privacy.

A treasure on its own

Regardless of the Lincoln’s possible past, it remains a treasure among Full Classic Car collectors. The 1930 Lincoln was the last to be christened with the Model L designation. The cars featured a 90-hp V-8 engine of 384.8 cubic inches that retained the fork-and-blade connecting rod design by Lincoln Motor Car Co. founder Henry M. Leland and his son, Wilfred, for the new marque’s mid-1920 introduction.

Due to the forthcoming 1931 Lincoln Model K and the early effects of the Great Depression, production of the 1930 Lincolns was low when compared to competitors such as Cadillac. Just 3,515 Lincolns with factory-built and custom bodies were built for the 1930 model year. Of those, only 90 were rakish Model 176-B Tonneau Cowl Sport Phaeton models such as the Kendall’s Lincoln. This body was built by Lincoln and sold for $4,400, a substantial figure that equated to exactly 10 new Ford Model A phaetons. For the Lincoln buyer’s money, he received twice as many cylinders as the Ford, a much longer wheelbase of 136 inches and a larger body for a smoother and more comfortable ride plus dual sidemounts and a folding trunk rack. As its name implies, the Lincoln Tonneau Cowl Sport Phaeton featured a cowl with a second windshield behind the front seat that was counterbalanced to ease raising and lowering and thus entry and egress of back seat passengers.

The Kendalls believe about 10 similar 1930 Lincoln Tonneau Cowl Sport Phaetons survive today. Theirs may not be the shiniest of the survivors, but they have enjoyed making the car more presentable and getting it road-ready again.

“It went from Bruno’s to a friend’s house to Mark Welch in Toledo, Ohio, to have the body, fenders and rear frame horns and rear springs straightened,” Kendall said.

“You would be amazed that he was able to get all of the dents out of the rear fenders, straighten the fenders, straighten the springs and frame horns and fix the rear of the car body without taking out the rear of the seat.”

The interior has also been cleaned, of course, and the car has been made to run so that the Kendalls can take it out whenever a drive strikes their fancy.

“We’re enjoying it as it is,” Kendall says, although he hasn’t stopped searching for confirmation of its past and possible Purple Gang connections.

“I have never taken the rear seat out and looked,” he said. “There may be cash under the seat, but I have never taken it out. I doubt there’s any money there.”

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“This is a one owner car owned by a prominent physician since new. It is always garaged with only 49k miles on it. I have all paperwork since new, including the cancelled checks when ordering and paying the balance upon arrival. Love her!!”

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Lincoln ads for 1989 claimed that its products were “What a luxury car should be,” and speaking from personal experience, that was not false advertising. The Lincoln Town Car looked like a Rolls-Royce for the American upper-middle class, and that’s exactly what it was. This particular 1989 Lincoln is my own. I bought it because it was a tangible link to carefree childhood family road trips. And, well, I just have a thing for the now-lost “great American luxury sedan.” My Town Car is affectionately known as The Magnolia Belle, because she’s the sort of genteel carriage a southern lady of a certain vintage might drive.

Since the 1980s, I’ve noticed a blurring of the lines between luxury cars and sportier machines. Skidpad Gs and low-profile tires are in, and even Cadillac now develops its suspension systems on some German racetrack. Fortunately, the people who tuned the Town Car’s suspension had never heard of the Nürburgring. I’m based in Baltimore where post-apocalyptic paving is a fact of life. My commute in a 4×4 truck with worn-out shocks is a pummeling experience. By contrast, travelling through Charm City by Town Car is serenity itself. Soft coil springs and tall sidewall tires do all the work while the car just floats above the chaos.

Further, an old Town Car is, arguably, the best machine available for a transcontinental road trip on a budget of less than five figures. Several years ago, my buddy Chuck and I were en route from California to the Iola Car Show in Wisconsin, weaving through the Sonora Pass (elevation: 8500 ft.) just after sunrise. The Magnolia Belle was loaded to the hilt with luggage and car show ephemera. We were making serious time. Chuck hustled her through switchbacks with whitewalls sighing in protest when spotted dead ahead was a Subaru WRX, and we were gaining on it. We weren’t about to be stuck in traffic, so Chuck summoned all 150 hp and sailed past the Subie on a tight left-hander, using the understeer to scrub off speed. I have never seen a more shocked person than the saucer-eyed kid in that WRX. He just couldn’t fathom how he was defeated by grandma’s leather sofa.

On steep downhill runs, the Town Car has an extra margin of safety because the square body itself is an air brake. I’m not kidding. Yet even with aerodynamics of a bungalow, we observed mileage figures in the low to mid 20-mpg range while cruising at 80 mph or better — with the air conditioning on full blast. The Lincoln simply soaked up the miles in an easy rush. On the longest leg of the trip, we covered the 1000 miles between Laramie, Wyo., and Sonora, Calif., in one day.

Like a Rolls-Royce, much of the Lincoln’s design is defiantly anachronistic. 1989 would be the last year for creased bodylines and lavish use of added-on moldings before the aero-influenced 1990 models debuted. Ergonomically, the 1989 Town Car could’ve been from the 1960s. For instance, the brightly chromed power window and door switches on the driver’s armrest are indistinguishable from one another. They aren’t illuminated, so operating them at night can prove surprising when you try to lower a window but instead tilt the seat. Some “new think” managed to invade the cabin in the form of intuitive cruise control buttons on the steering wheel spokes. A column shifter, minimal gauges and lots of imitation wood veneer complete the ambiance. Naturally, there is an ashtray and lighter in easy reach of all occupants.

The Magnolia Belle’s interior is upholstered in Sandalwood leather, which goes nicely with the creamy Pastel Adobe paint. Exterior styling details such as the chrome grille and stand-up hood ornament give the square Townies real dignity. Horizontal creases emphasize the car’s length while a slight tumblehome and severely tucked-in rocker panels give visual interest to the side view. A crisp, formal roofline and trapezoidal opera windows are defining characteristics of the Town Car. The Belle wears a color-keyed, fully padded vinyl roof enhanced with coach lamps on the B pillars. Lattice-type alloy wheels might be compared to jewelry enhancing a tasteful frock. They’re shod in obligatory narrow whitewall tires. The rear of 1987-1989 Town Cars ends obliquely rather than vertically as in earlier models, lending visual motion to the formal shape. A charming touch is the thermometer integrated into the driver’s sideview mirror, which lights up green like the instruments.

All Town Cars sold between 1981 and 2011 were based on Ford’s Panther platform. The body-on-frame architecture incorporates independent front suspension and a live rear axle. It was designed to be lighter and more space-efficient than older designs while retaining the advantages of a separate chassis, such as good noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) attenuation. The sole Town Car engine for 1989 was Ford’s smooth 302-cid (4.9-litre) Windsor V-8 that offered 150 bhp (160 with optional dual exhaust) and 270 lbs.-ft. of torque at a leisurely 2000 rpm. Performance and economy were enhanced by multipoint fuel injection and a roller rocker valve train. Power front disc and rear drum brakes are more than up to the job of halting the car in front of the country club. A Ford automatic-overdrive (AOD) transmission was standard and helped the Town Car achieve acceptable fuel economy.

If you’ve never experienced a late-1980s Town Car, I’d forgive you for thinking it would be slow, sloppy and miserable to drive. It’s not. Admittedly, I am biased. But the Town Car is so effortless and its appointments so comfortable that it gives the driver a huge sense of satisfaction. The recirculating-ball steering isn’t precise, but it’s light, fluid and plenty accurate enough for rapid progress on a winding road (the secret is managing the weight transfer). More than this, these Lincolns surf on big swells of torque; they never feel like they’re working hard. If it seems to be straining, it’s either in poor running condition or you’re about to lose your license. I’ve driven Rolls-Royces of the same vintage and the Town Car does an excellent impersonation. It falls short of the British product in that the Town Car can’t hide its mass-produced roots. Detailing and trim are nowhere near the bespoke standards of Rolls-Royce, but I didn’t grow up riding in Rolls-Royces. I grew up in Lincolns (and Chevys and Chryslers), so Wixom’s finest pushes my buttons in ways a Crewe’s ship never can.

The Magnolia Belle allows me to motor with impunity through the tumultuous 2020s surrounded by an impenetrable force field of nostalgia. Slipping behind the wheel never fails to elevate my mood and brighten the darkest day, and isn’t feeling good the ultimate luxury?

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I read your article about Bob Mayer and his ‘65 Cadillac and it felt like I was reading a story about myself. I too, am a bit of a purist and love the untouched, original old cars. I have five of them but the jewel in the crown is my ‘78 Lincoln Mark V with only 2,000 original miles. It still sports its original tires and is virtually as it came from the showroom. Also, as a bit of a sidebar, I have a ‘67 DeVille that, with the color combination, looks a lot like Bob’s. Mine has 21,000 miles.

Ron also included a pic of his super-clean ’67 Cadillac DeVille for our viewing enjoyment.

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The post Old Cars Reader Wheels: 1978 Lincoln Mark V appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.