When I had my first 1970 Lincoln Continental Mark III, I came up with the idea to customize this fine car. However the specimen I had wasn't in a condition that I was prepared to restore. It needed everything except the frame and the body panels. The former owner, Paul D. Covell, had heated up the springs with a torch to lower the car because people kept telling him he'd be able to sell the car faster if he lowered it. The master brake cylinder was leaking and hence there was no brake fluid pressure. The steering gearbox was also leaking and the universal joint between the steering shaft and the steering gear was ripped through on one side and was close to ripping through on the other side as well. The interior was totally ripped and there were rust holes in the floorboards. Still I was able to drive this vehicle on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu at the speed of 150 MPH in this condition.
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Luckily I was able to sell this 1970 Lincoln Continental Mark III to Pastor Alan Elliott from the Malibu Vineyard Church for $200.- as he wanted the engine, transmission and the exhaust system for his red 1965 Ford LTD. Alan allowed me to take any other parts off the Lincoln for people in Holland who needed those parts. We stripped the Lincoln together on the Malibu Vineyard Church's parking lot and arranged with Malibu Towing, Inc. to come and pick the Mark III up and take it to the junkyard once we were done with this. |
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After checking through a few magazines of used car ads, I stumbled upon another 1970 Lincoln Continental Mark III which was for sale at Cars 4 Causes, a nonprofit car donation organization. I drove to Oxnard to check it out and quickly decided to purchase it. Though this Mark III also needed some work, the interior was in 90% perfect condition and the vehicle was 99% complete with the major drawback being the ignition electrical system. The former owner('s) had failed to keep the system in the original condition with the result that I had to find out how to hook everything up to make it work. The paint also needed to be redone, however I was already planning to put a custom paint job on it with black semi-gloss POR 15 paint. There were also a few dents and it needed a new vinyl roof. Customization was however the reason I purchased this car and a chopped roof desire made this for a great project car.
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