On A Cold Rainy Day In Late November,

Eleanor came to stay.

Went to her house at 10, brought a battery and a squirt bottle with some gas, and set to work before the truck got there. Hooked the battery up, made sure all the electricals worked (all do, except the forward/back of the seats, which is not good, since her husband was 5'5" and I'm 6' 1".) I cranked it for about 15 seconds with all plugs out and Mobile 1 in the cylinders, then re-installed the plugs and filled the carb with gas. I forgot to install the boots on the left side, but...:dunno: Hit the key, and it tried to start 3-4 times (with the pass. side not firing) and I shut it off. Took the battery out, and then waited for the tow guy. He got there around 11:00, we loaded it up (took 20 min. as the car was a liiiiiiittle too long forthe rollback) and set off. It was hard to leave, as she was crying as I gave her the money, and trust me, I know that feeling. So, I gave her a hug, and told her it's in good hands, you don't have to worry, and we drove off, as she waved, still fighting back tears. I can only imagine how hard it is to sell something your late husband cherished so much, but I tried to make it as easy as possible.

Here are some pics I took at her house:




Now, I'm still working on shining it up and so on (when it isn't raining, unlike now) so I haven't taken a full body pic, but here is a before and after "teaser"



Booyeah!

I like the last pic lol looks like u got a good one

Yeah will I'm impressed man that old car cleans up nicely. If it's not to much I'd ask the lady after you get her all shined up a get the surface rust patched up and whatnot if she'd like a photo of the ol girl to remember her late husband by and also to show that the car truely is in good hands and she can rest peacefully knowing that the car will maintain a "white glove" appearance... She may not go for the idea may be to emotional for her but if you really feel as strongly as your words sound then it's worth a shot.


Good find can wait to see the future progress of Eleanor

Congratulations William. Beautiful car. You should take some pictures of it with your other Lincoln.

merlin5577 wrote:

Congratulations William. Beautiful car. You should take some pictures of it with your other Lincoln.

You betcha!




Joe, I intend to call her and ask her if she'd like to go for a little ride in it

So what are your ultimate plans for the car?

Ultimately? Make the outside look at the very least, very presentable. Remove all the rust, repaint it (a good repaint, not a MAACO shop repaint) rebuild the engine, perhaps add some HP, I'll cap it at ~ 300 HP. Thinking performance intake and Edelbrock carb to say the least, possibly aftermarket heads down the road, but for now..yeah.


Essentially make it look like a very good car. A full $60K restoration is out of my budget as of now, but as I get out of college and a real career, sky's the limit.

Dang! Very nice car William.

holy yacht batman lol nice find, looks like you may be needing a new deck lid

Thanks 76!

Nah 79, the trunk lid is fine, it's just got that little spot on the corner. That can easily be dealt with. In fact, if I can find my wire wheels, it may all be dealt with today.

nice find looks like a nice cruiser

Yeah it truely does look comfy... I almost bought a caddy at one time but then I found a truck!!

you might want to invest in some POR15 to cover up the rust.. it may not look bad.. until you get the paint chipped off. those old deck lids usually rust harshly in the corners

(To answer the question above and update at the same time..)


Set to work on sanding most of the rust away today.. Got home ~ 3:30, so didn't have but around an hour of decent light left, so I didn't waste any time. First, put some chrome polish on the front end (I got tired of buffing, the amount of chrome on this car is ridiculous) then I went around to first removing the rust on the drivers side cornering lamp assembly. Removed the chrome light surround, and the lamp itself and went to work. Sanded it down as much as I could, and the metal is slightly pitted, but nothing a ultra-light application of POR 15 won't fix. Put the light assembly back in, and went to work on the back. Removed both tail lights, as well as the center light, and grinded down the rust spots. Same case as the front, light pitting, but smooth to the touch. The reason for rust around the lights, is because ford decided to use a porous "cushion" on top of the light assemblies. No idea why, but they did. Well, after X amount of years, it becomes soaked with water.....and it just sits there....you can guess the rest.

Looking good. Although it took me 30 minutes to get one of the hubcaps back on....pain in my butt, I swear...

ah who needs hubcaps a nice, classy set of 16's would bring it out nice

Well william I'm glad to see things are coming along nicely... I'm not a big car guy as you know but I can't wait to see the finished product! It's not the vehical it's the passion that I appreciate!

Good luck

Those hub cups are a B****

I actually like those hubcaps. They are my favorite on the 1977-1979 model series. They are just a pain to get on sometimes

hub cups LOL

and i'm with bryan.. not a big car guy but can't wait to see how she turns out

when i said those i mean all hubcaps lol

This is a '76 with the old style grille and no opera windows, but you get the idea.






I'm aiming for that.

i know, just breaking your lug nuts lol

i never understood what people saw in the giant cars like that.. not breaking balls at all, what you like is what you like.. but i'd be interested in hearing what attracts you to the 'big' cars?

Do u have the head light covers? I think big cars are jus awesome. Long wheel base for cruisin. Things ride smooth.

Yeah I'm with chris here... What exactly is it that you love so much about these long cars? Probably the same as us though Chris we can't truely explain why we just do!! lol