The following is a short story documenting what three members (and their friends) had to do when they embarked on
an adventure in demolition:
The picture you see to the right is the latest acquisition for Dan, Doug, and Mitch, three intrepid '66 Lincoln owners in search
of a few replacement and spare parts for their venerable classics. Purchased for an undisclosed amount from the family of a
recently deceased club member, this car was in pathetic shape. It had been sitting outside for two years or more with nothing
more than a plastic tarp protecting the convertible top from the elements. It was musty inside and no attempt was made to start
her (We found out later that it was good we didn't try).
Her tires were flat, however three of the four did hold air when we attempted to pump them up. Her engine bay was as rusty as could
be, but the interior was mostly complete. We had a lot of work ahead of us.
Since we knew better than to attempt driving this derelict, our safest option was to have it towed away on a flatbed. Doug
arranged with a friend to have a truck do the dirty work. The driver was very skilled and quickly had the oxidized beast upon
the back of the flatbed and we were soon on our way across town.
The trip was happily uneventful as neither the tarp nor the car was blown off the the back of the flatbed. It traveled
30 miles across town to the vacant side of Doug's garage. The driver was careful not to exceed 60 miles per hour because we
passed it twice as our personal pace cars dogged the tow truck driver. When the driver made an unexpected u-turn on Telegraph, we
surmised he was stopping to get a morning coffee, since it was only 10:30AM on an overcast Saturday morning. We stopped to consolidate
into one car at Dan's house and later caught up to the truck again on I-696, the main freeway to Doug's place. We arrived at Doug's
well in advance of our prize and got to witness the expertise as the driver carefully, but handily lowered the disabled hulk right into
its temporary resting place in the garage.
We
started tear down later that night.
We pried the trunk open enough to disconnect the hydraulic lines and raise the deck to it's
fully open position. The three of us each had a list of needs and wants of parts from this car and luckily, there was little overlap
and no bickering over who would get what. With impact tools, battery-operated screwdrivers, a couple hammers, and an air chisel, we began
removing what we needed and what we felt was worth saving. Now we know what Baker's and other Lincoln parts shops do every day with
old scrap heaps they encounter. This car was not saveable in any way. Her floor boards were rusted completely through and her engine was
siezed. Four of the eight pushrods removed from the right cylinder bank were bent into subtle "L"s, "7"s and "S"s. When she died, she died
hard.
The teardown took seven days of hard work. We fought with rusted bolts, stripped bolt heads, gouged screws, frozen nuts, limited
access, and just plain difficult to remove parts. Grease, rust, and oil made simple removal less than trivial. Luckily,
and unlike ones pristine classicm, we were only disassembling. We did not have to worry about reassembly. If a bracket wouldn't budge,
we bent it out of the way. When one last screw refused to let the trim go, we cut out an area of the fender around it to get it off.
We removed the entire instrument panel and dashboard, the right exhaust manifold, the carbueretor,
all the relays for the rear windows and converible top (even the two buried in each B-Pillar), the window and vent motors, the side and rear
glass, the headlight assemblies and grille, all the turn signal and taillights, and parts of the rear bumper.
Small parts were abundant. Many screws, bolts, and fasteners were saved because of their uniqueness and rarity. Brackets that are old and rusty can be easily rejuvinated by sandblasting and repainting. Some items were like new. The stainless trim looked as good as that from any show car with the exception of typical minor dings and dents. The leather seats were in a very good, but slightly worn condition. The chrome bumers were fairly pitted, but end-caps without dents were saved for replating or replacement of worse-off and dented equivalents. All in all, we felt we got our money's worth.
Reprinted with permission