A giant 1966 Mercury stands out

at the Promenade on the Peninsula

Coffee & Cars show 

On Saturday June 16, Pelican Parts hosted a Coffee & Cars show on the top deck of the parking garage at the Promenade on the Peninsula in Rolling Hills Estates, California.


At over 18 feet long, the beautiful unrestored 1966 Mercury Park Lane Marauder 2-door fast back hardtop was one of the few domestic cars and easily the largest car at   the show.

Ford first introduced the "Parklane" nameplate as a two-door station wagon in 1956, and although it outsold the Chevrolet Nomad two-to-one, Ford discontinued the name plate after just one year.

In 1958, the "Park Lane" nameplate re-emerged as the premium model in the  Mercury line as a two or four-door hardtop or a two-door convertible, but once again the nameplate was killed off after the 1960 model year.

The "Park Lane" model designation came to life for the third time in 1964, again as the highest Mercury brand trim level. The entire Mercury line was redesigned in 1965 with the signature wide, flat front grille and quad headlights  as seen on this example which emphasizes the width of the car- over 6-1/2 feet.   

Sadly the "Park Lane" nameplate was killed off  yet again at the end of the 1968 model year, but even out of production, a black 1968 four-door Park Lane Brougham hardtop served as Detective Captain Steve McGarrett's car on the classic CBS television crime show Hawaii Five-O for the first seven seasons. 

This 1966 two- door fastback hardtop has a curb weight of over two tons but thanks to its 410-cubic inch 330-horsepower engine and the Merc-o-matic automatic transmission, when new this car could accelerate from a standing start to 60 miles per hour in 8.2 seconds.  

This beautiful unrestored car one of less than 8,500 built in 1966 with worn paint appeared stock aside from its unusual "kidney bean" aftermarket wheels which have "Avanti" center caps.

Photos by the author. 

2018 Lincoln Navigator overview

 

 

The Lincoln Motor Company was founded in 1917 by Henry M. Leland who had earlier created the Cadillac nameplate as his part of the reorganization of the Henry Ford Company, which was Ford’s second company. Leland sold Cadillac to the General Motors Company in 1909 but remained there as an executive until he had a dispute with W.C. Durant and left in 1917.  

Leland named his new company after the 16th President Abraham Lincoln, whom Leland claimed he voted for in the 1860 presidential election, although Leland was only 17.  Lincoln assembled Liberty V-12 aircraft engines during World War 1 as well as a luxury automobile, the V-8 powered Model L. After falling on tough times in the post war period in 1922 Lincoln entered receivership and its assets were bought by the Ford Motor Company and the Model L became the basis of Ford’s luxury line.

 

The first Lincoln logo - a greyhound dog - appeared as a radiator mascot in 1927 to symbolize speed, stamina, and grace. The 1956 and 1957 Continental Mark II are believed to be the first cars branded with the “Lincoln Star” to reflect the brand’s opulence and radiance. The Lincoln Star’s shape has been incorporated in Lincoln styling ever since Lincoln and Continental were combined after the 1957 model year.   

 

 

The 2018 Lincoln Navigator was the centerpiece of the Lincoln display at the 2018 Silicon Valley Auto Show, in a separate area delineated by screens that incorporated the Lincoln star design.

 

The 17-1/2 foot long Navigator is powered by a 3.5 liter (214 cubic inch) V-6 twin-turbocharged engine that develops 450 horsepower and 500 foot/pounds of torque on 93 octane fuel connected to a 10-speed automatic gearbox and an all-wheel-drive system with an electronically locking rear differential. According to the manufacturer that power will propel the nearly three-ton Navigator from a dead stop to 60 miles per hour in 6.0 seconds.

note the multiple incorporation of the Lincoln Star

in the 2018 Lincoln Navigator's grille

The manufacturer’s suggested base price for the 2-wheel drive Premiere edition is $72,055, while the Select edition is $4,000 more.  The next step up at $81,400 is the Reserve edition which includes 22-inch wheels and a Panoramic Vista Roof® and finally there is the top of the line Black Label® (which brings together premium level service and a unique collection of interior themes and membership privileges) for $93,705 before options and destination charges.   

Check out the 2018 Lincoln Navigator online at https://www.lincoln.com/luxury-suvs/navigator/

all photos by the author

Hot Rod Lincoln at SEMA 

As a teenager in the nineteen seventies the author loved Commander Cody’s version of the song “Hot Rod Lincoln” but when my father heard the song he would say that in his youth he had owned a 1941 V-12 Lincoln Zephyr which was a “dog” when it came to performance. The truth was the 292-cubic inch Lincoln V-12 flathead engines only developed a little over 110 horsepower and were notoriously unreliable.

Pat Reisinger of Reisinger Custom Rebuilding LLC of Evansville Indiana loved the idea of a “Hot Rod Lincoln” but he decided to send his 1947 306-cubic inch V-12 flathead engine to H& H Flatheads to add power. H&H in La Cresenta California added Ken Austin aluminum cylinder heads and a supercharger topped by four Stromberg 97 carburetors that brought the engine to life with 295 horsepower.

 

Now with the engine making good power, Pat built the car as he started with a Brookville Roadsters 1931 Model A 5-window body mounted on 1932 Ford rails with a Winters quick-change rear end and dropped I-beam front end. The period look is finished off with steel wheels with Lincoln V-12 hubcaps.

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Reisinger’s creation which he calls “V Doce” (Doce is Spanish for twelve) was on display in the NSRA (National Street Rod Association) booth at the 2017 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show.

All photos by the author

deTomaso Pantera by Ghia

 imported by Lincoln-Mercury

 

In September 1969 Ford Motor Company signed an agreement with Italian auto manufacturer Alejandro deTomaso to build a high-volume wedge shaped mid-engine budget supercar, the Pantera (panther in Italian) for the United States market.

Ford knew there would be a limited window of sales for this car as the Tom Tjaarda design would not meet 1975 United States crash standards, but Ford anticipated selling 5000 Panteras a year in the United States at $10,925.00 each through Lincoln-Mercury dealers. At that time a Ferrari sold for $25,000, so Ford was selling a supercar at a bargain price.  

The first Pantera, a yellow car shown at the 1970 Los Angeles Auto Show was actually a European market car with push button doors and was later photographed for the initial Pantera brochures. The Pantera was powered by a Ford 351 cubic inch V-8 fitted with a four barrel carburetor that produced 310 horsepower.

 

click to enlarge

 

The mid-mounted engine fed the power to the independently suspended rear end through a ZF five-speed transmission. With a curb weight of 3123 pounds the Pantera accelerated from a standing start to 60 miles per hour (MPH) in 5.5 seconds and covered the quarter mile in 14 seconds.
 

The Pantera was a hand-built Italian supercar with four wheel power disc brakes and four-wheel independent suspension and cast magnesium  wheels  but being hand built, the cars had some problems. The author recalls making a trip with his father in 1971 as a thirteen year old to a Lincoln-Mercury dealer in Fort Wayne Indiana to look at a Pantera.
 

Upon arrival, the dealer’s salesman was unfamiliar with the car and had no brochures. The dealership’s single medium blue example was not on the showroom floor, but rather was in the service department. The salesman admitted the car wouldn’t run and was in the shop to diagnosis an apparent electrical problem.

My father and I were left alone to wander back into the empty dealership service area to look at the car and were shocked at the poor build quality in the interior and exterior panel fitment. Panteras were notoriously unreliable, with engine cooling issues as well as an inadequate cockpit ventilation system. My father bought a Lincoln Mark III instead (as if he was going to buy anything else).   

Several celebrities owned Panteras. Elvis Presley bought a yellow Pantera for one of his girlfriends, and when it wouldn’t start the enraged star shot the steering wheel, after which the car reportedly started. Playboy Enterprises bought a white 1972 Pantera, had it stripped and painted pink and gave the car to 1972 Playmate of the year Liv Lindeland. In 1974 Canadian hockey star and restaurateur Tim Horton died after he crashed his 1972 white Pantera at over 110 MPH and  was ejected. A later investigation revealed that Horton's blood alcohol was twice the legal limit.   

 

 

click to enlarge

 

The early Panteras were equipped with attractive thin chrome bumperettes, but by 1973 to meet the new US crash standards, the Pantera Lusso (“L”)  as the example seen at the “Autos of Alamo” car show was equipped with energy-absorbing reinforced steel rubber bumpers which were certainly more attractive than some cars’ added safety bumpers.   

 

At the end of the 1974 model year, as planned Lincoln-Mercury dropped the Pantera line with a  documented total of only 5262 cars sold, far short of the planned 5,000 a year. Many of the surviving Panteras have been modified as the one seen at Alamo which has a non-original pant color and  is fitted larger diameter wheels which are similar to the original Campagnolo design in addition to obvious engine upgrades.

 

The 1973 Pantera had a redesigned instrument cluster with optional wood grain – the original Pantera featured a “twin pod” design

 

All photographs by the author