I picked this up today. It's a 1991 Lincoln Mark VII LSC. The car is in great shape mechanically and has 152,000 miles. The only things that don't work are the driver's door lock, the driver's window regulator, and the trip minder. It holds air in all the springs. I bought it with the rear springs not full and the rear end dragging. It wasn't getting air to the rear and I found it was only because the rear level sensor got unhooked some how. I plugged it back in and the rear went right back up and holds air. The paint is ok, the roof and trunk lid are starting to craze a bit and it has some rust on the bottom of the fenders and rockers but nothing I can't fix in the spring. It's dirty and needs a good cleaning. It's not going to stay in the garage, that's for the Thunderbird and Mustang. I just put in there to get some pictures as it's dark out.
Here's the best part: because the owner thought the rear air suspension was shot I got it for $800. Edmunds and KBB both say it's worth between $1500 and $1800. Score :D
Interior stuff.
Nice score Lou!!
Nice score! now ditch the Teeves unit asap........... you're gonna hate it......
I expect the engine bay of that to look like the birds tomorow.
Looks good lou
Very cool
yeah! what he said!!!! lol I was thinking the same thing last night when I saw this thread :P
Yeah the engine bay might take awhile, a long while :hick:. It's got 21 years a dirt, oil, and other in there. Hell the T-birds engine bay wasn't that dirty when I bought it.
So far the brakes are fine. If/when the Teeves unit poops out I'll think about ditching it.
Right now the goals are to fix the door lock, clean the forest of leaves out of the interior and clean and vacuum it, and finally take it to a power wash and scrub the hell out of the exterior. I may also have to check the window washer pump as I'm not sure if it's working.
Good score...
I love the Teves system on my TC, saved my arse at least once...
Very cool, I alway dug the Mark VII's
Nice score on the Lincoln.
So what is this going to be her winter car? That's the only missing piece right? lol
Yeah:hick:
At least for this winter she's going to drive the Focus and I'll be driving the Mark. If I decide I like the ol' Lincoln I'll have to find a real beater next fall:mullet:. I've wanted a old station wagon for awhile. Maybe I'll buy one next year. Because I have issues. Lots of issues.
Also the window washer works. It helps to have washer fluid in it when you try to use the pump.....
Nice. Next you'll be looking for some more space or a relative or friend will say "baaaahh just throw it over there next to the ____ at my place" or whatever. Doesn't matter what the deal is, if you can make it work you can make it work. :)
Engine bay shows the car's age but it presents well so if it doesn't need much to be a NICE car, can't blame you at all for wanting to preserve it. Less than a grand for one of those and it's not already destroyed...I'm with ya 100%.
You know I actually like driving this around more than my Focus. Is that bad? It rides and drives like the Thunderbird, with less power and more giggle from the worn shocks:mullet:. I ended up with this after 4 hours of interior cleaning (it looks like someone had a coffee fight inside the car, this is what happens when grandparents let teenagers and their friends borrow cars) and a trip to the power wash bay. It looks ok but definitely needs a paint job. The clear coat is hazy all over the top of the car. I think that when I washed the Mark it's the first time it's been washed in years, as I blew a ton of dirt out from every crevice on the car.
Exterior. Still not bad for $800 considering it's hard to get a barely running car around here for less than $1000:D.
Not bad at all!
I've been idly scanning CL for a decent one, most of what I've seen for a grand are far worse than yours.
I WILL have one soon. Or another 9th gen F truck. Probably leaning towards the truck, although seeing your Mark has got me wanting one in a bad way all over again....thanks for nothin' lol.
Looks like you might have to build another garage lol. Enclosed driveway, perhaps ;)
The Mark is not in that bad of shape, at least for cars around here. It' just that I can go to the garage and see a 25 year old car that looks to be maybe 2 years old. It kinda of warps my perspective on older cars. I tend to think they're all in the shape my T-bird is in, which just isn't the case. For a 21 year old car the Mark is pretty decent. Even though it's got some cosmetic rust on the lower fenders and rockers the floor pans and under body are CLEAN with no rot. That's why I think I may fix it up at some point.
Yeah, I can see the rust coming through on the fender. If the floors have paint on most of it and there aren't any holes or holes-to-be, that's pretty good for this latitude. The thing obviously didn't come out when snow was on the ground. That's "steal" territory as far as I'm concerned. It cleaned up great, those seats look comfy, and the interior is just very handsome overall. Plus a moonroof! :) I loooooooove my 20th's moonroof in the summer. I'm not a convertible person, I don't think I'll EVER own one. The moonroof and windows open is plenty.
I really need to get a picture of the floors. They are almost as clean as the T-birds. I kid you not. The car was mostly in a garage before I bought it and it had been sitting for the past 5 years. I do really like the seats. I'm tempted to go out and find a set of LSC seats and have them recovered in the leather that matches the T-birds interior and stick them in the T-bird. But then the T-bird wouldn't look original......and I spent a bunch of money a few years ago having the leather redone on the T-birds front seats:hick:.
The moon roof doesn't work on the Mark right now. It doesn't leak and that's the most important thing.
Yeah don't even TOUCH that haha. I know that would be my attitude. Most of the time, especially in the cold, I'm happy just to have the sun shining through. And they're pretty big moonroofs too.
Don't change the tbirds' seats! LOL I'm sure the mark's are nice but those grey seats are the flat kind, the same style as my 20th. Now don't get me wrong, my black XR7's are nice because of the very soft fine cloth they're made out of, but I prefer a flat seat you sink into, to a bolstered-racing-keep-you-in-place seat. The 20th is almost as comfortable as my Crown Vic seats :hick: And of course as you know, I cannot be considered objective because I also much prefer the Vic's "overboosted granny steering" to quote your own observation :P
I'm not going to touch the sunroof. Right now no leaks > open sunroof :hick:.
I'll leave the seats in the Thunderbird alone. I like them too much. They are like a comfy recliner. No matter how long I sit in them I never get tired.
The T-bird has the "sport" 15:1 rack in it. It feels much firmer than the Marks (which I'm thinking has a 20:1 rack or the most overboosted steering ever) and has more road feel. You can turn the Mark with your pinky finger, just like little old ladies like it. After my girlfriend drove the Mark she said "for such a masculine looking car I'm surprised that it has little old lady steering."
Your LSC shouldn't have little old lady steering. I wonder if your car has had a Bill Blass rack swapped in.
I know it feels lighter than the steering in the T-bird. Perhaps it just has more assist?
For Zonda here's a shot of the underside. It's really clean, which Is why I'm thinking I might keep the Mark for awhile.
That has to be the nicest $800 car I've ever seen.
If you're thinking of replacing the seats, keep a lookout for some 1st gen LSC seats with the thigh bolsters and larger headrests. Most people who have tried both prefer them.
I'll probably just get the worn panels on the seats replaced vs changing them out.
Good news, the sunroof works! It helps if you, you know, hit the on button. The car has the dealer installed ASC sunroof as opposed to the factory one.
I really got a deal on this Mark. It should have gone for a bunch more but the guy just wanted it gone. It's one of those right place, right time deals.
Time to find another beater, eh? lol
(I can store that Mark for ya. He he he.)
That looks awesome. Just as clean as my Crown Vic when I bought that for the same price. It's why I started out and have continued spraying WD-40 (and now a mix of that and Lucas) all under there every late fall. And with a 360 degree "orb" mister wand end of a rustproofing gun, I fog the inside of the actual frame too. That and persistent washing with warm water in the driveway, as opposed to a Calicompiat (haha) disintegrating in 4 years, in 4 years nothing has changed at all.
I think I'll keep it at home ;)
Well It's warm out right now so I'll pick up a couple of cans of WD-40 and go to town.....then pick up a real beater next winter:hick:.
I mean yeah it's a HELL of a mess...I put down lots of newspaper, cardboard, drip pans....do one area at a time, let it drip/"cure" it's kinda silly and time-consuming but I do it because it has worked so well. Especially with the Lucas mixed in...The Vic's floorpan is highest right underneath the rear seat, it looks like. Before I did this year's dosage, I looked and I even saw a couple almost-drops of liquid dangling from the surface, it was still wet. Obviously much less splash gets up there, but I was impressed just how long it clings on there for. And of course, touching anything under there for any work results in instant true "grease-monkey" status, but it is 100% worth knowing that I am beating the odds and keeping an undercarriage preserved in not the worst, but up there on the list of terrible salt winter environments.
Now, when the day comes that I have my own garage lift or can use a friend's, I'm spending $80 on mossmotors.com and getting a 5L tin of Waxoyl, so I can do the same with that but end up with a dry candlewax-like coating that is as good if not better at sealing everything, and less disgusting. But 4 years ago I looked at the problem and said to myself "there has GOT to be a way for me to beat salt". I don't like to take no for an answer, do I? :rollin:
Nice find!
Love those cars.
We bought one about 2 years ago that looks exactly like yours (except blue interior).
It was so full of rust holes around the rear window we had to junk it.
The engine and tranny went into my son's 81 Fairmont Futura.
I wish we could have kept the car. It only had 70k miles!
Got it from an elderly couple for 500 bux.
I got a replacement Trip Minder at the junk yard today. It was out of a 92 Mark VII Bill Blass. The Trip Minder had a factory warranty sticker with a March 1999 Ford warranty sticker over it. My guess is that the Trip Minder I found was a factory replacement for a failed unit. It's nice to finally have my Temperature display in English units :hick:. When the Trip Minders fail they default to Celcius, which the one in the car did.
Very nice find! And for that price, wow! I've always lusted after the LSC's myself, very nice cars.There's a guy around here that has 2 of them that he races, they're fast! I don't know what all he's done but they really move out.
He must have done something to them. I used to think my Thunderbird was heavy at 3700+lbs with a driver. The Mark is about 200lbs heavier. It's a nice car though. I've just got a bunch of work to it to make it as nice as the Thunderbird.
I don't know what he's done but they're defenately modified. I'm sure you'll get it done. Heck just the clean up made a difference.
I got some more fun stuff for the Mark at the junk yard Monday (the day before we got 10" of snow :hick:). GT40 intake with internal EGR and a spare set of HO valve covers. A little over $100 out the door at the local Pick-And-Pull. I'll chuck the 65mm TB from the Thunderbird on (it now has a 70mm TB) and hopefully get about 20 extra HP out of the Mark. I wish I would have held onto the GT40Ps from the Thunderbird a bit longer. I sold them literally two weeks before I bought the Mark. They would have come in handy. I could have grabbed the GT40s off of the Explorer I got the intake from but at $120 for a pair of junk yard heads plus the 300+ it's going to cost for springs and a valve job it wasn't worth it.
Turns out cylinder heads are $40 a piece for iron heads without cams (GT40 or GT40P fall into that category). So it would be $80 for a set of GT40s at the yard. I wonder if I could get away with machining and springs for $300 total. Hmm.
Stupid me should have kept those GT40Ps I had. They were sitting in my garage for 6 months before I sold them. I would have had a use for them two weeks after I sold them :hick:.
$40 each!!!???? That's stupid cheap. Granted the values really seem to have gone down, not long ago I picked up an entire Explorer motor, sans accessory drive, for $275.
Stupid cheap till you factor in springs, seals, retainers, and keepers. Then a valve job and clean up. Before you know it I've got $500 stock GT40s :hick:.
I told myself I wouldn't mod the Mark. Yeah it looks like I can't leave anything with a 302 alone for long.......
I'd bolt 'em the hell on with the valve components already on my car lol!!. Actually the red car I'm pretty sure I have twice recycled the *original* S.O. 5.0 springs it originally had when I put the H.O. top end in. Valve job...I guess I'd do that if I ported the heads. I'd suggest it to my friend's GF for her heads but she doesn't have much to spend on her mustang right now. All I know is with the H.O. setup and an explorer upper/lower intake, the red car has seen mannnnnny steady 6250 rpm limiter sessions while peeling out (at the hands of someone else most of those times, but that's another story) and it's been great. I have read in more than one place that allegedly the P heads only, have springs that are not stiff enough for a mustang H.O. cam. Not sure on non P heads. Naturally an F3ZE or similar from a 93-95 Cobra/Lightning I'd sure hope would have good springs :hick:
I'm definitely not trying to take merit away from proper checking and prepping of components...like you said it adds up quick so if I was going to spend that much money, I'd get nicer heads or buy ones that have all that work done and port work to boot. If I'm going down the cheap route, that means CHEAP, so if it blows up or runs like garbage.......oops :hick:
Really I should probably just skip the iron GT40s and go straight to aluminum heads. I know how it will run based on how the Thunderbird was, which means after a year or two I'll want MORAH POWAH1!1!1!
If I still had those GT40Ps I'd probably think they were enough, being that free always wins ;).
I looked through the thread again, I keep forgetting that those tiny holes in the fenders and what's seen in the engine bay is all you have for rust, and that this is NOT something to drive into the ground in the winter. Still can't believe that for the price and for your area. You might as well save up and do the best heads you can, as you just said. Another nice cruiser, so you want it to.....cruise :D
Yeah the Mark is pretty solid. The passenger fender needs to be replaced as it also has a hole at the bottom near the rocker. The rockers and doors are solid. The door bottoms are as good as the ones on my Thunderbird. It's surprising that they are as solid as they are. Under hood rust is confined to the A/C lines, brackets, and bolts so it's easy to get rid of. The only structural rust I could find was some scale on the outside of the shock towers (in the fender area) I poked the bejeses out of it with a screwdriver before I bought the car and it's solid so it's just surface scale. The paint looks ok in the photos and from 25 feet away but it's trashed. It was resprayed at some point and the person did a py job. It's faded over time so the metal flake is splochy in spots. It needs to be done again. Plans for the summer are to patch up the passenger fender (fiberglass FTW1!1!) till I get a replacement and the car painted. I'm also going to clean the scale on the shock towers and coat it in Eastwood rust converter, primer, and paint.
The list of summer work includes:
1. Remove rust from fender/shock tower and paint.
2. Fix driver's window (it's stuck in the up position as the motor is burned out :hick:).
3. Replace pads and rotors as they are kinda on their last legs.
4. Clean under hood and detail it. Probably not up to Thunderbird standards yet ;).
5. Tune up, plugs, wires, filters.
6. Replace coolant, hoses, thermostat, and water pump. The coolant in the radiator is still kinda green, the coolant in the overflow is brown and nasty, probably because no one ever changes it. The Thunderbird was like that too when I got it. The overflow is hard to remove and drain so it gets skipped by mechanics.
7. Refinish wheels and replace tires.
That should take most of the summer. For next winter I'm trying to find a GM A body (Century/Ciera) wagon or a sedan with a 3.3 V6. I kinda want a wagon to haul stuff home from Homedepot/Menards/car parts from the junk yard :hick:. I had a 93 Century sedan with a 3.3 in college and liked it. It was a pretty quick little car. I used to beat the out of Civics with it :rollin:.
Today I swapped on the 88-89 wheels and tires I bought, washed, compounded, polished, and waxed the exterior, polished the headlights and detailed the interior. A couple of weeks ago I repainted the door moldings and the lower charcoal area. I'm $300 extra into an $800 car. Doesn't look bad eh?
(http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa33/thunderjet302/Mark%20VII/DSCN3382_zpsa13ccc5d.jpg) (http://s198.photobucket.com/user/thunderjet302/media/Mark%20VII/DSCN3382_zpsa13ccc5d.jpg.html)
(http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa33/thunderjet302/Mark%20VII/DSCN3383_zps8ac30d36.jpg) (http://s198.photobucket.com/user/thunderjet302/media/Mark%20VII/DSCN3383_zps8ac30d36.jpg.html)
(http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa33/thunderjet302/Mark%20VII/DSCN3384_zps11c1d911.jpg) (http://s198.photobucket.com/user/thunderjet302/media/Mark%20VII/DSCN3384_zps11c1d911.jpg.html)
(http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa33/thunderjet302/Mark%20VII/DSCN3385_zpse6e2d519.jpg) (http://s198.photobucket.com/user/thunderjet302/media/Mark%20VII/DSCN3385_zpse6e2d519.jpg.html)
(http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa33/thunderjet302/Mark%20VII/DSCN3386_zps37084b38.jpg) (http://s198.photobucket.com/user/thunderjet302/media/Mark%20VII/DSCN3386_zps37084b38.jpg.html)
(http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa33/thunderjet302/Mark%20VII/DSCN3387_zpsbbd07cb9.jpg) (http://s198.photobucket.com/user/thunderjet302/media/Mark%20VII/DSCN3387_zpsbbd07cb9.jpg.html)
(http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa33/thunderjet302/Mark%20VII/DSCN3388_zpsbfc8d1ce.jpg) (http://s198.photobucket.com/user/thunderjet302/media/Mark%20VII/DSCN3388_zpsbfc8d1ce.jpg.html)
(http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa33/thunderjet302/Mark%20VII/DSCN3389_zps67403db8.jpg) (http://s198.photobucket.com/user/thunderjet302/media/Mark%20VII/DSCN3389_zps67403db8.jpg.html)
(http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa33/thunderjet302/Mark%20VII/DSCN3390_zps20321689.jpg) (http://s198.photobucket.com/user/thunderjet302/media/Mark%20VII/DSCN3390_zps20321689.jpg.html)
Unfortunately after all that polishing work the paint still looks like . It's hazy as hell under the clear coat. Oh well it's old.
(http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa33/thunderjet302/Mark%20VII/DSCN3395_zpsa906eee5.jpg) (http://s198.photobucket.com/user/thunderjet302/media/Mark%20VII/DSCN3395_zpsa906eee5.jpg.html)
don't look to bad man ....nice !
I like that..........a lot. I need one of those so I can put the Sport away after it's done.
It doesn't look bad in the pictures but the paint is shot. The clear coat buffs out nicely but the color coat underneath is bad. The metal flake in the paint is almost gone in spots and it's faded. It's more than likely sun damage and not having been waxed for years that caused the base coat to fade bad. I managed to buff most of the scratches out of the clear coat and it shines up pretty good. If they base coat wasn't so faded it would actually look pretty good.
Well in case anyone is wondering what happened to my Mark VII, well, I sold it. A guy local to me bought it. He has a red 1990 Mark VII LSC SE so my old Mark is his second Mark. It's in good hands and should continue running for awhile :)