kishy's 1988 Town Car

[kishy]

Uhhh...yeah. Guess I did it again. Probably need someone to administer my finances for me.

In October 2020, my friend (the one who drives a tow truck for a junkyard, who towed and bought and subsequently sold to me the '86) sent me this photo:


(big: https://i.imgur.com/xIybKu3.jpg)

He was driving the work truck with a scrap car on the back, and just happened upon this crash right after it happened. The other involved vehicle is not shown.

As we all know, and as I discussed with him at the time, although this damage is repairable, it is certainly over the threshold to total even a clean one of these cars. My mind immediately went to parts, because as a well-optioned car (it visibly is, even from that photo), it probably has a decent rear end ratio, the interior is visibly a rare colour of leather, and the dash doesn't appear to be cracked. Lots of goodies on this one.

My friend, being in the industry he is, tried to ask around about the status of this car. He was able to verify that the owner was trying to get it repaired, but we didn't know anything else.

During the winter, it popped up outside a collision shop that neighbours my other friend's machine shop, where I often do work on my projects. My friend who owns the machine shop then spoke with the collision shop, and put the owner in touch with me.

Story is, the car belonged to his brother. When his brother passed away, the car was left to the owner (the guy I was speaking with). It was an American car, reasonably low mileage, garage kept, not winter driven (I think it did see some winter use, but I'd believe it wasn't often). I discussed that I have several of these cars and could make him a deal where he ends up with a roadworthy similar car, but he had no specific attachment to the type of style of car, he just liked this one because it had been left to him by his brother. The odometer shows 12,235 miles, presumably 112k miles.

The collision shop was unable to source the panels to repair the car. The only donor vehicle accessible to them is actually one I've seen and posted in my junkyard thread, a 1980 that is in extremely poor condition with excessive rust, including on the required panels. All parties involved decided it wasn't feasible to repair the car, however, it did not get branded (e.g. it is not salvage titled).

The car has a recently rebuilt transmission, done by a reputable local transmission shop. There is no documentation available to support this, but I believe him.
The car has decent condition exhaust for its whole length.
The engine runs well.
The interior is very nice.
It has a "5", 3.27:1 open rear end.
He claims brakes all around have been recently worked on (extent not verified or discussed).
It runs, drives, and stops, although the tire is in contact with the body in the damaged area.
I threw him an offer of $800, thinking of it as a parts car that could then be resold as a derby car (or even try building a derby car myself). He didn't like $800 but said he'd get back to me. We ended up at $1100, more than I liked for it, but ultimately there's a lot of car here, and I don't think I need to try hard to convince you folks that I can easily get $1100 of value out of it.

My friend who owns the machine shop looked at this with me thoroughly and encouraged me to try to fix it. I believe I will be able to source the body section and door needed to fix this car, maybe not to perfection, but enough to be a daily driver. The frame is still where it belongs and the axle isn't bent. The body in the affected area is very complex, but it should be fixable. And if at the end of the day repair isn't feasible, the original plan of raiding it for parts and then smashing it is still an option. We picked the car up today (well, now yesterday).

The car is going to live at my friend's place until we can get over to Detroit junkyards to scope out repair part donors. At this point, it is unlikely that anything can happen in 2021, as the border remains closed to regular travel and the case counts in the US make it unlikely for that to change soon.

If this car gets fixed and becomes a daily, I will probably sell my 91 MGM and 84 TC (provided I don't move and have access to enough land to make redundancy not matter). This 88 combines the elements of both of those cars that I like, the reasons that I keep them both, and will do a better job of being both of those cars while only being a single car.














Note the typical and severe rust at the base of the quarter panel. Although this often is contributed to from inside by water entry, I do believe this saw salt which contributed as well. Not to mention the aluminum bumper.

[slack]

Nice save! Looks like it was a really clean car before the hit. Great to see the frame and rear end weren't tweaked in that crash. Looking forward to seeing the progress of this one getting fixed (or whatever happens to it)!

[87gtVIC]

Shes a looking thats for sure. Good luck.

[gadget73]

Is that silver with black interior? can't quite tell, some pics it looks like that rosy pink-silver, others its more of a champagne color on the outside and interior looks either dark blue or black depending on the lighting.

anyway looks in nice shape other than the obvious problem area. Good that the frame isn't affected too.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Good luck on the future endeavors with that car. If you do opt to do the repair work, I wonder how annoying getting a whole quarter panel graft will be on the C-pillar alignment given how that gash just pulled so much in. Almost wonder if it would be worth doing a rough pull on the damaged panel to get some of the underlying bits straighter again before invasive panel cutting.

Sucks the previous owner got klink-klonked on essentially the worst part of the car regarding body work since there's no simple bolt on solution.

[kishy]

I would call it something like pewter with a hint of warmth to it. The interior is a very dark blue, but initially seems black until you look closer.

The plan is to try to pull the existing mess out to where it belongs and go from there. If it can somehow be gotten to the point that only the outer body skin is getting swapped, that will significantly simplify the job. The rag top is damaged but if possible is going to remain unreplaced and be worried about in the future as a separate project.

A complete door will be easy and cheap to get. The whole thing might be fixable to my standards for about 100 USD in parts, but obviously the effort investment will be many hours, and tool purchases.

In a strange future alternative reality, imagine this car with the big bumpers (front and rear) and concealed headlamps off my 84. The bastardization options are impressive.

[gadget73]

here I was thinking I finally got you away from those damn calf-catcher bumpers into something that fits the body correctly.

[Mainemantom]

I found nos quarter panel skin in Connecticut. Part # E5Vy5427841A. $495 you have to pick up.
It looks like you will need a complete door and quarter up to 1/2 the sail panel. The axle and wheel might be bent too.
You want to stay with a Signature model for a parts donor.

[kishy]

here I was thinking I finally got you away from those damn calf-catcher bumpers into something that fits the body correctly.

Remember this?



IMHO, it looks substantially better with the big ones (if only that guy had left the C-pillars alone). But, my friend is encouraging me to just fix it and not mess around with it beyond that as it's a really, genuinely nice car. And I can't disagree with that.

I found nos quarter panel skin in Connecticut. Part # E5Vy5427841A. $495 you have to pick up.
It looks like you will need a complete door and quarter up to 1/2 the sail panel. The axle and wheel might be bent too.
You want to stay with a Signature model for a parts donor.

That is appreciated but substantially pricier than a local option, and I do know one will come up. I have seen and pulled things from clean enough cars to have donated the required pieces, so more will come along yet.

I don't see why the trim level will matter; of course the lower bodyside brightwork will need to be present but just for clean steel parts, any trim level could give those.

[slack]

here I was thinking I finally got you away from those damn calf-catcher bumpers into something that fits the body correctly.

I'm a fan of the "calf catchers". I think the mod with the bumpers and hide away headlamps would be cool.

[DerekTheGreat]

I'm a fan of the calf catchers now too, and that's coming from a guy who hated them and who owns an '88.

kishy, I'd say just swap the 302 SEFI engine into your car if that's the thing you like about the '91 and would want to integrate into your '84. I haven't seen the '84 in years but it was a really nice car and you've done a lot to it. You'll have more money in bump & paint work than that car deserves. Makes more sense given the invasive surgery the '88 would need vs the '84 already being fabulous and with the Valino top. The canvas thing is meh. Ash's '89 had that and yeah, meh.

[gadget73]

you people are all entitled to your wrong opinions Next thing you know you'll cease acknowledging that the waffle grille is the superior one.


oversize bumpers make me think of 70s cars, and almost nothing was made between about 1972 and 1979 that I'd actually want to own.

[kishy]

Derek, as far as elements of each car that this can take the place of:

91: the Haartz Cambria roof (give me this, or give me full steel, but half vinyl is stupid), the "semi aero" front and rear treatments (minus the bumpers...), leather, and intact paint and clearcoat.

84: the longer Lincoln body, and the various Lincoln-isms and party tricks, like the auto-dimming high beams.

My 84 is a roadworthy car but it is not a clean car, and while I do enjoy it a lot, I think I'd see no reason to keep it if this car pans out. But we'll see. My biggest hangup on selling these cars is the knowledge that they will likely hit the derby, and I'm not cool with that.

[DerekTheGreat]

you people are all entitled to your wrong opinions Next thing you know you'll cease acknowledging that the waffle grille is the superior one.


oversize bumpers make me think of 70s cars, and almost nothing was made between about 1972 and 1979 that I'd actually want to own.

LoL oh no, waterfall all the way. You can keep your.. egg crate.

'73 was the first year for ugly front bumper itus. After that, every end got ugly bumper I think. And I agree, although some cars had decent integration, like barge Lincolns and Cadillacs.

Derek, as far as elements of each car that this can take the place of:

91: the Haartz Cambria roof (give me this, or give me full steel, but half vinyl is stupid), the "semi aero" front and rear treatments (minus the bumpers...), leather, and intact paint and clearcoat.

84: the longer Lincoln body, and the various Lincoln-isms and party tricks, like the auto-dimming high beams.

My 84 is a roadworthy car but it is not a clean car, and while I do enjoy it a lot, I think I'd see no reason to keep it if this car pans out. But we'll see. My biggest hangup on selling these cars is the knowledge that they will likely hit the derby, and I'm not cool with that.

LoL yeah, good paint is nice. I just don't like the coach top as it wasn't a Ford deal- crappy ASC strikes again there. If only they offered the Valino top in full, but I don't mind the half top. I think it looks cool when you tint the rear windows super dark to match like what I've got going. I'd like the coach top better if they didn't get rid of the French(?) 1/4 windows and if the rear interior lights weren't so chincy looking, as the wire wheels really look great with that top. Before Ashley's started to get kind of raggedy, it always got compliments. Come to think of it, I think old men were just ecstatic to see a young woman driving a car like that haha.

Party tricks. LoL. Don't forget the power vent windows! People love 'em. I do like the auto dim feature, it mostly works.

Hmm... What would you want for your '84?

[Giraffe]

Derek, as far as elements of each car that this can take the place of:

91: the Haartz Cambria roof (give me this, or give me full steel, but half vinyl is stupid), the "semi aero" front and rear treatments (minus the bumpers...), leather, and intact paint and clearcoat.

84: the longer Lincoln body, and the various Lincoln-isms and party tricks, like the auto-dimming high beams.

My 84 is a roadworthy car but it is not a clean car, and while I do enjoy it a lot, I think I'd see no reason to keep it if this car pans out. But we'll see. My biggest hangup on selling these cars is the knowledge that they will likely hit the derby, and I'm not cool with that.

It wasn't until I visited a living pioneer museum with my family that I realized that the vinyl tops hearken back to the tops of carriages from back in the day. Hard to believe that design cue that traced its roots to the 18th centure lasted all the way up until the 1990s.