Mainemantom's 1989 Lincoln Towncar Signature

[Mainemantom]

Here is some history of this car. Original owner bought it in 1989 in New York. Car traded in and sold at dealer auction with 79,000 miles in 1995 and sent to Concrete Washington. I bought it on Ebay on January 2002 with 104,000 miles on it. I drove to home to California. The car needed allot of maintenance to bring it up to the level I wanted. In 2005 The car was sideswiped by a drunk yard maintenance person going to work. Hit and run but I got the video. Insurance company totaled the car due to age. I bought back the car and had the damaged fixed, new exhaust, vinyl top, total repaint. In 2007 It was put on a car carrier with my other cars and shipped to Maine. Registered the car in Maine with a clear title. The car is put away in storage for the winter every year. In 2022 I had the car repainted. A couple of months ago I had the hood and top repainted.by another shop due to the 2022 repaint that was not holding up. I have kept ALL receipts for work including my own work.
Upcoming projects are: Replacing the vinyl top myself. Repairing the passenger front door lock and handle Passenger arm rest repaired or replaced. Possible head gaskets replacement. Possible upgrade of the stereo unit and wiring the car for XM radio. Repair the driver seat leather. Current mileage is 165,850.

[Mainemantom]

Today Oct 21, I spent at least three hours cleaning this car. When I got it back from the paint shop, it was filthy. I used Industrial strength diluted Simple Green first. Had to remove tree sap which was all over the trunk . I did not touch the just repainted panels yet. After the car was cleaned, rinsed, cleaned some more, I hand waxed the car. The interior got cleaned, mats washed, vacuumed then the plastic and leather got treated with 303 protectant. Wheels and tires were cleaned but more detail needs to be done. I noticed that the front header panel had paint damage. When the hood was repainted, the painter kept the masking tape on the header panel on too long. Like weeks ! When he removed the tape a layer of paint came off with the tape.In addition to the broken door handle and arm rest, that has to be fixed. Paint work will be done in the spring. Getting too chilly now. There is little remedy for shoddy work in Maine. If you take a shop to court, if you win, you get a judgement. Good luck trying to collect on that. You get what you get which is just enough to get by. Really sad.

[87gtVIC]

Definitely a sharp looking Lincoln. Very nice Tom.

[Tiggie]

Looks good. Sad you are having paint shop issues. It's getting very hard to find people in trades that are honest and talented. You might end up spraying the header panel yourself?

Always a fan of the amber lenses in the 89 LTC.

[DerekTheGreat]

Nice color combo.

Shame about the shops. I'm running into that too. It didn't bother me as young guy being patronized by older shop owners, but now it's really starting to get on my nerves. Two things keeping me from flying off the handle: Lack of other competent shops and I don't want to be Karen. Yet at the same time, I know damn well how my vehicle was when I dropped it off. How and why is it "OK" for them to F your stuff up, deny responsibility and imply "It was like that when you brought it in?"

If I knew I could find competent techs and secure enough capital to open & run for a year, I'd open a shop specifically for vehicles 2004 or older. Seems none of the shops around me want to touch anything if it means touching the "blue wrench" first. "Oh, we don't do that. You'll have to take it to a different shop. Try these guys ____." ::I call or head over to "those guys.":: "Oh yeah, that's a little too involved for us. You might want to look at this place." "That place recommended your place." Five years ago, I didn't have this problem.

[Tynnerstroem]

Wonderful looking car! Are those the rubber floormats one could order from the dealership for these? I've always wondered what they look like.

[Mainemantom]

The floor mats are a dealer item. There might be a part number on the back. I can check when I take the car cover off in a couple of days. If I remember correctly, the front set is sold separately from the rears. Chances are you will only find them on Ebay now. If I find a part number, I will send you a pm. I put the rubber mats in when the car was a back up winter car. Thankfully it was never used in the winter.

[Mainemantom]

Here is the damage to the door panel. I found this arm rest cap in my spare parts. Looks good. I may have to give the cap another coat of paint to make it darker. These caps are selling for super high prices now. The cheapest I have found was at "Carparts.com at $82. Made by accuform. On Ebay this parts is over $200.
I found two driver side caps with this one in the spare parts.

[Mainemantom]

Saturday night I started working on replacing the water pump and hoses. Got everything disassembled. One bolt broke off . It is one of three at the coolant passage on the passenger side. I am not going to try to remove it. I found a nos Ford cast iron water pump which is an exact replacement in my stock of parts. Pump came with a new gasket and two new bolts. Any bolts to be reused were cleaned and wire brushed. Anti seize will be used on all bolts. I used my air ratchet for removing most of the bolts. Hopefully this week I can re-assemble everything.
I am debating if I will use the arm rest cover as shown above or replace the whole door panel. I have both left and right maroon and grey panels in stock. The arm rest cover is an ok fit however I am not pleased with one area as there is a gap that I cant hide.

[Mainemantom]

Today I fixed both rear door latches. I adjusted the striker bolt a few time without correcting the issue. I soaked the latches with spray lube. That seemed to allow smooth opening and closing of the doors. Priority repairs are the passenger door outside latch and door panel. Hopefully I can get this done this week.

[Lutrova]

Here is the damage to the door panel. I found this arm rest cap in my spare parts. Looks good. I may have to give the cap another coat of paint to make it darker. These caps are selling for super high prices now. The cheapest I have found was at "Carparts.com at $82. Made by accuform. On Ebay this parts is over $200.
I found two driver side caps with this one in the spare parts.

I'll be interested to see how these turn out if you decide to go with the caps. I've been eyeing the Accu-Form covers myself for both front doors but there isn't a lot of documentation out there on how they look installed.

[Mainemantom]

I received a used trim piece that goes around the radio and above the ash tray. It is not perfect however better than what is on there now. The panel is for 1989 only due to the finish on the panel. Price was a bit high but I got it. I am going to look for another one (Wagonman do you have one ?)
Due to further damage to my right rotator cuff, 95% of the car work has stopped. Trying to avoid surgery but I have constant pain. Shoveling snow does not help.

[WagonMan]

Hi Tom, We discussed this before. I only have 87 and 88 wood grain dash pieces. WagonMan