Rip Van Winkle Lincoln

[CMP-Phil]

New to the Lincoln Forum - This week I started the restoration of a 1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan Town Sedan. The day I started on the project started searching the web for a Lincoln Forum to seek information and share the restoration process. So this week each evening I have been reading through your forum in general, searching in particular for Cosmopolitan owners and all 49, 50, 51 Lincoln projects.

Realization that I had probably found the right forum was when I read Andy Fenton’s post Maiden voyage 1949 cosmo town sedan showing his 1949 Cosmopolitan Town Sedan as a completed project. http://www.thelincolnforum.net/phpbb3/v ... ge#p300845 Now that was inspiration, my thanks to Andy for our e-mails back and forth this week.

Andy’s nick name for his project “big tub” is an apt one; my project might best be described as Rip Van Winkle Lincoln, as my Lincoln has been sleeping in storage in my garage since 1973 and it hasn’t even seen the light of day in 34 years.

But 1949 Lincoln’s have been in the family all my life, the first family car I remember was a 49 Cosmopolitan Coupe, which went on to be my first car, my second car was the Town Sedan that I bought in college fall 1969 drove it as a daily car for four years. Then building a house, young family, and getting involved in other antique vehicles meant the Lincoln started gathering dust in the back of the garage. The picture of the Lincoln on the rollback is moving it from garage into the shop.

Now to questions:
How many 49,50,51 Lincoln owners on the forum?
Is there interest in more details on the restoration process?

Cheers Phil

[John Mc]

Phillip,

What a great story! I love those cars, hope to one one some day; especially the 4-door sedan with the "french" doors.
Please keep us informed with tons of pictures. And please tell us you're keeping this rare beauty completely stock as Andy has done.

[linc64]

Welcome to the forum Phil!
I don't own a '49-'51, but I really like them and would love see the restoration process in detail posted here. And as John said, with tons of pictures.

[Stuart M. Cohen]

Welcome to our community, Phil.

There are a TON of people here with a lot of knowledge. I'd suggest getting a hold of an authenticity manual. Check the national site for details.

Looking forward to seeing the finished product at a show!

Stu

[CMP-Phil]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the welcome.

John yes, I plan to do a stock restoration to as new original condition as I can manage, only exception may be the engine as it will depend on which engine is the most restorable I have the cars original engine which is stuck an has either a lifter problem or cam problem, one of the reasons I stopped driving it. But I also have the engine out of my fathers Coupe which was modified and souped up in the very early 50s the 337 was bored to 350 heads milled, and a custom 4 barrel Holley manifold intake manifold and carb, along with Mallory ignition and dual exhaust headers. But as much of the machine shop was done by a Lincoln dealer do we call that original? The other problem area is the upholstery what I have is good enough for patterns but finding matching materials is a question. Does anybody know of sources?

Jim I always take tons of photos of restoration projects before I start, as it is disassembled, as the parts are cleaned and rebuilt. Surprising how many times I end up referring to the photos during the reassembly process. So I will be glad to share them. Here is a link to time lapse photos of one my other restoration projects. http://canadianmilitarypattern.com/Reso ... 0music.wmv

Stuart while there has always been a 49 Lincoln in the family the long nap this one has taken means I will be looking for information from time to time which was why I’ve joined the forum. As to manuals and documents on the ’49 I’m luck guy my dad was a car guy, and he bought the overhaul manuals when he bought the car so I have the manual. One of my projects now is to scan the entire manual in so that I can call it up on the computer in the shop, saves the manuals from grease finger prints.

Stuart really enjoyed your website very well done. Notice that you are in NJ, my Lincoln was sold originally by English Motors in Red Bank, NJ which according to google is 103 miles from you and my wife is from NJ.

Cheers Phil

[JimLinc62]

The other problem area is the upholstery what I have is good enough for patterns but finding matching materials is a question. Does anybody know of sources?

Phil, I'm sure you'll find exactly what you need here: http://smsautofabrics.com/

[Dan Szwarc]

I'd suggest getting a hold of an authenticity manual.
Stu

I don't think there is an authenticity manual for the 49-51 Cosmopolitans.

http://www.lcoc.org/Authenticity.htm

Nope.

But joining the LCOC and calling members listed in the directory that have Cosmos is a way to get info.

[CMP-Phil]

Hi Guys

Jim-thanks for the link to the Upholstery material source will be checking it out.

Dan- I've begone scanning it the Lincoln Mercury Overhaul Manual that my father bought back when he bought the Cosmopolitan Coupe it is close to 3" thick. I went over to storing the manuals on project vehicles in the shop computer along with photographs. Keeps the actual printed copies cleaner.

Will definitely take a look at joining LCOC noticed that the contact person for the manuals is here in New Hampshire will drop him a line.

Now as to progress yesterday the old girl got a nice warm bath in the shop to remove all the accumulation of dust from its long nap. When I started washing the chrome work discover/remembered that I had sprayed the chrome with cosmoline when I store the old girl away so what looked like rust on the chrome is actually dried cosmoline. Today's project is to finish engine mounts for one of my engine test stands so I can move those 900 lb engines around the shop.

Cheers Phil

[Milsteads Garage]

The majority of owners here own the slabside lincolns (61-69). A second close is lincolns of the 1970's being marks, towncars etc... I myself have owned 3 1964's, 3 1961's, 1 1962, 2 1963's 2 1959's 4 1960's 1 1958 1 1957, 1 1956, 1 1972 mark, 1970 mark, 1968 mark, 1 48 continental w/cad 331, and now a 57 mark II so I am well diversified. I have not noticed too many 49-51 owners here but don't let that discourage you. Whatever we can do to help you we will.

[CMP-Phil]

Hi All

This weeks progress on the 49 Lincoln has include lots more documentation photos, everything from making a photo list of work that needs to be done, to detail photos of the carpets, seat fabric, to the wicker weave of the trunk liner.

Next project was squirting every nut and bolt I could with a penetrating oil solution. Over the years I used various commercial products put one that was suggested on another car forum seems to work best it is a 50/50 mix of acetone and automatic transmission fluid. I've found that squirting this mix on and letting it sit for a couple of days then repeating the process yields good penetration.

As the engine can be a long lead time part of the restoration I prepared to get started on the engine by fabricating the mounts to hold the Lincoln engine on a roll around engine stand. With the great weight of these engines having something that will allow access to the engine and hold it securely is useful. Years ago I designed an engine stand that would hold in line 6 cylinders I was working on then as well width and weight of the 337 flat head. The stand has provision for hold the radiator as well as a instrument panel to test run engines before they go into the vehicle. Always nice to be able to put 40-50 hours to find all the little leaks and cure them while you still have full access to the engine. I have a second stand ready for the engine that is in the car currently.

Cheers Phil

[CMP-Phil]

Hi All

Well I've sort of finished documenting the cars condition with photos and notes, though this is a process that will continue as I disassemble the car. After a number of restoration project learned that you can never take to many photos. Also been working on the list of parts to start looking for, the Lincoln Forum has been very helpful in identifying sources of parts, I've already learned to follow the link for any part source listed in the Forum as surprisingly parts for 49,50,51 turn up in the later Lincoln sources.

Today I really started to disassemble the old girl with front bumper, grill and hood being removed. I had been giving all the bolts and nuts a squirt of the penetrating oil mixture and when I started removing bolts to day only had three 1/4x20 bolts broke instead of just spinning out all three were into captive nuts.

As I mentioned over in my post asking about Safety vs Authentic http://www.thelincolnforum.net/phpbb3/v ... =6&t=41750 it looks like the old girl had some collision damage at one time which I had never noticed. It only became apparent after the bumper was removed.

People in the 50s must have like to drive on freshly tared roads as this is the second restoration project that I have found places with up to an inch of tar and sand mix, up in the wheel wells and on the frame in places. One of my trucks had several inches packed into the frame rail in places.

This damage was hidden behind the bumper

[John Mc]

Phillip, I love what you're doing with all the documentation and the photos. I'm sure everyone on the forum loves to read about the progress as much as I do. The engine stand is also a good idea. Yea, it takes some time and effort but how sweet it must be to break it in outside of the car before installing. Good job and when you're done you'll have a rare car that everyone will want to see.

[autostick]

Now to questions: How many 49,50,51 Lincoln owners on the forum? Is there interest in more details on the restoration process? Cheers Phil

Glancing at my 2010 LCOC Directory there are
30 owners of 1949 Lincolns, mostly Cosmo
15 owners of 1950 Lincolns, most Cosmos and a Capri
46 owners of 1951 Cosmo, sport sedans, lido coupe, Capri
Who knows how many are on this forum... all are welcome. yes indeed there is lots of interest in restoration as that is the primary discussion on this board.

[black63lincoln]

Awesome! the 49 is my favorite year linc next to the 62-63.. Love the old Bomb style mercs and lincs.

[CMP-Phil]

Hi All

Progress continues, I had a time lapse camera setup to capture the progress which it did wonderfully during the first couple of days when nothing dramatic was taking place then yesterday and today when big jumps in visible progress took place it stopped taking pictures.

When I started work yesterday the nose of the car was as shown

By the end of the day the radiator had been removed and all of the fender and inner fender bolts had been loosened. I don't know if is just good luck, the condition of the car, or the acetone ATF mix but vast majority of the bolts are unscrewing with a minimum to effort.

Fender ready to be removed, I have a jib crane for lifting parts of vehicles, so here is the fender hanging from the crane. I like this method as it means I can support the weight of a part while I make sure all the bolts are out.

The strange color on the right side is from having a quick coat of rustoleum spray on areas that showed exposed steel back when I tucked the old girl in before her nap.

Inner fenders are in good condition with little rust, by lunch time today the nose of the car had been stripped back to the fire wall.

As the nose has been stripped the car has taken on a decided nose up tilt with the front suspension now up against top bump stops. Next step will be to lift the engine out of the car and get it mounted on a stand so I really can figure out which engine is the better candidate to be rebuilt. But before I can do that I've got to clean everything I removed so far and get them stored away in the loft of the shop, to make space to work.

So while Dan does the upgrade to the forum software I'll work on the Lincoln. Thanks Dan for all your work in keeping the forum running smoothly.

Cheers and Seasons Greetings, Phil