Nick's 1971 Mark III

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LithiumCobalt
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Nick's 1971 Mark III

Post by LithiumCobalt »

I was lucky enough to be reading through the Mark III Facebook group last summer when I noticed this car for sale. Not advertised anywhere, but the current owner said he would sell. I scheduled to take a long weekend last fall and make the trek out to western Pennsylvania where the car was. I was standing in the driveway and as the garage door went up, it revealed more and more of the car, which turned out to be extremely nice. Unfortunately, I could not drive it because the carburetor was not installed. Not having the time to get it done right then and there, I had to wait on the current owner (Jim Brown) to schedule someone to install it. I would check in with him every month or six weeks to see if any progress, but nope. The car sat for almost a year not drivable.
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Fast forward to May, Jim said the car was ready and he snapped a photo of it downtown Pittsburgh.
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The shipper took a bit before they came to pickup the car. He happened to pick it up on the hottest day of the year so far at nearly 100 degrees. Loaded up and getting strapped down.
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He had it overnight and delivered the next day. I was very concerned because we had a very nasty storm go through the night the car was out somewhere. Lots of damage and power out for days around here. You can still see the debris in the street when the car arrived. I was relieved that the car was delivered unscathed. The driver was even courteous enough to remove the wheel covers for transport so that they wouldn't be damaged by the straps. Delivery day.....
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This car was purchased by the late Earle Brown, LMCF trustee and long-time LCOC member in 1988 in Florida. He brought the car back to Pennsylvania and only accumulated approximately 15,000 miles in 34 years. Many comments have been made about the trophies this car has won through the years at various LCOC meets. I even have one of the Continental Comments issues that pictures the car several times and winning first in its class. After all these years, it still looks pretty damn nice, but there are things here and there to address as always.
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Paint is an extremely well done respray in the original 1971-only light pewter metallic. Very unique and exquisite color, similar to Florentine Gold used on the 60's Continentals. In the shadows, it appears like a grayish-green-gold. In full light, it looks like gold. Interior also presents well. I have been cleaning and conditioning. Man, vacuuming the shag carpet is a PITA! Finally had a chance to get the exterior cleaned up and the vinyl top conditioned....
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Engine bay looks like your typical 100k mile car, maybe a little nicer, so that is on deck for this coming winter.
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Amazingly, the vacuum system is so tight that the headlight doors stayed down for almost an ENTIRE YEAR! Here you can see one finally open and the other creeping after eleven months of sitting and not being run. I'm glad I won't have to shell out to have these repaired as it is super salty for the job.
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First thing I had to address when the car arrived was that none of the windows worked, driver seat barely moved. After jumping the motor directly, noticed that was not the problem. Moved on to switch cleaning. Those things were nasty. Probably have never been apart. Cleaned with electronic solvent and cleaned the contacts and reassembled everything. Works great!
Last edited by LithiumCobalt on Fri Nov 18, 2022 4:52 pm, edited 6 times in total.
Nick
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Current: 1971 Mark III, 2012 MKZ AWD, 2016 F-150 Platinum
WANTED: 1969 Continental sedan, 77 Continental Town Car w/opera window delete, 76 Fleetwood Brougham
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LithiumCobalt
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Re: Nick's 1971 Mark III

Post by LithiumCobalt »

My next project is getting the radio converted to modern guts like I did with my '67 sedan. I've got it about 90% of the way out, but cannot find the rest of the wiring plugs that is likely holding it up. I am going to have to lay on the floor on my back and look up behind there to figure it out. Super frustrating to remove. Of course, did not help that it was 100 degrees here yesterday and I was drenched in sweat. I will get it eventually.
Nick
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Current: 1971 Mark III, 2012 MKZ AWD, 2016 F-150 Platinum
WANTED: 1969 Continental sedan, 77 Continental Town Car w/opera window delete, 76 Fleetwood Brougham
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Re: Nick's 1971 Mark III

Post by LithiumCobalt »

For those that like NOS parts, feast your eyes on this. An original Mark III grille shell still in the box. He has four or five of these grille shells, of which, one I bought.
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Jim said his dad Earle has hoarded an entire garage full of Mark III parts in boxes stacked to the ceiling! If you are interested in getting into the Mark III parts business, this would be a good start! I would consider it, but I do not have the space unfortunately. I am going to go out this fall and pick through things
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Last edited by LithiumCobalt on Mon Jul 25, 2022 9:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
Nick
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Current: 1971 Mark III, 2012 MKZ AWD, 2016 F-150 Platinum
WANTED: 1969 Continental sedan, 77 Continental Town Car w/opera window delete, 76 Fleetwood Brougham
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LithiumCobalt
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Re: Nick's 1971 Mark III

Post by LithiumCobalt »

Plans for the car involve getting the front seat cushions replaced, converting to electronic ignition, making the speed control work and doing a real engine bay detailing to bring it back to new status. I've got stacks of service records where thousands have been spent keeping the car in top condition.

I hastily ordered new rear springs because I thought the rear appeared to sag only to find out that after I measured that the car is astonishingly still within spec with the 50 year old springs so will send those back.

I may also rebuild the front suspension this winter, as I see no record of that being done.

Doesn't leak much and runs well. Cold R-12 AC for these 100 degree Indiana summers...
Nick
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Current: 1971 Mark III, 2012 MKZ AWD, 2016 F-150 Platinum
WANTED: 1969 Continental sedan, 77 Continental Town Car w/opera window delete, 76 Fleetwood Brougham
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sv66
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Re: Nick's 1971 Mark III

Post by sv66 »

Nick, Congrats on the new ride! Looks like you got a good one! Now what if that 69 sedan shows up at your door? :eusa-think:
Steve

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LithiumCobalt
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Re: Nick's 1971 Mark III

Post by LithiumCobalt »

Oh my gosh. If a ‘69 sedan shows up that is worthy, I will be sick about it.
Nick
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Current: 1971 Mark III, 2012 MKZ AWD, 2016 F-150 Platinum
WANTED: 1969 Continental sedan, 77 Continental Town Car w/opera window delete, 76 Fleetwood Brougham
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Re: Nick's 1971 Mark III

Post by frasern »

Great find Nick! I think the Mark III was the best looking car of it's era, and I really like the colour.
If that '69 presents itself, nothing a little more storage space won't cure.
Fraser Noble, Western Canada
'62 and '67 LCC.
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LithiumCobalt
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Re: Nick's 1971 Mark III

Post by LithiumCobalt »

Figured I would provide an update where I am with the Mark. Had a couple of unexpected repairs that I needed to do in the last couple months.

First issue that I had was that the hood hinges were worn, particularly the passenger side. Had the hinge adjusted all the way to the lower extreme and I could never get the hood to sit flush with the cowl and fender. So, with that, I removed the hood and sent the hinges out to Concours Quality Hood Hinge Restoration in California. The owner/machinist's name is Rowland Hall. He completely breaks down the hinges and rebuilds them from the inside-out. The result is spectacular. Here are some photos of them refreshed and new ready to install.
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His website is here: https://hoodhingerestoration.com/ Highly recommend.

On top of his very conscientious restoration he sent the hinges back to me before I even paid him for them. Sent him a check back for the work. Very pleased. Now everything lines up.

The other issue that I quickly ran into after taking possession in June was that I had a loud vibration/grinding sound from about 40-50 mph, almost like the rumble strip sensation. I foolishly drove the car on a four hour round trip when something was clearly wrong, but didn't have time to address it before then. Luckily, we made it to our destination and back home without issue.

The last time I had a driveline issue, I took to a place here in Fort Wayne that are supposed to be specialists. They quoted $700-800 to rebuild the driveshaft and balance it. Told them to take a hike and found a shop that mostly works on semi trucks. They found that the ball at the one end of the driveshaft was completely missing so they fixed that, rebuilt the joints and balanced it. Out the door for about $300. No more vibration/noise.

Really surprised I ran into this issue considering the stack of service invoices I received with this car to keep it in top shape, but all is well now. Almost silent now and no more vibrations.
Last edited by LithiumCobalt on Wed Sep 28, 2022 11:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
Nick
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Current: 1971 Mark III, 2012 MKZ AWD, 2016 F-150 Platinum
WANTED: 1969 Continental sedan, 77 Continental Town Car w/opera window delete, 76 Fleetwood Brougham
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Dan Szwarc
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Re: Nick's 1971 Mark III

Post by Dan Szwarc »

RIP Earle Brown. I think I met him once.

I need to send my 70 Merc hood hinges out for restoration. How much did that run you?
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LithiumCobalt
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Re: Nick's 1971 Mark III

Post by LithiumCobalt »

Other things I got done in the last couple months:

Had Lincoln Land rebuild the window safety relay. Not sure how many here have done this, but the relay is located in an awful spot. It's below the speed control bellows, next to the brake booster and behind the LH valve cover mounted on the firewall. It was challenging to get this damn thing out even with the hood off and required contorting to yet accomplish. At the same time, I made a jumper harness to plug in line with the relay so that I could power my electric choke and electronic ignition with key-on power without whacking up the original wiring.

Installed a new carburetor. The original Autolite was supposedly rebuilt and the first drive went fine. The second time I got the car out it wouldn't idle correctly and hesitated on accel. It pains me to modify cars from their original designs, but I was convinced that was the only way to achieve good consistent drivability considering the bad reputation of the Autolite 4300. Ended up with an Edelbrock 1906 and I am thoroughly pleased with it. Installation was a little annoying, but it is finally done and tuned and unless you're looking for it, it's not obvious that it is unoriginal. Car starts in two seconds, idles great and no issue whatsoever with drivability.

Had my original radio gutted and converted with the Aurora Design like I did to my '67 sedan. Came out just as nice as the other one. Very pleased.

Installed Pertronix ignition and coil. I hesitated to do this at first because the car ran so well with the points that it had. Got everything hooked up and car ran great. Got it all tuned and then attempted to take out a couple days later and couldn't get it to start. So, I started troubleshooting. Gas was not a problem. Choke was working. Had no spark whilst cranking. What I determined was that the power feed that I used off the window relay is that it was on with the key in the run position, but not whilst cranking. So, I would check the voltage with the key on and everything appeared to be fine. Soon as I would crank, the power would be killed. In the middle of all of this before I determined the problem, I thought it was the primary coil wire - nope - same result. Finally decided maybe I should try to connect the original coil positive wire to the coil. Car started right up. So, I get 12 volts while cranking via the original wire and 12 volts through the new power feed whilst running.
Last edited by LithiumCobalt on Thu Sep 29, 2022 12:49 pm, edited 7 times in total.
Nick
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Current: 1971 Mark III, 2012 MKZ AWD, 2016 F-150 Platinum
WANTED: 1969 Continental sedan, 77 Continental Town Car w/opera window delete, 76 Fleetwood Brougham
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LithiumCobalt
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Re: Nick's 1971 Mark III

Post by LithiumCobalt »

Dan Szwarc wrote: Wed Sep 28, 2022 10:54 am RIP Earle Brown. I think I met him once.

I need to send my 70 Merc hood hinges out for restoration. How much did that run you?
Wow, I didn't know Earle wasn't around anymore. Jim never mentioned that to me. I will see Jim again in a few weeks when I go out to dig through the parts hoard.

$299 was the invoice amount for the rebuilt hinges, which included return shipping. Shipping out there ran $40-ish, I think?
Last edited by LithiumCobalt on Wed Sep 28, 2022 11:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Current: 1971 Mark III, 2012 MKZ AWD, 2016 F-150 Platinum
WANTED: 1969 Continental sedan, 77 Continental Town Car w/opera window delete, 76 Fleetwood Brougham
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Dan Szwarc
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Re: Nick's 1971 Mark III

Post by Dan Szwarc »

Are they listed in The Usual Suspect thread? I think I posted a link to someone who did hinge rebuilds long ago.
If not, I'll add them as a source.
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LithiumCobalt
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Re: Nick's 1971 Mark III

Post by LithiumCobalt »

Not sure - I forgot to check there.
Nick
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Current: 1971 Mark III, 2012 MKZ AWD, 2016 F-150 Platinum
WANTED: 1969 Continental sedan, 77 Continental Town Car w/opera window delete, 76 Fleetwood Brougham
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LithiumCobalt
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Re: Nick's 1971 Mark III

Post by LithiumCobalt »

Plans for this winter are plenty:

- The front seat bottoms desperately need the foam replaced. I have all kinds of yellow crumbles on the floor from the dried out original stuff. Guy that I usually have do this said he won't be able to get to it until winter since he is now a one-man shop.
- The driver side vinyl trim inside the door needs to be repaired or replaced. Haven't found a replacement or a place that can redo it yet. Jim Wallace was no help.
- Most of my focus is going to be on the engine bay. No records of the engine ever being opened up so, given the mileage, it will be time for a new timing set, new gaskets/seals and, of course, the requisite cleaning, stripping and painting to make it look more proper. This will probably consume most of the winter months as it did with my 67s.
- Replace the front signal lenses with NOS pair. Ones on the car are OK, but you can see some checking in them.
- Figure out what the hell is wrong with the clock. The Clock Works outright refused to work on it exclaiming "they were junk from the beginning and there are no parts available to fix it." It worked initially and but has now stopped.
- Maybe install LEDs in the tail lights
- Get a relay harness for the headlamps and install some Ford licensed headlight bulbs. You can find them now for about $25/each with the FoMoCo script molded into the actual glass. Here is one link to those: https://www.virginiaclassicmustang.com/ ... 82239.aspx. Most Mustang restoration businesses carry them since the same sized bulb was used a few years.
Last edited by LithiumCobalt on Thu Sep 29, 2022 12:52 pm, edited 5 times in total.
Nick
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Current: 1971 Mark III, 2012 MKZ AWD, 2016 F-150 Platinum
WANTED: 1969 Continental sedan, 77 Continental Town Car w/opera window delete, 76 Fleetwood Brougham
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LithiumCobalt
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Re: Nick's 1971 Mark III

Post by LithiumCobalt »

I also swapped most of the courtesy lights on the interior with LEDs so that it doesn't run the battery down if I am working inside the car with the doors open. I was very careful with this as I did not want something that deviated from the original look so I had to find bulbs with a lower kelvin rating to maintain the warm light color.
Nick
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Current: 1971 Mark III, 2012 MKZ AWD, 2016 F-150 Platinum
WANTED: 1969 Continental sedan, 77 Continental Town Car w/opera window delete, 76 Fleetwood Brougham
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