Hot Rods 1939 Lincoln Zephyr Coupe

You may want to rethink the use of the original v12

 

Sweet looking Lincoln, Make it pretty on the outside. On the underside you
need a good IRS front end, out back a 9" Ford rearend and up front a Ford
or Dodge V-10 engine backed up to a 5 or 6 speed transmission.
I can see a lot of happy miles after that.

............................... Jack

 

Any Lincoln or Lincoln Zephyr running gear of the V-12 period (1936-1948) will interchange. To keep the car stock mechanically, your (Matt Townsend's) best best is to find someone up-dating or (forgive the terminology) "street-rodding" a V-12 Lincoln. Be nice to acquire either an overdrive trans or a two-speed rear end power train. Best results at lowest cost. IMHO I subscribe to James D's approach of using a Jag-u-ar (British pronunciation) front and rear suspension and Jag V-12. Best of both worlds - great styling and modern mechanics and you could retain all the Zephyr V12 badging and blow people away when you say "It's got a V12." I have a rainy day project 1941 Zephyr 5 window coupe that I intend to roadsterize and modify in similar fashion.

 

Hey Lucas,
The jag front appears to be a common opinion and seems to be a very good option. The car is gonna be old school and not high tech so late model V10's or V12's won't be happening.
I'm sure someone can build a nice V12 flathead worthy of this beautiful car. In actual fact I don't even want to paint the car but rather leave it as Mother Nature has aged her. Cheers

 

Hardtop,
Did not mean to impose my taste on you, but was thinking primarily about cost and have heard Jags are plentiful in Aussie land. Owned a 1941 3-window in high school that got away when I left for college eons ago. Today I have an original 41 Continental V-12 and another with a 331 Cad and the Lincoln trans and a big Ford rear end. It's quite a bit faster than the V-12. H&H Flatheads has a neat (but pricey) supercharger for the V-12 that would likely wake the old girl up. Matt Townsend did the most killer chop I've seen on a 3-window while he was "Down Under" on vacation, so you're definitely in great hands. Appreciate your old school approach (my Avatar) and please post up-dates on your project - it'll be awesome. lucas

 

As Lucas said, I'm just making suggestions, certainly not trying to tell you what to do with your car.
Just that I don't recall reading anything very positive on here about the Lincoln V12, except that many of them were replaced with V8s even back when they were relatively new cars. Sounds like it might be painful and expensive to get one going.

 

Just wondered if you're the guy that was interested in my friend's V12 pictured here? If not it is still for sale.

 

Good gawd' ... what the hell is that !! ^^ It looks weaponized ! Wow.

 

After sourcing many parts from Merv Adkins, Matt Townsend has got the Zephyr back on the ground.

 

Running V12 all sorted for this beauty as well.

 

I've dealt with a few Lincoln V-12's as of late, and even though they are the worst of all flatheads with 4 more cylinders, I still think they are cool. I think it's cool that you are keeping the Lincoln V-12 in it. Your car is definitely in capable hands, and will be built well. I just ask you to reconsider not painting it. The whole "Patina fad" is simply that, a fad, and the beautiful and elegant design of the Lincoln Zephyr deserves a finish that accentuates and highlights those features.

 

Thanks Cretin....eventually she will be painted here in Australia. I'm going to drive the wheels off it before that happens....it's only original once !!

 

Well, that sounds good. In response to that argument, you're right, it's only original once, however, it never had patina originally, so that ship has sailed. In any case, you're going to have a nice car when all is said and done, and I hope you drive the shit out of it, and enjoy every minute of it! I'll be watching for that day!

 

nice starter car

 

Some progress on the Lincoln....if pulling it to pieces is actually referred to as progress !!
Ready for blasting

 

Not to hijack the thread but this one was a complete 1937 car that had the V12 swapped out for a flattie V8. It parked in 1955. He wanted moon beam prices for it. Another bit of useless information, the steering wheels used on the short lived Tuckers were 1942 Lincoln Zephyr. Looking forward to updates. There is a nice 1940 Zephyr in the classified now.