goodbye little sunflower

After over 4 years as our faithful steed,
today the old Lincoln was put to rest.

1990 lincoln town car
photo by piGPen

What started as someone's $30K luxury vehicle,
transformed into our $800 family sled,
even moonlighting as a shop truck in it's retirement.

OG lincoln town car SUV

Heck,
it was even good for smuggling people!

perich brothers visits chabott engineering
photo by ZAP

Gotta love the trunk space.
Funny cause the Chabott crew is going through their own vehicular turn over.
shinya kimura @ chabott engineering
Must be in the planets.

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Legion of Mary - Little Sunflower - July 4, 1975

A great work jam or cruising tune.
This is the musical description of driving a Lincoln Town Car.
Really.
Goodbye little sunflower...

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For the car that never stranded us,

sadly there was no long final good bye cruise.

Just a limp around the block,

not even enough to really warm up the old V8.

sturdy 5.0 ford engine

That's what was tough about deciding what to do with it.
The car ran great,
engine hummed and shifted fine.
The main problem was the brakes.
Sometimes they would work,
sometimes they would barely work.
It was a little disconcerting.

Probably a cheap fix,
but with the broken power windows,
the leaky main seal,
and the smog/registration coming up,
it was time.

spaghetti

A half-ass attempt to sell it on craigslist valued the car at maybe $600.
While that would have been the smart decision,
the hot rodder in me couldn't let a good running 302/aod combo go for that low.
This re-seed was planted from the very beginning.
The car was purchased with 167K miles on it and we only ran it 10K in the 4 years.
Just enough to test its durability.

holey chit

I've pulled this engine out before,

and for some reason I don't remember there being so many wires and hoses.

first engine pull - 2008
photo by piGPen

Funny how that works.

The plan is to keep the engine, transmission, battery and driveshaft.

sprinkles

Unfortunately it took alot longer to pull than I remember too.
There's a couple interested buyers for the carcass,
but a surprise storm messed up my timing.
Why didn't I start this on Saturday?

so cal rain

Oh yeah,
we were making a shelter for the chocolate and cheese roadster.
Weird how things work out.

TP

undercover mother

Anyone find a cheesy 16" hubcap in the san diego area?

wannabe cop car

The funny thing is it took us a couple days to notice.
Reports say someone saw one flying down the 8 freeway.

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legion of mary - tore up over you

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police interceptor

I didn't realize the stock steel rims were so similar to the police rims,

so it's a good excuse to look for some of those small police hubcaps,

like this.

Hopefully the wife will dig the undercover look.

TP

best view of a boat

Last year this was one of my first posts.

perich brothers (and sister): stink's toy

The T-top or shade or whatever it is called held up,
but the volvo 290 du0-prop sterndrive didn't.

stink's toy

Funny how everyone disappears when the lot smells like decaying barnacles at low tide.

trusty A-frame

With the help of the trusty A-frame,
it popped right off.
I'll have to relabel some older posts with "A-frame" it's so handy.

not quite ready

Last year I whipped out this stand,
and fortunately didn't cut it off.
It's been handy for a multitude of random uses.

now we're ready

This is why you don't see too much engine rebuilding at the shop.
It's tough to have a dedicated clean spot.
That wooden shelf was made last year,
and it has seen a good share of similar type projects.

One of my goals is to have another dedicated spot for long-term clean projects.
I better put that on my list.

holy chit

There's a point called "what the heck did I get myself into".
It's important to get past this point.
The manual helps.

ready for paint

Everything went together fairly easily,
especially since Stink doesn't mind spending money on his boat.
This is what keeps me in the small inflatables,
the rebuild parts alone would have bought 2 of them!
Someday maybe...

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Ahh heck.
Perfect time for an intermission




Someday Baby - 1974
 pre-"legion of mary" jerry garcia and merl saunders.
One of the best versions - I can't believe someone youtubed it!

I've gotten alot done playing this song on repeat -
Play it loud, you'll like it...

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installed

After a couple coats of primer,
the drive slipped in alot quicker than last time,
probably cause the paint was dry.

best view of a boat

There were a handful of mini-projects that were somehow finished with a day to spare.
That was good for both of us,
get that friggin thing outta here!

bye!

I got a call the next evening...
choke...
Nope, everything worked fine.
Whew!

See it next year!

TP

happy belated...

What more to say,

happy belated birthday jerry,

even if you are dead.

TP