Operation Hack and Whack, My 1966 Lincoln Convertible

[Ron Hamilton]

A few months back, I bought a built-up AMT annual '66 Lincoln Continental Sedan at our model cub meeting. It was built cleanly, using the Gene Windfield custom front and rear end treatments and wheels. The best news of all, it was never painted. The bad news, it had the 1/2 Vinyl Roof overlay glued on the back half of the roof. I like the '66 Lincoln, as my Dad had had one when I was a kid, and I plan to do a future build of his car with another one of the kits I have.

I figured that this one would be the perfect candidate for either a re-build of what the previous builder did, as it was not too bad looking, except it had a couple of minor glue smears, and a heavy handed application of glue to attach some of the parts on the body, or what I have been wanting to do for a while, a late '60's Lincoln Continental Convertible.

I started to hunt for the parts I needed to do a Replica Stock build, as well as do the research to get the project going. I bought a few pieces off of Ebay, and some hard to find parts resin cast. At this point, I have everything I need to get the project off of the ground. Earlier this week, Eric McLeod posed his '66 Lincoln Continental Convertible build, and his fine work gave me the inspiration to get things started.

I took the car apart, and got to work. I cut the roof off after I removed the custom 1/2 vinyl roof overlay.

It looks like the cuts came out pretty good. I have to do some fine tuning, fit the interior tub into the car better, make up some sun visors and a flipper panel for the rear deck.

I also got another Idea, an up top.The roof came off in one piece, and its shape is similar to the actual car's up top.

The roof needs some fine tuning ( bows, minor shaping and seams) but I think it is going to work.

Last night (actually this morning) I completed the second step, which was making up, and installing the flipper panel on the body, and modifying the interior tub into a convertible configuration, re-aligning the resin hood to fit better, and starting work on the up-top.  I have to shoot some pictures of this work in the next few days, as I want to do a little tweaking of these items before I get into primer and putty I want to improve the fit of the up-top.

Special thanks go out to Eric McLeod for getting me off of my duff, and a certain master resin caster (Norm Veber) who cast some parts I could not get otherwise.

 

[Can-Con]

Where on earth did you get the hood Ron? [Norm?]  I thought I was the only one who cast any of those. [did a couple for Albert Wallace a few years ago]

Anyway, cool project, I love those old lux cars.

Edited April 2, 2017 by Can-Con

[Eric Macleod]

I am humbled by your kind words. I have heard about the plans for this one and it sounds like it will be stunning.  I'll follow this with interest.  Wouldn't it be cool if we could get the two cars together at a contest sometime. I'll be eager to see the next couple steps. 

Eric 

[mrmike]

Ron, I'm happy to see you finally getting yourself on a project!  I'll be watching this to see where you go with it.  Didn't Lew Wickersham (Joseph Campanella) drive one of these during the first season of Mannix?  I think McNally will have to investigate!  lol

[Ron Hamilton]

Ron, I'm happy to see you finally getting yourself on a project!  I'll be watching this to see where you go with it.  Didn't Lew Wickersham (Joseph Campanella) drive one of these during the first season of Mannix?  I think McNally will have to investigate!  lol

Lew Wickersham drove a '67 Lincoln Sedan. It had a black Vinyl Roof, and was either Dark Green or Black. That is dependent on which TV I was watching at the time.

[Ron Hamilton]

Where on earth did you get the hood Ron? [Norm?]  I thought I was the only one who cast any of those. [did a couple for Albert Wallace a few years ago]

Anyway, cool project, I love those old lux cars.

I could not find any hoods at a reasonable price in styrene. I had 3 '66's including this one, sso I paid to get te hood and some other parts cast. It was a great favor from him to do this for me, as he has a lot of casting going on. The resin parts I got look great!

[Can-Con]

I could not find any hoods at a reasonable price in styrene. I had 3 '66's including this one, sso I paid to get te hood and some other parts cast. It was a great favor from him to do this for me, as he has a lot of casting going on. The resin parts I got look great!

If I hada known, I had a couple left I could have sent you. Oh well. 

[mrmike]

Lew Wickersham drove a '67 Lincoln Sedan. It had a black Vinyl Roof, and was either Dark Green or Black. That is dependent on which TV I was watching at the time.

McNally tells me that you are correct, although the Lincoln seems to have been black on his B+W TV that is in his garage with rabbit ears! 

[Ron Hamilton]

I got a little more work one on the '66 Lincoln Convertible.

I made up the flipper panel and fitted it to the body.

The  fit of the flipper panel is very good, needing to be blended into the body with a little putty before primer. The interior tub actually fits better than what is in the picture. The windshield unit needs to be trimmed at the bottom so that the tub fit is better.

I also adjusted the fit of the hood, as the kit hood on all of my '66 through '69 Lincolns needed the same adjustment.

I also did some more work to the up-top, adding the bows and welting around the edges and the rear window. Now, I have to do some putty work in the roof and put it in some primer before I add the seams and final trim above the rear window.

At this point, I want to remove the custom front end from the car, and create a more positive attachment point for the front grille/bumper unit, as well as add the body seams between the cowl and front fenders, and fix a sink mark on the right front fender before I shoot the primer.

Next, I have to make a set of sun visors, and cut the interior tub apart to detail the interior. The seats, dash pad and steering wheel are welded together pretty tight, bit I have dealt with worse, so I do not foresee any problems with the next step.

In doing my research, I have a little work to do to the interior to bring out the detailing. I am narrowing down the color combination, as the factory up-top colors were Black, White, or Dark Blue. I want the car to be Replica Stock, but for what those cars cost new, I am quite sure that there were a few "Special Order' color combinations done by the factory.

 

 

[Eric Macleod]

This continues to look excellent.  I wish I'd thought of your approach to building the flipper panel. Yours looks much cleaner than mine did. I like what I see.

[Ron Hamilton]

Thank you Eric! I think that once I get some putty and primer on it, It will look pretty good. I'm sorry that I did not take any pictures of the car as I bought it. It was done as the custom version, which does not look too bad. Who knows, I may do one up as a custom. Nah! I really want to do my Dad's '66, followed by a Coupe'.

[disabled modeler]

Nice Ron... I always liked this style of the Lincolns .

[Eric Macleod]

I believe that a coupe would be a good project, a significant challenge,  especially the roof, but a major accomplishment when done. Let's see it!

[Ron Hamilton]

The next couple of days, I have some yard work to do. There was a '66-7 Coupe' a couple of towns over from me. If It is still there, I want to photograph it, so that I can get a feel for the angles of the roof pillars. It's been modified, but the body looks stock. Unlike a lot of folks, I "eyeball" the changes when I do a modification to a model. I want to start work on improving the interior. The dash, and seats are glued in, but I have another unused seat, and I can extract the dash from the car without damaging it.

[Ron Hamilton]

I did a little more refinement to the build last night. All I have to do now is the primer coat and the touch up with putty to make the up-top more realistic looking. I also made a decision as to the color combination of the car. This is what I am aiming for.

I think that this is one stunning car, and the color combination says "oh yeah!!!!" I hope to have some paint on it by next week, and have it finished for the Mid Atlantic NNL outside of Baltimore, which is next month.

[Eric Macleod]

Ikea almost bought a 67 in this color scheme and my first '63 Convertible was this color scheme . All I can say is DO IT! This will be stunning. 

[Ron Hamilton]

Originally, I was not going to do another "Red" car, because I was planning to do a '66 Cadillac DeVille Convertible in red, but what can I say? This car is stunning, and besides, for the last 30 years, one way or another, there is always a red car in our driveway. Maybe I'll whip the Caddy out, and have both of them done. It's already in primer.

[Ron Hamilton]

Sorry I have not updated this build, as I have cleaned up a certain '62 300 and a couple of other Lincolns in my collection. A couple of days ago, I happened across a forlorn one-to-one 1966 Lincoln Continental Coupe'. It happens to be the one I have seen from time to time, and it looks as if the owner has given up on it.

Yes it is pretty crusty, but the good thing about it is I got several good shots of the car so that I can turn one of my sedans into what I hope to be an accurate rendition of a Coupe'.

Last week, MeTV showed the very last episode of Perry Mason, and guess what his ride was? Yes a 1966 Lincoln Continental Convertible. Even though the show was shot in Black and White, I am guessing that the car was Huron Blue Metallic, with a Dark Blue leather interior.

This was the only episode  showing that particular car. It would be a fitting tribute to Perry.

Hmmmm.