The other day we saw a Lincoln TC pickup; today it’s a Lincoln Short Car, an extreme version of the Cadillac short-deck Park Avenue that it offered in the early sixties.
This is of course on of so many older that have been modified for the popular Gambler 500, which takes place in Oregon and started back in 2014. It’s a large group off-paved road (meaning mostly dirt and gravel roads) rally that also combines a public service aspect (picking up trash). Originally there was a $500 limit to the purchase price of the cars, but that’s fallen by the wayside. Big old American cars are quite popular.
My xB would actually be perfectly suited for the Gambler 500, given its off-road modifications, but I’m not really attracted to large events like this. And it does seem to attract primarily a somewhat younger cohort.
Even with its chopped tail, the Lincoln is still a lot longer than my xB, which is chopped on both ends. And has more interior room to boot.
And the xB still has a cargo area, albeit not a very large one. Are those bottles there as a protection from a rear impact, like those water-filled bumpers of yore? The gas tank is pretty exposed.
Aha!
I thought removable trunks went out in the 30’s. For maximum effect I’d mount the tail lights high on the trunk hinges.
Looks like they made nice clean cuts to get rid of the trunk. I applaud their ingenuity and their skilled craftsmanship.
Yeah it looks like really clean cuts that were well though out before they started cutting since they didn’t damage the emergency fuel door release mechanism which sticks past the cut line. The fact that the hinges were left gave me a bit of pause until I realized that wasn’t random rope attached to them but was instead an oversized slingshot.
So are those rear sheet metal pieces now called eighth panels?
Sixteenth panels, maybe.
Thank god for coil springs (or are these air?). On many older American cars such a modification would have required a conversion to quarter elliptic springs.
This would have left the factory with air bags.
1. It wants to be a PT Cruiser.
2. The bottles may be an attempt to meet State requirements that the vehicle has a bumper. Some states have that requirement; I don’t know about Oregon.
Given that this thing appears to be registered, I’m going to say that the words “requirements” and “Oregon” must not be used often in the same sentence 🙂
I actually at first thought that the bottles were standing in for the gas tank. Either way, this Lincoln seems to be channeling its Pinto ancestors.
+1 ^^^THIS^^^. Well put, and funny too, Jeff!
Yeah, something like this would never fly in Maryland.
It has, what appears to be, the factory impact bar reinstalled, so it has a bumper, the factory bumper even, just in a new place.
“Mad Max ” film car. ((prop))
I’m going to guess the plastic jugs are filled with water, to weigh down the back for improved traction. Does it just more than make up for the steel that’s missing?
I like it. Doing their part to Keep Portland Weird.
Histrionic personality disorder.
NO rear overhang!
Easier to parallel park too ! .
I wish I was younger, this looks like a fun event .
-Nate