Hot-Rod Lincoln | 500-Mile Mark VII Continental had Vintage Ford Motorsports Mods | NPD Collection
We all know “that guy”. The one who used to have a sweet car in the garage, but now he’s had to give it up in order to live the life of a responsible family man. Deep down he still wants to build a nasty little street Mustang, but the wife says the family needs a more civilized car. But what if you could pull off something close to both? That’s the narrative I constructed in my head when I first laid eyes on what the NPD guys called the Motorsports Lincoln.
This silver Fox-body was one of many Lincoln Continentals in the National Parts Depot collection. It is one of many ultra-low mileage rigs on display, this one only showing ~500 miles. The interior still smells new. At first glance, it appears to just be super clean example of the 7th Generation Continental. However, when you start looking under the hood with the eyes of a Ford Performance enthusiast you’ll see that this one appears to have had the Ford Motorsports catalog thrown at it. Just see for yourself:
The presence of a tubular GT-40 intake manifold gives it all away. That piece alone is worth more than most of the surviving Mark VII Lincoln Continentals you’ll find on the market. Those intakes were once ubiquitous in the Mustang community, but are now highly sought after by those looking to build a period correct performance pony car. It doesn’t stop there though.
Because this Lincoln is built on the Fox chassis, a host of upgrades intended for a Mustang of that era can be fitted to this luxury two-door. Such is the case with the Ford Motorsports tubular headers fitted to the 5.0L pushrod V8. I’m not sure if they are bolted to an otherwise factory exhaust, or one of the others available in the catalog during the period when this car was built. It’s hard to tell what secrets this car may be hiding.
The video posted above shows our effort to spot the hidden goodies on this unassuming Lincoln from the floor. However, the next time I’m in the area I’m going to try to convince NPD’s shop manager to put this one on the lift so we can take a look underneath. It’s hard to tell what else we may find. I’m not sure what made the original owner decide to mod his new Connie this way, and then not really drive it, but I have to say I appreciate his taste in cars and upgrades. This one is certainly interesting.
