- Seller: Robert P (Contact)
- Location: Apollo, Pennsylvania
- Mileage: 73,000 Shown
- Chassis #: 7H152959
- Title Status: Clean
- Engine: 394 cui Oldsmobile V8
- Transmission: 3-Speed Column Shift
Every so often, a genuine long-term discovery surfaces with a history that makes you want to know more. This 1947 Lincoln Convertible certainly qualifies. Offered as a Barn Finds Exclusive in Apollo, Pennsylvania, for $11,500, the seller says this Lincoln sat from 1971 until 2019 and had already been transformed into a hot rod during the 1960s. Rather than erase that chapter of its life, the next owner can revive a fascinating period-built project.
The seller says the Lincoln was fitted with an early Oldsmobile 394 during its hot-rodding days. That engine has since been replaced by a 1963 Starfire 394, which remains in the car today. It’s paired with a three-speed column-shift manual transmission, making for a combination you certainly won’t encounter at every cruise night.
The engine does run, although the seller is refreshingly candid about its current condition. At least one cylinder is described as dead, with the seller suggesting stuck rings as a possible cause after the engine spent years in a salvage yard. That’s a diagnosis the next owner will need to investigate rather than an established fact, but there’s already been some mechanical work completed.
According to the seller, the Lincoln has new rod bearings and a new clutch, while the gas tank has been rebuilt and the brakes are new. They report that the car will drive around the yard and stops fine. It’s still very much a project rather than a road-ready classic, but having basic movement and braking capability is certainly welcome when taking on something of this size and age.
The body also gives the next owner an interesting starting point. The seller reports no rust-through other than in the front floors and notes that reproduction floor panels are available. None of the Lincoln’s hydraulic systems currently function, so those will also need attention as the restoration or recommissioning moves forward.
The odometer shows 73,000 miles, and the Lincoln is offered with a clean title. The seller also says manuals, literature, and additional parts are included, potentially giving the next caretaker some useful material as they get acquainted with the car.
Then there’s the body style itself. According to the seller, only around 300 were made. Regardless of whether the next owner chooses to preserve its 1960s hot rod identity or take the project in another direction, a 1947 Lincoln Convertible Coupe isn’t something you’re likely to park next to another example of very often.
That’s what makes this Barn Finds Exclusive especially appealing. It’s not simply an unfinished old Lincoln; it’s a car the seller says spent decades tucked away after being hot-rodded in an earlier era, and much of that story remains intact.
Looks like a cool future hot rod !
My daddy told me to stop driving Lincolns..
“My papa said, “Son, you’re gonna’ drive me to drinkin’
If you don’t stop drivin’ that Hot Rod Lincoln.”
Have you heard this story of the Hot Rod Race
When Fords and Lincolns was settin’ the pace
That story is true, I’m here to say
I was drivin’ that Model A
It’s got a Lincoln motor and it’s really souped up
That Model A Vitimix makes it look like a pup
It’s got eight cylinders, uses them all
It’s got overdrive, just won’t stall
With a 4-barrel carb and a dual exhaust
With 4.11 gears you can really get lost
It’s got safety tubes, but I ain’t scared
The brakes are good, tires fair
Pulled out of San Pedro late one night
The moon and the stars was shinin’ bright
We was drivin’ up Grapevine Hill
Passing cars like they was standing still
All of a sudden in a wink of an eye
A Cadillac sedan passed us by
I said, “Boys, that’s a mark for me”
By then the taillight was all you could see
Now the fellas was ribbin’ me for bein’ behind
So I thought I’d make the Lincoln unwind
Took my foot off the gas and man alive
I shoved it on down into overdrive
””
Good luck with sale!
Charlie Ryan; Johnny Bond; and; Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, approve.
In 5th grade, I drew a picture of the “Hot Rod Lincoln,” basically a Model A, but it was reddish too!
I came on here just to see if somebody had posted that line from the song!lol
The listing title caused this song to pop into my head. Thanks for supplying the words.
ng on itunes and play and share it regularly !
I’d make sure the brakes and steering were 100%, super tune the engine, leave the body a little rough like it is and smoke a few guys at the stop light just for fun!
Many many years ago I had a friend with a 394 in a chopped and shortend A pickup, to say the least it was a little scary!
That beast is one heavy ride so it will take a lot more than a 394 stock to make her go fast.
My brother had a 47 coupe with a Cadillac motor. It would go but had to wind up first.
The coupe was heavy and the convertible is probably heavier.
For sure it will turn heads as you motor down the road.
Not sure how one cylinder is stuck, yet the engine runs??
The cylinder isn’t stuck. The seller thinks the rings are stuck in the grooves in the piston.
If the rings are not moving on the piston it will get very low compression, that’s why he is calling it a dead cylinder.
Looks pretty solid for it’s age… Hot Rod Lincoln… You get some leg for sure riding this down the strip… Lol
For a lot of folks that owned these cars in the ’60s, an engine swap was the only way that you
could keep your car running. Your V-12 engine was a temperamental beast with a whole host of problems that came along with it. You know, stuff like warped blocks or cylinder heads, hollow ground crankshafts that would either snap in half or become egg shaped over time. Excessive oil
consumption, overheating, vapor
locking and so much more. And throw in the fact that parts for these engines were practically non existent, and you can see why many of these cars started
showing up at car shows sporting either Cadillac or Chrysler hemi power. A 394 Olds
is a good engine for this car as it
was very robust and responded well to a hot rodder’s touch. I’ll
hazard a guess and say that you’ve either got a stuck valve or a collapsed lifter. That might also be the reason for the low compression in that cylinder too.
The fact that it’s still running says
a lot for an early rocket V-8. They
never seemed to quit. As for the
rest of the car, you don’t really need to spend a king’s ransom
restoring this car (unless you really want to) as there a lot of local shops that will charge about
half of what a restoration shop will charge you when it comes to
getting this old gal back on the road. So what if the end result isn’t a jewel like restoration! Who
the hell cares! If you’re gonna build this car, build it with usefulness in mind. For instance,
ditch all that hydraulic 💩 the car
came with and convert the windows and top to electric power for safety and reliability. And since I’d building it with my
neice and SIL in mind, I’d swap the 3-speed for a T-400 auto tranny and electric power steering so that they could drive the car easily. I’d cover the body with a nice, dignified Champagne
Gold metallic and upholster the
interior in a dark red leather with
Black carpets and door bottoms.
And all that under a white convertible top. I do wish there our seller would’ve included a good 3/4 front view of the car and I would like to make a print of
but can’t do it without a good view of the grille and front bumper. The side and the rear views are fine but I really like the
front end shots of these cars the
best.
Ken I would make it a 4 on the floor instead of make it an automatic.
I guess they made it all fit with a little help from an adapter kit. I remember back in the 60’s J.C. Whitney had an adapter for just about any engine transmission combo you could think of. And what Ken said the V-12’s had a lot of problems and by the sixties parts were hard to find. No internet back then. So the 394 was a pretty good upgrade. I’m not too keen on the interior upgrade though, I think I would rather the original leather. If the new owner can get that dead cylinder back to life it looks like a fun project.
The Olds 394 was a brute in it’s day with around 345 h.p. and 440 ft. lbs. of torque vs the original V12 at about 125 h.p. and 220 ft. lbs. The early 1960s Olds 98 weighed in at the same range as this Lincoln, so as built it wouldn’t have been a slouch by any means. :-) Terry J
The Zephyrs were hot rods before anyone modified them. I remember sitting on our stoop with Pop on East 3rd St in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn and seeing a circa 1940s one go roaring up the street. Loved the look and this convertible is wonderful.
Dad had one of these for awhile. I don’t remember how long he had it. I just remember him backing out of the garage with it. It was a cream color with a white convertible top. That was about 1959 or 1960. I was 6 or 7 years old at the time. Unfortunately, Dad passed in 2001 so I can’t ask him about it.
That interior is the BOMB! Reminds me of Norma Desmonds car in Sunset Blvd. A 1950s “Film Noir”. with Bill Holden and Gloria Swanson.
Only one word for this car, and I am a lover of old cars: fugly.
I fully agree with your comment and wonder who wants such a jalopy , the old guys do but can’t and they are dropping like flies so ( ask me why or do as usual and sweep it under the rug ) who wants it ?
Oh yeah!!! Sunset Boulevard! Made in 1950. What a movie it was too! That big old 1929.Isota
Franchini Town Landau sedan with that God awful Zebra skin interior in it. I think that Erich Von
Stroheim was in it too as the butler. Hell of a film. Try to catch
it when I can. That was when movies were movies! Oh sure, the ’60s had some really good films too and then it all started falling apart in the ’80s when they
made all that chop ’em up and splatter 💩 that was enough to turn me off ’80s films for quite a
while. I remember looking through the TV Guide at the old movies they aired every week and
circled the ones I wanted to see.
And if I couldn’t find any old stuff on our local stations, there was
always WAND channel 17 out of
Decatur, Illinois. Their Night watch Theater was really something. All I had to do to get it was to use the rotor box and turn that big old Channel Master
antenna we had to the South East
until it came in clear as a bell. It sat atop a 30-35 foot tower and boy, did it work great! You could
even get the Chicago stations if
you pointed that thing due East
or get the Acri Creature Features
on Channel 8 out of the Quad Cities on weekends too. Boy, what a great time to be a movie buff and a motorhead back then!
Without a doubt, the best times I
ever had.
Wonder if Angel 😇 has seen that
movie. It would sure be a great film to watch together. You know,
doin’ stuff like holding hands or maybe stealing a smooch or two
during the commercials. Now THAT’S entertainment!
Ken, Sometimes I think that you are just a dreamer. I don’t think Angel’s significant other would appreciate your attitude! (lol)
I may well be Wayne, but it don’t
hurt to dream. Sometimes your
dreams come true, and sometimes they don’t. No matter
what, she’ll always be a good friend of mine. And when you reach our age, you can’t have too
many friends. Found another famous Chicago band not long ago. The Jump ‘N The Saddle Band. They’re the ones that did the Curly Shuffle in ’83. Got to see a clip of the playing on New Year’s Rockin Eve with Duck Clark. They have a nice fat sound
that I think you’d like. And I didn’t
know WCFL was a clear channel
too. Learn something new every day.
I keyed them up and listened to “The Curley Shuffle” crazy song. But the band hadca great sound! And I agree about at our age you can’t have too many friends. I’ve got another one (Studebaker freak) on his way out. He has been my “car show buddy” for years. So, yes you need them as many are going to meet the Lord.
Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Angel can make up her own mind thank you very much. And I consider you both friends, even though we’ve never met. There are quite a few on this site I consider friends. You can never have enough friends.
And Wayne, where did you get the crazy idea I have a significant other? I know I’ve mentioned several ex husbands but as of right now, I’m available. The problem is finding someone with the same interests. Everyone here is taken. And finding someone with a love of cars as I do is…….. difficult. Especially someone with enough money to by me the cars I want. Say la’vi.
Husband number one let me buy whatever I wanted. Of course we were both working then. And back then you could get a nice classic for $600. Now they are $20,000.
But thanks for sticking up for me, Wayne.
When I worked at the Ford dealership in New Jersey in ’92 there was a salesman who had a red restomod Lincoln convertible just like this one and for a second I thought this was that one. I don’t think it had that God awful interior though so it can’t be this one.
C’est la vie !
like the Cady I love justa bout every gen lincoln produced (not lincoln’s 4th gen? ’58/61?). I’d would like even more if ever an i8 in one. But…
this model DID have a v12 (’32/3 – 448 or 7.3L). It was also the last company to use a 12 cyl in production – It started asa 267 cubic inches (4.4L) producing 110 hp, later expanding to 292 and 306 cubic inches.
Orig motor gone, it’s no longer a true ‘classic’. Not one for ‘frankinstiens’ off company mix’n match (motor/transmissions) I’d be tempted to use an i8 I like them so much…
I would leave it as Hot Rod.
I like the price being published at the beginning of the article. This would save a lot of time if the price was prohibited.
Couldn’t agree more Bob! Give the 394 what it needs, completely
refit the ragged out interior, swap the hydraulic 💩 for the seats and
windows with electric units, redo
the top, paint it if you like, and then drive and enjoy it for what it is– a rare Lincoln that should be saved regardless of what’s under
the hood. And as for Commander Cody, we opened for
him a few times in ’72 and ’73. One time, we wound up playing with them for about 2 hours. It was getting late and the crowd was yelling for more. Some of his guys were worn out so my guys and I pinch hit for them. It was one of those package shows
we played in a small town and the
crowd wanted us to stay. We dueted on Hot Rod Lincoln and a
song called Mama Hated Deisels,
which was their latest release at that time. We’d point at one another when it was time for that
person to sing a verse it was just like playing with my friends in high school we had so much fun.
We finally got out of there about
Midnight or thereabouts. And since we used our equipment that night, Cody had his roadies help us load our stuff to thank us
for helping them out. And to this day, I still can’t believe that the crowd that night stayed 6 hours
to watch us play and sing. If we
didn’t have a show in Little Rock,
Arkansas the next night, we probably might have played til 4
AM if the Mayor would’ve let us.
Suffice it to say, we slept in the bus that night. You had to be there.
I see these old cars most of them are pop cans but this one is so ugly its cool
Well, $11,500 doesn’t buy much these days especially a reasonably solid car that can actually be called a “classic”. Though I’m a great fan of the Olds 394, it’s condition makes it a perfect time to can the GM engine and put in an FE or 460 / automatic, notwithstanding it’s history. :-) Terry J
This beautiful beast could be the perfect candidate for a Coyote
Pretty good choice John, but I think a big MEL engine would do
better. Those big 410/430/460/462 V-8s had more
than enough power to move this
old gal down the interstate especially when fitted with a C-6
automatic transmission. Now if
you’re lucky enough to find one, a
405 HP Ford 406 or a 401 horse
390 would really have tongues
wagging at your next local car show. There are so many things
you can do with a car like this one. Hopefully, the new buyer will
do it right.