None of the Lincolns I parted out had factory air suspension. I used whatever rear springs I needed and probably scrapped the rest. That was over forty years ago. When my "get up and go" got up and went, it must have taken my memory with it!

I had to stop mowing when I came accross this in the front yard this morning. It seemed like a pretty good excuse to quit mowing.

These make great parts cars! I parted out two 1957 Lincolns, a 1956 Lincoln and a 1954 Lincoln while building my 1947 Continental in 1967. I used the engine, 15x6 inch wheels, electric windows and seat, front drum brakes, power steering, and the rear axle out of the '57s and the 4-speed Hydramatic transmission out of the '54 in my '47.

One of the '57s had an automatic starter switch which engaged the starter when the ignition was turned on and the transmission was in park. After the engine started and developed vacuum, the switch released the starter. I used that switch in my '47 to start the engine and turned the original starter button into a horn button because having 12 volts on the horn ring was a shocking experience if my arm was on the window sill when I blew the horn. The automatic starter surprised many passengers and provided sort of a passive anti-theft device.

The turn signal switch in the '56/57 LIncolns has the exact same shape and configuration as the turn signal switch in the '41-48 Lincolns, but has the extra connections necessary to produce THREE brake lights instead of just one single brake light on '41-48 Lincolns.

I installed the trunk-mounted a/c unit in the '47 with vents in the package tray, but never got around to mounting the compressor or the plumbing.

So I too have a much of a 1957 Lincoln, but it's wrapped in 1947 sheet metal.

If you have the Webshots screen saver, there is a photo album of my '47 from the early days in 1964 through the 1971 wreck and later in Texas at:

http://community.webshots.com/album/33590926dAmhsj

Does your car have some tricky air suspension or are all the springs broken?

Short out the gas gauge sending unit while someone else is sitting behind the wheel. If the gauge moves to full it is the sending unit. Don't allow the gauge to stay at full or you will burn out the gauge. It probably has a float on the sending unit that has a hole in it and has sunk to the bottom.