Ron K.

Good tip, I will also send him my spare coil.

Charlie responded promptly and said that the manual is indeed still available so I ordered it. Try to contact him again Jim, hopefully yours will be on the way also. Ron

Thank you for your advice, I talked to John Murphy and he recommended sending the distributor to Jake Fleming so I will call him today and ask if he will accept this mission. He did an excellent job on rebuilding my radio a year ago. Ron

Surprise! Just got an answer to my August 8th email and Charlie, he said that he never received the check. I sent him a message this morning asking if the manual is still available and if I can order it. I will let you know his response as soon as I hear back from him. Ron

I guess that I am one of those back orders but your reputation is still golden with me. BTW, my '40 Cabriolet is back in it's home and should be on the road within a week. The new steering wheel will make it complete but no rush and don't compromise your high standards, my friend. Ron

My V-12 is running pretty ragged and I suspect it has something to do with the distributor because some cylinders are getting a very weak, if any, spark. Have any of you seen a "how to" set of instructions on changing points and condenser, tuning and testing the V-12 distributor? I also need to re-torque the head bolts and my Motors Manual says that Lincoln never recommended a specific pattern, just work from the center out. I have seen a number of recommended patterns for the Ford Flathead V-8 but could not find one for the V-12, anybody have one?

Update. I ordered the Manual back in mid May, the check was cashed on the 30th of May, I sent two or three emails over the summer with no answer, this morning I noticed that the $65 that I sent in was deposited back into my account with not so much as a howdy do. I am irritated, what kind of operation is the LCOC running, I need the authenticity manual and those guys are completely non-responsive. By the way, I noticed on their forum that us V-12 guys are not singled out, even the new car guys are not getting theirs either, I guess it is equal opportunity bad service for all of us Continental owners from the LCOC.

What a beauty, I had the pleasure of seeing John Murphy's back in May and was really impressed. You guys have really neat, rare machines. Good luck, I look forward to seeing the finished product.

Which car are you working on now, Jim?

Thank you Keith, I look forward to attaching that perfect steering wheel to my car. I love your work and don't mind waiting for it.

The '40 Cabriolet top is vacuum operated and the cans are restorable if in solid condition. I got news seals and etc. from Boos Herrell.

I certainly agree but I guess that our small world of Lincoln V-12s and the relative age of the owners is the reason for it not being very active. I sure appreciate you, John Murphy and others, with your vast knowledge and experience in these great cars, that have made the refurbishing of my Cabriolet more fun and a lot easier.

Thank you Mssr. Bwatoe for your help, the problem was that my picture files were too large.

Okay guys, using the untouched paint on the inside of the right fender skirt, this is the shade of blue that we think is the closest match. We are using a modern base/clear coat by Dupont. By the way, the original paint did have some metallic in it.

I would like to upload three photos but can only get one to load, I now have 14 photos in the "home" file. Could that file be full, I tried to delete them but cannot figure out how.

Just to bring those of you that were advising me up to date, we went to the paint store today and after an hour and a half, we finally got a pretty good match to the inside of the right fender skirt, just like Jim's. I had been told that the 1940 Capri Blue was not metallic and that they did not use metallic paint that early in production however; my untouched fender skirt had Capri Blue metallic paint and I am positive that it was not repainted until the previous owner painted the rest of the car black in 1953 (lucky for me he missed the inside of the skirt, he did paint the inside of the left one). So, I am using a Dupont Nacent base with a clear coat. As John Murphy told me, who is to prove that you have the wrong color. By the way, that tip on the Buick maroon for the dash was right on.

Jim, that looks just like John Murphy's.

When Mike was removing the paint from the skirts he found that the one on the right had been painted black but the paint on the inside came off easy and he found the same thing, the original Capri Blue and it is good enough to do a computer match. We will use that result and compare it to what the manufacturers say is today's equivalent to the old lacquer Capri Blue. By the way, I had a nice conversation with Dr Freeh who restored a beautiful '40 Cabriolet and found out that he had purchased his correct paint from Spagnolla (?) years ago, which is no longer available.

I would like that also but do me a favor and ship my steering wheel first...just kidding. Keep up the good work Keith, you do magic.

Thank you Jim that is good advice, sadly I do not have anything that has the original paint on it unless I am lucky enough to have an original paint bracket. I will use the paint codes that I have been given then the painter and I will make our best guess. Who knows, I might be right.

Thank you Jim, are you happy enough with the Deltron 15867 to use it or is more research by us required? Great idea John but if I remember correctly, Reece even painted them black also but I will check the next time that I am in the shop.

Being new to Lincolns, I am surprised that this wasn't resolved long ago and it amazes me that high end restorers are using varying shades of what they believe is Capri Blue. I haven't received my Authenticity Guide yet but it must not mention a modern paint code for Capri Blue or this issue would be resolved. Did our paint Guru, Ed Spagnola (?) ever delve into this conundrum? I appreciate your input and like to try to paint my Cabriolet as close the authentic color as possible.

My mentor, John Murphy, sent me this. "Found a paint chart from Dupont which shows a 1940 Lincoln Zephyr Capri Blue metallic as DULUX 181-6607 and a paint code for their PYRALUX 236-34131. Don't know the difference...your painter should".

Yes sir, Mr. Murphy has the patience of Job and explained it all to me. Jim, I am sure that you went through the drill on the paint code for Capri Blue '40 Cabriolet, if you have it available would you give it to me and I will cross check it with the one that I have. Thank you.

Gentlemen, I just had a nice conversation with Mr. Murphy and he set me straight. He had been telling me all along that I needed gold trim, unless the build sheet specified something else (like his Copper Penny), and I wasn't listening. Thank you Mr. Bwatoe and Jim for your input and trying to keep me on the right track.