LINC400

There are several companies in the Chicago that hire out antique Rolls Royces and limousines for weddings, proms, etc. If you are expecting to do this with your car, then you have to have the type of insurance that covers this business. The same as you cannot use your regular personal new car insurance for hiring out your car as a taxi. Otherwise, if you are using it for a friend's wedding, it would be stupid for you to say they gave you a tip or gas money for the favor. The insurance company would have no way of knowing this, so why cause problems by telling them?

If the car was hired out by someone you do not know, then it is obviously a business transaction. And even if it was, if the wedding party was expecting to get any money, they would be stupid to say anything that will cause the insurance company to deny the claim. Otherwise if the car was not hired out as a business transaction, as I already stated, what is the difference if the wedding party sues you or if passengers on the way to a car show get injured and sue you?

It says quite clearly that the car is covered if used in a friend's wedding. So how is this a problem or any different than if they were riding in the car on the way to a car show? Are you going to say, well some idiot ran a red light and totaled my car which has a stated value of $30,000, but I don't know if you should cover the loss because I got a plate of shrimp and $20 for gas?

Why do people find it necessary to overcomplicate things? As long as you are not doing it as a business, what difference does it make if you receive a tip, dinner or cash? If my car got hit, I would say it was hit while in a friend's wedding, which is allowed. End of story. I would not say, gee I got a $20 tip and a plate of shrimp, is my car still covered? Is the insurance company going to subpeona your bank statements to see if you got anything before they pay?

I suppose things could have been changed as time passed, but I have seen enough fakes in museums that it doesn't really surprise or shock me anymore. Especially in the museum in Volo, IL. which I will not name. My friend is the hearse and ambulance nut, and he was pointing out all the discrepancies, which I agreed with, but don't remember what they all were. There were a couple other cars in the Roscoe museum that were fakes as well, the Family Truckster comes to mind. I don't know why they do it. They had some real cars there, but throw in some fakes and it just makes me question all of them.

There is one at a museum called Historic Automotive attractions in Roscoe IL. However, due to various discrepancies between the car in the museum and the car shown in the period footage playing next to it, I believe it is a fake.

I keep hearing about this 30 mpg. My 3800 gets 20 mpg regularly. Never got close to 30, and it was purchased new in 1994.

Yes, now instead of people commenting about Mercury Bobcats, Lynxes, Tracers, Monarchs, etc. being badge engineered Fords, We will have Lincoln Focuses and Fiestas. Much better.

I am really tired of the line of thinking that there are too many manufacturers and too many models. This is a line of B.S. started by the media and repeated by everyone. Years ago you could get a 2 door, 4 door, convertible, station wagon, hardtops, etc. from almost every manufacturer in every size from sub-compact to full size. There were actual size differences between sub-compact and full size such as Pinto and Town Car or Chevette and Fleetwood. There were also choices in colors and options. Not 5 colors with option group A, B, or C. And Ford and GM made money on these cars. Lots of money. Now if you want a 2 door, convertible, station wagon, etc., you are lucky if you can find one or two out of 20 different marques. Years ago you would have had your choice of 3-5 from each marque in 3-5 different sizes. So how is that too many models now? The problem is that everyone has 4 door appliances with very little difference in size or appearance. So who needs 5 versions of basically the exact same unexciting car that isn't much different than the 2-5 versions offered by everyone else? When there were actual differences between the divisions, they sold. Years ago a Buick, Mercury, or Olds buyer would never look at a Toyota or Honda. But when there is not much difference in size, style, price, models, etc. why not look at them? This is how American manufacturers lost sales to the foreign ones. And they are not going to get them back by continuing to offer their own generic look-alike versions of foreign cars. Plus Ford's problem is that they think the only car that should have any performance is the Mustang. Performance versions of anything else are usually not offered, half baked, or if they do get it right, not offered for very long.

Mercury was always a badge engineered Ford intended to fill the gap between Ford and Lincoln, and to compete with Buick, Olds, and Chrysler. In the 1950's and 1960's, the cars were different enough from Fords to be considered baby Lincolns. In the 1970's, the Marquis and Cougar continued this trend. But then they introduced cars like the Bobcat, Monarch, Zephyr, Topaz, etc. which were not baby Lincolns, but very thinly disguised overpriced versions of the Fords. Baby Lincoln is definitely not the same as overpriced Ford. For the last twenty years Mercury has done very little to distinguish itself as anything other than an overpriced Ford with verticle grille bars. However, what needs to be done is not to kill the division, but to give it some decent product to sell to draw attention to the marque that is not simply more Ford clones. I predict that Lincoln will now offer cheaper models and drop in price to fill the gap left by Mercury. So now we will have another great name diluted even more than it currently is. And insted of Mercury being an overpriced Ford clone, now Lincoln will be. The problem is that all Detroit automakers stopped making cars for Americans that wanted to buy traditional American cars. Instead they tried to offer clones of Toyotas, Hondas, Lexus, and BMWs. The problem is they will never succeed with this mentality. They can make a car that is just as good or better than those foreign cars, but they will not sell because what the buyers of those cars like best about them is the nameplate. Then the traditional domestic buyers are left with nothing they want, and are forced to look elsewhere.

Times change. I used to go to local antique flea markets almost every weekend. I collect antiques from the 1920's-1950's. I stopped going when they became dumping ground for tube socks, n.o.s shampoo and lotions, beanie babies or whatever crap McDonald's was giving away that year. Antique malls used to consider 1950's stuff "kitschy", but not real antiues. Now the malls are loaded with 1970's and 80's crap, Star Wars toys and more McDonald's movie give away crap. While antique car swap meets are now going the same way, it seems to me that they held out a lot longer than the regular antique places.

I would pay extra as a buyer in order to be able to use Paypal. Not that I like paying extra just to use Paypal exactly, but I simply would not bid on an item that couldn't be paid for with Paypal even if it sold for less. If I am buying something for say $200, I certainly do not want to be screwed out of that money by sending a money order and then receiving nothing or a broken or misrepresented item. With Paypal, you can stop the payment. With a money order or check, you are simply screwed out of that money. So I would be willing to pay $240 to know I would be getting the item I expected or my money back. It just isn't worth it to bid $200 and not be sure you won't get screwed. So I would just pass on the item and wait for the next one. I haven't sold much, but it is certainly worth the little fee Paypal charges to have an instant payment, no trips to the bank, no worries about bounced checks, not have to keep asking and waiting for a check to arrive, and possibly get more money for whatever I'm selling because the buyers feel more confident bidding.

Ages ago when Ebay accepted money orders and checks as well as Paypal, I did some comparisons based on some people complaining about Paypal fees. Items listed where Paypal was not accepted, only money orders and checks, usually sold for 20% - 40% less than the exact same item listed with Paypal as a payment method. So apparently rather than pay the 3% or whatever little fee from Paypal, these sellers would rather get way less for the item. Doesn't seem like a brilliant strategy to me. Plus then you have to make the extra trip to the bank, and pay for the gas to do it to deposit everything.

Two things First, who are you going to listen to? They guy that lists 50 items a week even though it is antennas for a 1908 X, or the owner of a 1908 X that buys 2 items a year. Granted, it is annoying to sift through tons of junk that have nothing to do with your car. But I wouldn't be getting rid of sellers that list a ton of junk every year and pay for the listings if I was Ebay just because a few people complain. Ebay exists to make money on whatever is listed, not to be a specialized parts supplier for your car. Second, I can't understand why anyone would pay with anything other than Paypal. I would have been robbed a couple of times. Once the seller took my payment, and simply never sent anything. The other time, they sent a fragile item wrapped in one single paper towel. Obviously it was massively damaged when it arrived. If I had paid by check or money order, I would have been robbed out of that money. With Paypal, I simply cancelled my payment, and was out nothing. Anybody that refuses to use Ebay is only short changing themselves. Ebay will still exist without you. I have gotten a ton of stuff that I never would have found if Ebay did not exist.

I still think it is wrong for the show cars to have to pay for admission, but spectators get in for free. There is no show without the cars. The spectators that won't pay to get in are usually the ones I can do without. They are generally the ones that get fingerprints all over, spill their Coke and ice cream on my car, and have to feel my velour seats with their sticky fingers. People willing to pay to get in are usually car people, and are hopefully more respectful and careful (though not always). Some here with Duesenbergs and Cadillac V-16's left open might laugh that at public spectator admission free show, my car is locked and windows rolled up. But I do not need to shampoo mustard and ice cream out of my just detailed interior again.

I have heard before that the Seville shared practically nothing with a Nova. Don't know if that is true or not, but if it is, then I think it is even worse than a Versailles because GM went through a lot of extra effort and expense to produce a car that looks like and everyone thinks is just a dressed up Nova. As far as Versailles vs. Cimarron, the Granada was at least being marketed as a plush smaller car. The Cavalier was just the bottom of the line Chevy sold at double the price.

Personally, I think attacking the Aztec is about the same as everyone listing Edsels on these lists. The Prius or Matrix, Honda Fit or Insight, or any number of imports have similar styling to it, except they are smaller. But they are never mentioned. In fact everyone thinks they are wonderful.

The Granada had very sculpted sides. So it was impossible to disguise it even with new front, rear, roof, etc. It would have had to have all new sheetmetal to remove it. The Cavalier had smooth sides, so no problem with identifiable side sculpting. Yet it still looks more like a Cavalier, and is usually mistaken for one until you take a second look. I am not a fan of the Versailles, but would much rather have one than a Cimarron. The Nova Seville doesn't impress me either. I'd rather have an '80-'85.

Wasn't it also "Riviera by Buick"?

Lincoln : eBay Motors (item 290434605817 end time May-18-10 18:31:48 PDT) You mean this isn't stunning?

The color is Aqua Blue Diamondfire Metallic. I called a couple paint places and two wouldn't touch it. The third can match it. By the time we are done with paint, reducer, and adhesion spray, it was $150.00. Paint alone was $91.10. Then they told me about all the different steps that are required for painting. Plus it will probably require a couple of coats since one is gray and one is gold. Two different paint places refused to paint it also. I'd love to pay $150.00 for the whole job, but the stupid armrests are so fragile that they would probably break. They are hard plastic that cracks very easily. And since they are about 5 feet long, shipping probably wouldn't be cheap either. Since I have never done anything like this before, it may be better just to pay the high labor cost than to mess up $150.00 worth of paint, and armrests that cannot be found anywhere.

The armrest bases on the door on all Mark IV and V Lincolns always crack in the same place. After years of searching, I finally found replacements. They run the entire length of the door. I took the two front armrests, plus the two smaller rear ones (so all 4 would match) to a body shop to have them painted to match the car. I also had the idea of having my small Rubbermaid cupholder console painted to match. I realize this is a difficult color to match, but they are telling me that they want $350.00 to do a 3 stage cleaning, add some kind of flexing agent so that the paint will not crack or peel off (the armrests are plastic), and have the paint custom blended, and paint the 5 pieces. This seemed kind of high to me. Or is that the going rate for this sort of thing nowadays?

They didn't change because they kept selling as they were. Why spend extra money to change a car when the buyers were usually older people opposed to change, and they were still selling well?

The proposed 1957 Detroit built Packards. Not the Studebaker ones that actually got built. Doesn't seem to make sense to reproduce stuff that has already been built, and you can just go out and buy one.

Stacey David's Gearz seems to be one of the more interesting shows on Speed Channel. I find that I am not very interested in the actual projects he is doing, but histories of Hot Wheels, Speed Racer, and other things that he ties into his projects make them more interesting. My Classic Car, and Car Crazy are just ok. It would be nice if they focused less on street rods. One of the most interesting shows was Auto Biographies on History. It told the story of a particular car and how it came to be. Too bad they don't have that on anymore.