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How difficult is it to remove a continental kit?


Lebowski

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I'm looking for another classic car to replace the '70 Chevelle that I sold in January and was considering something like this '55 Crown Victoria. The only problem with this one (currently for sale in Ohio) is I'm not a fan of continental kits. How easy would it be to remove it? Is it as simple as unbolting a few pieces and then attaching the bumper to the back of the car and also shortening the tail pipes or is there more to it than that? Has anyone ever done it? Thanks...

 

 

 

 

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Edited by Lebowski (see edit history)
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I agree that it should be easy enough to unbolt it and toss it. It's my policy to always remove non-stock continental kits. Bleh.

 

Fords are typically pretty good at using only the bumper brackets for mounting the rear spare, but I've seen more than a few continental kits that use the deck lid to secure the tire (mostly GM cars, fortunately). See if he'll send you some photos of the tire retracted and give you a look at the trunk lid itself.

 

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I recall an article in Old Cars Weekly many years ago written by an automotive designer about such things as continental kits. He said that designers used proportion in design and extending the car at the back like that if not designed for a kit ruined the proportions of the car. I don't care for kits and now I know why. As an aside, the author took aftermarket fender skirts to task also. He pointed out that if the fender had a lip at the bottom, the designer meant for the body to end there. Putting skirts on made the fender look funny. He was right about that too. Zeke

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2 hours ago, Brass is Best said:

Unbolt everything you do not want and put the bumper back on the car. Cut exhaust to length. List continental kit for sale. Enjoy cold adult beverage. Should only take a few hours. Spray the bolts with PB Blaster the day before. 

 

This is exactly what the procedure was when I removed a kit from a 1953 Ford business coupe many years ago.

There was no way to undo the 102 louvers, nor the dozen or so in each "Cruiser" fender skirt, so they were simply removed and sold along with the continental kit. 

Back then, profit from the removed parts, plus the '56 Dodge "4-bar spinner" hub caps was enough to buy my $200 1954 Mercury convertible.

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Agreed, it will look tons better without it.

 

What may be required are a standard set bumper brackets where it attaches to the frame, as they could have been replaced with longer ones made to extend that bumper.

 

Craig

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34 minutes ago, 8E45E said:

Agreed, it will look tons better without it.

 

What may be required are a standard set bumper brackets where it attaches to the frame, as they could have been replaced with longer ones made to extend that bumper.

 

Craig

 

Usually they're just bolt-on extensions, so hopefully the original bumper brackets are intact. You can sort-of see them here:

 

 

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38 minutes ago, 48Firetruck said:

What was the the functional purpose of these kits back in the day? Trunk space or just fashionable? If it was simply a fashion statement then I guess I'm too young to understand how anyone could think it made the car look better.

In the 'Longer, Lower, Wider' look of the day, they did what it took to achieve it.

 

Craig

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Edsel Ford had a Lincoln constructed for his personal car. Someone added the spare on the back like some European cars had (on the Continent). The style caught on and people mimicked the look. As best I remember the story. Zeke  

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1 hour ago, 48Firetruck said:

What was the the functional purpose of these kits back in the day? Trunk space or just fashionable? If it was simply a fashion statement then I guess I'm too young to understand how anyone could think it made the car look better.

 

You can't imagine how many guys think continental kits are just the greatest thing since hood ornaments. We had a '64 Thunderbird with a continental kit that looked like a hemorrhoid hanging off the back of the car--we tore it off instantly but a significant number of potential suitors wanted to make sure it was still included with the car and could be reinstalled. It was so awful I just have this one photo where you can almost see it. That piece of junk was off the car before the engine had cooled.

 

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Here's a similar car with the same godawful thing stuck on its butt. A great way to make a pretty car into a pretty ugly car. It's like a square peg in a round hole it's so wrong.

 

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Bad taste is far more common than good taste. Therefore, the add-on continental kit.

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In 1955 when the T-Bird first came out people complained that there was no room in the trunk because the spare tire took up a lot of room so in '56 all T-Birds had the continental kit. Some people complained about that too so in '57 they went back to the way it was in '55. They solved the problem in '58 by making the car a lot bigger and with a back seat too....

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23 hours ago, John_Mereness said:

Should be an afternoon project and then you can sell your kit and go out to dinner with the proceeds :)

 

Should be an afternoon project 🙂 and then you can sell your kit and go out to dinner with the proceeds.

 

I corrected the misplaced smiley.

Bernie

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Interesting thread.  Provides me with the impetus to get to work and remove the  kit on my 52 Olds 98  convertible.  Like they weren't long enough from the factory.  I always disliked it.  I didn't realize everyone else felt the same...Bob  Smits

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13 hours ago, Robert G. Smits said:

Interesting thread.  Provides me with the impetus to get to work and remove the  kit on my 52 Olds 98  convertible.  Like they weren't long enough from the factory.  I always disliked it.  I didn't realize everyone else felt the same...Bob  Smits

 

They made your "Different", 

just like all the other guys!

 

... but I used to like the look, at least back then,

 

as a young guy, I even made my models, and home-built the Continental Kits - just imagine my kit of the 1956 Lincoln Premiere convertible, as if it weren't long enough.

Once, back around 1959? I almost bought a real 1954 Cadillac ElDorado convertible with the glass wind-wings from a used car lot on US-1 in Linden, NJ. It was in pretty good shape for a $300 car!

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14 hours ago, Robert G. Smits said:

Interesting thread.  Provides me with the impetus to get to work and remove the  kit on my 52 Olds 98  convertible.  Like they weren't long enough from the factory.  I always disliked it.  I didn't realize everyone else felt the same...Bob  Smits

 

When you're done how about posting before and after pics so we can check it out. Thanks...

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3 hours ago, Marty Roth said:

Once, back around 1959? I almost bought a real 1954 Cadillac ElDorado convertible with the glass wind-wings from a used car lot on US-1 in Linden, NJ. It was in pretty good shape for a $300 car!

 

I think my cousin bought that car when he was stationed with the army in Newburgh, NY. Made a couple of trips up to this end of the state and got swapped off. They were a "family only" car financed bunch. The Caddy wouldn't have required parental approval. I do remember a big stink a few years later when his mother wouldn't approve $3000 for a Gullwing Mercedes.

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to answer your question without getting into a shit show about liking or disliking them it is a two man job.and there should be nothing from returning it to the way it left factory.there were two styles the one you show and the other where the wheel? flipped down that one made it hard to get into trunk.I am bias as I have one on my car.it looks like those that were around after he korean war but before viet nam.some neathandrals still think that buggies(cars) do not look right without a horse in front operated by someone with reins in their hands😁

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Edited by 54vicky
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Since “Continental kit” was so named because it first appeared on Lincoln Continentals I would say that the kit is appropriate for the car. It looks good because the designer designed the car to accommodate the spare on the back. Zeke

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7 hours ago, Lebowski said:

Would you call this a continental kit on this '48 Lincoln since it looks like it's part of the car and not added on? This doesn't look bad compared to the one on the Ford at the beginning of this post IMHO.... 

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Many moons ago , and far to the Northeast when living in NJ,

I did something similar to my 1954 Mercury convertible,

extending the fenders 20 inches by grafting in a section from another Merc's quarterpanels, and keeping the original ends and taillights, as well as the original bumper. A sheetmetal and fibreglass gravel shield panel filled the gap around my home-designed "Continental", more similar to the original design above, than the kits then on the market. Of course I had to have the springs re-arched, because the style back then was to lower the car's rear, but not to have it bottom-out.

 

Wish I had kept photos of my work ,

and the completed project.

I drove it the Summer of 1961 while my band played at a Catskill Mountains resort hotel,

and regrettably sold it when I left for my Sophomore year at University of Kentucky - Lexington.

 

Looking back, there are times I regreet what I did to a beautiful car, but at the time .....

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6 hours ago, 54vicky said:

you know the old saying about opinions mine included on that one.good possibility that started it off thanks to Edsel.picture I include shows my state of mind😁

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Some of these quotes are nearly 50 years old and lost in the warm waters of obscurity that overtakes them... but in the minds of a few.

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2 hours ago, Marty Roth said:

 

and regrettably sold it when I left for my Sophomore year at University of Kentucky 

 

You went to UK? That's cool. Was Bear Bryant the football coach then? 

 

And how's the weather down in New Orleans this week? Getting much rain? :o

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6 minutes ago, Lebowski said:

 

You went to UK? That's cool. Was Bear Bryant the football coach then? 

 

And how's the weather down in New Orleans this week? Getting much rain? :o

 

Bryant was at Univ of Kentucky from 1946 - 1953  --

Way before my time there - early 1960s.

 

While some areas of Louisiana got a deluge over the past few days, we dodged a bullet here in the greater New Orleans area. Our wind was fairly strong at about 35 - 50 mph since Friday, but we only had minimal rainfall - thanks for asking

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56 minutes ago, Marty Roth said:

 

Bryant was at Univ of Kentucky from 1946 - 1953  --

Way before my time there - early 1960s.

 

While some areas of Louisiana got a deluge over the past few days, we dodged a bullet here in the greater New Orleans area. Our wind was fairly strong at about 35 - 50 mph since Friday, but we only had minimal rainfall - thanks for asking

 

I moved here from San Diego in 1998 so I wasn't exactly sure when BB was here but I knew it was a long time ago..... 

 

We've had half an inch of rain here in the last two weeks so they're saying we may get an inch or two from what's left of Barry on Tuesday or Wednesday so we're hoping that happens....

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