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1956 Lincoln Capri Sportsman. Anyone seen one of these?


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One of the biggest examples is the number of 1969 Camaros wearing Z28 badges with owners claiming they are genuine DZ cars.

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45 minutes ago, Hudsy Wudsy said:

Back to this Lincoln for a moment, I find it interesting that having too many vertical elements, and thus, too many segments, adds great length to the overall. I suppose that is the nature of optical illusion. Do any of you agree?

Since "stream lines" are horizontal, I think the many

vertical lines act visually in opposition to streamlining.

I think they make the car look upright and blocky.

But your insight is interesting, Hudsy, and people may

view the creation different ways.

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3 minutes ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

Since "stream lines" are horizontal, I think the many

vertical lines act visually in opposition to streamlining.

I think they make the car look upright and blocky.

It is similar in design to the 1982-86 LeBaron Town & Country convertibles.    At the new car autoshow when one was on a turntable, someone remarked "it comes with its own packing crate".

 

Craig

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3 hours ago, Hudsy Wudsy said:

Back to this Lincoln for a moment, I find it interesting that having too many vertical elements, and thus, too many segments, adds great length to the overall. I suppose that is the nature of optical illusion. Do any of you agree?

No photo description available.

 

Not in my opinion. It'd look longer without the fence posts.

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1 hour ago, West Peterson said:

 

Not in my opinion. It'd look longer without the fence posts.

Looking a bit closer I think you may be right. The only place you could 'loose' a vertical would be the front fender, there is only one on the door and it def. would make it look off, the couple on the quarter panel are ok as all of the 'blocks' look to be somewhat even across the board. All in all the whole thing looks bad to me though and Im a woodworker that has a liking to wood cars!!

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On 2/21/2024 at 5:36 AM, B Jake Moran said:

Wait. How could a magazine like Car Collector and all those shows fall for such a scam?   The author of the article must have been paid to go along with the lie, because he said he remembered seeing the car at a Baltimore dealership.  
 

The article has no photos of the original car, no photos of the restoration process. As noted, no documentation.  That author should have never been allowed to write another article- ever.  

Is Roy Tucker, the restorer & then owner of the car, and Joe Heacock Jr., the author of the article still around to ask for more source information?

 

Craig

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3 hours ago, 8E45E said:

Is Roy Tucker, the restorer & then owner of the car, and Joe Heacock Jr., the author of the article still around to ask for more source information?

 

Craig

No, both are deceased.

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4 hours ago, 8E45E said:

Is Roy Tucker, the restorer & then owner of the car, and Joe Heacock Jr., the author of the article still around to ask for more source information?

 

Craig

Not likely.  Roy would say "none of your business."  Joe should never have been allowed to write another article, and likely got paid under the table by Roy to even run such a yarn!   What bothers me is that that magazine was considered a legitimate old car hobby collector magazine at the time.  It was one of the 1st magazines I purchased in 1978 when I got into the hobby. 

It was my introduction to some excellent writers like Richard Langworth and others from that generation. 

If I recall, they had a few articles on re-bodies of the classic era cars and were "honest" about that.  There were some famous rebodi-ers back in the 70's and 80's that were household names but have since passed away.  One guy was in Chicago area if I remember and was famous for restoring Duesenbergs.   

I'm just not sure how this farce got past the editors.  Now, looking in Hemmings Classic Cars, Muscle Machines, and so on, photos of the restoration, documentation etc are considered a requirement. 

I am "OK" with the appearance except that trunk work, which is overkill.  But let's face it, it is a converted 2 door hardtop.  The story about the "original" car is completely fabricated.  No photos, no documents of the rusty hulk.  And then the article clearly states deviations from the rusty hulk, but neglects to mention the source of the Sportsman badging.  

If anyone finds these 2 scammers, it would be great!

Edited by B Jake Moran (see edit history)
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3 hours ago, B Jake Moran said:

What bothers me is that that magazine was considered a legitimate old car hobby collector magazine at the time.  It was one of the 1st magazines I purchased in 1978 when I got into the hobby. 

It was my introduction to some excellent writers like Richard Langworth and others from that generation. 

I'm just not sure how this farce got past the editors.  Now, looking in Hemmings Classic Cars, Muscle Machines, and so on, photos of the restoration, documentation etc are considered a requirement. 
 

 

Well.... I was one of the editors. All I can say is that sometimes mistakes happen. It's been so long ago that I do not remember any of the logistics in regard to how that story was sent, who knew who, or anything like that, but I do know that there was absolutely no controversy about it at the time we printed it, nor was there any backlash at the time.  

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4 hours ago, B Jake Moran said:

writers like Richard Langworth

I still have the Cadillac Buyer's Guide by Langworth. I bought it in the early 1990s and kept it. It stood out because when I read it I wondered why they couldn't at least find someone who liked Cadillacs to write a book about them.

 

It's right up here on the shelf. Maybe I will read it tonight for a chuckle.

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3 hours ago, 60FlatTop said:

I still have the Cadillac Buyer's Guide by Langworth. I bought it in the early 1990s and kept it. It stood out because when I read it I wondered why they couldn't at least find someone who liked Cadillacs to write a book about them.

 

It's right up here on the shelf. Maybe I will read it tonight for a chuckle.

You realize he was long time editor of the Packard Club magazine, right?  Cadillac was “that other car.”😁

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10 hours ago, 60FlatTop said:

I still have the Cadillac Buyer's Guide by Langworth. I bought it in the early 1990s and kept it. It stood out because when I read it I wondered why they couldn't at least find someone who liked Cadillacs to write a book about them.

 

It's right up here on the shelf. Maybe I will read it tonight for a chuckle.

RML proved he could not foresee the future of General Motors in his various publications in the 1970's with lines like "GM is too big to fail.", etc.  About ten years later in his Car Collector column he did write about GM's declining market share; especially Cadillac's forfeiting the higher end market to the Germans, and later, Lexus and Infiniti, and no longer "Standard of the World".

 

Craig

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Langford's Cadillac book has stood out in my mind as am example of someone writing the wrong book on the wrong topic. Anyone that hasn't read it should get a copy. It's the tone.  I think the comment about him being the editor of the Packard Club publication is a good one.

 

Being an old car history group I can see some comments about GM's position 30-40 years ago. But they did manage to squeeze out 2,500,000 cars among 42 brands marketing in the US in 2023.

 

As for the Lincoln article, I would tell that edit it was a real capricious thing to do.

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Ford did produce two 1949 Sportsman prototypes for the 1950 model line. One convertible and one coupe. Both had wood paneling but nothing like the Lincoln pictured. They actually look pretty cool, but the concept was dropped and nether never made it into production.

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10 hours ago, 8E45E said:

Here was a Packard seen at the annual meet in South Bend in 2007.

 

07sb177.jpg

This car although similar has a completely different look than the op. The wood is integrated into the body not applied on top. This one looks rather stylish whilst the Lincoln just looks clunky.

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3 minutes ago, TAKerry said:

This car although similar has a completely different look than the op. The wood is integrated into the body not applied on top. This one looks rather stylish whilst the Lincoln just looks clunky.

The trunklid itself does appear to be of wood construction.   I never saw the owner around it while I was there, and was unable to inquire further on it.

 

Craig

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  • 1 month later...
On 2/20/2024 at 8:49 AM, 58L-Y8 said:

I encountered it and its builder the first time in 1990 at the Road Race Lincoln Registry held at Avon, CT.   The restorer/customizer was a skilled older fellow from New England who also built a replica mahogany Hispano-Suiza boattail on a '30's Buick chassis.  Of course, rather than admit it was a personal custom, he and another RRLR member invented a complete backstory.  Iirc the details, it was purported to be a 'New England regional show car' which because it appeared so briefly, no period photos could be found to document it.  Car Collector magazine ran an article repeating this fiction and when it eventually went to auction, it was promoted by repeating the story again.   As Walt G points out, when misinformation is repeated enough, it comes to be accepted as fact.  BTW, the 'Sportsman' scripts are from the '60's-'70's Dodge trucks,

The Lincoln Log’s Sportsman monograms come from ‘56-‘59 DeSoto hardtops. Later Dodge vans had rectangular block emblems.


TG 

 

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IMG_2316.jpeg

Edited by TG57Roadmaster (see edit history)
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