Yes, you read correctly: this vehicle was absolutely one hundred and ten percent FREE! Many of my long-time readers may recall the post from mid-June where I thought I was cool and macho for finding a perfectly good
1970's children's bicycle in the trash one afternoon while illegally putt-putting around the neighborhood during my license suspension. Little did I know that I was yet to see the top of the mountain. How does one come to acquire a limousine for free, you ask? Gather around and I shall tell you a tale.....
The Lincoln belonged to a friend of one of the owners of the body shop my father works at and has sat down there for at least ten years, maybe longer. He used to own a limousine service when the car was new and never got rid of it. Why Rolls-Royces and Cadillac Fleetwoods were sold and the Lincoln was held onto I will never know, but it came to rest at the shop one day a long time ago because the man needed room at his already cluttered garage, out of which he runs a small hot rod & restoration shop. As a kid I would play inside the big limousine on many an occasion when my father brought me down to work with him on his old cars, or to grab tools and other things. I thought it was the biggest car I'd ever seen; perhaps the biggest car in the world, and wanted to have it since the first time I laid eyes on it. I am, have been, and will be a diehard General Motors fan until the day I die and shit on the blue oval every chance I get, but when you're nine years old, a limousine is a limousine and that's all that matters! Technically I haven't sold out yet because, although I now
own a Ford, I have still never
paid for one. And a '74 Continental limousine isn't exactly your everyday piece of crap Ford, either; exceptions can be made. All I know is, when the chance to own it came up, I could not refuse for a second, especially considering that if I didn't take it then a local wrecking yard would in short order. Who could knowingly let one of their favorite childhood playthings go to the heap and feel good about themselves? Lord knows
I couldn't!
So for the past ten years the thing's been down at the shop, sort of out of the way but still enough
in the way so that the guys could never completely forget about it. It moved from here to there, from this building to that, and back again as need be. Its last resting place was in the end of the main building, which needs to have a concrete floor poured in it so that vehicles can be stored inside during the winter months. They'd been asking the guy for a long time to either move it or junk it, to no avail. Supposedly it had been listed for sale for a long time, but if that was actually the case, nobody ever bit. A few months ago they asked him if he'd rather just junk it, and he apparently came very close, but decided to hang onto it for just a little bit longer. Thankfully, he did.
Last week I was down at the shop and John, the owner, mentioned that he'd be paying the Lincoln's owner a visit on Saturday and that he'd ask him once again if he wanted to junk it. Wait just a second, here! Junk my Lincoln?! They couldn't! I wouldn't let them! I told John I thought it would be a shame to just throw the thing away like that and asked him if he was just going to junk it would it be alright if I were to take it instead. He told me that sounded fine with him, at which point I
prayed that it would be "junked," now knowing the car's
real fate!
Today I went down to the shop and went out back to the unit where the '67 Eldorado and the major portion of my other super-secret car junk stash is housed to start the Eldorado and drive it around the yard to keep things moving. I go to back the car out the door and slam on the brakes, seeing the nose of a big red pickup truck at the last second. It was John! I got out of the car as he was getting out of the truck.
"Hey, how are ya," he says.
"Not bad, not bad. Just figured I'd come down and fire up the Cadillac."
"Good, good..... Oh, by the way; I got that Lincoln for ya."
"What?! Are you serious?!"
"Yeah, you can take it; it's all yours. Keys should be under the driver's seat."
And just like that, I suddenly own a 1974 Lincoln Continental limousine with an eighteen-inch stretch. Silver with a black top and black interior with rear-facing folding jumpseats and a power divider window between the driver and passenger compartments and dual stereos and dual climate control; this thing is the real deal. With only 62,000 original miles on it, the old girl runs as smooth and quiet as it did when it was new. A little work and a new paint job over the winter and spring and she'll be ready for action in the summer! And every time I get behind the wheel, I'll remember the little boy who could barely see over the dashboard; who would put on the chauffer's hat tucked neatly inside the glovebox, ask his imaginary passengers where they'd like to go, and make engine noises as he took off for their destination. The big silver Lincoln is all his, now.
Lined up and ready to roll. My friend Chris's '81 Chevrolet Malibu gives chase as the '71 Coupe DeVille and '77 Cutlass Supreme get ready to make their final trip to Cadillac Bill's house to be traded for my new 1967 Cadillac Eldorado.
