August 29, 1989: I spotted this 1969 Lincoln Mark III at a small used car lot along Pleasant Valley Blvd. in Altoona, Pennsylvania and stopped to have a look. The car belonged to the owner of the car lot, and was one his "projects." As is often the case when one accumulates one too many projects, something had to give. Asking price on the 77k original mile car was $800. I looked the car over as thoroughly as my limited knowledge allowed and offered $600, which he accepted.

My soon-to-be wife was definitely surprised to see a tow truck drop the car off in the driveway, but not in a "Gee, what a nice surprise" way. She was not thrilled to have a giant Lincoln sitting in the driveway that, at that moment, didn't run and couldn't be driven.

My $600 investment got me a 1969 Lincoln Mark III with 77k original miles on the odometer. The condition of the car reflected its price tag. Getting it started was a chore due to several electrical gremlins, (I had to have it towed to my house as a result). Once running, it actually ran quite well. The brakes worked, but resulted in an uncommanded hard right turn and making some really scary noises in the process. The lights and signals, horn, power seats, windshield wipers, and HVAC system worked fine. The power windows, a/c, and windshield washer did not. The radio didn't work, and the antenna was broken. I had a lot of work ahead of me.

The body was dent-free, but that's about it. The rear bumper had seen its better days as well. Both end caps had holes rusted completely through. Keen eyes will notice that the bumper assembly didn't exactly sit straight either.

The interior was complete and in good shape, all things considered. The driver's seat was in the worst shape, as expected. The dash and all the interior trim were in remarkably good condition, but more importantly, all present and accounted for. Trying to find replacement trim parts for this car would prove to be quite challenging.

My soon-to-be wife was puzzled by the trash bag taped in place around the right side front window opening.

So why the plastic trash bag ? The passenger's door window glass had come loose from its mounting channel and separated from the channel completely. The adhesive originally applied in 1969 gave up the ghost after 20 years.

Thankfully, the window glass was in the trunk, as were a bunch of other parts. The spare tire, jack, and all the trunk carpet pieces may have seen better days, but they were in place.

Power came from Ford's 460 CID V8, (or 7.5L), that made 365 hp. Of greater importance was the 500 ft-lbs of torque it produced at a low, low, 2,800 rpm. This meant maximum pulling power was available just as you pulled away from a stop sign.

It needed a bath. But it was all there. The a/c didn't work, (compressor was bad), the fan shroud needed to be replaced, and the cruise control didn't work. But it was complete. I would later discover that the no-crank concern I had, (which prevented the car from starting), was due to a faulty fender solenoid which can be seen in the photo above.

I must have moved the camera at the last moment, which is a shame because I wanted to show how nice the interior actually was, all things considered. The exposed metal behind the driver's seat was actually an old patch over rust in the floor in that spot. I would eventually have to address rust holes in several places in the floor.

Aside from the one large tear in the seat cushion, the passenger's seat was pretty decent. All the power adjustments worked including the electric lock for the rake adjustment.

The rear seat looked really nice, and was tear-free and quite soft. All the seat belts were there, and the center arm rest folded down like it should and also looked great. I would later discover something strange. Manufacturers in those days would place several copies of the assembly line build sheet in various places throughout the car during the assembly process, (in the seat springs, above the gas tank, under the hood insulation, etc.). Build sheets are vehicle specific and show every option that particular car came with from the factory. The build sheet I found under the back seat cushion seen above was for a different car, (the VIN number didn't match). I still have it in a folder with the car's paperwork.

This is a really interesting picture. The image I was trying to capture - the driver's door panel and the decent shape it was in - came out completely blurry. For whatever reason, my Canon Sure Shot focused on the reflection of the "442" logo in the driver's door mirror that belonged to the 1985 Oldsmobile 442 found elsewhere within this site. That turned out great ! Completely unintentional, but great. I took this picture 26 years ago and didn't notice that until I scanned the negative to upload here . . .

The passenger's door panel was in really great shape as well. But my Canon Sure Shot decided to focus on the grass next to my driveway instead of the door.

My $600 project settled into its new home in my driveway.

I have no idea what happened here. I took this picture moments after taking the others above, so it wasn't dark outside. But the effect is quite interesting.

I pulled out the wash bucket and vacuum and tried to clean it up as best as I could. Once clean, the black paint actually had a nice shine. A good coat of wax made it look even better. Unfortunately, the nice appearance didn't last too long.

And there it is - my new $600 project. I had to fix a bunch of stuff first. But eventually, the Mark III would settle into "daily driver" role, (gas was cheap in those days). And I couldn't have been happier . . .