'87 MkVII LSC: The Legend Continues

I decided that it's been too long since I've done anything adventurous. The logical solution: road trip from Metro Detroit area to central IL, buy a <$500 Lincoln from a fellow GRMer, and drive it the 400+ miles home.

My brother took over operations on the 924 some months ago leaving me without a for fun car. He likes its German-ness. I think it's a pain in the butt. Moving on...

My plan for the car is rallycross with Detroit region SCCA. When the car is sorted and my schedule is sorted I'll go play in the dirt. Not expecting the sled to be competitive but it should be a bucket load of fun.

So... Let the journey commence.

Stage 1:

The Mule Wagon is our ride down and support vehicle on the way back. Its virtues are reliability, fuel economy, FM radio, and the ability to carry crap. Those virtues do not include AC, cruise control, or anything else comfortable.

My traveling buddy is Daniel, a younger kid with a V6 auto Mustang who I am trying to convert to GRM ways.

The plan is: We drive from Commerce, MI to Pekin, IL, pick up the Lincoln, meet some of my buddies from college who live in the area, and then head home hoping nothing breaks on either of the 20+ year old Ford products.

On the road. No time to stop in Grand Rapids. Bummer. Daniel is too young anyway

The drive is mildly interesting until we hit Illinois.

Things just got exciting...

Except it wasn't exciting at all really.

The drive to get the car was uneventful. Traveling buddy announces as we leave that he doesn't actually know how to drive a manual. Guess he will be driving the Lincoln on the way home. He's a work in progress, folks.

Arrive, see the car, test drive it, it sounds awesome and is awesome in general. As for the transaction in general it was probably the best car buying experience I've ever had. I'm convinced even more that the GRM community is full of good people.

Now to get the thing home.

Yeah, not a whole lot to see in Central Illinois!

The Lincoln stuff is fun down in Springfield but nothing else really comes to mind. lol

Stage 2:

Mule Wagon, meet Lincoln. Dinner with friends then time to hit the road.

8:21pm: Our adventure almost turns disastrous near the IL/IN border. In the rearview mirror I watch as traveling buddy merges into the side of a Tundra, swerves away from said tundra, and almost loses it. Fortunately traveling buddy has good car control skills and there is open space for him to swerve away into. In Daniel's defense it was getting dark and the guy was driving too fast, in his dark grey truck, with no lights, in a light drizzle.

No damage to either vehicle. At least we are wide awake now.

9:30pm: Getting closer but we still have get to the other side of the state. Weather has been stellar except for the occasional sprinkle. Daniel is still wound up from the close call but the cars have been great. We have been taking it easy since the MPG sweet spot of both these cars is around 60mph.

10:15pm: We hit traffic and the Escort does not like the stop and go. The temp. gauge jumps and I turn the heater on to keep it from climbing. It works but while the car is comfy, I'm not. Fortunately it's night and not the hot part of the day. Otherwise we might have had a problem. The Lincoln is fine.

10:34pm: The traffic is clear. As we accelerate away from the road work Daniel says he smells gas in the Lincoln. Uh oh. We stop, check everything, smell everything, poke everything. No evidence of gas smell or anything that would cause it. Maybe it came from another vehicle.

11:00pm: Obligatory late night fuel stop pic.

12:50am: Almost home. The caffiene is wearing off. Have resorted to Top 40 radio in order to stay awake. "I'm going down, I'm yelling timberrrrr..."

1:45am: Home safe. Road tripping in an old car is highly satisfying for some reason. Everyone should try it.

Hotrod Lincoln in the driveway next morning. It's a nice thing to wake up to.

Glad you had a safe trip, although I heard Blue tried to make leaving difficult

I must have just missed you, my son spied Blue at Casey's and wanted to stop and see why Jed and Lily were at the gas station. He forgot Blue was leaving while we were out.

Crap. looking at that last pic I just realized I forgot to give you the center caps for both sets of wheels. Sorry!

I can ship them out there in a flat rate box, if you want them.

The top set are for the 16's currently on the car and the bottom set are for the O.E. 15's.

In reply to The_Jed:

That would be great. I didn't know you had the center caps and was thinking about trying to find some. Without em the dust from all the dirt roads around here make the lug nuts a mess.

The plates will be in the mail soon.

20 minutes at the secretary of state and the blue Lincoln is officially a Michigan resident! I thought about taking it on a date tonight... but didn't. Only because I want to keep it close to home until I make sure it's as reliable as I think it is.

Quick update: I haven't had much time to do car things all summer until now so my progress has been limited to driving the Lincoln when I can and making a list of things to fix.

• There is a significant oil leak that is probably a result of the long distance drive home. I haven't bothered to try and find the source but it's dripping over a wide area so I suspect the oil pan gasket. Meh.

• There is squeal from the front coming from water pump or a pulley or something.

• I'd like to get those things fixed before I do anything serious with it.

• The car is buttloads of fun and I still grin every time I turn the key.

I've been wondering how ol' blue was treating you.

It definitely makes some lovely sounds!

Sqeaky tensioner pulley, maybe?

^ nailed it.

Guys... I might have to sell it as I am currently out of a place to keep it during the winter. Trying extra hard to avoid that though.

If I can keep it I'll eventually pull the engine, refresh some seals (definitely doesn't need a full rebuild,) scavenge Explorer heads and stuff, and put it back together next spring.

At one point i was trying to unload my turbo dodge to pick up one of these as a winter car, then my wife reminded me of why i sold the mustang. Would be hilarious to see video of this sliding around in the dirt if you do get to hang on to it!

That's a bummer but, it happens.

At least old blue had one last adventure!