OldSchool8: Operation Diesel Retrieval!

OldSchool1

OldSchool1

Dedicated LVC Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2004
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Location
Primos, PA 19018 USA
In July 2004, I bought a 1984 Lincoln Continental Mark VII Turbo Diesel from Richard "SlickRick2" Gibbs in Pensacola, Florida. BTAuto Express, a broker, was supposed to transport the car from Pensacola to Philadelphia for me ... but they dropped the ball. Two months and two hurricanes later, the car was STILL in Pensacola.

I last spoke to Ricky the day before IVAN came through and then lost ALL contact for a week. My wife and me feared the worst for him and his family. Just as I was about to start asking forum members from the dozen or so boards that I visit to look in on Rick and his family, I got a call from Ricky himself.

He and his family were physically unharmed. Unfortunately, most family members lost thier homes or received extensive damages due to the storm. I find it hard to imaging finding your second floor steps ... down the street. The town of Milton will never be the same. Electricity was returned just in time to hear about a THIRD storm coming through the state.

On Tuesday morning, September 28, 2004, I'm flying into Pensacola to spend some time with Ricky and his family and to retrieve the Lincoln that, amazingly, made it through the storm. Penske has a truck and dolly reserved for me and I'll ~haul~ the car back home. Mapquest and a trucker that I spoke to said I should take :
I-10 W toward MOBILE (we've all seen the I10 bridges east of Pensacola)
29 N
AL-113
I-65 N
I-85 N
I-95 N .

I'm going to make a ton of stops on the way and if I'm near your town between September 28th and the 30th, let me know and maybe we can grab a sandwhich. I'm traveling with my cell phone (267 970 5549), a digital camera, a wireless laptop and hopefully the angel that looked out for Ricky and his family.

On top of all this, I've got a car show to attend on Saturday, October 2, 2004 at 7:30 am. I'm going to need somebody to buy me a cup of coffee :)

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A diesel in a Lincoln?! That's a new one on me. Glad to hear Ricky and family are well. My sister lives outside Sarasota and have been very lucky as well. Don't worry about the show on Saturday, coffee's on me!
 
Glad to hear the family made it through okay! The turbo diesal looks good. You will have to take alot of pictures when you get home. I always woundered what the details were about that engine.
 
That is a very beautiful Mark John. It looks incredibly clean, let alone the fact that it's a turbo diesel! Congratulations!
 
Katshot said:
A diesel in a Lincoln?! That's a new one on me.
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Sifrino3 said:
I always woundered what the details were about that engine.
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They were available in 1984 and 1985. It's a Steyr engine, which is a subsidary of BMW. It's a turbocharged I-6 with 115hp. The same engine was also available in the BMW 524. Still runs through the AOD, and there are 3.73 out back. There are rumors of a five-speed, but no one has ever actually found one. They are pretty rare cars, especially that clean.
 
JoshMcMadMac said:
There are rumors of a five-speed, but no one has ever actually found one. They are pretty rare cars, especially that clean.
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I sold them there diesels back in the 'ol days and never saw one with a 5-speed, nor was I aware that they were even available. If they made one, it would be extremely rare and might even be worth a few bucks.

The diesels weren't too popular because they are not as quite by today's standards and were tough to start in the winters. I think they received some decent gas mileage although I don't remember how much. I may have sold 3 or 4 of them. Mostly Bill Blass.

We used to play up that BMW connection big time.
 
Sifrino3 said:
Glad to hear the family made it through okay! The turbo diesal looks good. You will have to take alot of pictures when you get home. I always woundered what the details were about that engine.
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Thank you. Now I just have to get it home.
I'll have specifications for you within a month. Keep your eye on my diesel page. BTW, how's married life been treating you? You're coming up on an anniversary right? What is it like two weeks or something :)

hehehehe

John "I-Been-Married-ForEver" Dancy
 
JoshMcMadMac said:
That is a very beautiful Mark John. It looks incredibly clean, let alone the fact that it's a turbo diesel! Congratulations!
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Thank you.

And only 1100 miles to get it home!
 
JoshMcMadMac said:
They were available in 1984 and 1985. It's a Steyr engine, which is a subsidary of BMW. It's a turbocharged I-6 with 115hp. The same engine was also available in the BMW 524. Still runs through the AOD, and there are 3.73 out back. There are rumors of a five-speed, but no one has ever actually found one. They are pretty rare cars, especially that clean.
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Makes me drool just reading about her :)
 
MonsterMark said:
I sold them there diesels back in the 'ol days and never saw one with a 5-speed, nor was I aware that they were even available. If they made one, it would be extremely rare and might even be worth a few bucks.

The diesels weren't too popular because they are not as quite by today's standards and were tough to start in the winters. I think they received some decent gas mileage although I don't remember how much. I may have sold 3 or 4 of them. Mostly Bill Blass.

We used to play up that BMW connection big time.
Click to expand...

What you just typed is a good start.

I'll need all of the help I can get to populate my DIESEL page with good information including how the front liners (sales) were involved with this American offering to the gas crunch. I will eventually operate a DIESEL registry.

What else can you tell us about what you remember from 1984-1985 about these cars?

Do you remember the $72.00 Vent Window Option?

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OldSchool1 said:
What else can you tell us about what you remember from 1984-1985 about these cars?

Do you remember the $72.00 Vent Window Option?
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Sure do. Some people even ordered it. Usually a smoker who liked only opening up a small 'vent' for the smoke.

As far as remembering much else, I am afraid most of the those brain cells are dead. I was in my early 20's and every night was a party. And I mean heavy partying. We had lots of cash and made sure we spent every penny of it.

I do remember selling the Merkur XR4TI and the Capri 5.0L, oh, and the Lynx. LOL.
 
OldSchool1 said:
What you just typed is a good start.

I'll need all of the help I can get to populate my DIESEL page with good information including how the front liners (sales) were involved with this American offering to the gas crunch. I will eventually operate a DIESEL registry.

What else can you tell us about what you remember from 1984-1985 about these cars?

Do you remember the $72.00 Vent Window Option?

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Wow! Vent windows?! Never saw that before. Try finding a door for THAT car nowadays!
 
MonsterMark said:
Sure do. Some people even ordered it. Usually a smoker who liked only opening up a small 'vent' for the smoke.

As far as remembering much else, I am afraid most of the those brain cells are dead. I was in my early 20's and every night was a party. And I mean heavy partying. We had lots of cash and made sure we spent every penny of it.

I do remember selling the Merkur XR4TI and the Capri 5.0L, oh, and the Lynx. LOL.
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Thanks.
I understand about the brain cells.
I understand about the brain cells.
I understand ... waitaminute ... SLAP ... that's better.

Carpri with a 5.0 eh?
For those of you that weren't around to see the Carpri, imagine a Ford Focus shipped from the factory with a carbeurated 302 :)
 
Katshot said:
Wow! Vent windows?! Never saw that before. Try finding a door for THAT car nowadays!
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I found three. Shipping would be wicked but worth it. One guy in Florida knew what he had so he said something like $500.00 After I picked myself up off the floor, I said, "Let me get back to you."
 
First daylight at home

OK.
Thursday we landed.
Friday we prepped OldSchool7 and 5 for a show.
Saturday we did a show.'
Sunday we dug up the garden.
Monday, I finally had 3.5 minutes to actually take pictures. The OldSchool8 page has begun and the diesel page has been updated. Here's the Nerd shots:

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Before Dennis There Was Ivan.

Before Dennis There Was Ivan! On September 28, 2004, I flew to Pensacola, Florida to pick up my 1984 Lincoln Continental Mark VII Turbo Diesel. This was about one week after hurricane Ivan rocked the area. My pictures have finally been retrieved from the laptop I used that day. Please see:

http://www.lscclub.org/cars/oldschool8/

 
i remember GM took a 350 and tried to make a diesel out of it in the earlier 80s. Then they all blew up. You can't take an engine that was not designed to be a diesel from the ground up and just convert it to diesel. This Conti sounds like a different story. BMW diesel engine from day one. Nice find! I owned a diesel Suburban for years and loved it....actually my father still owns one (a different one). Those vent windows? Had'em on my 85 Suburban. Do they whistle? haha
 
CobraConti said:
i remember GM took a 350 and tried to make a diesel out of it in the earlier 80s. Then they all blew up. You can't take an engine that was not designed to be a diesel from the ground up and just convert it to diesel.
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They get an E for Effort!
CobraConti said:
This Conti sounds like a different story. BMW diesel engine from day one. Nice find! I owned a diesel Suburban for years and loved it....actually my father still owns one (a different one).
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Thanks. I need to complete two more projects before getting the diesel back on the road.
CobraConti said:
Those vent windows? Had'em on my 85 Suburban. Do they whistle? haha
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I'm not sure. I've only driven OldSchool3 up to about 45 miles per hour.
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