1954 Lincoln

This 1954 Lincoln Cosmopolitan Custom Sport Coupe is an 11-time participant in the modern La Carrera Panamericana that was transformed into a race car before twice completing the race in the late 1990s with its previous owner. It was acquired in 2002 by its current owner, who overhauled and modified it for participation in the 2005 La Carrera Panamericana. The car was driven by the owner and his co-pilot from Los Angeles to the start of the 2005 race in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico, before completing the first of nine La Carrera Panamericana appearances in a 10-year span. Power is provided by a 341ci Y-block V8 that was reportedly rebuilt and installed in 2013 with ECU cylinder heads, a Ford truck intake manifold, an Edelbrock 600-cfm four-barrel carburetor, and PerTronix electronic ignition. Additional equipment includes a 700R4 automatic transmission, a Ford Torino 9” rear end, four-wheel disc brakes, an aluminum radiator with an electric cooling fan, lowered suspension with Fox aluminum shock absorbers, staggered-width 15″ steel wheels, a 25-gallon fuel cell, a roll cage, and racing seats with five-point harnesses. Since completing its most recent La Carrera Panamericana in 2015, the car has appeared at various multi-day rally events. This Lincoln Cosmopolitan race car, nicknamed “La Bestia del Norte,” is now offered by the seller on behalf of the current owner with La Carrera Panamericana medals and trophies, a handful of service invoices, and a clean California title in the owner’s name. First held in 1950, the Carrera Panamericana challenged drivers through nine stages totaling 2,178 miles of the Pan-American Highway from the southern to northern ends of Mexico. Five runnings of the original event were held before its termination due to cost issues and safety fears in the wake of the 1955 Le Mans disaster. In 1952 and 1953, Lincolns swept the top four places in the stock car class of the Carrera Panamericana before taking the top two class spots in the 1954 rendition. The event was resurrected in 1988 as a seven-day rally combining speed and transit stages over a 2,200-mile course inspired by the original route. Originally finished in Columbia Blue, this car has been repainted in off-white, and various imperfections in the finish are shown in the photo gallery below. Modifications include a peaked hood with custom louvers, peaked fenders, frenched 1956 Oldsmobile headlight buckets, shaved door and trunk handles, hood pins, rubber trunk hold-downs, a front fender-mounted electrical cutoff switch, dual side exhaust exits, and numerous decals. Lettering on the front hood celebrates the 6,571 miles traversed by the car from Los Angeles to the start of the Carrera Panamericana, over the event course, and then back to Los Angeles, while also listing the eight years it successfully completed the event under current ownership. Yellow painted steel wheels measure 15×7” up front and 15×6” at the rear and are mounted with Firestone Destination LE2 and Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/T tires, respectively. A trunk-mounted spare is wrapped in Mickey Thompson rubber. Power-assisted braking is delivered via a Ford Bronco master cylinder, 1997 Bronco ventilated front discs, and Ford Mustang ventilated, slotted, and cross-drilled rear discs. The cockpit is outfitted with a full roll cage and houses a pair of Cobra Monaco Pro racing seats with Ultra Shield five-point harnesses. Additional features include a center console storage unit, a vintage cool chest behind the seats, a fire-suppression system, a Hurst shifter, rubber floor mats, sheet-metal door and rear panels, and factory dash and door cap panels. The seller notes that the seats and harnesses do not meet current FIA standards for the Carrera Panamericana. The two-spoke steering wheel sits ahead of a Grote turn signal switch, a Pro Tach tachometer, and factory instrumentation including a 120-mph speedometer. Additional aftermarket gauges under the center of the dash monitor fuel level, voltage, oil pressure, coolant temperature, and air/fuel ratio, while a Garmin GPS unit is mounted atop the dash. The five-digit odometer shows 47k miles with total mileage unknown, and the seller states that the current owner has added close to 250k miles during 20 years of ownership. The 341ci Lincoln Y-block OHV V8 was reportedly rebuilt and installed in 2013 with components said to include lightened pistons and connecting rods, a Clay Smith camshaft, cylinder heads from a 368ci ECU V8, a Ford truck intake manifold, and custom exhaust headers. An oxygen sensor has been added to assist in setting up the Edelbrock 600-cfm four-barrel carburetor, and additional features include PerTronix electronic ignition with a factory-look distributor and a Ford Explorer aluminum radiator with an electric cooling fan. A 25-gallon fuel cell is recessed into the trunk floor. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a GM 700R4 automatic transmission that features a torque converter rather than the Lincoln’s period fluid coupling. The rear axle utilizes a Ford 9” rear end sourced from a Torino and is linked to rear leaf springs that lower the car by 3” and a Chevrolet Suburban sway bar. The front suspension combines the factory-style A-arms with lowering truck springs and a 1¾” sway bar, while Fox aluminum racing shock absorbers are fitted all around. Corrosion is noted underneath. Images of the car during various runnings of La Carrera Panamericana as well as during the 2018 Targa Baja California are included in the gallery below. Among the car’s 11 appearances at La Carrera Panamericana – two with its previous owner and nine with its current owner – only one is said to have resulted in a failure to finish. A collection of medals and trophies documenting the car’s achievements is included in the sale and pictured in the gallery below. Also shown in the gallery are invoices from a 2013 overhaul of the suspension and brakes. According to the seller, the car has undergone several mechanical refreshes with ongoing modifications and adjustments between competitions throughout the course of current ownership. The car and its rally appearances was the subject of a Petrolicious article in 2018.