"That Raw Lincoln" by Exile Fabrications

"That Raw Lincoln" by Exile Fabrications

While it’s always exciting to see finished products getting a SEMA Show unveiling, it’s especially cool to get a peek behind the curtain at in-progress builds, especially when they’re as mind-blowing as Mike Ledbetter’s ‘63 Lincoln Continental. The one-man-show behind the car is California’s Exile Fabrications, AKA Mike Jones. “When we first started the project, he wanted to build the wildest Lincoln ever built,” Mike says. “So that’s where I came up with the plan of using my background in off-road and street race car building to build an elegant, race-inspired, street machine Continental.” Starting in 2018, Mike gutted the luxo-barge to a point where just the body and part of the front chassis section remained. “I wanted to keep it unibody,” he explains, “so I kept the front rails in. I built a full plate frame rail from the firewall back, and a full rollcage.”There’s hydraulic cantilever suspension, allowing the car to hit the deck while retaining full adjustability via QA1 coil-overs and a HydroShox pump and valves. “I built custom plate upper and lower control arms with one-off spindles that house Wilwood Pro hubs, 16-inch rotors and six-piston calipers,” Mike says. The four-link rear holds a Spidertrax diff housing and more fabricated bracketry. Yet again, the intake plenum, intercoolers and piping are custom bits, fabbed by Mike using Vibrant Performance components, and there’s a billet-topped fuel cell packing Aeromotive pumps. Power comes through a Maximum Transmissions-built 4L80E, consisting of a Reid billet case and internals and a manual valve body. Body mods are extensive, with the rear cowl panel pushed back five inches to allow the tubs to almost touch the bottom of the rear glass, while retaining the factory seal boot. “I also did flush glass and a drip-rail delete,” Mike says. “That’s a lot of work on a Lincoln, because the trim houses and seals everything, so there’s lots of sheet-metal work to make the new glass surrounds.” The rear glass was remade by AM Hot Rod Glass. Continentals were built with a front-hinged bonnet, which Mike is doing away with. “I hate reverse-opening hoods; they’re impossible to work on and hard to show off, as people are forced to lean over the fenders to see inside,” he says. “So I mounted Eddie Motorsports hinges from an AMC. I still have to mount the hood to them, and the plan there is to have two hood scoops and filters for fresh air.” Tucked bars on both ends are also on the agenda, and Mike will to dip the car in a classy Brandywine red.

The Lincoln features a Derale Performance Brushless Powerpack with Built-in PWM control to help it keep cool. Also features Two 11 Row Hi-Flow Coolers for cooling the transmission and coolant fluids.

 

Parts List

  • 67923 - Brushless Single Powerpack - 17'' RAD Fan Aluminum Shroud with Built-in PWM Controller
  • 65840 - Two 11 Row Hi-Flow Racing Remote Fluid Cooler, 1 for cooling the transmission fluid and 1 for Cooling the Engine

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