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The USS Compensator Is a Bonkers Lincoln Monster Truck Limousine

The idea behind limousines is that they’re able to deliver a unique passenger experience. In that sense, the USS Compensator fits the bill: it’s the very definition of unique.
The USS Compensator, the unofficial tallest Lincoln Town Car in the U.S. 9 photos
Photo: YouTube / Barcroft Cars
The USS Compensator, the unofficial tallest Lincoln Town Car in the U.S.The USS Compensator, the unofficial tallest Lincoln Town Car in the U.S.The USS Compensator, the unofficial tallest Lincoln Town Car in the U.S.The USS Compensator, the unofficial tallest Lincoln Town Car in the U.S.The USS Compensator, the unofficial tallest Lincoln Town Car in the U.S.The USS Compensator, the unofficial tallest Lincoln Town Car in the U.S.The USS Compensator, the unofficial tallest Lincoln Town Car in the U.S.The USS Compensator, the unofficial tallest Lincoln Town Car in the U.S.
However, it bears little else in common with other limousines, even those strange hybrids we’ve talked about on previous occasions. The USS Compensator is tall and long, aggressive-looking and not exactly beautiful, but it’s nonetheless awesome.

Defying easy classification, the USS Compensator started life as a Lincoln Town Car. Builder and operator Jordon Foster from Keno, Oregon, bought it off eBay for as little as $1,200. After three months in the shop and $9,000 in parts, it was turned into this bonkers creation, a strange monster truck slash limousine with an overhead observation platform with access by means of a folding metal ladder. It comes with the unofficial title of the tallest Lincoln Town Car in the U.S.

Even the name is awesome: USS Compensator is “self-explanatory,” Foster told Barcroft Cars in an interview earlier this year. You can see it at the bottom of the page. Asked why he’d build something as crazy as this vehicle, Foster’s reply is as unexpected as it’s great: “Why not?”

The USS Compensator, the unofficial tallest Lincoln Town Car in the U\.S\.
Photo: YouTube / Barcroft Cars
Indeed, Foster explains, he deliberately set out to deliver an impractical, useless vehicle. Building the USS Compensator was a challenge for himself, to see if he would be able to bring to reality the idea in his head. Obviously, he was perfectly able of doing that.

“I wanted to see what the biggest most impractical vehicle was I could build, and what's bigger and longer than a limo, nonetheless, a lifted limo,” Foster says. His favorite part: the Texas Longhorns mounted on the hood.

It took him 3 months of 12-hour days to finish the build. He did most of the work himself: in fact, he appreciates he did 99 percent of the work on the Compensator. And he did it for cheap, too: the total cost of the monster limo is somewhere around $10,000, including the price of the original Lincoln.

Sadly, Foster doesn’t offer a look inside the limo, so it’s fair game to assume the interior doesn’t live up to the “limo” name. He doesn’t go into specifics, either, other than to say that the vehicle is powered by a 4.6-liter engine and that spins military-grade wheels. The tires alone are 53 x 16 inches (134.6 x 40 cm) and weigh 580 pounds (263 kg) each. Foster added 1,600 pounds (725 kg) to the car in the drivetrain alone.

The USS Compensator, the unofficial tallest Lincoln Town Car in the U\.S\.
Photo: YouTube / Barcroft Cars
While he’s pleased with his creation, Foster is honest about its misgivings: it’s an impractical car. It’s long enough to take up at least two parking spaces, for which reason he’s always somewhere at the end of the lot, and it’s too tall to be able to use it in drive-thrus.

“The car is not useful, it’s hard to park, hard to drive around town, I have to watch my corners, watch my blind spots at all times,” he says. On that last account, he had cameras installed for better visibility.

Still, he drives it around. The USS Compensator is perfectly street-legal in Oregon, so even though it’s a pain to drive, Foster takes pleasure in taking it out. “I love the challenge of navigating through town it’s like an off-road course inside city limits,” he says. “The USS Compensator handles like a cruise ship on choppy water.”

Despite the fact that the USS Compensator was cheap to make and is so difficult to drive, Foster is not yet ready to part with it. He says he’s already been getting cash offers from people, but he feels like he won’t be able to sell it because it has sentimental value now. The idea of getting to build another, perhaps even more bonkers vehicle does have its appeal, though.

Then again, how could anyone ever be able to top this monster limo?

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About the author: Elena Gorgan
Elena Gorgan profile photo

Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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