There's something about taking a Ford, Chrysler, or GM chassis and swapping it with an engine from a competitor's car that appeals to us in a very particular way. There's a certain blasphemy about it that feels so wrong yet paradoxically wonderful.
Well, they say on a long enough timeline, everything gets an LS V8 swap. This 1962 Lincoln Continental is just proof of concept. The fourth generation Lincoln "Conti" was the car that cemented Lincoln's legacy in for the duration of the 1960s. Produced from 1961 to 1969, this Continental featured styling from Ford's Design Studio's Vice President Elwood Engel. A man who worked for Chrysler, GM, and Ford in his time in the industry.
There was a palpable feeling of luxury with this particular creation of his. Which also included the British Ford Anglia and the Chrysler Turbine concept car, by the way. Lincoln was getting their collective you-know-whats handed to them by Cadillac in the late 1950s and very early 1960s. It was the gen iv Conti that helped even the playing field.
The only engine available for this Lincoln until the 1966 model year was a seven-liter (430-cubic inch) big-block V8. This was the engine that was under the hood of this 1962 model from the factory. That was, until the Farland Classic Restoration shop in Englewood, Colorado, got its hands on it. As mighty as the Ford 430 big block may have once been, it's an absolute dog by modern sensibilities. How does eight miles per gallon sound in this economy?
If your answer was you'd rather get kicked in the shins than pay for that much gasoline, this GM LS3 swap will soothe your heart. Obviously, a restomod of this magnitude was a total drivetrain-out, suspension-out job that left little but the basic shell and the stock interior left. What was put in its place is a 6.2-liter LS3 V8 making in the neighborhood of 430 horsepower and 425-lb ft of torque. Factor in the classic look and the modern suspension bits underneath, and suddenly you have a custom car you wouldn't mind driving every day.
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