By Jim & Carol Higgs
LCOC Western Region Featured Members
Jim and I both retired in 1999 and moved to Hattiesburg, MS. Jim had always liked Lincolns. He said one day he would like to buy one, which I thought was a pipe dream. Well, he started looking on eBay and other ads in Hemmings and finally found the 1989 Mark VII.
So he started to bid on it and then someone put in a higher bid and Jim countered it just before the bidding was to end. Jim’s last bid was the winner! So we actually purchased our 1989 Lincoln in June of 2002. He then arranged for payment and pickup of the Mark VII in Pensacola, FL after we returned from the Lincoln Meet in Nashville.
At the time we picked it up some areas on the hood looked like something had spilled on them and ruined the paint. After a few months we had it painted. The mileage was 77,870 when purchased and currently the mileage is 114,218. The car is pretty much the same as when we bought it except for the chrome lace-style wheels. It has the original engine and transmission and as far as we know, the original brakes. The upholstery is still original to the car. We have replaced the radio with a combination radio/CD player.
With our location in Mississippi we were able to attend Eastern, Mid-America and Western meets. The car has been as far east as New Jersey, north to Duluth, MN and west to Scottsdale, AZ, among many others and the car never skipped a beat.
Our first meet with our new Mark VII was the Dearborn Meet in 2003 for the 100th anniversary of Ford and the 50th anniversary of LCOC. Being novices that we were, we entered the car in the Pre-Primary class because we weren’t sure just how good our Lincoln was and were afraid to go into the Primary class on our first outing. Saturday on the show field, everyone was asking us “why didn’t you enter it in the Primary class?” We just shrugged our shoulders. Needless to say, we won first place in Pre-Primary, which was the beginning of our love relationship with Lincolns and LCOC.
If you would like to share your Lincoln story mailto: epbendel@sbcglobal.net for info.
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