Would the Lincoln Mark VII LSC Be a Good Resto Mod Candidate?

By Jonathon Klein - August 12, 2015

motorweek

When folks think of resto mods, most would likely associate that word with classic muscle cars from the 60s and 70s. Something from the era of the original pony cars. However, one of our editors here has a sick and twisted mind, and thinks any car older than 1990 could receive a resto mod redux. Case in point, he’d like to modify a 1988 Lincoln Mark VII LSC.

The Lincoln Mark VII LSC was the high performance edition in the Lincoln lineup. Using a 5.0L V8 plucked out of the Fox Body Mustang, it made a floundering 225 horsepower and 300lb-ft of torque. Not much to propel the heavy Lincoln body around a racetrack, let alone the street.

However, as you can see in the Retro Review below, in 1988 when MotorWeek first tested the Lincoln Mark VII LSC, the 15.6-second quarter mile and the 9.1-second 0-60 mph run made the Lincoln a decent performer, even among sports cars of the time. However, our editor, as mentioned above, has a disease of liking this era of cars, and thinks that swapping out the original Mustang motor for a new Coyote powerplant would finally make the Lincoln Mark VII LSC the performance muscle car it always wanted to be. In other words, the rich man’s resto mod.

While we’re not sure what drugs our editor is on, it’s an interesting proposition. The hardware is all ready to go for the swap, due to the Lincoln essentially being a bigger Mustang from the same era. But here’s the question: is the Coyote the right swap? What about a turbo LS like so many Fox Bodies have been modified to run? Would he need to replace all the suspension as well to take it fully to its logical insanity? And would a resto mod Lincoln from the 80s even be cool?