AM Blog:
October, 2010 (Archived)

ARCHIVE:

- Current Blog

2010:

- 09/2010
- 08/2010
- 07/2010
- 06/2010
- 05/2010
- 04/2010
- 03/2010
- 02/2010
- 01/2010

2009:
- 12/2009
- 11/2009
- 10/2009
- 09/2009

Post 2: Tuesday, October 26, 2010 10:04 AM

The 1964 Lincoln Continental represented the first major change in appearance for the Lincoln body style that was introduced three years earlier in 1961. The reason for the styling changes was to accommodate increased interior room, namely in the rear seat area. The biggest complaint Lincoln received from its new owners during the early sixties was lack of leg, knee, and head room in the rear seat. All of those were addressed for 1964, along with increased luggage compartment capacity.

At a glance, the new models looked like the old ones. But upon closer inspection, the rear doors were wider and the upper rear corner of the rear door glass had a new square angle shape. The deck lid was modified to remove the concave area, and a simpler grille applique that matched the new front grille design was in its place. There were also new wheel covers outside, a new instrument panel inside, and new seating arrangements available.

Sales increased, an indication that customers appreciated the improvements. Quality control remained excellent, and the fit and finish of interior components and exterior panels and trim will still superb. Spend some time in the 1964 Lincoln Continental section and discover the significant changes in the timeless Lincoln Continental for 1964.

Note: We were interrupted during the design and build out of this section due to a computer hardware failure. These things never happen at an opportune time, and we were offering blog readers the chance to see us build the pages (for the first time ever) when the failure occurred. We may attempt to do this again in the future, once we're certain everything is back to normal. Our apologies for the delay and our thanks for your understanding.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010 7:04 AM

Right now in The Showroom: 1966 Ford Thunderbird Town Landau for sale with less than 16,000 actual miles! Finished in Sauterne Gold with a white vinyl roof and white pearl vinyl interior. Great condition overall. Unusual color combination. Has power windows, reclining passenger seat, but was not ordered with factory air conditioning. This is your invitation to enter the private world of Thunderbird...

Sunday, October 24, 2010 5:38 PM

Have you ever seen a 1976 Ford Thunderbird with the Copper Decor Group? Chances are you haven't. And if you did, you might have thought it was a 1975 Thunderbird with Copper Luxury Group, built to commemorate the T-bird's 20th Anniversary. It can be difficult to tell the difference, but the '76 version doesn't have the copper colored interior. Instead, it came with a choice of interiors. Most common are the Saddle-colored interiors, but White was also available with Saddle components (instrument panel, seat belts, carpeting, etc.)

At any rate, the point of this message is that The Showroom currently has a 1976 Thunderbird with the Copper Decor Group listed for sale. Less than 16,000 miles, original owner and condition, always garaged. Check it out!

In non-related news, we are continuing work on the 1964 Lincoln Continental section, now that our computer is functioning again. We added several new things today...stay tuned for more...

Friday, October 22, 2010 10:10 PM

Just a quick message to let everyone know that our main computer—the one with our site software on it—decided to melt down earlier this week. A local shop was able to identify the culprit and restore everything, but it took them several days to do it. We now need to get everything back the way it was, which may still take a few days.

We wanted you to know why there hadn't been any news or updates from us recently. We'll keep you advised.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010 7:23 AM

Change to XHTML doc type: We are changing the doc type of our new pages going forward from HTML 4.01 Transitional to XHTML 1.0 Transitional. This should have no effect on our readers whatsoever. XHTML is stricter interpretation of HTML documents, and more current than the former version. It simply means our pages will be more standards compliant, and as such should display properly in more browsers. We will also be updating some of the older pages to the new doc type as well.

1964 Lincoln Continental—are you enjoying watching us build the pages? Some of you might be surprised at how much we juggle things around on a page before we lock it down. The Interior Trim and Exterior Paint Colors pages are the ones closest to being completed. If you haven't taken a look, peek inside and watch us build this section: 1964 Lincoln Continental.

Friday, October 15, 2010 7:41 AM

You're invited to watch your step. We'd like you to visit the 1964 Lincoln Continental construction site. Just for fun, we thought we'd invite our AM Blog readers to watch the 1964 Lincoln section being built. You won't have to mind where you step, as there aren't any nails lying around, loose boards overhead, or wet paint to rub against.

What you'll see at first are the basic page layouts, and you can watch as we "build" each page over the next few days. Please remember that the information on the pages may not be correct, and is still subject to editing, until the "Under Construction" image (shown above) has been removed from the page. Also, you may need to refresh your browser after loading the page in order to see all of the latest changes.

The only way to access the 1964 Lincoln Continental section is through the links here on this blog page. Links within that section will work to navigate between the pages, but if you click a link out of the '64 Lincoln section, you'll need to either use your browser's back function, or return to this blog to access the section again, as it won't be linked to from other pages within the site.

Have fun and watch us work by clicking this link: 1964 Lincoln Continental

Wednesday, October 13, 2010 6:32 AM

We're beginning to understand our new site software. It's very powerful and will allow us to do things we haven't done before, however, our old software excelled in a few areas that we will miss greatly. The change has required many updates behind the scenes. We know it's been a few days since we've provided an update, so we wanted to let you know that we're still here, and are working on the 1964-1965 Lincoln Continentals. Enjoy your day!

Friday, October 8, 2010 7:13 AM

Ten Rules for Buying A Classic Car
Automotive Mileposts offers for your inspection these Ten Rules for Buying A Classic Car. These rules are not for restorers who enjoy the process of repairing and rejuvenating an older car. These rules are for the collector car enthusiast who wants an original car that is mostly ready to go from the start. It might need detailing or minor repairs, but other than that it's presentable, operational, and has a documented history to verify its past care.

You can buy a 1974 Cadillac Coupe deVille in declining health for $500, and immediately spend several thousand getting it operational and making it safe to drive. Then, you'll have an operational '74 Coupe deVille that looks bad, but runs and still needs thousands more put into it to make it presentable.

Or, you can find a well cared for, original '74 Coupe deVille for less than $7,500 and enjoy driving it right away. Instead of replacing the alternator, you could detail the engine compartment or interior. And, you will wind up spending more than $7,500 to bring the $500 car up to the same condition. Good buys are out there, but you have to set limits before you start looking, and our ten rules help you do that.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010 7:41 PM

Update on Mileposts Search: We have not determined what caused the search function to stop working. However, we have found a work around for it, and most of the search boxes on the site should be working again. The difference now is, you will leave AutomotiveMileposts.com and go to Google.com for the search results.

Once there, just find the page you were looking for and click on it, just like you normally would. You will then be returned to our site. The search results should show only pages on AutomotiveMileposts.com.

We will continue to look into this, and when we or Google finds the fix, we will restore search back the way it was before, which enabled our readers to search without leaving our site, Google's search results were embedded within the search page.

Thank you to everyone for your patience during the last few months without a search function.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010 6:40 AM

1964 Imperial: The Sincerest Form of Flattery?
We've added a new article to the 1964 Imperial Contents page. When the '64 Imperial hit the streets for the first time, many at first glance thought it was a Lincoln—at least until they got a better look. And the reason for the similarity between the two cars can be traced back to their designer, Elwood Engel.

Engel was not a fan of Virgil Exner's free standing headlights, soaring tail fins, and taillights perched atop the rear quarters. In the blink of an eye, all those things were gone, replaced by styling that was sophisticated and elegant, breathing new life into the Imperial. And the new look didn't stop with the exterior. Inside, a sweeping new instrument panel ran full-width across the car, with instruments and controls placed for ease of use as well as with aesthetics in mind. The oblong steering wheel was replaced with a more traditional, circular-shaped deep dish steering wheel, and Chrysler's famous push button transmission controls would appear one last time in 1964.

Sales were up substantially for the year, but still fell far short of the competition. Quality control was good, as were fit and finish. Whatever haunted the Imperial in its past was still with it, it seemed.

Saturday, October 2, 2010 9:37 AM

MILEPOSTS CLASSIC CAR SEARCH: Last week, we notified you that our search function, powered by Google, wasn't working properly. After entering the search terms in the box, it would redirect to the new page but no results would be generated. We still aren't sure what the issue is, however if you search from our main search page, Mileposts Search, you will get results but they will be displayed on a custom Google page, instead of on our site.

We're still working on the issue, and hope to have it resolved shortly. In the meantime, all other search boxes will likely not function properly. We apologize for this inconvenience.

Friday, October 1, 2010 4:39 PM

How To Take Great Car Photos
Automotive Mileposts has assembled tips from experts on automotive photography, and now you can get professional results by using the information we've provided for you. There are a few myths about photographing cars, and we reveal the best lighting conditions and make suggestions on positioning the car in the photograph—paying special attention to what's in the background.

Following these guidelines will ensure your session goes well and produces images that you will be proud of for years to come.

Friday, October 1, 2010 7:21 AM

It's hard to believe that October is already upon us. We've recently purchased new site design software for Automotive Mileposts, and currently feel a bit lost. It's similar enough to our former software that things look familiar, but there are enough differences that we're still learning how to use it. Therefore, updates for the next few weeks might be a little slower than they have been as we learn to use this new program, and no doubt have to back track to fix the mistakes we've made in the process!

The new software will allow us to do things the old software wouldn't. As the Internet grows and continues to change, new things are introduced which make software obsolete almost from the moment you first open the package. Our old software served us well, but the manufacturer hasn't provided updates for it in years, so many of the new things weren't recognized by it, and would show as errors. We worked around this as long as we could, but it was time to say goodbye.

Please bear with us as we feel a bit like Alice In Wonderland right now! Enjoy your weekend, we should have something new later today, but that's if all goes well. If not, look for an update over the weekend.