Having built plenty of wild, blown, big-cube, tyre-burning muscle cars with more horsepower than a carpark full of Camrys, Mark Sullivan is now on a different path of automotive excellence. The 2007 SMOTY champ is embracing the low life, where no cat’s-eye is safe and comfortable cruising is way more important than whether he has the quickest 309ci Windsor-headed ’58 Zephyr in downtown Watanobbi on a Tuesday night.

First published in the May 2025 issue of Street Machine

Along with nearly a dozen other cars Mark has built over the past 20 years, we’ve previously featured his ’63 Lincoln sedan (SM, Aug ’19) and, most recently, his ’67 Buick Riviera lowrider (SM, Yearbook ’22). But his latest build, a ’66 Lincoln Continental convertible, scratches a very specific itch for him.

“I’ve always wanted a rag-top Continental, so I sold my Lincoln hardtop to buy this one, as it was a little more expensive than the hardtop,” Mark laughs. “I don’t build big engines anymore; it’s all about low and slow these days.”

With just 3810 convertible Contis built in 1966, the odds of Mark finding a project starter just around the corner were about as likely as the buttons on Clive Palmer’s pants making it through an all-you-can-eat session at the local Sizzler. So, having previously imported three of his many American rides from the States, Mark looked once again to the Land of the Free for a suitable car. “I always try to search around California for the cars, and I got this one in LA,” he says. “The sister of my friend, the late Allan Clark from the Fresh Stylz Lowrider Club, lives in Los Angeles, not far from where this car was, so she and her husband went to check it out, bought it, and dropped it at the shipping yard for me. It was in a bit of a rough neighbourhood, so they actually took a gun!”

There have been plenty of horror stories about old American cars ending up as Bondo sleds, as back in the day, body filler used to be applied to banged-up metal like a cake decorator trowelling fondant onto their latest creation. Thankfully, Mark’s rag-top was a fairly clean example.

“Rust-wise, it was pretty good, with just a little bit in the bottom of the doors,” he says. “But it did have dents all over it – little ones cars pick up over the years.”

Working hard in his shed, Mark got the big slab arrow-straight before turning his mind to picking a colour for his new ride. PPG Solitaire blue was the striking shade he ended up going with, having stumbled across it by chance. “I’m always trying to find a different colour, and I saw this blue going through chips at a smash repairer,” he says. “In the sun it’s actually got a metallic in it, which changes it up again, and it made me want to black out the mouldings; I think matte black on them looks better with this shade of blue.”

The Conti’s factory skyscraper stance would never do for what Mark had in mind, so he replaced the springs with Slam Specialties airbags and Monroe shocks all ’round. The rear end copped some extra surgery, with a four-link replacing the stock leaf springs, mini-tubs opening up the real estate, and the stock nine-inch diff shortened to allow the Lincoln to air out hard. “The one piece of trouble I had in the build was with the stock diff,” says Mark. “We had trouble sizing the axles to fit the Lincoln bearings, so we had to sleeve the diff and machine it down to suit the bearings.”

Mark says Allan Clark and the rest of the Fresh Stylz Lowrider Club were a huge influence in him deciding to adopt the low ’n’ slow life, thanks to their tight-knit, family-friendly vibes and inclusive attitude. Not that he considers this Lincoln a lowrider. “It’s my restomod; I’ve built a ’67 Impala fastback as my lowrider,” he says.

“There’s only one rule with low-lows: they have to run a 13- or 14-inch wheel. When I started rolling with Al and the Fresh Stylz guys, I’d take my restomods, which all have 20s, and Al would hold up a club plaque and say I could have one if I put 13s on them, but I couldn’t do it to the restomod-styled cars.”

The 1966 Lincoln Continental boasted the largest engine a Ford passenger car was ever offered with, but Mark’s not about tar-burning performance these days, and he felt the factory MEL donk in ’66 Contis simply don’t provide enough bang for the bucks they consume, so he opted for Clevo power instead. The resulting Ford mill runs a basic 351 cubes thanks to a reconditioned crank, Eagle six-inch rods and Sealed Power flat-top slugs. A Comp Thumpr flat-tappet cam keeps things more interesting than stock, while ported 2V heads live up top. Having passed through the Holley Brawler 650cfm carb and Edelbrock Performer intake manifold, the go-juice is worked through the chambers thanks to the combined action of Crow pushrods and heavy-duty valve springs.

With the Lincoln complete, Mark’s been thoroughly enjoying life a little lower to the ground. “I get the ragtop out to cruise a fair bit, and it’s awesome,” he says. “I’ve actually already had a couple of people want to buy it, and I should have taken those generous offers, but I’d only just finished it at that time.”

Surely Street Machine’s most prolific car builder can’t be ready to hang up the tools just yet? “There’s always something in the pipeline,” Mark laughs. “I’d like to build something for my wife, and I love the front end on W108 Mercedes.”

As always, we can’t wait to see it.

MARK SULLIVAN
1966 LINCOLN CONTINENTAL

THANKS
CMAC Custom Upholstery; Ben at Kingz of Car Care for detailing; my friends and family.