Hi all, I've got a few questions regarding parts for a 49 cosmopolitan. The car is stock 2 door with the 337 and 3sp+overdrive. The interior has been redone but the rest of the car could use a going over. I'm getting the car ready for shipping (to New Zealand) and was hoping to throw a few goodies in and save on freight. I will post pics when I get the car. I plan to keep the car close to original in terms of the running gear, chassie and suspension stuff. So far the plan is as follows, -1956 Dodge Lancer Caps- or 57 Lincoln premier -2-1/2 - 3" lower in the front (dropped spindles from Mercury?) -Reset rear leafs with blocks - 3" lower -Reds Headers and dual exhuast -Engine speed stuff - intake or heads Nothing too extreme I know but have always liked the 49-51 Mercurys and thought and bit of styling used on them would look cool on a Cosmo. Jive Bombers? old 49 Cosmo on here looked awesome with a roof chop but I'll doubt I'll go that far considering how hard these cars are to find. I can sort out the leafs and blocks easy over here but I was wondering what people have done with the front end. Do the 49-51 Mercury dropped spindle uprights fit the larger Cosmo? I see Jamco and Fatman have them available for the Merc. Swapping uprights and then heating them for camber adjustment isn't an option here in NZ with our rules and certification etc. Has anyone used the headers from Reds Headers for the 337? I am guessing I will have to use aftermarket or repo Lancer Caps as the Cosmo is 15" and the original Lancer were 14"? Speed parts for the engine seem very rare although a Nicson and an Edmunds intake have been on ebay in the last month. Is there anyone with a Ken Austin intake that could provide any feedback? A 3x2 manifold would be sweet. Any help would be much appreciated. Cheers Marc
The engine in a Cosmo is different from most flattys, it is the bigger truck engine, you may not have as many options as with 59A or 8BA engines. Good luck on headers and heads for THIS engine. I had one years ago way cool car though it was not as easy to get parts for as the typical flathead. I never did find a windshield... sold it with the crack.
The Capri was the smaller Lincoln with the Mercury body. The Cosmopolitan was the big boy, it shared practically nothing with Mercury. So, the suspension is completely different. I don't know how you lower a car 6" when it only has 6" of ground clearance to start with. Suggest you try 2" lowering blocks or 3" at the most. If it doesn't drag the ground you could try 4" but back in the day, most guys who tried 4" went back to 2". The exceptions were cars with C'd frames, and raised floors, that were used as show cars only or had very limited driving and only on smooths streets. 4" is really a lot. The Lincoln Cosmopolitan is EXTREMELY rare even in the US and seldom seen. I suspect you will have the only one in New Zealand. At least, the only one lowered with Lancer hub caps. Suggest you let it go at that and don't make any other mods. You don't need to. Well maybe mild dechroming (nose and deck job) and a cool paint job. But save all the parts you take off, someone may want to put them back on some day. It might even be you. The engine was only used in Lincolns 1949 - 51 and some heavy Ford trucks. Speed equipment very scarce. Suggest you leave the engine alone or maybe just dress it up with some paint and chrome. It has plenty of power to get that big beast moving. Many cars of that time had a lower control arm with a removable plate at the bottom that could be mounted lower, using spacers. If the Lincoln is made this way it is a good way to lower the front end without losing part of the spring. Be careful here, because of the position of the spring, lowering the bottom plate 1" will drop the front end 2 or 3". If this is not in the cards it is possible to remove the spring, cut one coil off and put it back to lower the car. Hate to say it but Lancer caps and DeSoto grille.... a little hacky. Try the Lancer caps, if you get tired of them they are easy to change. But leave the grille alone, you don't need to make any changes there.
Thanks for the advice Rusty. I was assuming it was similar to the mercurys and read that they were lowered 2-1/2 to 3" in the front and 5" odd in the rear. I may have read this wrong. I have found headers at http://www.reds-headers.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=718 so may get them. As you say speed parts are hard to come by and $$. I have been searching for about 8 months and this is the first 2 door cosmo that I have found running and original, although there was one here on Hamb at the start of january that sold real quick that wasn't running. I'm not too keen on the original hubcaps and not a fan of mags etc on early cars. I had seen the Lancers used on the mercurys and thought they would look cool - maybe not. Like you say they are easy to change. As for the lower A arm mod i have read about that with the mercury so might be an option. I am probably jumping the gun and should wait till the car turns up then assess it all.
'49 "baby Lincoln" should have 9EL-72 on data plate. 49-51 "baby Lincolns" are essentially a Mercury shell from the cowl back, but they are on a different chassis than the Merc. All Lincolns are 3" longer than Mercs in that time period (prob to accomodate larger flatty). 1949 "baby Lincolns" are just called six passenger coupe (2 dr sedan ( 9EL Type 72) or Sport sedan (4 dr sedan Type 74). Lido was the Lincoln moniker for '50 and '51 "baby Lincolns". Capri name was also first introduced in 1950 and was a higher trim level for a Cosmopolitan. Easy way to tell from exterior sheetmetal, the "baby Lincoln's" have the step down exterior hump/bump in the doors just like a Merc. The front grill,bumpers,head and tail lights are the same between all Lincoln models for theses years, but the Cosmopolitan body itself is specific to itself. It does not share body panels with either the "baby Lincoln" or Mercury.
Technically it is possible to lower a car that much. If you do, and people get in it, and you put anything in the trunk, the rear axle and drive shaft will hit the floor and the rear axle will also hit the frame. So, you can use the car for display only (show car). Or, you can modify the floor and the frame for clearance. And then be VERY careful where you drive it, and it will still drag the ground sometimes. Or, you can put on hydraulics or air bags. I suggest you try a mild lowering (2") and see how you like it. If no problems, and you don't think it is low enough, you could try 3 or 4. There is another factor that comes into this. The longer the car, the more road clearance you need and the easier it drags or bottoms. The Lincoln Cosmopolitan is a big car. Maybe not the biggest of fifties cars but it is up there. They didn't have massive clearance even in stock form. Add 60 years of wear and spring sag and you may not have 5" of clearance to start with, once you put a few passengers inside and a picnic basket, cooler, lawn chairs umbrella and radio in the trunk.
wwinl you are right, Lido and Capri are trim levels. I know the Cosmo was the big Lincoln, did the small Lincoln have a name or was it just Lincoln? I have a hard time calling a 4200 lb car a "baby" anything.
My info comes from "The Cars of Lincoln Mercury" By George H. Dammann and James K. Wagner, Publ. 1987. Yes, it calls the "baby Lincoln" either six passenger coupe or sport sedan. BTW 1949 Cosmo coupe checks in at 4194 lb and its baby bro is a svelt 3959 lbs. !!! A 1949 Merc 2 dr. sedan weighs in at 3321 lbs. 638 lb difference between that and a baby Lincoln (3" longer, no doubt heavier frame and the extra c.i. for the 337 flathead) One can only imagine the weight difference between the 3 speed with or w/o OD and the GM Hydromatic offered in the Lincolns... Walt
How did we forget the Mercury Monarch ? Boy, if you think a Cosmo is hard to find in North America? Have you ever seen a Mercury Monarch in Canada?
I've seen a few, as Monarchs were only sold in Canada. Have also seen 3 or 4 Cosmos in my life, the last one about 20 years ago.
Found this pic of a 49 Cosmo two door on the net. Nice looking car. Here's another.....with a DeSoto grille, no less................
Here's some photos of the car that I was emailed. It is definately a Cosmopolitan as it has the one-piece windshield as opposed to the Mercury/baby Lincoln 2-piece.
The Cosmo is so cool as it has factory frenched head and tail lights, I liked the big flatty plenty of motor add a Pertronics and headers a better carb you will be pleased even in this big car. Mine had a 4 speed GM Hydromatic (Ford had not built an auto yet, sourced 'em from the General), consider yourself lucky to have a manual. While you are thinking this car over, suspension engine and all...add one more thing to the list.Those damned hydraulic power windows, I came out one morning it leaked, the oil had filled the door and on was all over the place, change them to electrics easy and much less drama. I ried for over a year to find a windshield for mine, good luck in Kiwi Land... a custom made was like 2 grand US and that was 16 years ago..nice car
the basic car is cool but it's got a face only a mother could love. a headlight mod of some sort would be a big improvement.
It takes a while but the tunnelled headlights start to look good after a while. So do the wind splits over the front wheels, the sleek sides, the sunken tail lights, the chrome window surrounds. I think the front end is a little too busy and needs some chrome shaved off, likewise the trunk lid. The grille, meh, not bad, not so bad it needs to be replaced just cleaned up. It definitely needs fender skirts and some decent hub caps, like Cadillac sombreros, centering the wide whitewalls. Notice how good it looks in the left hand (Reagan) picture above, with the grille emblem, bumperettes and part of the hood ornament cropped out. Mild lowering, but not too much, they are a long car and sit pretty low to begin with. Color, that style of heavy looking car to me always looks best in a dark rich color, wine, ruby maroon, navy, dark metallic green or black. Just a few thoughts.
Will be a fun car. If you think you would like riding an elephant you will love it. A friend had a 1950 ,4 door Cosmo back in 1959. First thing he did was put a Chrysler hemi with the Chrysler push button transmission in it. It was black. I m not sure what shaves he had done,But it was painted eye hurting GOLD color like an ELVIS suit . If you go to the showey side Turnpike Cruiser skirts would be a must. It met a bad end. He rolled it through a cornfield like a football. Boogered him up some.I'm sure you will figure it out very fast. Bill aka Tnomoldw PS The Lincoln Premire hubcaps are beautiful. Will be difficult to find, may need come professional polishing .
The bottom pic is a baby Lincoln not a Cosmo. Cosmo is a different shape and has a ONE PIECE windshield.
Hey Rusty. You should buy one. Sounds like you have plenty of ideas for Marcs car.. lol Check out my LIncoln build in my signature.
They used the name Capri before 52 but it was a deluxe coupe with vinyl top and extra trim. After 52 it was a model series. This is what confused me. I still don't know what they called the smaller Lincoln. I refuse to call it a baby even if it did only weigh 3950 pounds, some models did weigh 4200. So far it seems they were called "Lincoln" and "Lincoln Cosmopolitan" which could be confusing if you didn't know they made 2 completely different Lincolns for those 3 years. I have plenty of ideas about lots of things. A few of them are worth listening to. As for the rest, you get what you pay for and you don't pay anything lol. I wouldn't mind having one if a good one came along, the last one I saw for sale was at an antique car dealer's in the early 70s. Since then I have seen one, at a car show 5 or 10 years ago. I scan the old car ads regularly and don't recall ever seeing another one. They were not big sellers in Canada and few survive.
Rusty: I think you were close to calling it right: The '49-'51 Lincoln/Mercury Shop Manual refers to the two cars as "Lincoln Cosmopolitan" and "Lincoln". there is NO other name for what we commonly call "Baby Lincoln".
The Jalopy Journal
