A long time ago, I had a 1968 F100 that I was going to put on a 1969 Sedan de Ville running chassis, but I got rid of both before I made it happen. Now I'm thinking of sticking with the corporate parent, and going the other way:

I've got a 2003 Lincoln Town Car Cartier L; it gets almost exactly 29 mpg highway (28.9766, rounded to the nearest ten-thousandth), and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't okay with that. On the other hand, it absolutely drinks gas when I'm in the city or stuck idling for long periods of time.

Everyone I know that has the MKS hates that car, and I'm not really a fan of it. I think the dimensions of the Cartier L should be considered minimums for any new sedan. And, while the car itself is beautiful, it's aero Cd is reported to be around 0.37; by contrast, the S-class Mercedes is 0.25 or better -- and they don't look bad, either.

On the other hand, while I don't anticipate the car being used as a truck anymore, I have so used it in the past -- and that lets me know that I'd be stupid to ignore the possibility that such a need may arise in the future. So, the vehicle I need simply must have a strong frame -- and the mechanicals have to be similarly rugged.

So, why not an SUV? Frankly, because SUVs are to pickups what station wagons (UK: estates) are to sedans (UK: saloons). I want a sedan -- and I want one not only that suits my aesthetic preferences, but also that satisfies my ergonomic, lifestyle and mobility needs. If it gets better fuel economy, that's a plus.

Here's what I'm thinking: a late-model crew-cab F150 Platinum closely approximates the Lincoln in terms of its appointments and features; if Ford had built the cab of that truck a bit differently, I would have bought one and all this would have not been an issue, but there's no way I'm going to shell out that sort of dough for a cabin either that is no better, or that is worse, than the cabin of the Lincoln I already own.

I'm interested to see where things go with the 9/10-speed due out soon. Unless I can come up with a way to significantly improve the aero performance of the Lincoln's body without wrecking its looks, I think the 5.0 engine will give me better overall performance and fuel economy than the 3.5EB.

For what it's worth, I'm considering buying another Lincoln for the actual conversion: they are sometimes available for a reasonable price, as are late-model F150s totaled for cabin and cosmetic damage. Can you imagine my car's body on the shortened frame of a 2017 Raptor, with the ride height readjusted so it was a stealth conversion?

I've heard some people have problems fitting the 6R80 into Panther-platform Crown Vic and Grand Marquis models, but floorpan surgery in steel isn't really a big deal.

In fact, I originally considered getting a 2014 F150 and lowering the floor -- and then adding a few vertical inches to the fenders, cab and bed -- so that the roof would be in the right place and the body lines would all match; and then lowering the vehicle to get the correct ride height (step-in slightly higher than my Lincoln's), but keeping a ride that is as plush as my Lincoln's without tossing handling out the door.

That's a freaking *lot* of work, and the cabin would end up closer to what I really wanted all along -- although I'm a little "iffy" on whether I could live with the console/dash of the F150's cabin. I'm not a fan of the Lincoln's, but the 2015+ F150's dash is, in my humble opinion, horribly designed.

I can be pleased, but not easily: quality means everything to me -- and nearly everything is either "just right," or its just wrong.

I don't think there is an end to improvement, so the question isn't ever "Is this the best that you can do," but rather, "Is this the best that you could do, given the resources available (during the course of your effort) to you?"

I'm generally generous towards an genuine best-effort performance, but I also expect efforts to produce knowledge that can improve future performances. If someone informs me that he or she can't do better in the future, I expect his or her such opinion to be defended by a compelling argument adversarially scrutinized.

I really don't want to build my own carbody from scratch: that will take forever, and God only knows how much dough, and then can you imagine what insuring it would cost?

Plus, if it gets trashed by some bozo that's texting or fiddling with his (or her) stereo (or passenger, or worse) or that simply hasn't got the self-discipline and good judgment and respect for society to drive in a safe and responsible manner -- or if it gets destroyed by what insurer's like to call an Act of God -- then how do I replace it, in anything even approaching a reasonable window of time?

I thought about trying to find a Corvette rear clip that had the 8L90 trans, then fabbing a subframe and dropping it behind the 5.0 (which would remain in the front); I'd almost certainly have to do a little more tunnel work in the area of the rear seat, but then I'd have an 8-speed slushbox that is today probably the best automatic trans in the world.

To make it work, though, I'd need at least longer control arms and half-shafts -- and then I wouldn't know whether the geometry was good until after it was built, which would be too late in the process to change things for the better. So that's a non-starter, but if I had gone that route, I'd likely have used a GM engine, wiring harness and electronics. How sweet would it have been to have an LT4 under the hood?

I also thought about adapting a Taurus setup to the front of the car (fabbed suspension up front) and then doing a hybrid-electric setup at the rear, to improve my in-town fuel economy -- but there's no room in the places I'd need to put the battery and other parts, plus I don't think the LTC's frame is able to withstand that sort of load.

The alternative is to do it backwards and use the conventional drivetrain from the pickup, with electric motors driving the front tires (but that would likely require a stock-height setup, and it might force a switch to a V6 for packaging reasons.

Such an "E-AWD" system could be a nightmare to program for controllability in slippery conditions (gotta get that right, or the liability is ridiculously huge -- and rightly so); the alternative is to use the electric motor(s) to power the rear axle.

There are a variety of ways to do this, but I'm thinking the differential cover could be transformed into a second pinion carrier, with a clutch (think along the lines of an electronically-actuated Detroit Locker) to engage/disengage the electric drive. There would still be some frictional loss, but it wouldn't be huge.

In a perfect world, I'd mount any necessary reduction gearing and the electric motors directly to the previously-described assembly, and the wheels would be driven by half-shafts (i.e.: it would be an IRS setup) -- but then I'm looking at spending the sort of cash that I could buy a new Silver Cloud and just say "phooey" to the whole idea.

So, without going "full Monty," the power head (electric motors and reduction gears) could be mounted to the frame and connected to the clutch pack by means of a short driveshaft.

The polar moment of inertia would be greater, and having two driveshafts connected to the rear axle would look a little goofy to a few people, but I think it could be made to function very well. I also think the truck frame has sufficient depth that mounting the batteries wouldn't be too problematic.

And if I was running the show at Ford, I'd also lose every proprietary bit of social-networking software from my vehicles, and I'd make a huge PR show of how everything in my vehicles was going to be open source and "unlocked" from now on (at least insofar as personal networking was concerned).

I'd isolate all the other electronics in my vehicles -- i.e.: engine management, etc. -- but I'd *seriously* consider making (as in "most likely would make") all my software open source, and then I'd set up a repository system like Linux uses (with top-quality freeware -- and transferable, free updates for the life of the vehicle).

I've ventured far afield from where I intended to go with this thread, but suffice it to say that the objects of public safety enforced through such mechanisms as remote reduction of power (and other, perhaps even more useful means) can under the paradigm that I have imagined still be employed without sacrificing (and in most cases, while actually enhancing) personal privacy and security.

Back to the Lincoln, I've even thought about putting a FWD gasoline-electric hybrid setup in the rear (steerable, sort of like what GM did with some of its pickups and what Honda did with some of its cars).

I think that would let me keep a full-sized spare, and I could put the electric motors and battery under the luggage space at the front of the vehicle (where the engine used to be), and it would let me seal the front for better aero performance -- but at the expense of the aforementioned programming nightmare.

I'm thinking the radiator(s) could be far enough in front of the rear bumper to be reasonably resistant to damage from a crash, and modifying the rear bumper to vent the hot air might not detract too badly from the vehicle's looks.

I think -- maybe I should just settle with what I've already got: Ford will never build the sedan that I want, and when I think about it, there's better ways for me to spend my money, so even I'm not going to build the car that I want. But if I did -- OMG -- everyone would lust for it with an overwhelmingly intense craving.