Last updated on May 2, 2023
Today’s car is a 1939 Lincoln Zephyr. One of the great things about going to the French / Italian Car Show at Woodley Park in Van Nuys, CA is the cars that are in the spectator parking lots. This car is the Iconic “Scrape” built by former Hot Rod Magazine journalist Terry Cook and coach builder Ramsey Mosher in 1990. Cook believed the sleek two-door could be made even more stylish with a bit of reworking. Such thinking was sacrilege among the Zephyr faithful, and acquiring an example for modification proved more difficult that even Cook could have imagined. After posing as a classic car collector, he eventually came across a long-neglected Zephyr coupe in a Maine barn. As part of the terms of sale it laid down that Cook not sell the car to a hot-rodder, and strictly speaking, he did not!
In an article in Hemmings written by Kurt Ernst on Aug 7th, 2013. In the comments section Glenn Byron stated that he bought the original car for $15.00 from an East Madison, ME junkyard in the 1970s. More than 20 years later, the barn in Maine mentioned where Mr. Cook found the Zephyr was Byron’s in East Wilton. Byron stated that Cook spent 4,500 hours creating Scrape powered by a dull 350 rather than the V-12 Flathead. It sounds like Byron was still not happy the hot-rodder thing. The Lincoln’s original V-12 engine and transmission were sold off to help fund the project, Scrape used the frame and running gear from a Chevrolet station wagon that would serve as the foundation for the project. Though the original donor car was a ’39, Cook preferred the front end of the 1940-’41 models, To fit on the wider track of the Chevy wagon, the fenders were pushed out by 2.5 inches per side, while the rear fenders were stretched by six inches and the hood was lengthened by another inch. Given how much work went into the rest of the car, propulsion almost seems like an afterthought. Power comes from a 350-cu.in. Chevy V-8, fed by a single two-barrel carburetor and mated to a GM Turbo Hydra-Matic automatic transmission. Cook wanted to paint the car black, but friends convinced him that a hot rod should be painted accordingly, so it was painted a House of Kolor Passionate Pearl Purple. Barry Weiss, who purchased the car in 2013, has also repainted it in Cook’s original color choice black. The windows carry a darker tint that also give the car a sleeker look.
The Petersen purchased the car in August 2000 for $250,000. The car in rather need of repair sold again in 2013 this time for $66,000. As far as I know the car is still in Weiss’s ownership today.
I love the look of this car especially in Black. What a great car!!! Seeing this Iconic car parked in the spectator parking lot at the French / Italian Car Show is just amazing. What can I say, only is Southern California. Thanks for riding along. Frank
This is what Terry Cook’s “Scrape” looked like when it was painted the original House of Kolor Passionate Pearl Purple.
