If you were a leading Hollywood actor, what would you drive? Would you be chauffered around in a luxury SUV? Would you cut through California canyons in Italian supercars? Would you fill your garage with custom motorcycles?
Some actors have poor car taste, others have sweet rides. But leading man Dax Shepard's pride and joy is one of the most unique cars to ever cruise around Los Angeles. Shepard wanted something with movie-star good looks, capable of the most exciting stunts in the business. Inspired by the pro-touring movement, he did a monstrous restomod on his beloved black-on-black 1967 Lincoln Continental.
Detroit born and Hollywood groomed, Dax Shepard's 700 horsepower pro-touring luxury car is one of the coolest rides we've ever seen.
Motor City
Dax Shepard was born and raised in Detroit. What's more, the auto business was his family business. His father was a Ford salesman. His mother started as a night shift janitor at General Motors. But through years of hard work, she became a fleet manager at the proving grounds. She eventually started her own company to put on vehicle launches for General Motors. A teenage Dax Shepard began to help with the car launch photoshoots. He recalls drifting in cars such as Corvettes and Impalas for action shots.
By fifteen, the family business had prepared Shepard to win a job at prototype-building specialty shop, Sports Fab. Before GM's in-house performance division, Sports Fab built many of the company's most famous prototypes. Shepard fondly remembers riding his moped to the shop all winter to work on the Snake Skinner ZR1 and the big-block Impala SS. And one of Shepard's favorite parts of his new Sports Fab job was being the stunt driver for prototype photoshoots.
Shepard's early 20s found him studying anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. When one of Shepard's friends bought a 1967 Lincoln Continental, the car must have reminded Shepard of Detroit. The vehicle was a steal, previously owned by an old lady with only 37,000 miles. When the friend decided to uproot and move to New York, Shepard sold his Honda and bought the Lincoln.
Shepard admits that the aging Continental was not the most reasonable or reliable vehicle for a recent graduate trying to break into acting. Still, he couldn't give up on the stylish classic. When Shepard landed a successful role in the television show Punk'd, he bought himself a Lonestar factory-built Cobra replica. With his stunt driving background, the Cobra must have been a welcome upgrade from the Lincoln land yacht. Still, Shepard could not bring himself to sell the Continental. Shepard eventually grew tired of driving a sports car without so much as a convertible roof that earned him noise citations. As he experienced success in the film world, he needed to decide which cars to sell and how to upgrade his fleet.
Hollywood Dreams
Finally, working hard on back-to-back movies, Dax Shepard could afford to treat himself to a dream car. After thinking about what a dream car meant to him, Shepard sold his Cobra and spent the surplus cash on a full-throttle restomod treatment for his Lincoln Continental.
Shepard reached out to Hollywood automotive specialist Anthony Loguzzo. Loguzzo worked in the transportation department of movies such as Taxi and Mr. & Mrs. Smith and is the proud driver of drag-ready customs including a 1964 Plymouth Belvedere.
Tony and his son Tyler tore down the Lincoln and built a stunt-ready beast. They removed the Lincoln's stock 426 V8, and built a race-worthy 521 cubic inch Ford Racing big-block. With a Mass-Flo fuel system, Edelbrock Victor intake, and Mallory ignition, the new V8 churns out 700 horsepower. They installed a C6 transmission with a Gear Vendors overdrive. The hundreds of horses reach the ten-inch-wide Wilwood rims and Hankook Ventus tires through a 9 inch rear-end.
But the Loguzzos didn't stop at prepping this Conti to dominate the quarter-mile. They modified the unibody with custom frame-stiffeners. They reshaped the rear suspension to take QA1 adjustable coil-overs and a custom-fabricated sway bar. A 1.25-inch Speedway Engineering sway bar holds the front end together, now sporting KYB adjustable shocks.
With 650 horsepower at the rear wheels, the 5,300 pound Continental can go. But it would be a feat of engineering to make it stop as well. The Loguzzos modified the vehicle's front spindles to fit Wilwood 14-inch rotors and six-piston brake calipers. The rear brakes rely on dual sets of four-piston calipers. In true Hollywood stunt-car style, one set of rear rotors operates off the main service brake. But a rally-style stunt pedal to the left of the primary brake pedal actuates the other set of rear calipers. This professional setup allows Shepard more precise control over drifting, donuts, and burnouts. Read more about the Loguzzos' pro-touring restomod build.
Hit And Run
In the 1960s, the Lincoln Motor Company was losing money left and right. Ford's solution was to reduce the marque's lineup to only the Continental and focus its resources on a dramatic redesign. Design vice-president Elwood Engel had pitched an eye-catching prototype of the Thunderbird. Though they didn't use it for the T-Bird, Ford stretched the design into the fourth generation Continental. The engineers also opted for rear-hinged rear doors (suicide doors) and an industrial, slab-sided look built from premium materials. The result was an instant-winner.
Hollywood has championed the fourth-generation Lincoln Continental, featuring in films such as the James Bond series, the Matrix series, the Entourage series, Animal House, and half-a-dozen major music videos.
By 2012, Dax Shepard was a trained stunt driver and successful leading man daily driving a movie-ready car: his pro-touring 1967 Lincoln Continental. All he needed was a film to feature him and his car. So when Shepard could not find the perfect film, he wrote his own instead.
Hit and Run is a 2012 comedy in which Dax Shepard plays a getaway driver in witness protection. The protagonist's girlfriend, played by Shepard's real-life wife Kristen Bell, is offered a job interview in L.A. just as his past threatens to catch up with him. The two of them load up in the Lincoln for a car-chase filled romp across California. Shepard co-directed the film and performed all of his own stunts. Hit and Run is a movie every car enthusiast should see.
Dax Shepard's car collection continues to grow, but he always has a special place for his Continental. It's practically a member of his family; in fact, he and Bell named their first daughter Lincoln! With Dax Shepard set to co-host the new Top Gear America, we hope his 1967 Lincoln makes an appearance. You can hear Shepard discuss his beloved car on youtube. Or see his stunt driving.