STOCK and MODIFIED and CUSTOM

oldschool1

oldschool1

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In the most strict of senses, a stock vehicle is one that has all original factory parts. This is virtually impossible for our twenty two plus year old Lincoln Mark VIIs. So for practical purposes, a stock VII would be any car that has all originally designed parts, such as 8mm spark plug wires and a 35,000 volt ignition coil.

A modified item can be described as any item that changes the functionality of the vehicle from original factory specification or one that was not available for said vehicle during it's time of production. A 130 amp alternator keeps our lights from flickering and powers your audio/video system perfectly, but is a far cry from the original 100 amp unit installed from 1987. A 1990 Ford CD player installed in a 1988 is a modification.

A custom modification is any change performed to the extent that original factory items could not be used as a direct replacement with the same results as the existing items. Most cold air intakes fit nicely on a 65 mm throttle body. Later year Mark VII's came with a 55mm thottle body so to attach a CAI, either an additional ring needs to be installed or the throttle body needs to be replaced with a larger one. In either case, the original air intake tube could NOT be replaced.

How many modifications do you have?
 
RE: STOCK and MODIFIED and CUSTOM

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Keep in mind though that these classes can be arbitrary depending on the show organizers. For instance many shows class a car as stock if it has less than three or maybe four mods, those mods being minor (whatever that means.) Others may have super stock, stock, modified, super modified, custom, ad nauseum... it's all very arbitrary. When it comes to Concours judged shows however, the cars must have everything correct as it came from the factory, sometimes allowing factory offered options to be added.In other words, it's all very confusing at times.
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... hence the question and the suggestions.

Feedback has been tremendous on this topic. My e-mail box exploded yesterday and even regurgitated a couple pieces.

Yes. If you have one of 225,000 Mustangs made in a particular year, then yes, judging can be strick to 1000 points. If you own a Lincoln Mark VII (of which there were only 192,000 produced over nine years) then several allowances can be made to establish standards.
 
RE: STOCK and MODIFIED and CUSTOM

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I have a question. My car is a 94 Mark VIII, but I'd like to know if I should register it as modified at Carlisle. I was planning to, because it does have some modifications but now I'm not sure.My modifications:Module VIII (allows manual control of air suspension).Spider valve (aftermarket suspension vent valve).EATC unit from a 1996 Mark VIII (different buttons).Shifter from a 1995 Mark VIII (black with a chrome button instead of grey with a black button).I don't care about the judjing as my car wouldn't win anything in stock or modified class anyway, I just want to be honest about it.
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We're seeing double in your driveway :)

As Leo pointed out, it depends on the promoter or Club. I would consider your car stock as you only have four modifications with two of them being easily reversable as they are more of an upgrade than a customization or modification.
 
RE: STOCK and MODIFIED and CUSTOM

I find the stock vs. modified amusing at times. Obviously no single set of rules exist.

For what it's worth, in my mind, my '93 is modified and yours is stock Bill.
 
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I find the stock vs. modified amusing at times. Obviously no single set of rules exist. For what it's worth, in my mind, my '93 is modified and yours is stock Bill.
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Thanks John.
Like I said elsewhere; I'm just a Motorhead Nerd putting some numbers on another statistic.

Amusing is so true.

If there were 250,000 Lincoln Mark VIIs on the road today with 50% of them being stock then yes ... we could say that a car was not stock if it had anything but Motorcraft spark plugs :) Un/Fortunately that's not the case. So promoters and sponsors will say that a vehicle may still be stock with five known mods. That's cool too.

What we're doing is trying to find out How Many mods everyone has. The first post was to assist the percentage of owners that have never been told what is or is not a modification or have not read an entry form to a formal car show. Many give clear cut descriptions (especially Corvette and Mustang and Thunderbird) of what is considered a mod or not.

Here, there's no right or wrong answer.

I'm just being a Nerd ;)
 
RE: STOCK and MODIFIED and CUSTOM

I think it's a very good discussion. I never know when my car will be considered stock or modified, I feel I'm modified but I could be right on the limit.

I have:
Tinted Windows
Aftermarket Rims
Sensor Lowering
Custom Exhaust
A few shiny things in the engine compartment
Tranny Cooler
Blue Oval Chip
Shift Kit

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I know one year at WFC9 the judges weren't sure as they didn't realize the car was lowered, my tint is pretty light (especially if I leave the front windows down), and even my aftermarket rims at first looked fairly close to the stock directionals. Even my chrome exhaust tips look fairly close to the stock ones.
 
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Wheels.I forgot about that. I don't think my 10 spokes were even available for my 94. I'll register my car as modified for sure now, even though it looks stock..:)
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You guys and gals are fortunate to have like four classes. Mark VIIs have only two.
 
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