One car was powered by a bored & stroked 312 taken out to 348 cubic inches. The 2nd car, which is the one I chose to build, was powered by a Lincoln engine. Several publications state that this was a 430 cubic inch mill, but the pictures I found in the July 1957 issue of Sports Cars Illustrated prove that this was the first generation 368 Y-Block Lincoln. The 430, which was brought out in 1958, was part of the new FE series engines. All of these had front mounted ignitions. The Lincoln used in the Battlebird had a rear mounted magneto. Both cars originally had superchargers, but this did not prove compatible with their high compression ratios. Hilborn fuel injection systems were used for all competitive events.

This is a resin body that has been extensively reworked from the original AMT offering. It is sold by R&D Unique, Mini-Exotics. The racing head rest is molded in to the body and is very accurate. Metal Halibrand mag wheels are also included along with knock-off spinners. It was meant to be built up as a curbside version, so there is no engine. The one piece chassis was reworked to remove the mufflers & exhaust pipes. For the engine, there is a plate which has the oil pan as well as the bottom portions of the bell housing and transmission.

I decided to build it as a contest entry. I converted the AMT '57 T-bird engine into a Lincoln by scratch building the unique oil fill/reservoir pipe at the front of the engine. I scratch built the complete Hilborn fuel injection using pictures from the magazine article. This Lincoln engine had metal Thunder bird emblems attached to the rocker covers covering up the Lincoln emblems. Maybe this was done to confuse people about the engine's origin. I replicated this by making a temporary mold out of clay and imprinting the emblem at the front of the car. A small drop of resin was all that was needed to make one for each rocker cover. The Halibrand rear end came from the AMT '25 T kit. I used the chassis from the 1/24 scale Monogram '56 Thunder bird as it featured separate front & rear suspensions. I did have to both shorten and narrow it for proper fit. The headers are made from solder.

Although the Ford engined car carried number 98 in competition, none of the pictures I have show any number on the Lincoln. This kit does come with those numbers. If someone is interested in building the Ford powered version, please contact me & I'll share the photos I have with you."