Pre-Muscle Muscle.(Escape Roads)

Byline: NICK KURCZEWSKI

You're looking at a racing champion and maybe one of the original muscle cars, an American performance machine built a decade before the era of scoops, stripes and garish graphics. The Lincoln Capri won't challenge the 'Cuda at the drag strip and yes, it is slathered in chrome and weighs in at 4250 pounds. Still, the Capri is an unlikely hero of 1950s road racing, a luxury car that earned fame in the grueling 2135-mile Carrera Panamericana. Rugged, rapid and well-engineered, 1952 to 1954 Capris were especially strong competitors.

Post-World War II Lincolns were originally rehashed prewar models. This was not bad, considering the prewar models were handsome and the postwar seller's market ensured even a quirky brand like Crosley Motors sold more than 25,000 tiny cars in 1948. Never to be confused with economy-anything, Lincolns received an aerodynamic, some might say overturned-bathtub-looking design in 1949. Sales were steady, not stellar, and by 1952 the Ford and Lincoln lines were due a fresh, modern look.

Most importantly, at least for Lincoln, was the new-for-1952 317-cid overhead-valve V8. In 160-hp Holley two-barrel carburetor form originally, this soon jumped to a more robust 205 hp when a Holley four-barrel carb was substituted in 1953.

Bill Culver, president of the Road Race Lincoln Register, points out what separated the race cars from the regular Capri: Along with the new V8 and slick styling, a ball-joint suspension was introduced for the 1952 Lincolns and was a big improvement on the previous king-pin setup. Heavy-duty shocks were a must for the race cars, as was better ducting for the drum brakes and blueprinted engines good for 300 hp. Culver says by 1954 "rules required no variation in weight from stock, so the 4250-pound cars were lightened by removing unnecessary accessories, and the pounds were added back by safety equipment.''

Lincoln would finish first, second and 10th in the large stock class in 1954, the final Carrera Panamericana. Accidents and deaths, ...