Saltworks Chops a 1938 Lincoln Zephyr and Hands It a 550-HP Coyote

Every custom car guy has heard the warning: the shiny one on the auction block can hide a mess. Pete Gulick learned it firsthand. As Fuel Curve's Dave Doucette tells it, Gulick won the bidding on a 1938 Lincoln Zephyr coupe about a dozen years ago, and it looked good. It just was not drivable.

The fix came from Saltworks Fabrication in Sarasota, Florida, and the result went well past fixing. The finished Zephyr is chopped, reshaped, Coyote-powered and good enough to land a finalist spot for the Goodguys 2026 Scott's Hotrods 'n Customs Custom of the Year award, which Fuel Curve reported on Aug. 5.

Starting with the best shape of 1938

The Zephyr is a smart place to start a custom because the factory already did half the work. Fuel Curve points out that in 1938 the teardrop Lincoln looked like nothing else from Detroit, while Cadillac and Packard were still building boxier cars. The fastback roof, the pointed nose and the long fenders are the reason customizers keep coming back to it nearly 90 years later.

Saltworks did not try to reinvent the shape. The shop pushed it further. The top was chopped, the hood was pancaked, and the fenders were stretched. Flush fender skirts close up the rear wheel openings, the running boards were made by hand, and the doors now open suicide style. Out back, a Kaiser bumper replaces the Lincoln piece.

The details are where a car like this earns its keep. Saltworks custom designed and machined the headlights, taillights, grille and other trim rather than reworking factory parts. With the bodywork done, the car went into PPG Porsche Graphite Blue, a gray-blue that suits the Zephyr's curves better than candy or black would, because it lets the light show you every line Saltworks moved.

A V12 out, a Coyote in

A stock 1938 Zephyr ran Lincoln's flathead V12, 267 cubic inches and 110 hp according to Fuel Curve. That engine is a piece of history, but it is not what anybody wants for a car meant to cover highway miles.

In its place is a Ford Performance 5.0-liter Coyote V8 rated at 550 hp. What keeps it from looking like a late-model transplant is the induction: a Borla stack injection EFI system, eight tall velocity stacks sitting on top of a modern overhead-cam engine. It gives the bay a vintage race car look while the computer handles fuel. Saltworks built the headers, and the exhaust runs through stainless pipes and Porter mufflers.

The engine bay is finished to the same standard as the outside. Saltworks machined a one-off valley tray and other under-hood trim, Spal pieces handle cooling, and a Vintage Air accessory drive tidies the front of the engine.

Built to drive, not to sit

Underneath, the stock chassis was brought up to date with TCI front and rear suspension, Wilwood disc brakes and air springs, which let the Zephyr sit low without dragging its skirts everywhere it goes. A Ford 6R80 automatic sends power to a Ford 9-inch with 3.73 gears. Custom machined 17-inch Curtis Speed wheels wear Diamond Back whitewalls, which keep the period look in front of all that modern hardware.

Inside, Saltworks built the console, door handles and pedals, and Chuck Hanna of Hot Rod Interiors handled the trim. The original dash was smoothed and filled with gauges restored by Redline Gauge Works. Relicate leather covers everything, including early-2000s Lincoln bucket seats, a nice nod to keeping it in the family. A Juliano's banjo wheel sits on an Ididit tilt column, Coach Controls did the wiring, and Vintage Air keeps the cabin cool, which matters in Florida.

Why it works

Plenty of Zephyr customs lean so hard into the drama that they lose the car underneath. This one keeps the Lincoln's proportions recognizable. A chop and a pancaked hood lower the profile, but the shape you see in Damon Lee's photos is still unmistakably a '38 Zephyr, just tighter and meaner. The Kaiser bumper and the machined lights are the kind of choices only somebody who knows the old customs would make.

And unlike the car Gulick first bought, it actually goes down the road. Fuel Curve reports Gulick plans to put miles on the Zephyr, so expect to see it at shows and on the highway. For a car that started life as an auction disappointment, that might be the best part of the story.