This 1940 Lincoln Zephyr Club Coupe is said to be an all-original, running, driving car in need of some moderate rust repair and brakes. The seller also suggests it’d make a great restoration or street rod candidate, but we think either one would be a shame—fix what needs fixing and leave it exactly as-is, patina and all. Any survivor with a factory flathead V12 and column shifted manual is cool by default. Find it here on eBay in Monee, Illinois with a $12k BIN.

​The car looks remarkably straight and complete outside, and the shade of blue it wore from new was seemingly made with a 75 year old patina in mind. Hard to find trim pieces like the intricate grille slats, lights, bumpers, and hood handle are all intact, as is all glass except for the opening side windows—perhaps they’re just rolled down in photos. We’d fix any unseen rot and otherwise preserve its current, beautifully dilapidated state with no regrets.

​Inside and behind the doors the floor seems to be in rough shape, but provided the crud seen on rockers is just heavy surface corrosion the remainder of rust shouldn’t be too difficult to fix. Either way, it’s still a worthy project in our opinion, but depending on which way it goes things could get expensive given the unibody construction. Gauges are said to be working, and even the upholstery seems to have held up rather well over the past three quarters of a century. We’d source a horn button and tidy up the dash, but just like the exterior it’d be best to avoid doing anything more than what is strictly necessary.

​Underhood, the 292 CI V12 looks very complete and very grimy. We’d degrease it a bit, but not too much. Based on Ford’s flathead V8s and not Lincolns existing KB series of twelve cylinders, these 75 degree motors are dead simple with good parts availability. Mileage is said to be 48k, which given the overall condition of the car isn’t entirely unbelievable. The car has been driven, but brakes are inop, the seller using the emergency brake for stopping during the test drive.

​We really hope this one escapes restoration or hot rodding. Fix the rust, throw some brakes on it, and head for the nearest meet-up for instant star status.