Springstein’s Not the Only Boss

The town is New Port Richey but this is the old Florida. Modest homes of CBS in pastel colors with aluminum carports and canvas awnings. Squat pine trees, scrub, sandy roads and driveways of crushed shell. More focus on freshwater lakes than the seashore. Friendly neighbors who know you well yet mind their own business.

Amid the houses and occasional light commercial buildings is a new one, much like the others on the outside, that you could drive past a dozen times without giving it a second thought if the big bay doors were closed. But on this fair-weather day, they’re all open and outside in a row are five 1960s Lincoln Continentals.  The three convertibles and two sedans catch anyone’s eye, car person or not. It’s an impressive lineup and a great introduction to Tony “Boss” Bolin.

Tony is part of the new breed of Lincoln mechanics. We’re lucky to have them – many older marques do not. “Slabside” Lincolns have timeless appeal that extends to Generation X and Millennials, and as the established pillars of the service and parts communities retire and pass away, we sometimes get questions answered with, “there’s a new guy.”

New doesn’t mean inexperienced. Tony grew up on gasoline alley. His grandfather owned a Sinclair station and his stepfather was a machinist. Originally from the Chicago area his parents moved to Florida in 1995 and his dad went to work at Sun State International, a large truck dealer in Tampa, and Tony at a Sears Auto Center in Clearwater the next year. He was transferred to tire sales in Port Richey and Tony’s been there ever since.

Through his dad Tony saw a lot of cars. He acquired his first, a Pontiac Trans-Am, when he was only 13.

He had always wanted to be in the delivery business because it allowed him to see new things and talk to lots of people. As a child he aspired to be a postman and after high school he bought a Roadway Package System truck and a route. Over time he was able to acquire other routes and trucks and employees. A Lincoln first caught his eye in 2002. He sold that car when his first son was born and as life unfolded it stuck in his mind.

Another benefit of driving delivery routes is awareness of sheds, garages, alleys and fenced-in yards. “Barn find” has become a cliché but Tony’s occupational perspective gave him insight into where parts cars and restorable “ran until parked” cars lay. His dad often did side work and that gene was strong enough in Tony that he began buying the odd car here and there. The Lincoln bug remained persistent. The clean, minimalist lines, especially of the 1961-1965 cars captured Tony’s attention, and they also stood in contrast to his prior focus. “I’d owned some muscle cars and been around many more. Lincolns were kind of the opposite: refined rather than raw, gracious and optioned with power-everything.”

Other ingredients in the Lincoln formula he cites include the elegance of the trim and the nature of the engine. He sees the MELs as strong and forgiving motors, pumping out torque (and lots of heat) for hours on end – resilient and enduring.

By 2011 he had amassed an assortment of parts cars, selling items to friends and friends of friends. Word got around and a few years later he started supplying Chris Dunn’s Lincoln Land with hard-to-source parts. Online sales followed. He became friends with Chris and other old Florida Lincoln hands, Blair Farmer and the late Chris Nill (who had purchased John Cashman’s parts business).

Federal Express bought RPS in 1998 and rebranded it FedEx Ground. Tony stayed with them until early 2021, then sold his dozen routes and shed eighteen employees. He bought a tow truck the same year and started hauling classic cars and other vehicles.

Throughout all this, Tony was fixing cars and trucks for himself and friends. With his RPS/FedEx trucks, time off the road was money lost. With skills learned from his dad and constant tinkering, he became adept at keeping his fleet rolling and earning.

He might flatbed a car to a shop, and if it was a friend’s, repair it himself. The big 430, 462 and 460 engines of 60’s Lincolns – “not unlike big truck engines” – proved especially familiar. He rebuilt stock engines, getting to know their peculiarities. Tony hasn’t ventured into bodywork or painting, focusing exclusively on mechanical – repair, improvement, restoration or modification.

When some parts were hard to find, Tony turned his energy into making them. The relatively new technology of 3-D printing led him to buy a scanner and a resin machine and in 2016 he began producing and selling peak molding clips.

It’s illustrative to look at the water pump rebuilding kit he assembles. Tony tested the concept first, working with veteran Lincoln expert Blair Farmer. They found that using a hydraulic press put too much pressure on the backing plate and it disintegrated. They tried again, more gently and slowly but it fractured again. They realized that cast housings over time become brittle and prone to failure and had new ones stamped instead. The result: a kit that works, along with practical advice on how to assemble it, gained through trial and error – multiple attempts that would frustrate the shade tree mechanic. They got the mistakes out of the way so customers don’t have to, and that’s only part of the story of this one simple kit.

Tony re-wrote the instruction manual for an electronics package sold by another vendor so that it works the first time in our Lincolns. It’s this kind of engineering mindset and attention to detail that makes parts acquired from Tony, or those he installs when servicing a car himself, dependable and effective. You won’t have to do the same job a second time.

These subtleties come out of Tony’s curiosity about hidden knowledge, little secrets of the cars. “There’s nothing about rebuilding water pumps in the shop manual.” He’ll trade his time on certain jobs at Blair’s for his revealing obscure Lincoln tricks. “I don’t ask anybody for anything for free.” Blair’s enthusiastic about the trade.

It’s that kind of integrity that has won him the respect of established Lincoln experts. Chris Dunn says, “I find Tony refreshing. He has lots of energy, loves these cars and is highly motivated,” adding that he sees some of himself, 30 years ago, in Tony today.

Tony’s Lincoln business is growing, under the name Continental Classics. To get parts or kits, schedule work or arrange a tow, texting and calling is best: 727-243-7354. Owners interested in service need to understand that the demands on Tony (like on most experienced Lincoln mechanics) make patience vital. The job will be done, and done right, but good work takes time.

Some talented newcomers have begun populating the world of Lincoln suppliers. Parts and a little basic service here. Extensive service, reproduction parts and resto-mod components there. But who in this cottage industry has the potential to expand the cottage into a mansion? Parts, service, restoration and perhaps even sales? Who will build or buy a first-class facility in an accessible location, hire and train staff, be visible in LCOC circles and maintain a public as well as an online presence?

Tony has a shop that accommodates multiple Lincolns, tooling for heavy work, extensive current skills plus the intellectual curiosity to learn new techniques, earn certifications and develop new products. In many states, hiring employees is a bureaucratic nightmare, but he has experience doing so and delegating the towing component of his business is straightforward. He’s near Clearwater, the center of the Lincoln service universe. He has the drive and ambition to make this a viable career and business for himself for the next couple decades. If you plan to keep your car more than another few years, get to know Tony Bolin. He’s part of the future of Lincoln care and feeding.