1995 Lincoln Town Car Cartier Transformed into a 1934 Ford by Ruben Contreras

The project resulted in a custom 1934 Ford with a total length of 199-inches, a wheelbase of 135-inches, and a height of 55-inches. The car has also been lowered 6-inches.

The story begins back in 2010 when Ruben Contreras, a resident of Fontana, California, and a fabricator with K&N Engineering, manufacturer of air and oil filters and air intake systems in Riverside, California, wanted a different look for his 1995 Lincoln Town Car Cartier.

Spacers were added to the rear of the car, which produced a width of 77-inches.

Powered by a Ford Modular 4.6-liter SOHC V8 engine that generated 210 horsepower and 274 lb-ft of torque at 3,250 rpm and included a 4-speed Ford AOD-E automatic transmission, the original car's measurements were an exterior length of 218.9-inches, a wheelbase of 117.4-inches, a width of 76.9-inches and height of 56.7-inches.

In 2010 Contreras drove the car 1,600 miles to Vaca Limousine, a car customizing shop in Guadalajara, Mexico, and asked the staff to create a custom car that had the look of a 1934 Ford. The shop had already built a reputation for making wild customizations and also customizing cars for celebrities including former boxer Julio Chavez.

The front has a width of 75-inches. Suicide doors were added for a custom touch.

"The shop has about 70 to 80 employees and it has several departments," explained Contreras. "One department takes the car a part, another department stretches the frame, a third makes the fiberglass body, and the fourth puts everything together."

Wire wheels were replaced with Mach 1 17-inch wheels.

According to Contreras, Vaca cut off the front and rear portions and part of the frame of the Lincoln Town Car, but salvaged the engine, transmission, chassis, axles, suspension, front driver and passenger door panels, steering column, instrument panel, air conditioning system, four-wheel disc brakes, battery, the oil and air filters, and wiring.

The front of the car was lowered and angled out somewhat so that it could accommodate a grille that resembles one from a '34 Ford that was custom-made. The rear of the car was widened somewhat about 1-inch using spacers to better accommodate the wheels. The instrument panel and electronics controls were removed from the dashboard and settled into a specially constructed panel above the head of the driver. Only the radio remains on the dashboard.

The steering column from the Lincoln Town Car Cartier was retained, but a new bench with molded seats was added. Out of the shot, the instrument panel is on the roof above the driver's seat.

The air filter has been relocated to a position below the fan in the front of the engine compartment due to space issues and the air conditioner is tucked under the dash.

There are no door handles. Instead, a conventional alarm system with remote control was added and integrated into the doors so that Contreras can open them by tapping a button on the remote.

The Ford Modular 4.6-liter SOHC V8 engine from the Lincoln Town Car Cartier was shoehorned into the engine bay of the new car.

It took Vaca about two months to convert the car and it remained at the Vaca plant for two years and displayed at car shows in Mexico.

Contreras went back to Guadalajara to fetch the car in 2012. Since its return, the car has appeared in shows around Fontana, said Contreras. He drives it to work about once a week, usually on Fridays, and he uses it to perform errands and to show it off to neighbors on the weekends.

"I put maybe 1,000 miles on the car a year," he said. There is a total of about 133,000 miles on the car, he added.

He noted that the car has been registered with the California Highway Patrol as a specially customized 1934 Ford and it doesn't require smog testing because of a computer that controls the functions of the car including emissions.

Contreras volunteered that the car does not carry a spare tire. "I still have to open up space behind the back seat to accommodate the spare," he said.