What is it about big cars that makes me smile? I don’t know why my DNA strands have locked me into loving the huge cars of the late 1970s and early 1970s but I do so you can imagine my glee when I saw this tomato red 1969 Ford LTD on the SEMA show floor yesterday. I was going to pop one photo and keep right on rolling but when I actually stopped to do that, the invisible awesome car tractor beam drug my right up close to the behemoth and I was hooked there for several minutes checking it out. My favorite thing about these cars is the hideaway headlights. When they are in “hide mode, the front end has a fantastic and menacing look that few cars of the era had. Believe it or not, this one just gets better from there.
Formerly owned by a guy named Lonnie Mack, the car is called Wham and that’s because Mack was a famed guitar player and the first album he released was called “The Wham of That Memphis Man”. How good a player was Mack? Stevie Ray Vaughn basically worshipped at the dude’s alter. Also guys like Clapton, Jeff Beck, Keith Richards, and many others were influenced by his amazing tunes. Ever heard of a Whammy bar on a guitar? Named after Mack’s Wham album. This was Mack’s personal car and it was recently placed into the talented hands of the guys at Speed Kings. Those craftsmen decided to kick ‘er up some notches but not totally lose their minds on the build. Styled after a 1958 Gibson Flying V guitar, we were in love the first time we saw it.
The car has some mild custom touches like the use of the 1964 Buick wheel covers, the blood red paint, and a headliner with musical notes featured on it. The car also looks to us like it has been mildly lowered. The engine is the stock 390 that has been freshed up, the trans is the automatic that it should have had when new, and our favorite part are the swivel bucket seats. This thing is a ride fit for a guitar king and we’d LOVE to cruise it down the road, especially with the 1,000 watt JL audio system cranked.
She’s large and lovely, and smells just like a dream.
Scroll to see more photos of Wham the 1969 LTD formerly cruised by Lonnie Mack
The car is righteous at any angle!
snare drum air cleaner – cool
Sweet ride.
Perfect red, swivel bucket seats, 2-wing knockoffs and hideaway lights. Perfect for the Legend L. Mack!!!!
Thank you Bangshift!
I always wondered why it was called a whammy bar!
Its great to see Lonnie Mack get the recognition he deserves as he is up there with Link Wray as one of the most influential but ignored guitarists of all time.
His car’s pretty neat as well…..
Thanks Bangshift, for the compliments and further spreading the news about Lonnie Mack, Speed Kings and the pride of Cincinnati. WHAM has 2″ dropped spindles and Viking coil overs in the front, Viking adjustables and Chevelle springs in the rear. Edelbrock heads and intake plus headers dropped about 150 pounds.The Compcam and custom exhaust make the 390 sound quite nasty. Exhaust tips are from tenor saxaphones. WHAM actually has two one thousand watt JL systems. one up front and one in the trunk that can be played along with the Roland Jazz Chorus amplifier (just like Lonnie’s) that is installed in the trunk. on top of it all WHAM was driven to SEMA on a 10 day 2800 mile trip with Posies Driven Dirty Tour.
I made this video of the Wham LTD at SEMA. Included one of my favorite Lonnie Mack tunes. Awesome vehicle. https://youtu.be/8X44jyBJyE8. I was fortunate enough to see Lonnie at a small club in Cotati California back in about 1984. Unforgettable!