Binghamton car collector heading to Rhode Island for respected car show

BINGHAMTON (WBNG) -- Car collector Robin Alpaugh is hitting the highway in his 1966 Lincoln Lehmann-Peterson limousine on Sept. 30 to show his ride in a car show with Jay Leno in attendance.

He purchased the limousine in 2013 after finding it in a barn in Pennsylvania where it had sat for decades; it was a home for several critters. He spent five years restoring the car back to its original state and gave the vehicle a fresh coat of paint, changing its color from black to white.

“Fortunately, it wasn’t rusty, and for the most part, the pieces were all intact,” said Alpaugh. “It was kind of an easy restoration in a lot of respects, but not easy, and with animals living inside, we had to literally strip the entire interior out and clean it multiple times right down to the metal. The car sat in the barn since 1988, and sitting in the northeast, it goes through hot and cold cycles and freezes and thaws, and surprisingly, it just needed some basic maintenance, plugs, wires, new gasoline, and it fired right up.”

Since completing the restoration in Summer 2018, the limousine has appeared at several car shows in the area. In 1966, 159 models of the car were produced, and of those, around 20 are left, according to Alpaugh. He said he enjoys showing the cars that nobody else has.

“Growing up as a kid, I was always infatuated with automobiles and different automobiles,” Alpaugh said. “And I’m not alone. There are so many people in our community that just kind of love the kind of odd and different automobiles out there. You know, all too often today, automobiles just all look the same. And there’s really no mistaking a 1966 Lincoln.”

His limousine will be one of 100 cars displayed at the Audrain Newport Concours & Motor Week in Newport, Rhode Island, from Sept. 28 to Oct. 1. Comedian Jay Leno and automobile pioneer Chip Foose will be in attendance. Alpaugh said he hopes to get the opportunity to talk to them about his ride.

“I’m very excited and, you know, just an opportunity to see different automobiles,” he said.

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