Rosa’s her name, in honor of a beloved cousin of Karl’s who had recently passed away in Peru, shortly after he had met her sister. Rosa had succumbed to cancer at the young age of 40. In 2012, Karl had purchased this 1968 Ford Torino from the original owner, who resided in Modesto. Throughout Karl’s younger years, he had owned 8 or 9 Torinos and Cyclones. The last Torino he owned was in 1987. It was a 1971 convertible. Karl had gotten it to 90% restored – it was a resto-mod. But in October of that same year, Karl had driven it back to his hometown of Long Island to store it for the winter. Back East, common practice is to gas the cars up and put them up on blocks for the winter. Karl was on his way home after gassing it up when it got totalled out enroute. He collected the insurance money and parted it out. After that, he lost all interest in cars until 2012.
In 2012, Karl moved out West to Oakland. With our mild California weather and the laid back Cali vibe, Karl gained a renewed desire to build another car. He immediately started searching Craigslist when he eventually found Rosa. He trailered Rosa back up to his new home in Oakland. A year had gone by before Karl could begin work on Rosa because he lived in an apartment. However, he was collecting parts all that time. Rosa was in really bad shape, and by Karl’s account she ran like s#*t with her tired-out original 302 C4 motor, which had over 100,000 miles under her belt and running on only 7 cylinders. However, she was absolutely rust-free. One year later, Karl and Rosa moved down to Pasadena, into a house that had a 2-car garage. Karl began rebuilding Rosa the very next day. He tore Rosa down to the very last nut and bolt. The restoration took only one year.
Karl replaced the original 302 with a 351 Windsor, which he also rebuilt. At the same time, Karl stripped the body down to bare metal, then shipped it out for paint. The paint job took three months because the workers at the shop just worked on Rosa in between insurance jobs, which was fine with Karl. Karl made good use of this time, however. He rebuilt the transmission, engine, and rear end. Once Rosa was put back together, she and Karl became regulars at Cars and Coffee Los Angeles.
In 2016, Karl and his Rosa moved up here to our area. By this time, he became bored with the 351, as he knew he would eventually do. So he bored out a 460 engine to a 466. The 466 was never an option for the ’68 Torino, so Karl made the adjustment by removing the power steering and switched over to manual steering. The 460 has all forged internals and Karl balanced, ported, and polished the D0VE. He also did all Rosa’s interior work. In fact, the paint is the only thing Karl did not do. To Karl, restoring a car is a labor of love, in a very Zen-like way.
Rosa boasts 470 HP at 565 ft lbs, C6 transmission – the best of 2 Lincoln transmissions – it took two trannies to make one heavy duty forward clutch. Lincoln has an extra clutch. Rosa has no power brakes and arm strong steering.
I, for one, am glad Karl and Rosa moved up here and have joined our tribe of World Famous Cars and Coffee Folsom. Thank you for bringing her out whenever we are able to meet up.
Photos and story by Carol Marcopulos
