1962 lincoln continental freeway express

1962 lincoln continental freeway express plus#

The 5,132-pound Lincoln has a three-speed automatic transmission plus some unique and cool features. This 57-year-old Lincoln has been driven 146,000 miles and has always been a Bay Area car. This was one of the first cars with a transistor radio. Finnegan replaced the Walnut Veneer wood interior trim himself, installed a matching carpet kit and seat belts and had the car rechromed. The former owner had purchased a harmonizing red leather/vinyl upholstery kit in 1996, and it was still in the original box. “The only way to do a color change properly is with the motor out.” It was an absolutely rust-free car.” Finnegan wanted to change the color from white to another original 1962 Lincoln color, Royal Iridescent Red. “While the engine was being rebuilt, the car and loose individual parts were taken to the Maaco Paint Shop in San Jose for a complete down-to-the-metal stripping. He had the original 430-cubic-inch, 300-horsepower V8 engine removed and rebuilt by Pumphrey and Co. This issue’s featured car is almost the same model.įinnegan got serious about his restoration project in June 2014. Kennedy on his last ride, in Dallas, Texas on Nov. Probably the most famous Lincoln Continental is the 1961 black Lincoln Continental convertible that carried President John F. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright said it was “the most beautiful car ever made.” It was shown in Florida, generating interest among the moneyed class.

The first Lincoln Continental, built as Edsel’s personal car, was a two-door convertible with the spare tire mounted outside, above the rear bumper, and between the rear fenders. Lincoln produced some great cars in the 1930s, including the Lincoln-Zephyr, with its own V12 engine. Edsel Ford was put in charge of the Lincoln project, and in the first year after being acquired by Ford, 1923, Lincoln sales improved 45 percent to 7,875 units and was profitable. in 1922 for $8 million, or about $120 million in today’s dollars.įord wanted a standalone luxury car division like Cadillac to compete with Packard, Duesenberg, Pierce-Arrow and others. Edsel Ford, Henry’s son, recognized the need to change and finally convinced his father to buy Lincoln Motor Co. At this same time, Ford Motor’s sales of the Model T were not keeping up with General Motors, which offered more makes and models at a wide range of prices. Things were tough in the early going for the new Lincoln company, resulting in financial difficulties. Leland named the car Lincoln in honor of President Abraham Lincoln, the man he most admired. was started in 1917 by Henry Leland, who in 1902 had founded Cadillac, which was acquired by General Motors in 1909. Many cars are named after their founders, such as Ford, Chrysler, Buick, Studebaker, Chevrolet, Nash and Willys. By 1969 - the final year for what's considered the fourth-generation Continental - it was a foot longer than in '61, the droptop had left the lineup and a coupe had appeared, and the overall form had become slightly less beautiful.) Nevertheless, as you slide over the amply padded bench seat and take in the walnut trim, the twin-hooded dashboard, and the wonderfully slim steering wheel, nothing about this car reads 'small.' The flat hood stretches for yards in front of you, and even the horizontal brake pedal and the slanted, vertical gas pedal, both ringed in chrome, seem oversize to modern eyes.Click here if you are unable to view this gallery on a mobile device. (By 1964, the Continental had a three-inch-longer wheelbase and a larger trunk. Compared with the 1960 Lincoln, its wheelbase was eight inches shorter its overall length, at 17.7 feet, was down some fifteen inches and it was about three inches shorter in height. The cars look relatively large, but in fact the Continental was petite in its time. Ventura's Continental twins are sitting in his driveway, and the convertible's top is down. The editors of Car Life, less prone to hyperbole, declared simply and accurately that the Continental was 'the best-looking American car built today.' looks will equal any car's in the nation and, in the opinion of some of my arty friends, will trim all others six ways from the post and twice on Sunday.' Indeed.

It's as quiet as the love life of a bass, and it rides as smooth as spilt fudge on a canted stove. Tom McCahill of Mechanix Illustrated wrote that the 1961 Continental was 'one of the plushest wolftraps on the road. A design team supervised by Elwood Engel, who later served as Chrysler's design chief, churned out the four-door Continental in only two weeks, and it soon went into production as both a sedan and a convertible. McNamara saw it in a design studio, he decided that it would better serve as a car to resurrect Lincoln, which was then, as now, a struggling brand. The Continental originally was penned as a two-door Thunderbird concept, but when future Ford president Robert S.

1962 lincoln continental freeway express