Motor Trend Classic ran an article on these cars a while back. I'd have to look at the article again but I think they mentioned that Sinatra owned one. They compared the Continental, Cadillac and one other coachbuilt car from the same year, I can't remember what the third car was but it was definately european influenced. Very good article on some very nice machinery. 1956 and 57 were the only years that Continental was it's own brand. 1980 was the last year that the Continental was it's own model within the Lincoln brand. After 1980 Continental was an option only. My wife owns a 1970 Lincoln Continental 4-door. Last of the truly huge Lincolns, last year for the pre-smog 460 as well. Shawn
I think the blue one shows how easy it is to over-do a good design...chop is a bit too much, making main body a slightly ponderous thing with a pinhead... Loss of trim bits at rear of fender makes the fenders too ponderous, almost a fat butt for the car. More restraint!! The original was a major excercise in restraint (look at regular '56-7 Lincolns!), and doing ANYTHING to excess kills it! Interesting that Ford with this car and Chrysler with the 300 hit upon the same thing: LEAVE OFF the gingerbread to add unexpected class in a market that thought class could be measured by the square footage of chrome!
And on the need for dark colors: This car has such deceptively simple lines, with a light color the suddenly conspicuous door openings become interruptions in the shape! I think the same applies to '40 Fords... IMHO, all the Fords 1949--56 had very clean lines, and all of them look best in the cheap model with minimal chrome to interrupt or redirect the lines...
There are three Mark IIs in our little central Arkansas town of 55,000. A friend of mine owns one of them, and another guy in town owns the other two, all nice cars. The hump in the trunk is necessary for the spare. If the hump was removed, the spare would have to lay down in trunk and take up a good portion of the luggage space. My friend has to have a stock-sized spare in order to close the trunk, too, as larger tires don't allow the lid to close properly without damaging the hinge. Continental was a separate division not only for 56 and 57, but 58 as well. It wasn't until the 59 model year that the Continental once again became part of the Lincoln division. To me, the Mark II compares to the 34 Ford coupe, 40 Ford Deluxe coupe, and precious few other cars as among the best automotive designs ever. Ford's retractable hardtop convertible, produced on Fords 57-59, was originally slated for the Mark II. Years later, a Ford executive said, of the Continental program, "For obvious reasons we don't like to talk about it. What we had going for us in the Mark II was literally a revival of the Duesenberg concept. What we ended up with was something much less - and even that didn't last long...It was a project that for a time broke Bill Ford's heart, and I guess you could say that in many ways it broke ours too."
A P.S from my memory: The family of someone in my high school had one...early 1960's...it was missing a hubcap. We asked why they didn't buy a new one...it cost $75.00 at the dealer (!!), an absurd amount of money in those days and a silly expenditure even for people who could easily afford it. I looked at the remaining discs carefully...they were assembled from about a zillion pieces!! Those lines are individually cast riblets! Typical of this car...spend an extra fortune to make the hubcap 10% crisper than a stamping could be.
I think the spare was an excercise in faulty reasoning addled by guilt... Put on the hump as a necessary reference to the Lincoln Continental. Oops--the car is supposed to be an excercise in TASTE...and a fake hump is tasteless, like something from cadillac! Quick conference: Hey!! We'll actually stuff the spare behind that, making it REAL and hence not tasteless! Oops...the customers hate the blasted spare because now a small woman can't get the grocery bags in the trunk!! Same oops as the Zephyr when they moved its spare indoors...and then had to offer a kit to move it again for the irate customers.
I love these cars. There is a guy here in the Fargo-Moorhead area restoring one. One gets me is the exhaust through the wheel well and then routed along the outside of the frame .
I'm with you Ryan. I've always loved these cars and I've had the ideal one built in my head for a while. No tire shape in decklid. Nosed, decked, maybe early lincoln push buttons. Lowered a tad but not slammed. Wide whites, '57 lincoln premier hubcaps, no chop. Black with red and white tuck and roll. Maybe dual quads or hilborn injecton tucked under the hood on a 430. Perfect.
major ooops i passed on one 5 years ago at a local auction sold for $ 600 bucks non running needed very little partswise.... while my money was being held for something later in the auction... sadly the 57 t-bird went way higher than expected and i went home with nada...
I stumbled onto one of these in mint condition, in white, in a farm equipment shed that I visit for work sometimes. I almost shit myself!
Lee Wells was a big name upholstery guy back in the 60's. He was involved in this car somehow. He told me this was a New York rust bucket when they started. Last time I saw him was mid 70's in Fresno. I also remember seeing a Candy Red Mark II at Barris's shop back in the late 50's. It had stacked quad headlights and I was told it belonged to Georges wife.
Rust bucket...hmmm...I remember seeing a rather cheap one in Hemmings long ago; ad said "Trailer and 55 gallon drum of bondo included..."
I agree with 40tudor on the dark oxblood. That would be tits. I'm trying to decide if some subtle lace treatment would be possible. But, in agreement with the rest of you, redo the deck lid and put the car on the pavement. Lay the rear window down a bit and rework the roof. Something subtle to finish off the rear crown to match the laid rear window.
I went to the Lincoln dealer to see them when they came out. they were about the most fab car of the era, and 10k was a fortune but they sold em all. that was about the price of a house in my area in socal. The Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, came out about the same timeto compete, but I liked the Lincoln. In the early 70,s I bought a cherry 62 which looked very much like the 56' 57' Continentals, and it was a real solid quality car.
Bruce, I couldn't agree more. Those early '50s Fords have some nice, clean lines. Just lower 'em a bit and drive! I love threads like this that bring out the the guys that have been around here for a while, but don't post much. Go back and take a look at the posts - it's great! Thanks, Ryan. Malcolm
These sold for around $10K when new and Ford lost money on them. They were created to be an image builder for the rest of the corporation. Tough to improve on the styling. They were very understated compared to other 1955-56 new cars. Very well made but heavy and don't handle well according to friends who have owned them. There isn't anything special about them mechanically. The interiors are surprisingly plain considering the price. A ton of leg room in front however. My best friends father wanted to buy one when new and found that you basically needed to know someone at Ford to get on the list. These were an exclusive deal. Most survivors I've seen are either black, white, or tan. They look even bigger in white. There is a guy in San Francisco with a body shop in the 500 block of Bayshore Boulevard who owns (or owned) 3 or 4 of them including one that he turned into a convertible.
Ryan, Looking at the body lines it's easy to see where the early/mid 60's Continentals stemmed from. I had a nice 65 continental years ago and it was a solid and well built car. The girlfriend and I referred to it as 'The Love Boat'.... I think that the 56/7 Continentals need nothing other than maybe an air ride and a hot babe in the passenger seat with a picnic basket in the back.... Yeap, I have to agree, The 56/7 Continentals are the high point of the 50's Ford Family... ..The 57 Birds get lots of attention and are nice as well but the Continental just speaks to me, maybe because it was a car built from the heart.. Thanks for posting. moe .
They are handsome cars, and I think the last gasp for Gordon Buehrig as a production design. Not easy to customize successfully; I thought Meadors' nearly stock car looked better than Zocchi's or Dore's chopped ones.
I like the smooth trunk and stock wheel covers. I think the whole roof and windshield needs to go away and be replaced with something more flowing. It looks like a helmet. Also some how modify the grille so that it dosen't look so wide and plain.
These have always been on top of my have to have one list.Simple yet classy styling. Not many cars rolled out of the factory like this. I think the '53 Studebaker coupe,'56 Chrysler 300 hardtop,'56-'57 Lincoln Premier hardtop. and 63 Buick Riviera are just about it. The 56-57 Continental had to be one the best designed FoMoCo vehicles ever.
Ryan, the reason it reminds everyone of the early BIRd is that when ford got caught behind the 8-ball by the corvette they looked at the Mark2 which was already in the design stage and dwarfed it to fit on the bird frame and use as many of the ford components as possible. i've got tons of info on these buried away still unpacked from my move 2 years ago. Have a Mark in my garage, but if the right 57 comes my way its going to go bye-bye.
With regard to fifties vintage cars, you hit the nail on the head, the 56/7 Continental is clearly the best styled car from this decade. This from a guy who really diggs 49 to 51 Mercs. Let's take it further... the best looking car of the thirties? The Cord 812 Convertable gets my vote...A style that can hardly be improved upon. The Forties? The 41 Lincoln convert, although it's really close between this and the ever lovin' forty Ford coupe! 60's? The '65 Buick Riv takes the prize, at least in my opinion. The 70's? I'd like to say who cares, but actually, I do...hmmm.
Truly was an "A-list" car. Old literature and history states that one was invited to buy a Mark. It was exactly what Clay Ford wanted an exclusive automobile that was the American Rolls-Royce
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