How about a Lincoln from the Great Classic Era, to complement today’s Brougham Era CC? 1932 was a milestone year for so many cars, as almost all of them showed the influence of the Aerodynamic Era by 1933. But the swan song of the classic era was truly spectacular, regardless of whether it was a ’32 Ford or Chevy, or their big brothers, the ’32 Lincoln KB and the V16 Cadillac. dpertuz found this magnificent six-window sedan at curb in downtown Chicago, and posted it at the Cohort.
In 1932, Lincoln had two models, the V8 KA, and the V12 KB. I’m quite certain this is a KB, but I make no guarantees. Either way, it’s a one of the most desirable Lincolns. The KA was powered by a 125 hp 385 CID V8 , and the KB had a new 448 CID V12 rated at 150 hp (update: not the problematic small V12 as used in the Zephyr and the early Continentals. This was an excellent high-quality engine, but very large and heavy). It was a response to the superb Cadillac V16 and the Packard V12. Needless to say, the arrival of these magnificent cars in the early years of the Great Depression was unfortunate. The Cadillac V16 had a short run, and the big Lincoln V12 stuck it out through 1940, although in very small numbers. What a way to go.
This is a Classic, Curbside, not a Curbside Classic. Makes you wonder why the driver decided to risk parking it on a busy city street on that day.
Gorgeous car.
Well, it does have a dealer plate, and you can’t sell a car that no one has seen.
The owner is probably in one of the shops in the background and keeping an eye on it.
c5karl, the driver (who was not the owner) was waiting outside with the car, and fielding a lot of questions, while the people he was driving were in the adjacent restaurant. I saw this riding downtown one afternoon last summer.
“Land of Lincoln”
Nice.
You read my mind. I saw this on the Cohort yesterday, and after this morning’s piece, I thought of this immediately.
Everything bad you ever heard about the Lincoln V-12 does not apply to this car. The V-12 in these senior Lincolns was a marvelous piece of engineering. Lincoln was under the leadership of Edsel Ford, who did all he could to make this the finest car that he could make. The Ford flathead-based V-12 for the 1936 Zephyr was mainly to make a cheap enough V-12 to sell in Buick’s price range. That engine was full of engineering compromises and led a long but troubled life.
The Ford Model A cribbed its styling from Lincoln in a spectacular fashion, but that styling rendered in full size and glory is simply beautiful on this car. I am with c5karl, wondering just how this car came to sit at the curbside in the middle of a normal day.
Thanks for filling in the details. From Paul’s write-up, I assumed it was the problematic V12 based on Ford’s V8-flathead.
Ever since I was a boy, I dreamed of owning a car like this. I drool over the computer looking at cars on Ebay. Yesterday, a 36 Packard 4 door convertible (or is it a Phaeton) was bid to $ 100K, with a buy it at $ 102K. Cream colored with side mounts, this car seemed quite reasonably priced for a rich guy. (Considering new Cadillacs and MB’s are rapidly approaching six figures.)
A Duesey has been listed for some time at just under $ 800K, and a replica Auburn speedster at $ 58K for the poor guy.
I don’t know if I’ll ever buy a 1930’s car, but if a nice Model A coupe were to show up for sale in someone’s front lawn, I’d indeed think about it.
My boyhood dreams focused on three plastic model cars I built at a young age: A Duesenberg Model J, a 16-cylinder Cadillac and a big Packard of some sort. They were treasured childhood toys, and I spent hour after hour admiring their details: The lamps, the sidemounts, and especially the Duesy’s exhaust pipes.
I have no recollection what I did with them, but I still have clear pictures of all three in my mind’s eye.
Looks like a museum piece. So pristine, like new. I too fear some morons down the street would sideswipe it. Like that bus in the picture…
Now thats nice I see this era cars regularly Packards, Hudsons, art deco era cars ferrying tourists around are just traffic here, No early Lincolns seen lately, Henry’s little boy Edsel could sure draw a pretty car.
Edsel didn’t draw himself, but he did work very closely with the designers, most of all “Bob” Gregorie. I’m not sure if he was responsible for this Lincoln, though.
Please check the spelling of that fine designer’s name. I’m pretty sure it’s the Scottish Gregorie, rather than the French Gregoire. Thanks. As an architect, I like giving designers their due.
Magnificent car, too!
Me too. Fixed!
WOW!
Very nice car. Why was a greyhound chosen as the hood ornament, when it could’ve been a top hat, such as Leland’s favorite president had? There’s a good photo of him wearing one while visiting his parade-ground general (& political enemy) George McClellan. It also fits nicely with the motor company’s customer base.
Another factor may be that by the 1920s (I do not believe Lincoln was in business before 1920), the top hat was universally associated with Eddie Rickenbacker, the WWI flying ace. Rickenbacker’s top hat in a ring insignia became the logo for a car named after him that was sold for awhile in the 20s. I understand that the greyhound was chosen by Edsel Ford to represent the speed and grace of the Lincoln, which had a pretty good performance reputation in the later 20s.
My great-grandfather was purported to have owned a Rickenbacker back in the 20s, purchased with the large amount of cash he made from real estate and the stock market. Alas, he lost it, along with everything else, in the crash. Among the things he lost was the family house, something I was able to buy back a few years ago. Wish I had the car too.
“Edsel specifically chose a greyhound because in his mind, and in many potential consumers’ minds, the breed stood for speed, stamina and beauty. It might not have the poetic ring of Jaguar’s “grace, pace and space”, but speed, stamina and beauty have sold a lot of cars.”
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/07/like-cats-and-dogs-an-exploration-of-automotive-mascots/
I found a pic of this old Lincoln. A custom body I’m sure. Just gorgeous.
I’m liking the downward sweep to the window line a lot. Very unusual design, works for me!
What’s the story on the hood vents we see cars like this one? Manually opened for engine cooling on long, hot days? Or automagically opened by some thermal springie? Why did prewar Classics have them but postwar cars did not?
Not sure about this particular car, but most of those of those days were thermostatically controlled for engine cooling. I believe that the modern thermostat that kept water out of the radiator until the engine was warmed up replaced these shutters. I know that some cars also had thermostatic shutters in front of the radiator. This car looks like it has these too.
Paul, If my memory serves me correctly it is indeed a V12 KB.
Magnificent 1930’s Lincoln in Chicago, in perfect condition, it is definitely a time machine, after all if you are gonna make a time machine out of a car why not do it with some style.
As beautiful as this car is now, by the early 1940s, this Lincoln and others like it were considered to be white elephants. Brand new, this car probably cost as much as a decent house at that time. I read an article where a person who was trying to “shop” an early 1930s Lincoln in very good condition was told by a reputable dealer it was worth about $150 on the used-car market. This was around 1940.
Within a decade this car was a wonderful anachronism. Quite a few classics ended up lost in the drives for scrap metal conducted during World War II. Those that did survive the war were available for next-to-nothing in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
These cars were cumbersome to drive, expensive to maintain and very expensive to run. Advances in car design, particularly among the medium-price and near-luxury cars, left these cars behind. One wonders how today’s Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7-Series – let alone a Rolls-Royce – will fare in the used-car market a decade from now.
Will there be many people brave enough – not to mention rich enough – to buy one and maintain it?
One minor point: The Cadillac V-16 did not have a short run. Starting in 1930, the Cadillac V-16s ran through 1940. They even went so far as to introduce an entirely new engine in 1938. Cadillac built a total of 4,403 sixteen cylinder cars in the 11 year model run. Additionally, they also produced V-12s from 1931 through 1937.
Ace, if you see this can you contact me? I have questions about the Indian X cars from the late 20’s seams you have some knowledge of them. jon @ us84 .com