(first posted 10/17/2015) Have you ever looked at a picture and might not have recognized the characters, setting, event, but something just seems so familiar about it? Here is a picture I came across recently.
Yes, that is a broughamtastic fourth generation Lincoln Continental convertible. It looks like it is kept in beautiful condition and that two-tone interior is striking. Inside the car is His Majesty, The King of Norway and Her Majesty, The Queen of Norway on their way to open the Norwegian Parliament on 10-6-2015. Yes, that is right, this car is 50 odd years old and still used for official royal purposes by The Norwegian Family.
This picture could have easily been from 50 years ago, transporting some historic royal or world leader around. In fact, lets examine the many official uses of the fourth generation Lincoln Continental.
Here is a Lincoln Continental Convertible from 1961. This car has been used by The Jordanian Royal Family for many events including Royal Family weddings, official state visits, and His Majesty, King Abdullah II even used it on the day of his coronation.
Crown Prince Hamzah of Jordan and his bride celebrated their wedding in 2012. They are on their way in style, to a state reception attended by many international dignitaries in Amman.
In 1965 His Holiness, Pope Paul VI visited the United States. A custom-built 1964 Lincoln Continental Limousine was built for the Holy Father. It was custom-built by Lehmann-Peterson and was suggested as a more appropriate choice than the Ford LTD the Holy Father originally wanted.
That Lincoln with the Norwegian royals in it makes an ironic contrast with the new Mercedes behind. At age 50 it is unmistakable as a 1960s Lincoln, and that’s likely to continue in the decades to cone.
In 50 years the Mercedes could well be mistaken for a Hyundai.
Ironically, A Hyundai might be more dignified. The grille on that Benz looks like some aftermarket pimtastic plastic thing attached to a Buick Verano.
I like the Lincolns. Gee, a lot of anti Mercedes venom here! Of course, there won’t ever be such a thing as a 50 year old Hyundai as no one will bother and parts won’t be available anyway. ditto the Buick. What is ironic is that there is one other 50 year old car that was made in much lower numbers than the Lincoln, but many still serve heads of state as official transport – the Mercedes 600 of course. No one could mistake one of those for a Hyundai…or a Buick.
>>the Mercedes 600
That’s the true icon, the 600.
What’s striking – and not in a good way – is how inset the wheels are in the Lincoln. The great flaw in that design. Looking at the pics it is most apparent in the production convertibles and not so much in the custom limos. Seems the limos had wider tracks.
The Lincoln is the best looking car in the procession.
I am not sure, but these may be the only 4 door convertibles made after World War Two. With the rear doors positioned as they are, entrance/exit is easy I would think. Not the best choice for security, but no convertible is.
There was also an Imperial 4 door drop top (here with the top closed); this is Israeli president Itzhak Ben-Zvi’s one.
and with the top down, at a foreign ambassadors reception in Jerusalem (pics by Fritz Schlezinger)
By the photos, that was a 1955 Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe convertible.
I think this probably counts too, the Citroen Visa Cabriolet.
Mightn’t be quite the thing for a head of state to be seen it, but it’d sure do me!
I didn’t know about that one, but I was thinking about another Citroen–the SM Presidentielle. Two were made by Chapron for the French government and were used for quite some time; both survive but I don’t think either is in official use anymore.
What a gorgeous motorcar.
BOTH Kaiser and Fraser built a 4 door convertible sedan in 1949-50, though only 54 Kaisers and 71 Frasers were sold.
Ironically, before the start of WW II, several makes had 4 door convertibles in their lineups. Even Ford had a 4 door convertible until just before the war.
Before WW2 Cadillac offered a number of Convertible Sedans in V8, V12 and V16 models.
The four door convertible sedan was developed by custom coachbuilders in the 1920’s in the form we came to know them. By definition, it was a four door body with half-door construction with roll-up windows in the doors, a fully folding top and removeable B-pillars to fill the space between the door windows. When fully closed, they afforded the weather-tight protection of a sedan. They shouldn’t be confused with open four door phaetons and tourings, without roll-up glass side windows, having only those miserable side curtains to secure the passenger from inclement weather.
Production versions came along by the early 1930’s including lower-priced makes, here’s the model years of those considered production models, some early series semi-custom catalogued types included:
Auburn 1928-36
Buick 1933-41
Cadillac 1928-1941
Chrysler & Imperial 1928-1938
Desoto 1936-38
Dodge 1932-33, 1936-1938
Graham 1930-31
Hudson 1927-1929
LaSalle 1929-31, 1937-40
Lincoln 1927-1939
Lincoln-Zephyr 1938-39
Mercury 1940
Nash 1932-33
Oldsmobile 1940-41
Pontiac 1937-38
Packard 1928-41
Studebaker 1932-33, 1938-39
Whatever year and make, they were always among the most expensive and lowest production, and the most attractive and desirable now.
It’s odd that Cadillac didn’t answer Lincoln with its own parade car, especially after the JFK thing placed the hex on Lincoln. Caddy had an existing true limo with jump seats, which would have been far more suitable for both grandiosity and security. Lincoln used those suicide doors because the Continental’s back seat was TIGHT even by regular luxury-car standards.
That tight back seat is probably due to this Lincoln being hastily adapted from a seriously considered Thunderbird design.
While the T-Bird and the Lincoln shared a lot of engineering, they ended up being two very different unit bodies. The Lincoln was so clearly related to the Mark II I don’t get the stories about it going to be a T-bird at all.
The suicide doors are not because the back seat was “tight.” It had less than typical luxury car legroom because the whole car was shorter. The mostly unfortunate restyle included three more inches of wheel base and rear seat legroom. The doors were necessitated by the roof being reminiscent of the Mark II roof. The very wide C pillar made for a short rear window. The profile of the roof was more like it was for a two door car. So if it had standard doors, so you would want to exit right straight out to miss the door, your head would hit the roof. You would have to hunch and crawl. With the suicide door you could move forward as you got out, and in fact you had to because the open door forced you to, so you missed the B pillar.
Another photo of the rear seat, door closed.
Sad irony is that modern sedans with conventional rear doors have all the same problems that led the designers of the ’61-63 Lincoln Continental to adopt the suicide doors and then some – and yet they don’t get the center-opening doors that would make their shapes usable. We’ve learned to live with sedans with low, sloping rooflines, forward-canted window cutout lines that make you lean forward to extract yourself from the rear seat, rear wheel housings that intrude upon the lower extremities of the door and the outer edges of the rear seatback, and narrow rear doors. Then again maybe we haven’t learned to live with those problems, hence former sedan buyers buying crossover SUVs instead.
Burlapp says we have to think of sedans as the new coupes. Sporty car that are not for people who use the rear seat a lot.
The JFK thing pretty much put the hex on open parade cars for anyone wealthy enough to buy a parade car.
I love these Lincolns!
I think the Royal Jordanian car, judging from the grille, looks like a 1963 model.
The 1961 JFK Presidential limo had an updated grille from the original ’61 version, in the picture above, and at the time of his tragic assassination.
I think it went to the custom shop as a ’61 and came back a ’62, so it looks like a ’62 and is often said to be a ’61. It also has ’56-’57 wheel covers because the wheels are an inch larger than stock to take the extra weight, and wheels on American cars all got an inch smaller in ’57. They went back up an inch with the ’64 restyle.
Sad how Lincoln squandered such an illustrious history to chase every other ‘luxury’ automotive brand in the world with some generic alphabet-soup, FWD platform, glitter-trash bling-mobile.
+1
“…generic alphabet-soup, FWD platform, glitter-trash bling-mobile.”
Couldn’t have said it better.
Except Lincoln now isn’t chasing every other ‘luxury’ automotive brand because they’re all offering rear-wheel-drive sports sedans, while Lincoln is aiming more for plush luxury.
Lincoln died in 2011 when the last Town Car rolled off the line. It effectively died when they replaced the LS with the Fusion-clone Zephyr for 2006.
I once read that Mercedes Benz would make a new 600 Pullman for certain people if they desired one and had the means not to care one bit what the expense was – perhaps Lincoln could do the same?
It’s a timeless automobile that is big, beautiful, understated, and projects confident power without being a douchmobile.
If they were to do that now, it would probably be based on the current Mercedes S-class Maybach.
“Yes, that is a broughamtastic fourth generation Lincoln Continental convertible.” Well, I beg to differ, having had a 1965 Lincoln Continental in the family, this car is the antithesis of “broughamtastic.” As Haroldingpatrick says above, it is timeless and understated. It exudes elegance from every square inch. It is for me, and always will be, a classical statement of refinement, grace and distinction in an automobile.
+1
Absolutely. The Continental was the anti-brougham. It relied not at all upon conjuring images of pre-war luxury through the use of fake styling cues, which is what broughams were all about.
“…Federal Republic of West Germany…”
Um, that is incorrect. Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is the official name of former West Germany until 1990 and current (reunified) Germany since then.
When it comes to automotive statesman ship nothing surpasses a black Lincoln Continental, convertible or hardtop, from that era when it comes class and prestige. Given it’s timeless look I don’t think anything past or even present can match that indescribable air as seen in the very first picture. A Fleetwood 75 Limousine from 1955 would be second in my opinion. In fact if asked what cars do I think of that are black it is those two exactly and only those two. Well maybe Mercedes but that was later as the first two were ingrained into my memory in the first 10 years of my life.
I don’t think any Mercedes since the 600 really captures the understated prestige look. They’re more “Look at me!”
A Rolls-Royce Phantom limousine is pretty hard to top. Pete I think Mercedes lasted until the W140 (1991-ish) S-class that lost its understated look.
Interesting to see a 1955(?) Cadillac in the German photo.
It’s appropriate that the Norwegian royal family would use that era of Lincoln Continental. The dashboard is so exquisitely Scandinavian Modern in its design.
I also agree with tmb3fan; Lincolns didn’t really exhibit “broughamtastic” tendencies until the next decade – the 1970’s and we can thank the Mark III’s and its successors for that though the Town Cars followed suit. The first time I saw a Mark IV with its vinyl top and oval “opera” window I felt nauseous.
It’s a 1963, not a 1961. The hood ornament shown in the indoor photo is weird. They normally are one piece with a cube at the base, not a big chrome pedestal.
Re dashboard on the 1961-63 Lincolns (completely replaced in the 1964 facelift stretch with something generic, and then the rebodied 1996 version went back to being cool).
And yes, it’s the most Midcentury Modern design possible.
And for added cleverness, the instrument pods echo the Continental emblem shape and the ones at each side have it incorporated in their graphics. More subtle: the speedometer and turn signal lights are a horizontally stretched version.
Ergonomics of having the controls all a row of identical knobs, well, esthetics over practicality but not entirely unique in that period or for many years before. And the entire control system of the AC and heaters being done with twisting a single knob (even though it’s really three separate systems): well, it works, eventually. Carpal tunnel syndrome may be a side effect. I think that started with the 1958 model.
The Dutch Royal Family used to have one of these, and there’s still a ’72 LTD convertible in the royal family’s collection, although I’m not sure if it’s still used. Johannes will know.
I believe the Canadians also have one of these they still use for state visits.
My favorite is the mid-70s Lincolns used as state funeral hearses in North Korea. I’d love to know how those ever got there…
The Dutch Royal Family drove several FoMoCo products throughout the years. US Fords, Mercury and Lincoln.
They switched to the Euro Ford Granada Mk1 in the early seventies. Then Granada Mk2 and Scorpio. Later Volvo, and now Audi.
Here’s a whole collection, really neat. Including Cord, Cadillac, Mercedes, and many others:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/1841352@N20/pool/
One of them is this 1964 Lincoln Continental.
The Jordanian car is a 1964, not only by the grille but also by the broader windshield that accommodates the 1964-65 flat side glass. Although hard to just in the fuzzy photo, it also shows the longer rear door, rocker trims and 15″ wheelcovers that began with the 1964 model year.
Ford management had decided to make Lincoln, the car of state in the postwar years, first with the 1950 Cosmopolitan parade car and support limousines, followed with the 1961 SS-100-X and later two 1968 custom convertible sedan Secret Service cars, the 1967 L-P Presidential Limousine that was updated to 1969 appearance and again later the 1972 Presidential Limousine. In the 1980’s they gave up, let Cadillac do the job.
I think Bush 41 had a Lincoln for his inaugural parade in 89. After that I think it is all Cadillacs.
I may be wrong but I seem to remember the Lincoln “popemobile” had a bit of an unique history.
it was a factory prototype or something that had been used for a lot of testing and was very high mileage when it was quickly pressed into official duty.
as I remember the article said even with the abuse it had taken it was good enough shape for his holiness.
bet you couldn’t have done that with one of the current ones fiats!!
*VERY* nice cars those 1960’s Lincolns .
I had a ’63 , ’64 and the best , a one owner ’65 although it had been beat up by the owner’s teenaged daughter I was dating .
Sweet , quiet , classy and very conservative like a rich person’s car should be .
-Nate
Good writeup. Despite the slab sides, the 61 shape lends itself beautifully to a long body. Dunno bout the pope’s speedboat visor though.
I might argue that the Norwegian car might benefit from new tires…the white sidewall looks yellowed from age…something tells me that car doesn’t accumulate much mileage but you’d hate to have an issue due to an old tire coming apart.
I’d love to have the sedan version of the Continental, but all of the servos and motors and whatnot that drive the convertible top would scare me off. I watched the guys at Red Lamore Auto Body in Webster Groves MO trying to coax a Continental top to work about 5 years ago, and there was kicking and cussing involved.
Jay Leno has a segment with an expert on Lincoln convertibles of that era. Probably works on the similar previous Ford retractables and Thunderbird convertibles. Don’t know whether he’s still at work or alive.
Check out the Thunderbird convertible action of the same time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvYtzwoZPqU
The heating/AC stystems of at least the 1961-63 (probably 1958-60 too) Lincolns are an insane nightmare. I don’t know how much that was fixed in the facelift, but the next gen 1966 was definitely different. I don’t know if there’s anyone on earth that understands them.
Beautiful Lincoln!
The former king Olav V (fifth) had a lot of american cars, and I think he actually never sold an american car during his time. Today the King and Queen are not so interested in cars, and uses BMW 7-series or MB S-class. But, they do have some older american cars still from the time of Olav V.
One “fun fact” about king Olav V, during the oil crisis in the 70s Norway had a “car-free day”. So every sunday it was illegal to drive a car. Olav V wanted to go skiing one sunday, and was fotographed at the tram with other Norwegians.
In that pitcher of LBJ driving his white Lincoln, it looks like JFK is sitting in the back seat right behind LBJ hisself.
The car LBJ is driving in the lower photo is not the ’64 in the upper photo. It is the model starting in ’66, based on the same platform but otherwise a different car – the same as the King of Norway’s car. Maybe the same cowl/firewall structure, because the wipers are still backwards on the ’66. Oddly, the T-bird, engineered at the same time and also with parallel wipers, has them going the right way.
The iconic Kennedy Lincoln Continental limo is perhaps the most viewed vehicle in history in photo and film. Interestingly after the assassination it was driven back to Dearborn where it was upgraded, refitted and then placed back into service by the Secret Service for many years. It’s currently on display at the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn.
Had to stick this one in –
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=736XW09hJg4
Los Angeles and New York city still have 1950’s custom Chrysler parade cars.
https://www.carscoops.com/2015/06/jay-leno-pretends-hes-statesman-in-1952/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Imperial_Parade_Phaeton
How they looked originally:
A Michael;
Yes, the C.O.L.A’s Imperial is nice but not “restored” ~ some years ago the rear axle complete was replaced with one from a police car .
When I was working in the mayor’s garage the shop super came to me saying he’d have to junk it or replace the engine because he couldn’t find a distributor, I found one and that engine still runs fine .
When the exhaust system rotted out they moaned no one could fix it, in jest I said I know where to go and would drive it there if they didn’t have a driver .
The next day they told me to take it, sadly I only have one blurry photo of me with that car .
It’s nearly silent and not very comfortable to drive nor ride in .
-Nate
Junk it? Sounds like the shop super just hates dealing with that car. They should turn over the car’s well being to a local vintage Chrysler club.
@Bob ;
Unless you’re a mechanic you have no idea how bad and lazy most ‘Mechanics’ are .
They just want to throw parts at anything, never diagnose nor repair anything .
-Nate
The last time I visited, Detroit’s Imperial parade phaeton was on display in the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles, re-painted in white with red interior, similar to the LA car. I believe it was acquired by the Petersen from the Imperial Palace collection in Las Vegas when it was sold off years ago.
Presidents might have used Lincolns, but Lincoln used this: