Further reading:
Curbside Classic: 1956 Lincoln Continental – Caught In Pincers
Wordless Vintage Snapshot: 1956-57 Continental Mark II – In Need Of A Wash
– Posted on January 26, 2024
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Curbside Classics Archives
Well, if I had dropped 10,000 pre-inflation dollars on one of these, I’d drive it every day, too…
Damn! Hell of a flex to take such an expensive car down a dirt road!
I have to agree with The Phantom Cheese, that if I bought that car new, I would make it my daily driver. I might pick a different color if I was going to be driving on dirt and gravel roads, though.
Of course, if I had that car now, it would be garaged and driven only on sunny days.
I love these and remember when a few were still daily drivers around Southern California .
-Nate
My father dispatched the first load of them form the plant. He worked for Automobile Transport Inc..
Not a Lincoln! Continental was a separate make in 1956-57. Ford pretended that Continental was still a separate make in some ’58 literature, but the division had been disbanded.
True. The post’s title has been updated.
Nice, but these were like $6 grand new in 1958. For comparison, a loaded Cadillac deVille was $5,000. Don’t know what the buyer got for the 20 percent premium.
And yet, in `57 Cadillac responded with their own ‘mega-buck’ ride to compete with–the Eldorado Brougham, which was $3K more than a Mark II!
These Mark IIs really stood out on the road at the time. I remember having Dad take me to the big 5 & 10 on York Rd to get the Revell model, the first car model I ever built at age 6, with a lot of help from Dad, and black just like this one! I don’t recall ever seeing a real one around Towson during the time we lived there, until late 1968.
Yes, I remember the Revell model of the `56 Continental.It was re issued about 15 years ago. It had a multi piece body , chrome parts with an engine and a seperate roof that could be left the model to make it a ‘convertible’ but there were no clear parts for the windows.At about the same time (1956) a company called Premier also had one. The box art featured a ‘custom’ version on a racetrack with a grandstand in the background! Not known for their quality, this model is very rare and a unassembled one can fetch over 200 bucks in the collector`s market if you can find one.
Thunderbird styling was easily cleaner, and more elegant. To me, these have a George Barris custom quality to them. Not meant as a compliment. Not the most commercial design. Though not as outlandishly oversized as I thought they were, when I was a kid. Always hated those open rear wheel well cavities seen on many ’50s and ’60s domestic cars. That show so much daylight aft of the wheels/tires. Cheapens their look significantly. From this angle, remove the Continental spare tire styling element, and the design looks rather bloaty and anonymous. Sharper edged styling, may have helped their looks.
Heavy-handed rear bumper design, somewhat previews 1970s domestic Ford mandated-bumper styling. Not a favourite ’50s design.
Yes. I’ve never understood why the this- or the original Continental styling is so highly rated.
It’s “modern” for it’s time and they’re few in #.
It really does look like an embiggened 100E Anglia, Ford’s VW Bug-class entry by way of the British branch.
But compared to what was on the road in 1955 it really must’ve been something.
It makes an imposing statement. But I wouldn’t consider it especially refined or tasteful looking. Almost brutish.
Sadly, better-looking prototype suggested designs were turned down. These images were posted here, about a year ago or so
Lived in Whippany New Jersey in the 50’s and believe it or not there two Mark ll ‘s in town. One belonging to George Mennen founder of the Mennen Corp. And the other, my dad’s. What a boat !
White with (real) red and white leather interior. Those were the days.
Can’t be winter roads, nothing built up in wheel wells, No “formations hanging down from the car.
When road salt so heavily coats the lower portion of a car, it usually appears as a fine powdered coating on the upper surfaces as well. Windows and upper bodywork would usually not remain looking so clean, as the lower body, is so heavily coated.
I see fine powdered road salt, visible on windows of upper floors of condos or office buildings.
It looks like the incredulous gentleman is saying. “Ol’ Irv paid ten grand for that?”
Always loved this car. I remember as a small boy cutting a picture of one out of an old magazine. Oddly it was a small picture of one inside a larger ad for Lincoln.
In later years, I read a couple of articles about the extra work and care it took to build them, like many coats of paint. No wonder Ford lost money on each one made because $10,000 was more than it cost to build them.
I remember my dad went to the Lincoln dealership,Stu Evens in Ecorse mich, to see what kind of a deal he could make trading in the 52 Buick Roadmaster for a MarkII. We went home in the Buick. He also liked the other car Ford introduced,the Thunderbird. But he wound up buying a 56 Roadmaster 2 Dr Riviera.