From a Personal Car to a Sought After Luxury Sedan

            In 1938 Edsel Ford wanted a personal car to drive around. He commissioned Ford’s chief designer Eugene T. “Bob” Gregorie to come up with a luxury car worthy of his place among the automotive industry elite. Working off the plans for the Lincoln Zephyr, Gregorie made a V 12 powered sedan that was worthy of not only an automotive leader but any world leader. He designed the first Lincoln Continental.

            Many accounts claim that this was supposed to be a one off model for Edsel’s private use that, because it was so marketable that Ford almost had to take it to market. There are other accounts, though, that claim that the plan all along was to proceed with production if the car was successful. No matter which account is correct, the result was a car that begged to be manufactured. Edsel drove the car around his Florida home and had friends asking when they could own one like it. For Ford, the decision to go into production was an easy one.

            The first Continental for the public was introduced for the 1939 model year. In retrospect 1939 was not necessarily a grand time to be rolling out a brand new luxury car. With the country in the grips of the Great Depression and Europe in turmoil, Ford was taking a rather large risk in manufacturing a new model.

            From 1939 until early 1942 the car sold well enough to justify Ford’s enthusiasm. Early in 1942 production was shut down due to the USA entering the war. Following the war, between 1946 and 1948, the Continental once again rolled off the assembly lines. These models, like most during those post-war years, featured little to no actual changes. In fact many people would be hard pressed to see the changes in trim between those models.

            Following 1948 the Continental was put on the shelf and production was halted. Then in 1956 the car made a dramatic return to the showroom.

            The Continental Mark II is one of the most revered luxury cars to ever roll out of Michigan, Dearborn to be exact. Re-introduced with a stylish body over a solid 6.0 liter four barrel Y-Block V8, the Mark II was so loaded with luxury features that it instantly became a strong competitor to GM’s revered Cadillac line.

            The car was introduced in Oct. 1955 and until the end of the year recorded sales of 1300 vehicles. This was not a blistering sales pace but even that slowed a bit the following year as another 1300 or so were driven off of dealer lots. Ford wasn’t making money with this venture but that wasn’t their concern at the moment. They were more interested in prestige the Continental brought to their Lincoln marque.

            And what prestige. Some of the famous people who had to own one of these cars were Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and the Shah of Iran. The car was used in the Bring Crosby and Grace Kelly film High Society.

            Though the Mark II was only produced for two years and was replaced in 1958 by the Continental III (officially it was the Mark III but name plates carried the Continental III tag). Only around 3000 Mark II models were produced and it’s estimated about half still survive. The beautiful 1956 model shown here was displayed at a summer car show and was well worth checking out. This idea that started as a personal driver for Edsel Ford turned into one of the most luxurious of America’s sedans and continues to hold the imaginations of car lovers the world over.