The Lincoln Continental was developed primarily because Edsel Ford wanted a singular personal automobile.
In 1938, Edsel Ford vacationed in Europe and was impressed by some European styling, including cars with a rear-mounted spare tire. He commissioned Eugene “Bob” Gregorie to construct a convertible. Gregorie began constructing plans for the trendy and popular Lincoln Zephyr and is claimed to have accomplished the initial sketch for the automobile in about an hour.
The running boards were removed and the automobile was about 7 inches lower than the usual Lincoln. Edsel Ford wanted it in time for his Florida vacation in March 1939 so he could show it to his wealthy friends to see in the event that they liked the design. That's what they did.
Not much chrome was used, mainly just within the grille. It had a 267 cubic inch V12 engine and like all other Ford products of the time, it featured transverse leaf springs on the front and rear. Amazingly, Gregorie accomplished the automobile on time and it was shipped to Florida.
Edsel sent a telegram back to Michigan saying he could sell a thousand of them. Since the design was based on the European cars that Edsel had seen abroad, it was decided that the brand new Lincoln automobile should bear the Continental name.
Production began almost immediately, with most vehicles being produced as convertible convertibles and only just a few coupes. They were primarily hand-built vehicles – two dozen 1939 models and 400 as 1940 models, but all sold as 1940 models.
Recognizable features of the Continental were the long hood and the short rear deck with a spare wheel mounted behind the trunk. The starting signal for the primary Continental generation began. It ran through the 1940-42 and 1946-48 model years, and ten generations of the Continental have now been produced.
The vehicle featured on this issue is from the fifth generation: a 1976 Lincoln Continental Mark IV owned by David Barlow of Danville, who told me this interesting story.
“In 1976, my father was driving down Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco and saw the most beautiful yellow Lincoln he had ever seen in what was then the Lincoln-Mercury dealer showroom. He parked his car, went in and bought it from the showroom. It was the pride and joy of his life and the pride and joy of the family.”
After his father's death, Barlow's mother passed the automobile right down to him, and he drove it as a family automobile for about 15 years, but didn’t keep it.
“In 1995, we parked the car in a dirt lot in Clayton that had the cheapest storage fee,” Barlow said. “During this time, the custom top got here off and mice entered the automobile, eating the leather interior and engine wires and making a house within the air filter.
“In 2005, I decided to restore the car in honor of my late father. I had no idea what I was doing, but I had a son who lived in Denver and happened to know a meticulous car restorer. We shipped the car to Denver for a project we thought would take a year and cost about $15,000. The project took five years and cost $70,000.”
The automobile has been restored exactly because it was when purchased latest in 1976 and drives like latest. Barlow smiles and waves as he gets thumbs-up signs while driving locally. On September twenty seventh, this beautiful Lincoln was shipped to her son, making him the third generation family owner. And that's the glad a part of this story.
And now for the sad a part of the story. David and Jan Barlow have lived in Danville for 48 years and are each 79 years old. David was diagnosed with bladder cancer and Jan suffers from leukemia. Her big wish now’s that they will rejoice their eightieth birthday together and without pain. That is my wish too.
image credit : www.mercurynews.com