Continental Mark II - 1956
In the 1950s, as a method of competing head on with General Motors, the Ford Motor Company sought to organise itself into a broader range of auto divisions.
Ford vs Chevrolet, the new Edsel Division vs Pontiac, Mercury vs Oldsmobile, Lincoln vs Buick. Atop this series, Continental would be broken out as a marque in its own right.
Continental would compete directly with Cadillac - then undisputed leader in the upper luxury division.
The 'Continental' had previously been a specialist model within the Lincoln hierarchy. It would now have its own staff, its factory and its own, unique vehicle.
Cadillac had made a great number of customers through delivering a vehicle for a new, glorious age. Continental, on the other hand, was intended to create a vehicle in the spirit of the 'Classic Era' - the 1930's. Coachbuilt vehicles of the highest quality. With this in mind numerous layers of quality control and quality design was embedded into every process involved in the creation and manufacture of each car.
This quality came at a cost. Each Continental Mark II was a very expensive machine to purchase - but the process in creating the car was also costly, and time consuming. For this reason, though the car can rightly be called a 20th Century landmark classic, only 1,231 cars found homes in 1955, a further 1,325 in 1956, (and 444 in the 1957 calendar year), It is estimated that Ford lost $1,000 per car (in 1957 money).
Perhaps one part of the problem was that the car was only available as a Hardtop Coupe. Internet research yielded at least one running convertible prototype (now restored - and gorgeous), along with images of a 4-door saloon clay - also a very attractive car.
The postscript to the story is that the Continental Division was once again merged with Lincoln - the new 1958 Continental Mk III was substantially a modified Lincoln. This may not have been such a problem, but for the fact that the 1958-1960 Lincoln and Continentals are some of the most unattractive cars from the period.
When Lincoln launched their own 'Personal Coupe' for 1969, they named in the Mk III - conveniently ignoring the Mk III, IV and V marketed under the Continental Division a decade earlier. It has been said that the Ford Motor Company has gone to great pains to erase the memory of these car from history, Instead, preferring the 1961 Lincoln Continental - again one of the most attractive cars ever designed, to be the logical descendant of the beautiful Mk II.
This Lego miniland scale Continental Mk II - 1956 Hardtop Coupe has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 99th Build Challenge - "Land Yachts" - a challenge to build a vehicle meeting the typical definition of a land yacht - a very large vehicle marketed to US consumers 1950 - 1980 fuel crisis.
Continental Mark II - 1956
In the 1950s, as a method of competing head on with General Motors, the Ford Motor Company sought to organise itself into a broader range of auto divisions.
Ford vs Chevrolet, the new Edsel Division vs Pontiac, Mercury vs Oldsmobile, Lincoln vs Buick. Atop this series, Continental would be broken out as a marque in its own right.
Continental would compete directly with Cadillac - then undisputed leader in the upper luxury division.
The 'Continental' had previously been a specialist model within the Lincoln hierarchy. It would now have its own staff, its factory and its own, unique vehicle.
Cadillac had made a great number of customers through delivering a vehicle for a new, glorious age. Continental, on the other hand, was intended to create a vehicle in the spirit of the 'Classic Era' - the 1930's. Coachbuilt vehicles of the highest quality. With this in mind numerous layers of quality control and quality design was embedded into every process involved in the creation and manufacture of each car.
This quality came at a cost. Each Continental Mark II was a very expensive machine to purchase - but the process in creating the car was also costly, and time consuming. For this reason, though the car can rightly be called a 20th Century landmark classic, only 1,231 cars found homes in 1955, a further 1,325 in 1956, (and 444 in the 1957 calendar year), It is estimated that Ford lost $1,000 per car (in 1957 money).
Perhaps one part of the problem was that the car was only available as a Hardtop Coupe. Internet research yielded at least one running convertible prototype (now restored - and gorgeous), along with images of a 4-door saloon clay - also a very attractive car.
The postscript to the story is that the Continental Division was once again merged with Lincoln - the new 1958 Continental Mk III was substantially a modified Lincoln. This may not have been such a problem, but for the fact that the 1958-1960 Lincoln and Continentals are some of the most unattractive cars from the period.
When Lincoln launched their own 'Personal Coupe' for 1969, they named in the Mk III - conveniently ignoring the Mk III, IV and V marketed under the Continental Division a decade earlier. It has been said that the Ford Motor Company has gone to great pains to erase the memory of these car from history, Instead, preferring the 1961 Lincoln Continental - again one of the most attractive cars ever designed, to be the logical descendant of the beautiful Mk II.
This Lego miniland scale Continental Mk II - 1956 Hardtop Coupe has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 99th Build Challenge - "Land Yachts" - a challenge to build a vehicle meeting the typical definition of a land yacht - a very large vehicle marketed to US consumers 1950 - 1980 fuel crisis.