1956 Lincoln Mark Series

365 V-8

Clear

Offered here is a rare 1956 Lincoln Continental Mark II. Only about 3,000 of these cars were made in their two year production run. At the time they were the world’s finest horrendously expensive supercar, owned by heads of state, Hollywood moguls, and megastars. Cartier designed the dash, for crying out loud. These cars cost over $10,000, at a time when an average house cost about $11,000, and median income was $4500 per year. In today’s terms, this car would cost over $100.000. It maintained its exalted position until 1958, when that crowd traded in their Mark IIs for a Cadillac Eldorado Brougham ($13,000). Elizabeth Taylor had one, painted to match her eyes. Nelson Rockefeller, Barry Goldwater, Cecil B. DeMille, R.J. Reynolds, Bill Harrah, Frank Sinatra had one. Jack Warner (as in Warner Bros Pictures) had one. Even Elvis had one. The Mark II was so ritzy that it had only one option, air conditioning, and that cost almost $600.00, two months of the average man’s pay. The car had a 285 horsepower 365 c.i. Lincoln (only) overhead valve V-8, with the infamous Holley Peapot Carb. It came with power steering, power brakes, power seat, power windows, power vent windows, four ash trays, day/nite mirror AND a windshield washer (the red capped canister thing in the pics). The coolest thing about the car is that the AC vents are round and in the ceiling! Well, that and the missile silo style levers working the heater. And the micro outside rear view mirror, about 6 square inches. You don’t want to see too much of the Cadillac, Packard, Mercedes and Rolls Royce riff raff you have left behind! This car was built in December of 1955, and is car number 2223. It was originally delivered to Missouri. It made its way to Tennessee, and was driven to Virginia from there about 15 years agowiht about 84,000 miles on the title. It was owned by a local attorney, who obsessed over it. It went into the shop for a malfunctioning passenger side vent window, and the passenger door skin was taken off and the wiring guts of the windows dismounted. The shop guy had a medical catastrophe shortly after he disassembled the passenger side door, and died. Then the owner died. It sat in the shop from 2004 until January of 2014, when the building was sold and the car moved. I stuffed the window wiring back into the door but did not fix it because is WAY beyond my ability. The window hardware is in the trunk. I’m selling the car for the current owner. The odometer shows a little over 11,000 miles now, but that will be about 111,000 miles. The car is complete, from the headlight rings to the rare turbine wheel covers. It has the original two leg giant screw jack , WITH the bag it came in. It has the spare tire cover. The outside is yellow, and the inside is maroon broadcloth with off white broadcloth and brown leather. The interior is not as good as it looks in the pics. The BAD: Not sure about gas gauge; we only put 5 gallons in it. Not sure about gas tank; probably holy on top from sitting, but it runs on the tank Has painted over bubbles at rear of passenger lower door and in rear fender near it Leather is deteriorating inside, viz cracking, coming off in places, esp. driver rear sail panel area; worn in other areas Has a water leak at the driver’s side door seal at the front; it’s not the windshield, it’s the door seal; water flows down the door skin and puddles in driver floorboard Both driver and pass front floors have soft spots; have not investigated beyond that; look small from underneath No brakes; we’ve been moving it on the emergency brake-booster seems ok, probably just needs bleeding As usual, the clock does not work Day/nite mirror silvering is deteriorated Tires are Michelins and were replaced abt. 2000 Hood weighs a ton- USE THE PROP ROD! Glass has fallen out of the outside mirror; its not broken, just fell out, and the glass comes with the car Cardboard ac equipment covers in the trunk have collapsed over time THE GOOD Engine runs great Peapot carburetor actually works as designed Does not smoke Tranny shifts fine and has all gears AC blows cool Speedo works Power seat works Driver power window works Temp gauge works Tach works Amp gauge works Heater blower works Wipers work AC works Radiator cleaned and fixed Whole car already compounded Chrome already polished Trunk is solid, frame cowbellies are solid Headliner is good Has the stone guards (plate welded in around the front of the rear spring anchor) Exhaust solid, still goes thru bumpers, which are not rusted out Cool chrome emergency brake handle Comes with a whole folder of receipts Clear title in hand The Continental Mark II is such a rare beauty that it has its own club and form on the internet, with mountains of information on these cars, and even this one in particular. They can also direct you to parts suppliers; I’d encourage the happy buyer to join because there is almost no question they can’t answer. For more information, search on Lincoln Continental Mark II Hemmings- they have a great article about them. TERMS OF SALE: A $500.00 nonrefundable earnest money deposit due within 48 hours of sale to cover advertising and listing costs. This car is sold AS IS with all faults. The car is offered for sale locally and so we reserve the right to end the auction early. Car is located in Blairs Virginia, near Danville. Closest Airport is Greensboro or Raleigh-Durham. You will need to transport the car, which weighs almost three tons.(!) Buyer must arrange the shipping. Title signed over when payment in full received by cash, certified check or wire transfer. On Sep-09-14 at 07:53:55 PDT, seller added the following information: Update 9/9/14: many people have asked for pics of the frame underneath the car, so I took it put it on the rack. Unfortunately, we scraped the paint on the passenger front fender getting it off of the trailer. No metal damage, but just a paint scrape, which allows you to see the "Deep Brown" original paint, which is consistent with the codes on the car. I've posted a pic of the scrape. Also, I noticed some painted over bubbling on the front lower corner of the driver door, and on the driver side rear quarter panel. Additionally, it has gotten chilly here and there is some condensate in the exhaust; the passenger side is better than the driver's side. It was not doing this when I took the other pics last week; this may be because the Peapot float is sticking periodically. I took as many pics of the frame and underneath as possible, but I am limited as to the amount I still put up here. If you would like more, please contact me thru ebay and I'll send you more, but I can only send 5 pics at a time that way, and I have more five sets of just underneath pics. If you are one of those who asked, I've send you a reply that the pics are up here. On Sep-11-14 at 06:59:53 PDT, seller added the following information: Update 9/11/14: THE PASSENGER SIDE FRAME RAIL (COWBELLY) HAS TWO RUST THRU HOLES IN FRONT OF THE REAR WHEEL NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF THE TUBULAR CROSS MEMBER AND THE FRAM RAIL. THEY HOLES ARE ABOUT 4 INCHES FROM EACH OTHER, AND EACH ONE IS ABOUT 2.5 IN LONG AND 1 INCH WIDE. DRIVER SIDE IS SOLID. Both are on the bottom of the frame rail itself. If it were mine, I'd clean them out, dry them well, spray undercoating in there and leave them open as drains/vents. I can't post pics of the holes because I am out of pic space, but I can send them email.