ABOVE: 1949 Lincoln in the United Kingdom

Originally published in the May-June 2003 (#252) issue of Lincoln & Continental Comments magazine.

By Tim Howley

Where were you when the 1949-51 Lincolns and Lincoln Cosmopolitans were new? Remember, these cars were introduced on April 22, 1948. Senator Joe McCarthy was just starting his un- American Activities rampage. Babe Ruth made his last public appearance. Citation was the race horse of the year, Television was just beginning to come into American homes. But most folks remained content with their longtime favorite radio shows like Amos ‘n Andy, Burns & Allen, Fibber McGee and Molly, Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, The Aldrich Family and The Life of Riley. You listened to pre Rock ‘n Roll songs like The Tennessee Waltz, A Slow Boat to China, and Buttons and Bows. You went to innocent family movies like I Remember Mama, Paleface and Portrait of Jenny.

On Presidential Election night Harry S. Truman went to bed thinking that Governor of New York, Thomas E. Dewey, had won the election. But the polls and the early election results were wrong. “Give ‘em hell Harry” won his first full term in his own right and rode to his inauguration triumphantly in the White House 1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan convertible. The American public would see the inauguration parade and ceremonies for the first time on television. Later, in a dispute with a GM dealer, Truman would order a whole fleet of White House 1950 Lincolns. That was how much a part of the American scene Lincoln was in those days.

In 1949, America was at peace. Most big cities still had two or three daily newspapers. Supermarkets were something very new. You still had your milk and eggs home delivered. You could drive from Chicago to Los Angeles in about four days on route 66 in your new 1949 Lincoln, paying about 23 cents a gallon for premium gasoline, and staying in a new, clean, modern motel for about $3 a night. Your Lincoln’s radio played songs like Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo, Dear Hearts and Gentle People, A Dreamer’s Holiday, Mule Train and Mona Lisa. Maybe you’d stop along the way at one of those new drive-in theaters and see I was a Male War Bride with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell , Adam’s Rib with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn or On The Town with Frank Sinatra and, Gene Kelly dancing their way through New York Navy style.

But things weren’t all so slow and easy in 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea and President Truman authorized work on the new H bomb. Later, Truman seized all U.S. railroads to forestall a general strike. Most of us still traveled by train in 1950 although if you had more money than time you could fly coast to coast in a few hours in a Stratocruiser.

Radios and juke boxes in 1950 played Harbor Lights and Hoop-Dee-Doo sung by Perry Como and Music, Music, Music sung by cute little Teresa Brewer. On the silver screen Judy Holiday became an overnight sensation in Born Yesterday and Bette Davis proclaimed, “Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.” In All About Eve.

In 1951 you had one last chance to own the last flathead V-8 powered Lincoln new or you could pick up a pretty good ’49 for about $1,500. If you picked up an evening paper on the way home you found out that President Truman fired General MacArthur. You still read the Saturday Evening Post, but now half of America’s middle and upper class families had television sets, and that year television went transcontinental by cable. This year was the real beginning of the information explosion that would just build and build. You could watch Joe Lewis in an eight bout comeback, finally TKO’d on October 26 by Rocky Marciano.

Remember Johnny Rae weepfully singing The Little White Cloud That Cried, Shrimp Boats Are A ‘Cornin’ or Nat King Cole coolly crooning They Try To Tell Us We’re Too Young. 1951 wasn’t much of a memorable year for films, but there were some big spectacles like Quo Vadis, An American in Paris and The Great Caruso.

There are not many 1949-51 memories left, The music is fading into the night now, the greatest faces on the silver screen are gone, the biggest world figures of the day are only names on yellowed history book pages. And those old Lincolns with the funny headlights and whale like styling, are the old soldiers in MacArthur’s farewell address who just fade away. Those were the good old days.

ABOVE:  Bob Reed with his 1949 Lincoln Town Sedan model made out of bondo.

Originally published in the November-December 2018 (#345) issue of Lincoln & Continental Comments magazine.

By Jon Wessel

As some of you may recall from a previous article in the Lincoln and Continental Comments, I did not make it home when I picked up my turquoise 1979 Mark V. It left me stranded on the side of 1-44 after suffering a severe case of vapor lock. Even after getting it home and moving and insulating the fuel line, I still had vapor lock issues. In addition, the car was hard to start, did not always kick up on high idle on a cold start, bogged just off idle, and was not very responsive. I had the carburetor adjusted twice, but there was no real improvement. I made the decision to take it to the closest Lincoln dealer, twenty-five miles away. I barely made it, limping in at forty mph from the freeway. Their fix was to install a new carburetor. This did help somewhat, but was not a cure.

The LCOC meet in Kalamazoo, MI, was soon upon us, but the Mark still wasn’t really ready, despite the amount of time spent in the shop. I really wanted to take the car and show it off, since it had never been shown at an LCOC meet. With some trepidation, my wife Debbie and I hit the highway for Michigan. After an hour or so on the road, it became apparent that we were going to have problems. The car would start to lose power and that was a signal to pull off the highway, pop the hood, and let the engine cool. Vapor lock had reared its ugly head. In addition, pulling out into traffic was dicey, since the car would bog down just off idle. Passing was all but impossible. We made it to Kalamazoo without being stranded, but since our first travel day back home to Missouri was on a Sunday, I had some concerns about the return trip.

I do business with a company called BND Automotive, and have had several conversations with the owner, Brian Schubert. Brian is an absolute genius when it comes to gas and oil, and can easily talk way above my head on those topics. I use his products in my Hemi-powered cars. I gave Brian a call and explained my situation. He suggested installing an electric fuel pump and running ethanol-free 91-octane gas with his fuel additive. I was already using his fuel additive and had some with me. I found a Ford dealer in Kalamazoo who would install the electric fuel pump I bought at O’Reilly’s. Driving around town after the electric fuel pump was installed, the car felt better and that gave me more confidence for the drive home. We did indeed have an uneventful trip, but the car was still not running right.

Upon returning home, I had a conversation with Carl Cones, whose shop built my Hemi-powered ’62 Lincoln Continental. Carl has preached the fuel injection gospel for several years and with good reason. We decided to order a FiTech fuel injection unit for the Mark V, along with the requisite high-pressure fuel pump. Carl uses the FiTech brand almost exclusively because he likes how easy it is to set up and tune.

When I got the Mark back from Carl, I could tell an immediate difference. Fuel injection does not necessarily add horsepower or increase fuel mileage, but in my case it made a huge difference in the driveability of the car. Gone was the hard starting, choke issues, bogging, poor throttle response and most thankfully, vapor locking. I couldn’t believe I was driving the same car!

ABOVE: Jon Wessel’s lovely 1979 Mark V at the 2018 Mid-America National Meet.

I drove the car around town for a while as a shake-down test and it performed perfectly. We had a Midwest Region get-together in the St. Louis area, and I decided to drive it up there. It was a 450-mile round trip, and the Mark V performed perfectly. I was ecstatic. That experience gave me the confidence to tackle the long trip to the Mid-America National Meet in Minneapolis this past July. Over the course of 1,330 miles, we didn’t have a single hiccup. Once again, the car performed flawlessly. I continue to run 91-octane fuel and try to find ethanol-free fuel if I can. I also use the fuel additive from BND, which increases the effective octane of the fuel, helps combat ethanol, and has other benefits.

Depending on the fuel injection unit chosen and the fuel pump selected, the cost of the conversion will likely be between $1800 and $2500 installed, depending on the labor prices in your area. From what I understand, someone with basic mechanical skills can install and tune the unit. The installation is undetectable on the Mark V unless the air breather was removed. Obviously, if you are having your car judged, a modification such as this could be an issue. Since I drive my car, it was an easy decision to go ahead with the fuel injection and then place it in exhibition class. Before the fuel injection installation, I was unhappy enough with my Mark V that I offered it for sale. Now, I truly love driving it and would not think of selling it.

BELOW: FiTech fuel injection  system installed on Jon’s car.

ABOVE: Rear hinged doors open like the doors in a phone booth.  The doors won’t open in a crash.

Originally published in the May-June 2005 (#264) issue of Lincoln & Continental Comments magazine.

By Tim Howley, “Editor’s Corner”

This issue is all about coupes and club coupes. But I have made a new year’s resolution not to write about my own cars. Therefore, I am not going to tell you about my recently acquired 1947 Lincoln club coupe to replace the V-12s lost in the San Diego fire. Instead, I am printing a story that did not quite make it to our 1958 issue due to lack of space.

It is hard to believe today that there was a time when automobile safety was not a concern. Preston Tucker tried to introduce a safety car in 1948, and was doomed to failure. The Big Three ran him into the ground before he ever got off the ground. Ford mounted a safety campaign for all of its makes in 1956 which was not very successful. Safety did not sell cars in the fifties. But there was one fascinating safety experiment now in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. It is the 1958 Cornell-Liberty safety car sponsored by Liberty Mutual Insurance and designed by the Aeronautical Laboratory at Cornell University.

The car was so strange looking it never would have been a commercial success, and would have been prohibitively expensive to produce, even on a semi-mass production basis. But it pioneered many of the safety features that are commonplace today. These included energy absorbing front and rear bumpers, recessed door handles, headrests, and retractable seat belts.

The car was a four-door of sorts. The doors on each side worked together like sliding/folding doors. They were hinged at the rear, folded in the middle, and slid back on a track. The engineers said that the doors would not fly open in a crash, and they added structural strength to the entire car. The driver sat in the middle with one passenger seat to the right, and one passenger seat to the left moved way back, and two seats at the very rear. There was also a rear-facing seat behind the driver’s seat. The driver steered the car by handles, not a lethal steering wheel, and he looked out through a 180 degree wraparound windshield that was distortion free. Even the passenger next to him was moved back far enough to give him a clear view through the windshield.

There was no rear view mirror inside the car. It was eliminated due to impact dangers in a crash. There were forward view mirrors, and rear view mirrors mounted on the front fenders. Front and rear rollover bars were incorporated into the body, and the roof was thickly padded to prevent head injuries. The rear package shelf was sunk deep behind the rear seat passengers to prevent objects from flying forward in a crash.

In theory, the ideas were great. There were some 90 safety features incorporated into the car. But the car was never crash tested. It cost $100,000 to build, kind of expensive to be a crash test car. The car was promoted by Liberty Mutual Insurance and shown around the country. It did not make it to many of the 1958-59 auto shows because the industry did not like to remind its public that cars were inherently dangerous. It was not until 1967, when mandated by the federal government, that automobiles began to build in safety features. The Cornell-Liberty safety car of 1958 remains one of those strange creations of the fabulous fifties.

I said I wouldn’t talk about my cars. I’m still recalling my youth in Minnesota. When I was a student at the University of Minnesota, in about 1958 I remember seeing this safety car in an engineering laboratory. I have no idea why it was there.

ABOVE: The 1958 Lincoln Continental Mark III “Cool Continental”

Originally published in the September-October 2005 (#266) issue of Lincoln & Continental Comments magazine.

WEBMASTER NOTE:  This is only an excerpt of the full article found in the issue.

Some of the greatest Lincoln customs (he calls them ‘“Kustoms”) of all time have been created by John D’Agostino, who was bom in Pittsburgh, California, and now resides in Discovery Bay, California. John D’Agostino has built legendary custom Lincolns, plus famous customs of many other makes. His childhood hometown of Pittsburgh provided his earliest inspirations because it was near Antioch, where cars built by Barris, Bailon, Winfield and others showed up at the local Hazel’s and Panther drive-ins through the fifties and sixties.

[This] car was a Mark III two-door named Cool Continental. It was customized by Acme Custom Cars in Antioch. Darryl Hollenbeck painted it in shades of a custom mix of DuPont Ice Blue Pearl. Bob Divine stitched the hand crafted white and blue interior. As is so characteristic of John, the car retains most of the 1958 Lincoln Continental styling cues including the wild front bumper treatment, quad headlights, and sculpturing around the front wheels, but he turned the reverse slanting rear window into a turtleback window.

ABOVE: The grill is a new interpretation of 1940-41.  The total effects is F-117A Stealth Fighter.

From Carolyn Burke, Lincoln-Mercury Public Relations
Introduction by Jim Farrell.
Originally published in the May-June 1996 (#210) issue of Lincoln & Continental Comments magazine.

Prologue:  The Green Hornet Rides Again.

Last year, sources with ties to Ford’s Design Center reported that the aero/elliptical look of current Ford products was about spent and that new styling directions were on the horizon. What are future Lincolns going to look like? Planes are still one of the major influences on car design. The latest look in airplane design is the Stealth. Stylists at Ford’s Design Center describe their translation of the stealth look as “new edge” design.

The newest Lincoln concept car is the 1996 Sentinel. It was introduced to the public January 8, 1996, at the Detroit Auto Show. From its angular lines, it appears to have been heavily influenced by the F-117A Stealth fighter. To old car enthusiasts, the Sentinel may also evoke memories of “Black Beauty”, the modified 1937 Lincoln Zephyr used by the Green Hornet in the 1940 movie of the same name.

In March, 1996, after the Sentinel was shown at several east coast auto shows, the color was changed from black to charcoal gray. The stylists apparently felt that in black, the Sentinel looked too sinister. In present form, the Sentinel is a fiberglass “workout”. It has no drivetrain and no interior except for a steering wheel, the tops of the seats and the top of the dash. The doors, hood and trunk do not open. It is, however, designed to have suicide doors, (stylists call them “French doors”) Currently a new 7/8 size Sentinel is being built for display at the Pebble Beach Concours. The stylists also apparently felt that the sizing of the Sentinel as originally designed was too big. The new 7/8 Sentinel will be a fully operational vehicle. It will be built on a Jaguar platform and it will have “French doors” like the 1961-69 Lincoln Continentals.

A word of caution; just because a particular look is being considered for one of the Ford products in our future, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will come to pass.

Public reaction to the Lincoln Sentinel will be gauged carefully and in a couple of years, when we see the new Lincoln look —whatever it is—we’ll then know if Ford’s stylists have been able to translate the Stealth look into something the car buying public will take to. Jim Farrell.

The Lincoln Sentinel, a full-size, four-door, rear-wheel-drive luxury concept car, embodies what may be the wave of the future in automotive design.

Ford’s latest example of New Edge design, Sentinel makes its world debut at the 1996 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Sentinel blends classic Lincoln styling themes with the Ford-inspired New Edge approach.

The blade fenders and high belt line with minimal chrome trim (above) harken back to design themes Lincoln used in the Sixties.

Sentinel retains the recognizable elements of traditional Lincoln exterior styling, such as classic proportions, a crisp silhouette, simple, unadorned body sides and high, linear belt lines. But New Edge’s “shape-upon-shape” technique results in edge highlights where curved planes intersect.

“The result is a strong, almost brutal shape that suggests strength,” said Jack Telnak, vice president, Corporate Design. “In this way, form contains function. The skin is wrapped tightly over the mechanicals, almost like shrink-wrap. The result is not only improved aerodynamics, but also improved fuel economy as well as head-turning styling,” Telnack said.

New Edge is not a new concept for Ford. The GT90 sports car, which was introduced last year, is one of the first applications of Edge design in a car seen by the public.

“The GT90 captured the feel of the original GT40, but with a distinct difference,” Telnack said. “It is a contemporary iteration that uses styling cues from the ‘60s in a whole new way—a three-dimensional ‘90s interpretation.

“So, New Edge is not a retro style. It is a true forward application, but one that pays homage to the past. New Edge is but one of several emerging design concepts. It is a harbinger of things to come, but it is not the only path.

“Like the breadth of our car and truck lines, we have a similar breadth in our design philosophies. There are other equally exciting design avenues we are pursuing,” said Telnack.

Lincoln enthusiasts will recognize a new interpretation of a 1940s-style Continental grill set into the Sentinel’s metallic black exterior. The clean side profile, blade fenders and high belt line with minimal chrome trim are typical Lincoln design themes that are reminiscent of early 1960s Lincolns and still are clearly visible in today’s Town Car.

Flush glass all around and compact, vertically stacked projector headlamps add to the uncluttered look of the exterior. The placement of the flush-to-the-body, massive, 20-inch wheels ensures a minimum of body overhang and adds to Sentinel’s clean lines. The car’s overall length of 218 inches is just one inch shorter than a 1996 Lincoln Town Car.

“The Lincoln Sentinel is an exploratory look at keeping Lincoln’s traditional styling themes fresh for future generations,” said Claude Lobo, Ford’s director of Advanced Design.

“But the Sentinel also is helping us to identify important issues in auto design, such as determining the benefits of a New Edge approach. Improved road holding and interior space are two more areas that may benefit from this kind of design approach in the future,” Lobo said.

The rear treatment is completely new. While some o f the styling cues go back to classic Lincoln Continentals, the entire car breaks new ground in automotive styling.

ABOVE: Dated August 9, 1940, this 1941 Lincoln V-12 engine is illustrative of the powerplant in the author’s Continental Coupe.  Photo courtesy of Continental Comments # 95.

By Dr. Charles Burton.  Submitted by Richard Koop
Originally published in the May-June 2020  (# 354) issue of Lincoln & Continental Comments magazine.

Recently I had a near-catastrophic occurrence with my 1948 Mercury Convertible’s fuel system, which is very similar to my 1941 Lincoln Continental fuel system. One afternoon, I drove my car hard up the mile-long road to our home and parked it in the garage attached to the house. The next morning, my son come over for coffee, and after raising the garage door and coming into the kitchen, he said: “there is gasoline on the floor in the garage.” My reply was that “all old cars smelled after being driven.” He said, “no,” I went and looked, and there was a large puddle of gasoline that had flowed from the engine area out from under the car. There was a large freezer less than four feet from the pool. I opened the other garage door and turned on a fan to blow the fumes out of the garage. I then used paper towels to absorb the gas that was not under the car. Looking under the car, I did not see any gas dripping. I called my expert old car mechanic, and we agreed a carburetor leak would not have produced such a large amount of gas overnight. Looking in the engine compartment, there did not seem to be any evidence of a leak.

Because of the pooled gas under the car, the Mercury had to be moved outside. Using a heavy rope attached to my truck, I pulled it out into the driveway. Since the driveway is up a hill out of the garage and with the front of the car pointed downhill, gas started dripping from around the engine oil pan onto the pavement. I put a container under the engine and cleaned up the garage puddle. inspection under the car revealed gas coming from the oil pan, where the oil tube attached. The gas was floating on top of the oil in the pan. The Mercury’s fuel pump is attached to the oil filler tube. It was clear that the rubber diaphragm inside the pump developed a tear. The auxiliary electric fuel pump had helped force gas into the oil filler tube and then into the engine. I have used non-ethanol gasoline since I’ve owned the car, but the previous owner had used ethanol gas, which is destructive to older rubber products. Our Lincoln’s stock V-12s don’t have an oil stick, and gasoline in the crankcase cannot leak out. However, some owners have converted their cars to Ford V-8s, so this is a genuine possibility for them.

My expert mechanic had an engine explode and burn. A similar scenario that caused that disaster had also happened in my Mercury. A new mechanical fuel pump should be rebuilt with ethanol-resistant components. You may reduce your chances of a catastrophe by using only the electric fuel pump and bypassing the original one. If you continue to use the mechanical pump, replace it if you have used ethanol gasoline. Turn off the auxiliary electric fuel pump when not needed, and pray this will not happen to you and your car. I am blessed I did not lose two vehicles and my home.

Dr. Burton is a retired 83-year-old surgeon from Macon, Ga. who practiced for 40 years. The 1941 Lincoln Continental was his dream and he purchased it in the 1970s from the original owner’s family.

ABOVE: A 1947 Mercury Convertible Coupe, similar to the author’s 1948 model.  From the Old Car Manual Project.