This black beauty is a 1955 Lincoln Capri. It’s such a good-looking, solid car and you can find it on Craigslist with an asking price of $4,800. This one is only 50 miles from me, up in Maple Lake, Minnesota. Hmm..
That’s one, big bumper! The lines on these cars are so elegant and understated, this would be a fun car to own for weekend jaunts and just for general driving pleasure. It really looks solid, even underneath. Look at that classic frame, it’s so clean and dry, very nice.
The 1952-1955 Lincoln Capri, the first-generation, was by far the most sedate and some may say boring (not me!) of the three generations for the Capri. I think it’s a great looking car, but I like underdogs. The hood looks like it’s out of alignment in the photo above, and the windshield is cracked. The seller mentions also one small area of rust (that I don’t see?) and that the clear-coat is peeling in some areas, so it’s been repainted at some point. If you’re even halfway decent in bodywork you will have this beauty in perfect condition in no time. Now, to find that missing “C” from the LIN OLN on the hood!
I think that you’ll spend most of your time and money on the interior. But, what an interior this car has! I often lament the lack of power windows and AC on even luxury cars from the 1970s and later, but this car is loaded with power windows, seats, and of course power steering and brakes. And, this car has the optional rear AC and it’s all there! Of course, it’ll need to be gone through once you get the rest of the mechanicals and interior worked out. Even the trunk looks good, considering it’s older than I am.
This is Lincoln’s 341 cubic-inch Y-Block V8 with around 225 hp. Here’s what the engine will look like after I.. ha, er.. I mean, after the next owner restores it. It looks pretty decent under the hood and the seller says that it has “many new parts new battery, starter, fuel pump, distributor, brake master cylinder, heads were redone, and carb gone through.” I really like this car. Am I the only fan of these first-generation Lincoln Capris out there? I sure hope not!
Wow that is a nice ride
Scotty I agree whole heartedly, the lines on these Lincoln’s were some of the best of the 50’s. For it age this is in great condition, it doe’s have lots of needs and it will be very easy to get under water if attempting a full restore. I would fix what needs fixing and drive it while doing additional upgrades.
Scotty, It’s sweet and unselfish that you wrote it up and posted it, but you need this one, man, this is beautiful at this price. Front seat? Indian blanket.
This is really nice. I thought the price was a bit low for what it is, then I started thinking about restoring that interior. What an awesome car.
Great find Scotty, I love this car. If you go buy it and get it all fixed up I’ll come and get buy it from you in the spring (haha). A nice road trip from Minnesota home in a four door Lincoln seems like it would be fun.
Happy New Year and stay warm in the frozen North.
Pick this up and document the restoration process.
I like this car. The styling is classy and avoids excess. The 55-56 cars from the Big 3 all had good styling that avoided excess. After that, styling went nuts. There seemed to be no limit to how much chrome and tail fins could be put on a car.
While I tend to shy away from the big heavy land yachts, something like this still grabs my interest. You don’t find many of these at the car shows and they’re nice cruisers. It wouldn’t be worth all the time and money that would go with the restoration but we’ve been through that many times on this page (and others like it). It’s the journey! And this looks like a worthwhile journey.
Beautiful find! Could you save yourself some trouble and just rearrange the letters a bit to “LION?”
he ain’t lying, that drives OCD types crazy! Whoops! CDO!
When you consider that freon A/C systems are colder than those with the new refrigerants , and add the front and rear cooling units, you have a car you can hang meat in should you need to.
Scotty, is it at the house yet?
Wow, what a good looking ride! When looking up some of the specs on these, I was surprised to see some of these got 20 mpg. What type of speeds did manufacturers use then to determine fuel economy ratings?
According to Dilbert, 90 percent of statistics are made up 90 percent of the time.
Not rear A/C. It is the way A/C vent were in the 50’s.
Kind of a nice, compact, Thunderbirdy look to these. I’ve been looking at this one on Craigslist for a while now… wouldn’t be surprised if they’d take a bit less. I like the ‘indian blanket’ idea, though I think I’d go with more of a Wisconsin supper club look and wrap all the seats in old Pendleton camp blankets.
Our family car was a 1954 Lincoln Capri, pale yellow with mallard green top. My uncle would by a car, use it, and then sell it to someone in the family other wise dad could have never afforded something like this. The car was so quiet that on a trip from Thermopolis to Cody driving normal speed Dad realized he had not put the car in overdrive but it seemed like every thing was normal. Car was totaled in Powell with an elderly person running a stop sign but that was one of the finest auto I have ever been around.
A way into the hobby, drive it, fix it, drive it some more, meet interesting people along the way, drive it some more. No sense in a concours restoration.
Absolutely, have fun with the hobby. This is not a job for most of us.
This car has been for sale for awhile in the Mpls. Craigslist.
One of the first books that I read on the old car hobby..back around 1977 had a ’54 Lincoln Capri as an example of how cars depreciate then plateau for a few years then start to rise in value. Depending upon condition of course.. The interior fix will be pricey and so will that front bumper ..but it appears most everything else can be accomplished over time.. go for it!
I have to say, it’s a handsome design. In looking at that big chrome front bumper, it makes me think of the 54-57 Chevy cars. I wonder.
Rick
I saw a 53 Capri actually setting on a car lot in the city I live in. My wife was with me and told me I needed to look at it. I drove it off the lot, it was and older restore, the interior was beautiful. And chrome was beautiful. Car was actually a one owner before the car lot had it. So that made me a 3rd owner. It was stored under a tarp for several years and paint was worn. Decided to repaint and found a ton of bondo under it. Eventually sold it. But it was a beautiful car. Ran good too.
Can anyone tell me what is the newly black painted circular part between the firewall and the brake master cylinder? Is it an early vacuum brake booster?
If you do know what it is, can you also give me to a web link so I can look at an exploded diagram to see what is inside it. Thanks
Definitely a brake booster
Everyday we look at the stuff you “offer” to us.
We are all waiting for a local creampuff to come by so we can add it to the other dozen or so projects in the yard.
I think its law…YOU must purchase it …especially having a daily email like this.
This ad is also running on the Fort Myers FL Craigslist. Just saying.
I was just on Craigslist and noticed this car in Mn…I am in Mn as well….Great price for the condition. Don’t know how long since driven…but….If it had a set of Coker wide white radials on it…it would improve the looks quickly and make easier to sell…even at a higher price. Seat and door panels easy fix..Dash looks good enough which is the key starting interior point for me. …bad dash??? Forget it. Spiff it up a bit and drive it!