A genuine barn find about a year ago after decades in storage, this 1961 Lincoln Continental convertible is a runner, but not a driver. It’s located in Kingston, Wisconsin and is up for sale here on eBay, where bidding is up to $4,300 and there’s no reserve, so it will find a new owner this week!
You can see some pretty obvious dents in the rear fender here. The seller tells us the body is pretty decent, but there are some issues with the rear quarters and floors. The seller notes that there is a previous repair on the driver’s floor, but that they don’t think it’s rust-related.
The clean lines of this generation Continental are very well known, and the black paint, even in poor condition really helps the appearance even more. The brightwork doesn’t look that great, but is intact at least and looks straight.
The tires have been replaced with a used set of whitewalls, and the top mechanism partially works. There is no top itself, though, and the hydraulic mechanism appears to be disconnected. The seller tells us that the 430 cubic inch V8 engine now runs well after a timing gear and chain replacement, but the valve stem seals appear to be gone as the engine smokes while it’s running. The seller also mentions a coolant leak that they haven’t been able to identify yet, although they briefly took the car up to 60 miles per hour. They also mention issues with the power brake booster as the diaphragm has torn due to old age. The seller has also replaced the factory intake manifold and two barrel carburetor with a different one and a four barrel carb, but they are including the original parts with the auction.
The interior looks like it could use a lot of help. There is no rear seat; the seller theorizes that it was taken out to work on the top mechanism and somehow got separated from the rest of the car. It looks like the front seat might be salvageable for a driver. Would you like to be driving this relatively inexpensive (at the moment) American luxury convertible?
This is one of those cars that you buy the best you can afford up front as restoration costs will eat your wallets content at an alarming rate!! 30k to restore doing all the work yourself.
That needs to go to Mobsteel ASAP.
Gonna take some $$$.
All the previous comments are totally accurate but when you are finished you have some thing that equals most Rolls Royce and Maybach’s for pure eye appeal. I have ridden in a couple and it is one of the very few big sedans that that I would love to have owned or still own. I hope it finds a very good home.
There is a good reason why the back seat was removed, and it’s now for sale without fixing the top….
-If you have worked on any of the FoMoCo convertibles from this era, you probably would not even consider one with a non functioning convertible mechanism.
Unless of course it is dirt cheap, and you are just looking for a parade car.
I bet if you look closely, you’d find two depressions in the drivers seat. Those would be from the weight of the vey large cojones of the guy who took this up to 60mph with no power brakes.
I’ll bet the whole interior got sold off…that looks like a mid 70’s bench out of something else…
brought back memories from the 1960’s there was a guy that used to mow our lawn, he had an old Cadillac with no back seat. That’s where the he kept the lawn mowers!
biggassed convert I ever saw.
i like that it’s a 61 & ford – but yes,
lotsa ching to get even a DD.
(look close – i think I C Pres Kennedy inda back)…