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Not Primer Gray: 1947 Lincoln Continental Club Coupe

This Continental does not look like a car designed in 1938 when cars were much taller and had running boards. The design started life as a custom convertible designed for Edsel Ford, shipped to him in Florida for his vacation. The new design was 7 inches lower than the Lincoln and the hood wasn’t much higher than the fenders. The new design was so popular with Edsel’s friends, he decided to build them. The first cars were built by hand with hand hammered body panels, a few in 1939 and 400 in 1940. The design continued with only minor changes until 1948. At first glance, this old Lincoln may appear to be in primer, but it’s actually the original blue gray color. This one is said to be completely original, including the paint, except for an engine rebuild. It’s listed on eBay in Avilés, Spain with an opening bid of $20,000 and no bids yet, and a BIN of $45,000.

There are no pictures of the front seats provided, but we can assume they will be in much worse condition than the back seats. These seats could possibly be restored.

The dash looks complete and little be we can see of the front seat doesn’t look terrible.

This is as close as we get to a glimpse of the engine. About all we can tell from here is it doesn’t have an air cleaner.

Here you can see the color much better. The paint might look really nice with a little buffing. The chrome looks Ok, but it is pitted. Otherwise, this old Lincoln looks pretty solid and complete. There’s no word on its history, but perhaps it was in a collection for many years. The new owner could leave it as it is,  a survivor, or they might, unfortunately, choose to restore it completely.

Comments

  1. Avatar Pat lamb

    Didn’t sonny drive this model in the GODFATHER?
    Btw I think that that murder scene would make a really great advertisement for EZ pass or whatever electronic toll payment system you guys have.
    Announcer:
    If Sonny Corleone had national pass he would be alive today.

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    • Avatar Trickie Dickie Member

      BTW, did the Godfather movie folks actually destroy that Continental in that toll booth scene. Or was that a mock-up vehicle ya think?

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      • Avatar Pat lamb

        I would like to think Mock-up…I always hated seeing old cars getting destroyed in movies.

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      • Avatar Brad C

        Whether it was real or not, it’s been beautifully taken care of since. It was auctioned in 2012 via Bonhams.

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  2. Avatar Brad C

    A bit more info (which I’ve edited down), via Hemmings:

    ‘Chuck Hannah was tasked with finding appropriate cars to use in the film – he approached the Mid-Atlantic Region of the Lincoln Continental Owners Club and Eugene Beardslee of Brookville, NY offered his 1941 Continental coupe. That became the car in which Sonny Corleone would meet his demise at a Jones Beach causeway toll booth. The production company reportedly used two more Continentals for that scene, one rigged with explosive charges to simulate bullet strikes and the other already shot up before filming.’

    So it seems that two may have been damaged… but that the close-up car in its pristine condition survives.

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    • Avatar Pa Tina

      Let that be a warning to anyone thinking about blowing through the EZ-Pass lane!

      Like 0
  3. Avatar Dan h

    Bet that paint can come back to life!
    Love, love the translucent red steering wheel! Know of one of these close to me that’s up for grabs for peanuts. Big car though, lots of real estate to attend to.

    Like 0
  4. Avatar Peter R

    I had a friend who used to rent cars to movie companies. He told me they buy cars that are basically finished and repaint the outside to look good just before they roll them off the mountain or fake the shoot outs, etc. Thus keeping the real cars safe.

    This car is a survivor and while I’m not really currentv on pricing, it seems to me that by the time it is shipped here and work done, the price will be way too high.

    Like 0
  5. Avatar Wade anders O

    I saw a car like this at a car show in New Mexico that belonged to Babe Ruth the guy had in a clear trailer and said he had found the cruifx that Ruth had around his neck in some pictures in the seat cushions and had letters from the Babes widow to verify it

    Like 0

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