You don’t see these every day. In fact, it’s only the second 1947 Lincoln Zephyr we’ve ever featured here on Barn Finds and I can’t recall ever seeing one at a car show. As is quite common in vehicles featured online, the seller is very skimpy in the details and history area and is also skimpy on interior photos, but at least a photo of the engine was shared. In the ad, the old Lincoln has described this way: “Car is completely original, unmolested, spent some years in a museum, drives nice, V12 starts right up.” Currently residing in Calhan, Colorado, this ’47 Lincoln is for sale here on Facebook Marketplace for $20,000. Thank you’s are in order for T.J. for finding and sending this rare Lincoln our way.
The seller describes the Lincoln as having a tan exterior and tan interior. It looks kind of grayish in the photos, but Lincoln offered a Dune Beige paint option which it could be wearing. It’s hard to assess the condition of the paint, but it looks presentable to be 75 years old. I don’t spot any major issues with Lincoln’s exterior. I’m not seeing any rust, the panels are straight, and the chrome, glass, trim, and lenses all appear to be in good shape. The ’47s were warmed over 1942 models due to a production halt during World War II. In 1942, Lincoln did a major redesign of the front end that resulted in a look that was bolder, massive, and squarish. They would keep this look for one more year until the all-new, redesigned ’49 Lincolns would show off a lower, wider, and sleeker look.
Only two photos of the interior are supplied. The one above and a detail of the cool, Art Deco-styled speedometer showing 42,774 miles on the odometer. Nothing is shared about documentation proving those are Lincoln’s original miles.
The headliner shows a few ripples, but overall the seat tops and glass looks good in the photo, so one can assume the rest of the car’s interior is presentable as well. Lincoln’s sales brochures touted “the precise and expert workmanship of their new interiors” for 1947 and described their seats as “The chair-high seats are extra-wide, extra-deep and are cushioned with a padding of foam rubber for utmost comfort.” I’m sure they are.
In 1947 when most luxury automobiles were offering 8-cylinder engines under the hood, Lincoln distinguished itself by continuing to offer a V12. Their brochure describes the power plant as a V-12, L-head type with a total displacement of 292 cubic inches and horsepower at 125 at 3600 rpm. The seller claims the V12 “starts right up and drives nice.”
Even though this Lincoln is listed as a Zephyr, the Division was in the process of phasing out the name, and in their 1947 sales brochure, you can’t find the name anywhere. They simply describe the three body options as the Lincoln Sedan, the Lincoln Club Coupe, and the Lincoln Convertible Coupe. I’m not sure how many 4-door Lincoln Sedans were produced in 1947, but it wasn’t many. Lincoln as a division produced a total of 29,275 units in 1947 which also included the Lincoln Continental Cabriolet and the Coupe. If it’s true that this is an original survivor that was worthy of a museum gig at one time, this would be a rare Lincoln survivor indeed.
Pretty doggone cool. Can’t imagine the amount of stomp power it take to get this behemoth to stop. Or Popeye power to parallel park it!
Precious.
It looks dusty in the engine bay but such original survivors are
the best buy to get for a soft restoration or just use and drive it.
I remember they used 3 or 4 speed manual gearboxes.
The only thing who need attention when i buy it are the brakes
and exhaust sealing. As its mostly stood in a Museum or in
storage brakes can be sized and the exhaust rotten from the
the deposits left behind. A stainless steel exhaust also solves
this problem. The engine gives a decent amount of torque.
If you look at the battery, the thing runs on 6 volts.
Very nice!
Beautiful Lincoln, and a steal at that price.
My father joined the Marines on his 16th birthday in 1944. His father signed so he could go. He ended up in the Pacific with the 1st Marine division for the end of WWII and then was in China through late1947. He came home in 1948 at 20, got a job one day later and bought one of these. He always talked about it and how many of his friends he could fit in. He said it was the best time of his life because every guy had served in the military and they all looked out for each other. He would talk about going to a beach resort town having no place to stay and he could just go to the fire department and they would let him sleep there since he was a Marine. He said the comradery ended around the time of the Korean war.
I picked up one of these on a desert clean up. Poor thing was just shot up rusted hunk with no driveline, windows, trim or interior. We kept it around for a while to see what could be applied to someone else’s project but eventually it found its way into the crusher.
no push button doors,lincoln would replace buttons with handles as they froze up in cold areas and drivers had no handles to hold the door open
The exterior push button door openers were used on the Continentals models only through the 1948 model year.
That thing has gotta be long as my truck, I think it would be fun to make a nice cruiser out of it
When I was around 15 (1968) I went with my grandmother to visit my uncle in Maine. Out in the middle of a field was one of these, in surprisingly good condition. Maybe it didn’t run or something, but as a kid, I really wanted that car. How the hell was I going to get this huge car from Maine to New Jersey? I didn’t. It’s probably still rotting away in that field.
Was it this one? https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/807106393814963?hoisted=false&ref=saved&referral_code=null
@Paul
Ha ha, no, but I like this one too. This one has what I refer to as a Zepher front-end. The one for sale and the one out in the field had what I call a Continental frontend.
It was basically a large flat grassy field.
came as I knew it might have the 12cyl, and
there she B ! But I like an i8 best… wish
they were still around/bein made for our modern’s.
Lincoln stopped using the Zephyr model name after the 1942 model year. For 1946-48 there was the Lincoln Continental Club Coupe and Continental Convertible, plus the Lincolns with no model names to include the Club Coupe (model 77), the 4-door Sedan (model 73), and the Convertible (model 76). I have no information on the Lincoln Custom (Limousine) after the 1942 model year.