If you have a barn find that you decide to sell, this is the proper way to do it! The seller of this Lincoln Zephyr included tons of info, history, and photos of the car in the barn and of it cleaned up! We see so many cars every day that are supposedly barn finds, but without as found photos, so it’s great to see this Lincoln in storage. It cleaned up extremely well and appears to be in great condition inside and out. If you’ve always dreamed of owning a V12 powered coupe, here’s your chance! Find it here on eBay in Templeton, Massachusetts with a current bid of $62k.
The seller lays out the car’s history quite well in their ad. Apparently, it has only had two previous owners and was in the care of the same family for the past 21 years. The seller bought it from the 2nd owner’s widow just last month. Her husband had worked as a doctor and had been stockpiling parts for it prior to passing away. Their son knew the significance of the car and made sure to take care of it, so getting back on the road only required a good cleaning and a tuneup!
I think it’s safe to assume that this car is an older restoration. The interior looks like it could possibly be original, but I see all the typical signs of a respray. That’s alright though, clearly, this Lincoln has been well cared for and loved. The previous owner found a spare engine for it and had slowly been getting parts together in case something broke. The fact that he was putting together a new engine is a bit concerning, but hopefully, he was just the type that liked to have spares on hand and that it isn’t an indication that engine has issues. At least you would have the parts to fix it if it does fail!
These cars really are incredible! The V12 is a masterpiece of flathead engineering and while it isn’t all the powerful, it produces lots of torque and great sounds. I’d love to have this find, but sadly it’s way out of my budget. I’ll just have to keep dreaming and hunting for a V12 beauty like this!
Beauty, eh?
Ironically enough, a modified black Zephyr was the first “Black Beauty”, legendary mount of The Green Hornet and Kato, as depicted in the 1940’s serials.
They actually stated that during the radio broadcast?
Looks like it’s got ’40 Ford headlights installed to be able to take sealed beam bulbs, and the original ’39 bezels in the car.
These things are very cool, but now way out of my cheapskate budget.
Thanks for posting
These Zephyr coupes are just about the pinnacle of Art Deco styling (this side of France….can you say Delahaye?)
Actually, I think 1939 was the high water mark for the whole voluptuous automobile movement. Agree with me quickly, but contemplate before disputing.
Now….is this one so good as it sits so as to avoid the hyper-rodders? Or, do we need it to escape to Europe to live out it’s days with dignity?
I think that the only V12 coupe that I could ever fit in my budget would be a Jaguar.
There used to be one in a field full of antique cars in Modena New York. Wish I had the money then or now.
When you read the narrative, it discusses the Towe collection. The Towe family owned the Billings Ford Dealership, and they had a huge collection of Fords, mostly displayed at the Towe Automotive Museum in the Deer Lodge State Prison Museum. Old man Towe ran afoul of the IRS and they seized a large amount of the collection and auctioned it off. He had just about every year and model of Model T, amongst others. That would explain the Montana tag in the trunk in the Ebay photos.
I tried to correct this but, didn’t get to it in time. They had two museums, so this Lincoln must have gone to California, from Montana at one time. It was big news when the IRS seized the collection. Towe was a pretty big time banker as far as Montana goes.http://www.oldcarsweekly.com/news/hobby-news/famous-ford-collector-edward-towe-97-dies
Took 2 six volt batteries to get that guy going.
That’s a beauty! Nuff said.
My sentiments exactly.
Imagine that! A stick shifted Lincoln! Such a beautiful car, I love the flowing design, even though it is before my time! :-)
Damn… that is one beautiful car. Unfortunately, I don’t have the space or the bucks to buy it.
Around 1958 when I was 17 in Mobile, Al., a buddy & I responded to a newspaper ad for one of these. It was light beige and in a nicer part of town. It was in very nice condition and the older gentleman seller showed us the side golfbag door. I didn’t drive it but I think he wanted about $500. I had NO money. :-). Probably my first automotive art sighting.
The golfbag door was never available on the Lincoln Zephyr.
Then what did I look at? It sure had a golf bag side door and was a coupe.
Joe, I can’t answer your question about the golf bag door. The golf bag door
was gone by the time the Zephyr was introduced. Perhaps you were looking at an earlier Lincoln. Golf bag doors were also used in other makes including Cadillac, Rolls Royce, Packard, etc.
As for the V-12 engine. Consider that as a monoblock casting, with the valves and ports in the block, it would have been, at introduction in 1936, the most complicated automotive casting ever, including engines of today, all OHV or OHC which are much simpler.
How can you in one sentence say it isn’t all that powerful but produces a LOT OF TORQUE ?
Craig. That’s a good question, but it really arises from the loose interpretation of words used to describe the output of an engine. In the era this car was made, engine designers favored long strokes relative to the bores. And while it is true that a longer stroke implies a longer lever and therefore more torque, it is also true that valve sizes are dictated by that bore stroke ratio also. A smaller bore just doesn’t have room for large valves and ports, and so that also makes for higher torque values down on the RPM scale at the expense of high RPM horsepower. So they run out of breath at higher revs. And while horsepower and torque are related they are not the same. HP is a measure of work performed, and so the higher you rev an engine the more (up to a point) work you can perform. Torque on the other hand is a measure of twisting force. Think of a large and very rusted bolt you are trying to remove from an old car project. You can apply torque or force to that bolt all day long, but until it breaks loose no work has been performed. The old timers from this era of cars loved to brag about being able to leave the gearshift in high (direct) when the speed dropped down to 10 MPH or less, and then being able to motor smoothly away without the need for a downshift. That comes from high torque values at very low RPM.
HP is how hard you hit the wall, torque is how far you drag it with you.
Remember the 8 cylinder flathead in Buicks and Pontiacs in the late 40s and 50s? I had a 48 Chevrolet 6 cylinder and a friend had 50 Buick with a 8 cylinder flathead; we would race; I would beat him on the start and eventually he would overtake me due to the torque in his engine.
267ci/4.4L, 110 HP – but for me its:
Tq is King !
& I don’t have that figure…
Any 1?
As Jay Leno often says”Torque is what moves cars, Horsepower is what sells cars. Horsepower is a calculated number derived from torque,
And I’ll add another one to the mix, as the sticker on my windscreen says, “There ain’t no substitute for cubic inches”, and “Only milk and fruit juice comes in 2 litres”!
I’ve seen a couple of these and they are without a doubt beautiful, BUT, if you view one from the side they look like something isn’t quite right with the proportions, the trunk is longer than the hood by quite a bit, it looks like the roof section could come backwards more to balance it out and be more in the center of the car, or if the rear of the roof had a little less slope on it. Just my opinion but still a great car.
Beautiful car, but I thought I read somewhere that the V12 motor was a real oil burner or needed valve jobs with alarming frequency.
CJ, Buick engines were overhead valve not flat heads. In fact Buick engines in the thirties, forties and early fifties were all overhead valves. Pontiac on the other hand was a flat head straight eight through 1954.