This 1956 Continental Mark II truly represents the highest echelon of American luxury when we were also at the pinnacle of road-owning style. When you can find one that is so clean, bright, sleek, and loaded - including air conditioning - you start to understand just how opulent a vintage car can be when it was first sold to a money-no-object crowd.
We often call this a Lincoln Continental, but the reality is that the Continental sat well above Lincoln in the hierarchy. The Ford Motor Company planned this as a small batch car, just like they do today with the hand-crafted Ford GT. So it's a true American exotic, but where we are looking for supercar power today, the moguls of 1950s America often wanted exclusive beauty. You see it in a design with exceptionally clean sheet metal that could rival the best of the pre-war French designs. This is balanced with mammoth chrome bumpers so well integrated into the design that you barely notice the exhaust under the tail lights. The color also fits into the standard of elegance. The red is a later application with a deeper tone. So you have a terrific mix of shine and sophistication. In fact, there is a little bit of a kismet understanding with this car. It's a rich red, rolling on whitewalls and meant only for blue-bloods. So it's a patriotic way to represent one of the most opulently crafted coupes ever. It all has the right mix where you can both show and drive, and that's a theme you can feel throughout this car.