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Continental vs. Porsche, 1955 battle over the name "Continental"
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1977 911S Targa 2.7L (CIS) Silver/Black 2012 Infiniti G37X Coupe (AWD) 3.7L Black on Black 1989 modified Scat II HP Hovercraft George, Architect |
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10-04-2005, 10:21 AM
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A Man of Wealth and Taste
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Ford never made a convertible Lincoln Mark ll.
And I know where a Porsche Continential Coupe is just sitting rusting away under a tree in LV...as well as a Ferrari 250 and a Porsche 72 911S.
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10-04-2005, 10:33 AM
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 Here is the link to the picture, mentions the car show on the north campus in Ann Arbor - missed because of the RSR Cider Run. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2097654  EDIT ..................................... Tabs, this is the link you have to see (more pictures). http://www.cardomain.com/ride/340096 History is on page two: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/340096/2 
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1977 911S Targa 2.7L (CIS) Silver/Black 2012 Infiniti G37X Coupe (AWD) 3.7L Black on Black 1989 modified Scat II HP Hovercraft George, Architect Last edited by kach22i; 10-04-2005 at 10:49 AM.. |
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10-04-2005, 10:44 AM
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Hi Tabs,
First of all, The 1956-57 Continental is not a Lincoln. Continental was a division of Ford created to make the Mark II and its successor products. Nowhere on the vehicle is the Lincoln name except on the washer bottle and on the Lincoln-Air AC unit in the trunk. Those two parts were common to the Lincoln and the Continental. Second, there were three convertibles made for Ford. The first two were made by Hess & Eisenhardt and the third made by Derham as a show car. Please visit my site for all the info. Continental Collection
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'56 Mark II convertible'51 Royal Spartanette'56 Chris Craft Continental '68 Lincoln Continental Limo '77 Town Car '55 356 Porsche Continental cabrio |
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10-04-2005, 10:54 AM
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A Man of Wealth and Taste
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YOur right they made proto-types ....but I am right too..the car was never in PRODUCTION. The car was way to expensive for it's time, Cadilliac ate it's lunch.....11K in 1955 was the price of a house...and that is why the car ultimately failed. It was heavy and about as manueveurable as a Bull Moose on ice...
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10-04-2005, 11:08 AM
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Did Lincoln make the Kennedy Limo? Does Cadillac make the current Presidential Limos? The same company that made the Kennedy Limo for Ford made my car. Hess & Eisenhardt had a long history making custom cars for Ford. If Ford paid to have cars altered by an outside source then they are still Ford products as opposed to someone having one made aftermarket. If you buy a Chrysler convertible with an ASC top, is it any less a Chrysler product? Do you take it to ASC for service, no, you take it to a Chrysler dealer. Sorry you're in a huff about this. 
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'56 Mark II convertible'51 Royal Spartanette'56 Chris Craft Continental '68 Lincoln Continental Limo '77 Town Car '55 356 Porsche Continental cabrio |
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10-04-2005, 11:24 AM
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A Man of Wealth and Taste
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Quote:
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Copyright "Some Observer" Last edited by tabs; 10-04-2005 at 11:40 AM.. |
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10-04-2005, 11:37 AM
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1977 911S Targa 2.7L (CIS) Silver/Black 2012 Infiniti G37X Coupe (AWD) 3.7L Black on Black 1989 modified Scat II HP Hovercraft George, Architect |
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10-04-2005, 11:40 AM
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A Man of Wealth and Taste
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OK.....Sorry....I like the Continentials....both the Mark 1 and Mark 2...My Dad always said he would like to have one of the Mark 2's. But like alot of other things he was just full of talk. He liked the money in his pocket better.
The Mark 2's look great even today....and like I said the Convertibel never made it into PRODUCTION....Ford was planning on doing it, but because sales were so slow they discontinued the whole car....and as far as modern classics go the Mark 2's have bin under priced...that might have changed since I last looked though...BUT WOW they look so GOOD even after 50 years....
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10-04-2005, 11:45 AM
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You are totally wrong about the Mark II's handling characteristics. I'm wondering if you've ever driven one. Internally, the Mark II was called a Sport Coupe. In fact, it had a radically new frame that made the car much more rigid than previous x-framed cars. The new "cowbelly" frame was Ford's first use a ladder frame. The '56 model frame was designed for a convertible body. When the convertible production stopped at 3, the third crossmember was removed for the '57 production year. BTW, the car was $10,000 and the last several hundred sold for $8,500. What you don't know is that the Mark II was really not a failure. In 1956 there was a recession that hit hard in the wealthy sector. There was new product in the pipeline. There was a four-door Berline model and a fully developed Mark II Retractable in the wings. The Retractable had a fully metal top. Continental spent $2.1 million developing the Retractable mechanism with Hess & Eisenhardt. When the Mark II convertible and Retractable programs were cancelled the top was spliced into Ford's production to create the Skyliner. Ford produced just under 50,000 units. Peel the metal off the skyliner top and you have the top mechanism used on the '61-69 suicide door Lincoln convertibles. The Continental Mark II was a modern day Deusenberg. The attention to detail and the quality of materials was unsurpassed in its day. It set the standard and Cadillac went chasing it. Failure? Hardly.
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'56 Mark II convertible'51 Royal Spartanette'56 Chris Craft Continental '68 Lincoln Continental Limo '77 Town Car '55 356 Porsche Continental cabrio |
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10-04-2005, 11:50 AM
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A Man of Wealth and Taste
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Cadilliac sold hugh numbers of cars vs the Mark 2....regardless of their quality...
The Mark 2 was supposed to be a throwback to the good old days of custom coachwork on Luxury cars of the 1930's... It did all those things wonderfully but was OVERPRICED for the market..thus a failure . After the novelity wore off sales plummeted and people for the price point bought Cadilliacs.. The orginal Continential concept was Edsel Fords....back in the late 30's....unfortunately he died in 1943 and young Henry the ll was brought in because the old man was crazy as a loon...and the government couldn't let Ford slide during the war...
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10-04-2005, 12:01 PM
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I don't think anything could quiet equal Duesenburg....or Cord....but certainily Packard of the 30's.....would be more like it...
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10-04-2005, 12:05 PM
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I'm curious if anyone has some real production numbers on the Stainless steel-roofed, suicide-doored Caddy. What model was that?
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'56 Mark II convertible'51 Royal Spartanette'56 Chris Craft Continental '68 Lincoln Continental Limo '77 Town Car '55 356 Porsche Continental cabrio |
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10-04-2005, 12:18 PM
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If memory serves me there were less than 500 Deusenbergs made. There were 3,013 Coupe Mark IIs and 3 Convertible Mark IIs made.
By your logic, Deusenberg was a failure. Are they still in business?
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'56 Mark II convertible'51 Royal Spartanette'56 Chris Craft Continental '68 Lincoln Continental Limo '77 Town Car '55 356 Porsche Continental cabrio |
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10-04-2005, 12:25 PM
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A Man of Wealth and Taste
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Duesenburg as a company FAILED...the cars live on as classics of a by gone era of excess...and so do the Mark 2's....only by the time of the Mark 2's that market was allready gone...at least for American cars...RR and Bentley survived on for a few more decades....by 1990 or so it was dead to....now it belongs to VW and BMW...if I only figure out who has what...
With 3000 + Mark II's made it was more in line with the custom Packards of the day then Dusenburgs...
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10-04-2005, 12:42 PM
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Nitpick much?
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'56 Mark II convertible'51 Royal Spartanette'56 Chris Craft Continental '68 Lincoln Continental Limo '77 Town Car '55 356 Porsche Continental cabrio |
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10-04-2005, 12:45 PM
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I can....
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10-04-2005, 12:54 PM
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Unoffended by naked girls
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Stick around! 
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10-04-2005, 12:58 PM
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Do you have anything worthwhile to contribute to the original question? It dealt with an historical question about Ford's interaction with Porsche over naming the '55 Coupe and Cabrio "Continentals". Feel free to stay on track.
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'56 Mark II convertible'51 Royal Spartanette'56 Chris Craft Continental '68 Lincoln Continental Limo '77 Town Car '55 356 Porsche Continental cabrio Last edited by barry2952; 10-04-2005 at 01:02 PM.. |
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10-04-2005, 12:58 PM
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My Grandfather went to work for Ford in 1916, at the Rouge...he was a Speciality Mould Maker...and as such worked on everything Ford did....he spent alot of time working on stuff for the Museum. He retired in 1959.
He once told Henry the II on the dias when recieving his 35 year watch..."That for 35 years service a man should get a car and not a watch." he also told the OLD man...'Your crazy" ......
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10-04-2005, 01:00 PM
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1977 Porsche 911S 2.7L
1969 Porsche 911 T 2.0 L
