1961 Lincoln Continental

[THarrison351]

I tried to post this yesterday, but I kept getting a 404 error after the website was unavailable for about 45 minutes. Turns out there was something in my text that was creating the error, because I still couldn't post today. After eliminating one sentence at a time here it all is. I'll be posting the T-bird as soon as I'm through writing it.

So many things tied to this classic automobile. Surprisingly, it has a stretched 1961 Ford Thunderbird chassis. It also has the next to the last of the Mercury Edsel Lincoln (MEL) big block engine in a whopping 430 cubic inches. Not a lot of horsepower at 315, but gobs of torque at 475. Painted in Presidential Black with a crisp white convertible top, this car is simple elegance and Holly Golightly grace. The coolest thing about the Continental is the rear suicide doors and second coolest is it's a convertible. When's the last time you saw a convertible 4 door? This diecast from Franklin mint was released in 1996. It is sort of a nice transition piece from the old way FM was making diecast to a step up with more detail. There are more photo etched items such as the grille, hood ornament, and wipers. The under hood area has ignition wires, AC hoses and battery cables. There are still doglegs on the doors, but they're well integrated. Speaking of the interior, no instrument stickers! As you'll see on an upcoming post of an older FM car, the stickered dash gauges are just sad looking. The trunk is fully carpeted and has a hubcapped full spare. About the only thing that truly bothers me is there are holes in the rear deck when the top is off. Supposedly only 1000 of the black and white ones were made. Seems like a lot of them are for sale to be so few. These can be all over the place price wise, but I feel I got a bargain when I purchased this one.  There was no damage in the pictures, unfortunately, the hood was not secured prior to packing in the foam shell. Because it opens backwards, the hood ornament was flattened after shipping. I was able to bend it back in place, but it will never be the same, and it will take little to damage it again. The only other need was a good polishing. On with the photos.

Tomorrow I post Danbury Mint's 1961 Ford Thunderbird Indy Pace Car, which I managed to get two in less than six months. So one is going on eBay.

Edited January 30, 2020 by THarrison351

[cobraman]

That looks very nice.

[Gramps46]

Very nice Lincoln.  Thanks for sharing it with us.

[randyc]

I have this one.  No top, no box, was missing the drivers side rear trim spear.  I grabbed a spear, but didn't realize it had the antenna on it as well.  While I was fabbing, made the chrome fender trim as well.  Easy mod that made nice difference

Your correct about pricing being everywhere and then being pretty common considering there are only supposed to be 1000 of them.  

[THarrison351]

Yeah, I guess almost all of them must be getting sold and resold on eBay. lol

[randyc]

 I'll be keeping mine a while.  

[THarrison351]

This is my third Lincoln from Franklin Mint. The first one was a damaged FM 1941 burgundy Continental that I repaired and it soon took a dive off of one of my shelves and had to be repaired again. My second was the black 1956 Lincoln that was missing a hood ornament, some chrome and the antenna was loose and was filthy overall inside and out. A replacement hood ornament, repairs, and a thorough cleaning and polishing and it was as good as new. The one I'd like to have is one of those resin Lincoln Mk IIIs that go for a small fortune.