One of the most celebrated American cars ever produced was designed in 35 minutes Here’s the story of the 1939 Lincoln-Zephyr Continental.
If you’re interested in a deeper dive into the design and creation of the Lincoln Continental prototype, MCG enthusiastically recommends the book Edsel Ford & E.T. Gregorie by Henry Dominguez, SAE 1999, which we relied upon extensively for this article, including the first-hand accounts.
Accodring to its creator, E.T. “Bob” Gregorie, the Continental was designed in around half an hour. Starting with a one-tenth scale drawing of a Lincoln-Zephyr sedan, the Ford styling chief laid a sheet of sheer vellum over it and quickly traced out the new car’s lines, lower and sleeker. When he showed the sketch to Edsel Ford later that afternoon, his patron and boss said, “That’s it! Don’t change a line on it! How fast can you have one built?”
The first prototype was built in the body engineering shop at the Warren Avenue Lincoln plant, miles away from the Ford styling department in Dearborn. A production Zephyr was cut apart so its hood could be lowered several inches and lengthened around a foot. The front fenders were lengthened a similar amount and the windshield and cabin were moved to the rear on the stock Zephyr chassis. Since Edsel was keen on taking the car on his Florida vacation that winter, it was a hurry-up job. Lead was used extensively in the bodywork. It’s said the prototype weighed nearly 5,000 lbs, around 1,400 lbs more than a production Zephyr.
By February 23, 1939, the prototype was ready for review. The Lincoln-Zephyr special convertible coupe, as Gregorie then called it, was parked outdoors on the east side of the Warren Avenue plant so Ford photographer George Ebling could capture this familiar set of pictures. Across the railroad in the background is the Rinshed-Mason automotive paint factory. Both the Lincoln and R-M plants are now long gone.
Edsel was pleased when the prototype was a sensation with his friends in Florida society—he said he could have taken 200 orders on the spot. The Continental was an affirmation of his exceptional taste, but more importantly for him, it could provide his Lincoln division with a much-needed new model now that the obsolete Model K was selling in mere handfuls. The Continental entered production in 1940 and continued for eight years.
All three of Edsel’s sons—Henry, Benson, and Bill—drove the first Continental on the 1939 Florida vacation. Bill would later say that with all that added lead in the bodywork, the prototype would barely stop. Hastily fabricated, and probably crudely, it’s fair to guess, the original prototype was eventually destroyed. But a second 1939 prototype, built for engineering development, still survives today in the collection of the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House.
A Continental signature feature, the exposed spare tire (below), was actually an afterthought. As the hand-built prototype neared completion, Gregorie discovered that the abbreviated trunk could not accommodate a spare tire. (A full-szed clay was created, but after the prototype.) With no time to redesign and modify the bodywork, Gregorie consulted with Edsel and together they decided to hang the spare tire outside in the traditional bygone style. The famed Continental spare, imitated and emulated by Lincoln and others for decades, was an accident.
What’s the story on the ghastly newer front fascia that came on post-WWII models? it’s inconceivably uglier than the original, to me.
I believe it was the changing of the times. The 41 Ford was the first to have both the vertical and horizontal grille, Lincoln followed with the design in 42. The cars were getting lower and wider, so the horizontal grille was the next step in styling. Using both instead of the one allowed a transition to get the public used to the horizontal grille. The 42 Ford used the horizontal grille, but of course the war delayed the total changeover across the line, so Lincoln waited until the new 49 model design to debut it’s fully horizontal grille. Lincoln styling was actually all new in 42, when production resumed in late 45 for the 46 models, the only major change was the grille went from a slat style to an egg crate design, supposedly because Cadillac was outselling Lincoln with it’s own egg crate grille.
I’m sure you’re right – and those years were not ones for anything “retro” – but it’s really a shame that the ’40 Continental couldn’t have continued in the sense of a “classic”
Gregorie actually liked the second-gen Lincoln Zephyr/Continental better than the first. Hard to fathom.
I have a 1947 second gen Zephyr, Lincoln had dropped the name but since it was basically the same car as the 42, the public still referred to it as a Zephyr. The grille on the prewar , not counting 1942, cars was a thing of beauty with its smooth water fall effect. I bought mine off a Craigslist ad that only had pics of the side and rear, when I had the seller send me a pic of the grille I was in shock! It takes some getting used to, for sure. I improved the looks of mine by ditching the bumper guards and end wings, but its still a mouthfull!
The horizontal 1949 grill sagged at the ends making the Lincoln look like it was frowning, thus unappealing. My 1951 (baby) Lincoln had the straight grill and was very stylish. As Mark Sandstrom alluded to, the ’40 & ’41 Lincoln and ’39 & ’40 Ford and Mercury grills are the best of the lot.
Such a beautiful automobile! Is that famous spare tire a whitewall on both sides, or did the photographer spin the spare around depending on camera angle? I wonder.
Grant,
Many American luxury makes and models featured cars with whitewalls on both sides of the tire, but after WW2, no manufacturer offered them as factory equipment. If you look at Factory photos of makes like Lincoln, Packard, Pierce Arrow, Cadillac, and Duesenberg, you will often see whitewalls on the second sides.
Some say it was meant to reflect that the car’s owner was financially able to employ a driver who was also tasked with keeping the sidewalls bright white. There are a couple of vintage tire makers today who sell the double sided whitewalls in the larger sizes typically used in luxury cars.
The ’40 and ’41 Continentals are among my favorite cars; I’ve never driven one, but I love the way they look. I hope that one day I’ll be able to add one to my collection.
The book you mentioned, Edsel Ford & E.T. Gregorie, by Henry Dominguez provides an outstanding account of how the first Lincoln Zephyr Continental came about. I’m very fortunate to have both a ’39 Lincoln Zephyr Convertible Club Coupe and a ’40 Lincoln Zephyr Continental Cabriolet, both outstanding automobiles. I’m a bit bias but I think the ’39 & ’40 are the best looking of all Lincoln Zephyrs and Continentals from ’36 to ’48. I also had a ’49 Lincoln Cosmopolitan Convertible, the last car designed by E.T. Gregory for Ford Motor Company.