The Lincoln Lawyer, with two seasons streaming on Netflix, follows the story of Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller, and is based on the series of Michael Connelly novels starting with The Lincoln Lawyer in 2005. In the novel (and the 2011 movie adaptation starring Matthew McConaughey), Haller famously works out of the back of a Lincoln Town Car instead of an office.
In the 2022 Netflix adaptation, the Town Car has been replaced with a fleet of three Lincolns, specifically the 1963 Continental convertible (with NTGUILTY black plates) that is shown in most of the promotional materials, along with a 2022 Navigator and a 2022 Aviator.
Michael Connelly’s inspiration for Mickey Haller was a real-life lawyer who had no office and worked out of the back of a Toyota. Connelly didn’t like the sound of The Toyota Lawyer, so he went with Lincoln instead because he liked the alliteration. Although he could have achieved the same effect with Lexus, I am glad he went with Lincoln, or else we wouldn’t have this gorgeous 1963 Continental Convertible as the hero car. There is something to be said for automotive heritage, which Lincoln has in spades.
My garage, circa 2015.
So who better to review a show about a lawyer with one classic Lincoln and two modern ones than someone who was in the exact same situation not too many years ago? Let’s just say I can relate.
The series opens with Haller (deftly plaid by Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, who gives Gabriel Macht’s Harvey Spector from Suits a run for his money as TV’s smoothest lawyer) as a down-on-his-luck attorney recovering from a surfing accident and pill addiction. Well, not that down on his luck – he still lives high in the Baldwin Hills of LA, and has the fleet of aforementioned Lincolns.
Haller’s luck soon changes as he suddenly inherits the practice (and in a departure from previous iterations, an actual office) from another defense attorney whose murder opens the first episode. His ex-wife tells him to “Take one of the Lincolns” to the courthouse to initiate the transfer. Which Lincoln will he choose?
The 1963 Continental convertible, of course! He made the correct choice.
Unlike many shows that feature vintage cars, Haller’s 1963 Continental appears to be refreshingly stock, sporting whitewall tires (albeit the of the incorrect-for-1963 wide stripe variety) and wheel covers (correct for 1963). I must commend the producers for resisting the urge to fit the donks or air suspension that seems to have afflicted so many Continentals of this vintage.
Windshield wipers are not needed.
The most obvious departure from stock that I can see is the missing wiper blades, with billet studs covering the wiper arm mounting posts. This is of course TV-magic LA, where it never rains and you never get stuck in traffic. Windshield wipers are surely as unnecessary as snow tires in such a fictional universe. The inside rearview mirror appears to be mounted lower than stock, but kudos to the production for leaving it installed at all – most TV productions remove the inside mirror to allow for better visibility of the actors while filming, realism be damned.
Mickey’s Continental is sporting factory A/C, just visible in the bottom of the frame.
The Continental’s interior appears to be blue leather (82), with leather of course being standard on convertible Continentals. The exterior color is tricker: Because of the aggressive color grading, it can appear to be Nocturne Blue (H), Bermuda Blue (E), or even Riviera Turquoise (D) depending on the scene and lighting. When looking at non-graded promo shots, it appears to be closest to Nocturne Blue, but it could just as likely be a respray in a custom color that is none of these. In any case, Haller’s Continental looks fantastic, with blue being my second favorite color (after black) for these fourth-generation Continentals.
Process trailer
Especially praiseworthy is the producers’ commitment to automotive accuracy in the driving scenes. Most TV and movie car driving scenes are shot using a process trailer, essentially a film set towed behind another vehicle so that the actors can focus on acting and not driving. Many of the Continental driving scenes are filmed with Garcia-Rulfo clearly piloting the car. While I’m sure a process trailer was still used (especially for the through-the-windshield shots), its use was very expertly blended in with actual driving shots.
There are no production misteps like driving while the car is in park or wheel covers flying off. You can tell by the way the steering wheel self-centers when let go by the driver after exiting a turn that the car is actually being driven in some shots and not towed. I wish every production had this level of commitment to accuracy when filming driving scenes.
Fair warning – while the 1963 Lincoln gets all the press, it only shows up every couple of episodes. Most of the automotive action takes place in the Navigator, which to be honest serves as a much better rolling office than the Continental.
No matter which Lincoln is on screen, the cinematography is gorgeous. LA has never looked better!
The Lincoln Lawyer has as much to do with Lincolns as Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance has to do with wrenching bikes. Yes, there is a small plot through-line about how the ‘63 Continental once belonged to Haller’s deceased father (who was also a defense attorney), but really the car is just a prop to propel the story, and maybe a hook to capture a few car enthusiast eyeballs (A crime to which I plead guilty as charged).
At the end of the day, The Lincoln Lawyer is a solid legal procedural wrapped up with a season-long murder mystery that has many unexpected twists and turns. Each season (two as of this writing) has fantastic production values, great acting, and a solid story that will keep you guessing until the very end.
Sounds interesting. Maybe I need to re-up my former Netflix subscription. Once I get myself weaned off of AcornTV and Apple TV, of course.
Thanks for the fine review, Tom. I’ve never seen it so am just going by the screenshots in the article. Has the entire gearshift lever of the ‘63 been painted matte black, along with the steering wheel, or is that a misleading photo? It seems, from a quick web search, that most ‘63s had a woodgrained gearshift knob, while the shaft was chromed. Some had color-keyed steering wheels, others were woodgrained, but the wheel on the show car also looks matte black?
It seems as if the gear shift lever and steering wheel were painted with a matte gray or black, perhaps to prevent bright reflections when shooting?
This show hadn’t crossed my radar although I’ve seen the McConaughey movie. And I just finished reading the original novel, which I had picked up at my new favorite chain book store, The Little Free Library which is on almost every block in my neighborhood. In the novel, Haller has actually stocked up on Town Cars and one minor plot element is based on which one he used on a certain day. He also mentions, in an unfavorable way, the aero styling of the newer Town Cars so I assume his are all first-gen. Or at least not the last gen.
Nice .
I’ve followed the Lincoln Lawyer books from th jump but never saw the movie nor the TV show .
Indeed Los Angeles is a pretty place .
I find it amusing that so few grasp Mr. Persig’s idea with Zen & The Art Of Motocycle Maintenance .
They can and should be intricately intertwined .
-Nate
Thanks for the inside info. I didn’t know about process trailers. I always noticed that old movies used the same 1939 interior for inside shots, even when the outside car was 50s. I just figured it was a prop in the studio, not a trailer.
Most old-timey movies (up until about the mid-1960s) used studio shots with rear-projected footage for driving scenes.
These were even less realistic than the process trailer, because the passengers are either sitting perfectly motionless in a moving car, or pretending to move around in no relation to what is actually happening in the rear projection.
The process trailer was actually a big improvement over the rear projection for filming realistic driving scenes.
Now then you mention it, that remind me of the end scene of Rex Kramer car scene in the movie Airplane.
The inside rearview mirror appears to be mounted lower than stock,
It is mounted in its stock location, which is a bit curiously low given its top mounting.
It does look kind of low to me.
It seems like we very rarely see these cars with their tops up these days, but I strongly suspect that the mirror needed to be mounted that low in order to afford a clear view out the back when the top is up. (The tops on these, incidentally, always look a bit ill-fitting to me.
The convertible’s rear window is rather large, and it’s low on the sedan, too, so that isn’t the problem. Perhaps the windshield header is too close to the driver’s head, so they needed to move the mirror forward, which also meant lower. They can’t have assumed only little ol’ ladies were going to buy them.
I spent a couple of years working in and around Downtown LA, and I frequently visit the area, so I’m very familiar with it. I’ve also been a fan of Michael Connelly, and have read all his books, and I’m also a fan of the Bosch series.
I’ve been watching the show and I enjoy all the Lincolns used in the series. The Navigator is the Lincoln model that is most commonly seen which mirrors reality. I got a lot of wheel time in my Dad’s ’63 sedan, and it was a very nice car to drive.
Seems the real-life lawyer never worked out of Toyota, and neither did he never have an office. Nice concept, though.
https://jerrygarrett.wordpress.com/2011/04/07/20-questions-for-the-real-lincoln-lawyer-david-ogden/
Great writeup, and a series worth watching and reading. Entertaining and relatable, also.
From the passenger interior pic of Haller, the Continental’s steering wheel looks angled dangerously low.
Did this model have the adjustable column?
In May of 2022 Netflix had a cool video commercial for the series in Times Square, the Continental looked awesome!
I appreciate the details listed. In particular the one addressing the gearshift in the park position!
That’s the one thing that drives me nuts other than seeing a [ie] 67 ford barreling at you and after it passes they show the rear of a 65 ford!
Have some respect for your audience!
I put the show on as background noise — it’s okay, but it’s basically just a refresh of creator David E. Kelley’s The Practice from years ago — and keep being jarred by how many of their regular exterior shooting locations are within a 2-mile radius of where I live.