When I ran across this Lincoln styling clay at glen.h’s collection, I was a bit taken aback. It’s dated 12-04-59, which is only some nine months or so from the production 1961 Lincoln Continental’s premiere. So how does this fit in? It doesn’t, in terms of the 1961, in the way the story has been told so often.
It was in or about July 1958 that Robert McNamara saw Elwood Engel’s rejected 1961 Thunderbird proposal (above), and was smitten by it. Engel’s design was given the nod to be adapted for the 1961 Continental, and although it had to be lengthened for the rear doors, as well as dropping the Ford round taillights and such, the basic body shape was obviously kept quite intact.
It probably isn’t necessary to show the iconic ’61 one more time, but its here as a point of reference to the obviously quite different design shown at the top.
Here’s the rear view, and the date. This design has a number of aspects that actually look further to the future, like the loop front bumper looking all the world like an early seventies Plymouth. And the view from the front to the rear, especially with the covered rear wheels, predicts the 1970 Lincoln. And it has opera windows, which also predict even later Lincoln Town Cars. So the only assumption I can make is that this was for a Lincoln design to replace the 1961, given its date. The 1964 Lincoln Continental? Seems kind of early to have such an detailed clay already in place.
I understand this scan is from an old Collectible Automobile magazine. Anybody have it, and an explanation that goes along with it?
Looks like a mock up for a 4 door Batmobile. (And yes I know the Batmobile was Lincoln based.)
It looks like many of the ideas on this car rattled around inside of Engle’s head until he took over styling at Chrysler. This car is very predictive of some of the 1965-68 C body Chrysler designs. The slab sides (that look slightly concave) look very much like the production version of the 67-68 Chrysler and Imperial. The bladed rear fenders are very 67-68 Imperial.
It looks like the front of the 72 Plymouth Fury was the last beneficiary of this 1959 study. Some ideas have quite a long shelf life, it appears.
My initial thought was 1961 Lincoln crossed with a 1970 Dodge Coronet, but I agree it does look closer to the 72 Fury front end.
Now that I’ve looked at the front a bit longer, I’m starting to see the back-end of a 1958-60 T-bird with headlights instead of taillights.
The back of this concept reminds me of the back of a 1967 Chrysler 300, if you remove the extended blades from beside the taillights.
What is amazing is that with all the ideas bouncing around about how the car should look, the final result is the most beautiful not to mention the design that affected car styling for such a long time. Sometimes the stars do align at the right moment.
From what I recall from the Collectible Automobile article, this was a proposal for continuing the Mark III/IV/V series cars from 58-59-60.
I think that or a ’63 or ’64 proposal seems the most likely. December 1959 would probably have been too late for this to be a 1961 alternative. Given the ongoing debate and confusion about what Lincoln ought to look like, it wouldn’t be surprising if they were considering some very different themes for the nose. The front clip does make it look more Thunderbird-like, certainly.
The landau top on the first image is interesting, since it really suggests the same sort of vinyl-and-landau irons theme later used on the Thunderbird.
It was not an alternative, it was in addition too, remember Ford broke Lincoln and Continental into 2 divisions there for a while, I have the magazine somehwere, and I remember this picture and it was labeled at as a Mark.
Ahh, that would make sense, as well, although from the timing, I’d still wonder if it was for mid-year or ’62.
Elwood Engel. Not Robert.
I see it as a preview of the 68 Buick Electra.
Never got the love for the 61. It was so awkward-looking.
The 1961 styling didn’t quite gel perfectly until 1964. The flat side glass (curved again in ’66, but less aggressively than that of ’61-63) and lower front window did wonders to smooth out the proportions of the greenhouse, as did the 3″ added at the rear doors and the subtle reworking of the C-pillar to carry near parallel angles (rather than the rear windscreen be steeper than the side window line).
On another note, I don’t see a length difference between the final ’61 design and the rejected ’61 two-door T-Bird prototype – at best, it appears as if the B-pillar was repositioned, and the rear axle moved a few inches back to accommodate the rear-hinged doors.
Granted, as the rear-hinged doors were designed for ease of access and no other reason, I suspect early prototype designs for the ’61 Lincoln may have had the rear axle as far forward as on that T-Bird prototype. Conventional rear doors cutting into the wheel arch line has been done for many years – and I’m sure that there would have been enough room to design the rear seats around either axle position – but the T-Bird wheelbase would have made the positioning of the lower hinge an impossibility.
At any rate, a welcome change. The overhang on the ’61 T-Bird proposal looks as ridiculous as the overhang that befell the 1974-79 models (sure, the late-’70’s models pulled off the look better than any other car of the era, but I have a personal disdain for the Tinkertoy build quality of the later Continentals, having had the misfortune of owning two).
-Kurt
I’m looking for info/pics of a concept car by Bill Mitchell from the 1959 GM Motorama. It later became the inspiration for the 1963 B.Riviera. I am wondering if this is that car.
DO YOU KNOW?
Any info is appreciated!
Thanks!
Bill