This first-year 1956 Lincoln Premiere was bucking hard to be saved, but not by me, not today. It has maybe a couple of weeks left before it shuffles off this mortal coil, so it’s time for its last fifteen minutes and couple of dozen photos to give it more attention than it’s had in many years. Finished in Starmist White over Desert Buff paint, this particular car rolled off the line on January 30, 1956 in Wayne, Michigan, the same day that Martin Luther King’s home was bombed and Elvis Presley recorded his cover of Carl Perkins’ Blue Suede Shoes. For a Monday, it was a busy day, and quite some time ago now.
Powered by the 368c.i. (6.0l) Lincoln Y-Block V8 this one sports the trunk mounted factory air conditioning system and has been dismantled far enough to let us get a pretty good look at how that’s installed as well as the in-cabin air distribution system with its clear rear tubes channeling air toward ceiling ducts. I’ll step aside while I quietly take a Schvitz in the 108-degree heat today wishing I could turn the AC on and let you ponder how you might want to rescue this 223 inch long behemoth (13″ longer than a current Lincoln Navigator) one piece at a time as they won’t sell it whole.
Related reading:
CC For Sale: 1956 Lincoln Premiere Coupe, by Stephen Pellegrino
Cold Comfort: 1956 Lincoln Premiere Factory Air Conditioning, by Tom Halter
Cold Comfort: History of Automotive Air Conditioning Part 3, by Tom Halter
An interesting behind-the-scenes look at these cars that you seldom get unless you happen to be doing a full restoration of one.
There’s a lot going on under the hood, behind the dashboard, and under the trunk. These cars are difficult to restore – not surprised that the previous owner gave up after taking everything apart.
There are so many things I never understood about the 1956 (and 1957) Lincoln. Why did they feel the need for that odd chrome panel in the quarter window behind the rear doors? Why could they not have continued updating this body through 1960?
Living where I do, I have come across so many cars that are clean and well-kept, and only marred by extensive body rust. I have always harbored a vision of starting with one of these rust-free examples, then moving all of the good pieces, one by one, from the nice rusty car to the non-rusty one. But I have reached the age where thinking about it is as far as I am likely to get.
After three years of Lincolns that had excellent road reputations, but were completely blown away sitting in the driveway by any Cadillac, and mistaken for a Mercury (what was Ford thinking?), this was the beginning of Ford getting serious to take Cadillac on again. Always felt it was a very good effort, but Cadillac . . . . . . well, was Cadillac. And for that matter, even Packard was still in the running in their last two years in Detroit, and for ’56 had a more impressive looking car.
’57 was an attempt to make it flashier, Which they did, but lost a lot of design cohesiveness, and definitely didn’t come off well against the ’57 Cadillac (which I’ve usually considered the prettiest Cadillac of the Fifties, and the last bit of restraint before they lost it completely). Heck, Imperial looked better than Lincoln that year. At least they outdid Packard.
Above all, it wasn’t enough. Cadillac was still out-Cadillac-ing them big time.
’58 was the scream of frustration, “You want more Cadillac, we’ll bloody show you more Cadillac!” While I liked the ’58-60’s, I always felt this was Ford Design’s equivalent of Wylie Coyote strapping the big Acme fireworks rocket to his back and lighting the fuse.
And Cadillac went “beep beep.”
The one Fifties wannabe I always wished I could have seen make metal was Nance’s Hail Mary idea of using the ’56 Lincoln body for the ’57 Packard. That had the potential to be really nice: An already attractive body topped off with properly done Packard front and rear clips. It would have been the car the Ford intended for ’56, having a long term, recognizable, style. Just like Cadillac.
Guess someone only needed the “N” in Lincoln!
CC Effect: I saw a Lincoln of about this color, and condition, a few days ago sitting in a field. I think it was a ‘55 though. Its fieldmates were a Renault R8 and an R10.
The largest DIY yard in town recently created a row of cars just like this. I call them the pity cars. I’m guessing the yard’s buyers bought them out of pity, paying slightly over scrap value, because the sellers had no better offers.
As JP pointed out, the Venn diagram of folks who care about cars like this and folks who have the time and energy and money to restore cars like this is starting to have less and less overlap.
Iconic cars, say a ’56 Bel Air or a ’56 Beetle, will have people interested for maybe a couple decades to come, but less iconic cars like this are coming to this end.
Into the 1960s, I only rarely saw one of these curbside, but with their “Lincoln Futura” show-car heritage, they’ve always delighted me.
There’s lots of useful parts here for someone else’s fixup, but I figure this one’s a goner. I’ll look at a catalog illustration to cheer me up:
If that is the evaporator in the trunk, I can say that it is twice the size as my home central air conditioner.
In it’s day, this was one elegant car! It’s got early air conditioning with the huge clear air tubes on the back package shelf. Shame it has to go the way of the buzzard. But soon it will return as a new car presumably. Hopefully we’re not still shipping most of our scrap metal to the Asian country’s. We need to repurpose it here.
Some of the photos appear almost ghost-like, fitting for a car that is gradually fading away in front of our eyes. Beautiful shots.
I’ve never really been a fan of mid-50’s Lincolns though. They didn’t seem to have the clear identity and design self-confidence of contemporary Cadillacs, essential qualities in a luxury car marque. Instead they often seemed to me an unconvincing combination of mid-range Mercury (front end and profile) and exaggerated pseudo-Cadillac (rear end).
The squashed script used for the Lincoln name also always puzzled me – couldn’t they have found someone with better handwriting? 🙂
A refreshingly clean design, for that era. C pillar stylized ‘L’ and knight, reminiscent of the Las Vegas Knights hockey team.
The ’56 Lincoln knight’s head strikes me as odd because I’ve never noticed another stylized knight’s head that includes the shoulders. Most (like the Las Vegas Knights logo you show) just include the knight’s helmet. I guess the shoulders made more sense when mounted as a hood ornament, but on it’s own, it’s a curious styling touch on this car.
Note, the knight’s helmet, is shaped like a upward facing rocket. And the two shoulders of the knight, look like smaller rockets on wingtips. I get a sense, this design element was perhaps inspired, by the similar Olds rocket design.
Taking Jim’s picture of the C-pillar knight here, rotating it, and changing the color – it resembles the overhead view of an airplane. I’m not sure if that was intentional though.
I would suggest, it was absolutely designed with that duel intent.
As the stylized Lincoln letter ‘L’, appears to have possibly inspired the original AMC Javelin logo, letter ‘J’.
Good observation! Yeah, I love these old 1960s and early 1970s name scripts. I have only one though, from a Pontiac Safari station wagon.
Unfortunately, they didn’t produce any without the B-pillar, during when GM was producing 4-door hardtops. If they have had, they at least would have had a chance of closing in on Packard sales numbers
Wow, tough month for old Lincolns…I just spotted this one a few weeks back. Looks like another restoration project gone bad, plus nobody was to dump serious money into a four door.
Having only that little surface rust, one could use a rust-rotten example for an organ donor, completing this and the Author’s feaured Lincoln.
A complete restoration isn’t absolutely necessary. These vehicles need to urgently find a home, before even more parts are removed. Even an overdone restomod would be better than to doom these to the abominable crucible of molten metals
Interior shot (or lack of)
Front right
Front left
One wonders how it ended up in a regular boneyard surrounded by 90s castoffs. Sad end to a once prestigious car. Was it bought as a restoration project but the owner lost interest, or went bankrupt, or died before it could be tackled? Was it bought by a car hoarder who stuck it with a row of other classics, where it sat deteriorating for years until he, or his family posthumously, liquidated the hoard? Was it used as a daily driver for many years until it conked out, sat for a long time, then eventually sent to the junkyard where it has been picked over for lots of small parts?
Anyway, it’s a darn shame it’s in this yard. It would be much more appropriate for a classic car boneyard. There surely is, or will be in the future, somebody with a 57 Lincoln that needs some parts that are on this car. Especially if it’s an AC car. This Premiere is still chock full of body panels and parts that aren’t reproduced and would be really hard to find if one needed them.
Quite the car back in the day….sadly it’s next stop is likely the crusher….
What a shame, huh? Well, here’s one still out being enjoyed as a pick-me-up.
If either of these cars (either the featured car or the one posted by Dean Edwards) were Cadillacs, they probably would have been restored (despite being four door models).
56-57 Lincolns just don’t have the same cachet (and desirability) that contemporary Cadillacs do.
I can’t imagine anyone restoring a ’56 Cadillac 4-door in this condition. You can buy one for a fraction of what it would cost to restore something in this condition. It would have to be a very rare car for someone to take something on like this.
In 1948 Cadillac set a design theme that lasted up to 1956 with only mild updating. It established the “Cadillac look” that became familiar to most Americans. Flashier than the Lincolns, it projected a brash attitude for the nouveau riche, as many Americans were benefitting from the post War economy.
I’ll admit that this Lincoln design was cleaner than the Cadillac, but it was just too nondescript. The ’56 Cadillac stood out and attracted attention. I had a ’56 Cadillac SdV, white over turquoise, and it was the quintessential ’50’s Dreamboat!
To my eyes, the 1956 Lincoln has the nicest styling of any Lincoln between model years 1949-60. I agree though with the others that this one is too far gone to find a serious buyer other than for parts.
I love the end of your first paragraph where you describe Jan 30, 1956. Great connections.
I also like how the photo series builds in a way that starts out making me feel that it’s nuts that this car isn’t going to be saved…but then about 1/2 way through when I see that the dash is in the trunk (and not looking very healthy at that), I know that there’s no way that this car could be restored. And once you get to the interior, it’s totally all over.
Excellent post.
Some junker got $125 for the car from U Pull and Pay, he could have got more like $800 if he’d attempted to sell it. Now it will be crushed
I really like these and 1957 Lincolns… as well as 1952-54. And I’ve always had a weirdon for 1958-60’s. Actually, I think I’d probably gravitate toward any 1949-60 Lincoln before I would a Cadillac, and that’s not because I don’t like the Cads. I think I’m just burned out on the Cadillacs- The slightly drowsy countenance their headlamp eyebrows lend (ditto 1955-56 Chevy) isn’t making my mojo rise right now.
I’ve never seen a ’56 Premiere in white… there were so many pretty colors available! The detailing on these is what does it for me. I forgot that the C-pillar on four doors had that extra little window fitted. I have been far enough into the A/C on another car with the clear tubes in back, and remember the foil insulation on the underside of the roof, as well as those squashed paperboard tubes that funneled the cool air to the four roof mounted discharge vents. With the way that cold air sinks in a warmer area, this seems like it would be just about the ideal location to deliver it.
Yeah, Lincoln took a different path from the longer, wider craze in Detroit then. I really like the 1952-1955 models. Especially the two door hardtops and convertibles. Very nice looking cars. I read they were targeting the Oldsmobile 98 back then. But I also like the 1956-1957 and especially the 1957 models. Beautiful cars in light blue and in pink on the convertibles and two door hardtops.
Be careful with the AC only needs to be recharged ” comments. There’s a reason why the gas leaked out in the first place. After you replace every O ring, check every connection to the condenser, compressor, and dryer, making sure all the above mentioned components can hold the pressure, than, ” it only needs a recharge.”
_SWEET_ .
And in good overall shape too, sad that no one else has a rusty parts car as this is well worth the effort and $ .
-Nate
My parents had 56 Lincoln Premire 4 door sedan in Pink with a White roof. It had factory AC so it likely was optioned very much like the one in this story. I don’t remember how many miles were put on it, but it took my parents and my sister and I on yearly summer vacations from Houston, Texas to as far away as Washington state, Maine, Canadian provinces, and every state in between. In 1961, it was replaced by a 61 Lincoln Continental 4 door sedan with the unique suicide rear doors. The 56 was still in such good shape that instead of trading the 56 in on the 61, Dad, who was a farmer, saved the 56 for his ‘farm vehicle’,, and traded his newer 58 Ford station wagon, in on the new 61. He was the only farmer around, driving a Lincoln on his farm, for sure.
I think the 56 Lincolns have very nice lines.They kinda look like a Disney character. They could have fit into Alice in Wonderland. I question some of the wild colors that were offered. Some just didn’t belong on a luxury car. Take a look at the black one featured in this article. It looks like a completely different car.It looks elegant and beautiful I love the hooded headlights and shape of the taillights. I’ve always thought the Lincoln designers should have used the 56 model year as a basis for future Lincolns for years to follow. I hate seeing classic cars end up in salvage yards.I do understand the salvage yard is the natural progression that cars have. To make my point, I live in the San Fernando Valley California when I spent all my time playing with cars. Fords, Mercurys, and Lincolns are my favorite cars.All our salvage yards are located in Sun Valley at the eastern side of the San Fernando Valley. I loved going to the yards on weekends. I noticed right away there were never any Mark Vlls in any of the yards.There were very few Town Cars from the 70s, and never any Lincoln Continentals from the 60s. I always thought it was because they were still active in the market. The 56s have always been one of my all time favorites.
Demolition derbies and the spectators who funded them did their share of desecrating our automotive heritage. Those Lincolns in the yards pictured probably escaped such attrocities, perhaps thanks to later unibodied Lincolns and Chryslers being preferred for this
Where is this car located? I need parts from it, believe it or not
Tucson, AZ at the Pull-A-Part. https://www.pullapart.com/locations/arizona/tucson/
This car was getting very close to the point where it’ll be leaving its spot in the yard when I saw it last week. I believe it is mis-listed as a green (no idea why) 1956 Lincoln Continental in their online inventory guide, there is definitely not a green ’56 Continental in that yard…
Good luck! And I’m curious as to which parts you need if you’d be willing to let us know?
Those air ducts and the control levers on the dash
My elderly uncle passed away and left us one of these. The body is in great condition, and the motor turns over but that’s about it. It’s a beautiful car. We can’t keep it, unfortunately. Do you have any idea what it could possibly sell for? It’s got the original paint, and very low miles.
Pretty car. There are numerous auction sites (Hemmings, Bring A Trailer) that would be happy to list your car for a nominal fee.
Kathy ;
Mentioning the nearest city has a big effect on the price .
Bring A Trailer https://bringatrailer.com/ is prolly your best bet, not actual vintage car enthusiasts there but lots of extremely rich people with little common sense or knowledge .
You’ll need to have the car extremely well photographed in meticulous detail including the under carriage and close ups of _any_ rust bubbles / dents / etc. .
They take a hefty bite out of the final sales price so be ready for that .
-Nate
To assure that it finds a loving home, I’d get in touch with the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn Michigan. I’m sure that they keep a list of buyer requests with not that tight wallets.
If I didn’t permanently reside overseas, I’d be interested in reacting my youth, through making you an offer. Over here in Germany, there’s nowhere to safely store it anywhere near my vicinity and driving it here around these reckless cellphoners would put it at too great a risk. Not to mention, extortionate import duties, excise taxation and fullfilling federal lighting-conversion requirements.
I could, of course, park it on my sister’s driveway. But, sitting out there in Michigan winters and humid summers won’t do it any good
The edit feature isn’t there, today. I meant, “re-enacting my youth”. Not “reacting”