Vehicle Description
1956 Lincoln Mark II. Ford Motor Company introduced the Continental
in 1956 as its newest division, bringing back the concept of the
Lincoln Continental which the company dropped at the end of the
1948 model year. This car was sold in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to a horse
farm in Keswick, Iowa, the only one sold from that dealership
during the two year production of this top-of-the-line exclusive
personal luxury line. Daryl Hemken found the car in Des Moines and
purchased it from a Lincoln dealer in 1964. In 1965 the Continental
was driven to Michigan from Williams, Iowa with four little boys in
the back and from 1970-1971 it was driven by Ann Hemken as her
personal car to and from Kamrar, Iowa where she was a teacher. The
car was repainted but otherwise is completely original and runs and
drives as it was delivered from the factory. The Continental Mark
II was the most expensive American-produced car at the time and was
marketed to compete with the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud. It came only
as a two-door hardtop coupe using standard Lincoln drivetrain
components with the remainder of the car hand assembled which
probably led to its demise in 1957. The Continental Mark II had an
extensive list of standard equipment. Equipped with power steering,
power brakes, power windows, power seats, power vent windows, and
full instrumentation, including a tachometer and a low-level fuel
warning. The Mark II was offered with nineteen standard exterior
colors and 43 interior design schemes with five interior fabrics.
The factory price for the car was $9695 which is equivalent to
$96,200 in today's dollars. The interior featured Bridge of Weir
vat dyed leather from the Scottish village which was well known for
its exceptional quality and used in the world's most exclusive
automobiles. The car used Lincolns 3'68ci Y-block V-8 and the
company's 3-speed Turbo-Drive automatic. But those engines weren't
just taken from the Lincoln factory production line, but were
chosen, disassembled, factory-blueprinted and reassembled following
a rigorous quality control and performance inspection. Even the
car's vaned wheel covers weren't just regular production items,
each one having individually fastened vanes. A total of 2500
Continental Mark II's were built.