A Look Back at Lincoln's Rich History of Great Coach-Built Cars

During the rollout of the 2020 Lincoln Continental Coach Door Edition Coach Door Edition, the press has fallen all over itself comparing the car to the midcentury modern JFK "suicide-door" fourth-gen Continentals. But 334,345 of those cars were mass-produced by Lincoln in Wixom, Michigan. No, the modern Continental Coach Door Edition deserves to be compared with classic Lincolns dating back to the earliest days of the brand. Did you know in that era Lincoln offered more custom bodies in its catalog than any other American manufacturer?

Ugly cars designed by Henry Leland's milliner brother-in-law, Angus Woodbridge, were killing his nascent brand. (Ladies hats are very different from cars; who knew?) So as soon as Henry Ford bought Lincoln and ousted the Lelands, his design-oriented son, Edsel, took charge and set about enlisting the top U.S. custom coachbuilders to design bodywork for the technically brilliant Model L chassis. Eventually Lincoln worked with nearly all the big names: Brunn, Derham, Dietrich, Holbrook, Judkins, LeBaron, Locke, and Willoughby. Advertising in the mid-1920s noted: "Every Lincoln body style is the creation of a master designer." Sales surged.

To bask in this history a bit, I pointed our 2020 Lincoln Continental Coach Door Edition west toward the fabulous Gilmore Car Museum near Kalamazoo, Michigan, which is home to the Lincoln Motor Car Heritage Museum. Built to resemble a 1920s Detroit dealership, it features a seated bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln, the first president young Henry Leland voted for.

On the day of my visit, there were several coach-door Lincolns on display, the oldest being a 1923 Type 123A Phaeton by Brunn & Company of Buffalo, New York—a former carriage builder. Its rear-hinged rear door is separated from the front door by a wide B-pillar.

The car features a large "California Top" that could be removed (by several people) when the owner felt like catching rays. Noted Lincoln collector/benefactor Jack Passey Jr. bought this one in about this condition in 1949 to drive to college after restoring the mechanical bits.

The only other custom coach-door Lincoln on display was a 1940 Lincoln-Zephyr Town Car, also by Brunn. The custom-coachwork era was mostly concluded by the time Lincoln discontinued production of the Model K in 1939, but 14 of these Zephyr-based formal-roof Town Cars were ordered by Edsel Ford's office.

This Ascot Maroon and Black one was Edsel's personal car, and at least three others were built for the extended Ford family, including one each for Edsel's mother Clara, his wife Eleanor, and her brother-in-law Earnest Kanzler.

This fetching little number by LeBaron is named for the dandy French king Louis XVI. Its "Cabriolet" body design adheres to the original French definition of the term: An open driver compartment, divider window, and folding convertible roof over the rear-seat area.

This sporty convertible number was built by Locke & Company. Locke was founded in 1902 in New York City, and its bodies were offered in the Lincoln catalogue starting in 1926. This 163B body style featured a front-hinged tonneau and windshield amidships that lifted forward to admit passengers to the rear. This example sold at RM's Hershey auction in 2013 for $121,000. Fun fact: Lincoln built a Mk III dual-cowl phaeton concept car for the 1969 Detroit Auto Show based on this concept.

Willoughby had been in the carriage business, then it opened a shop in Utica, New York, to build town cars and limousines. There designs were known for being conservative, but their workmanship—upholstery in particular—was renowned. The Lincoln business sustained them through the early 1930s, but they closed in 1938.

This highly stylish V-12-powered, chauffeur-driven Brougham model, carefully parked to dispense its passengers onto a red carpet, was one of 21 different body types offered in 1938.

"Those who choose the Lincoln buy more than burnished steel, harmonious color, and deep upholstery," the ad copy gushes. "Inherent in their purchase is the Lincoln tradition—to build as nearly the perfect motor car as is humanly possible."

Although most coach-built Lincolns date from the classical period, many have been commissioned in the years since, including this impressive 1950 Lincoln Cosmopolitan Presidential Limousine by Dietrich Creative Industries in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

It was commissioned for Harry Truman and remained in the presidential motor pool until early in the Kennedy administration, but Dwight Eisenhower got the most use out of it. It was he who had the removable plexiglass rear roof section and "bug shield" added for when the president stood during parades.

OK, just because we can't resist including a mid-century Continental in a roundup like this, here is a custom one built in-house by Lincoln. Its wheelbase was stretched 8.0 inches (to 131.0), giving an overall length of 221.3 inches. Strictly a concept, it features no weather protection for the chauffeur's compartment, nor does it have any structural reinforcement added to account for the removal of the roof. It was later updated to reflect 1965 styling.

A sixth and final concept car based on the fourth-generation Continental was built in 1969, featuring hidden headlamps that previewed the look of the 1971 Continental. Other show car features included electric door openers, front bucket seats, and a Philco (division of Ford!) television.