The One and Only - 1939 Lincoln Zephyr Continental

Although Henry Ford normally gets the credit for the great cars from Dearborn, there are several models that his soley son, Edsel, dreamed of and saw completed. Edsel's visionary influence would go on to shape the evolution of the company and its designs. It was he who convinced his father to replace the Model T with the Model A and after that car's success, Henry relented and made sure no products left a Ford factory without Edsel's approval. One of the cars he approved was the Lincoln Continental, designed by Eugene "Bob" Gregorie, Jr.

Once used to haul building materials, interior is all new and done to perfection. Steering wheel is from 1939 Mercury

Actually, the Lincoln Continental of the 1940s was the result of evolution from the Lincoln Zephyr. When Ford's styling department was formed in 1935, Edsel named Gregorie, just 27, as chief stylist. He wasted little time in proving he had the right stuff for the job. He transformed the 1934 "Century of Progress" World's Fair show car into what would be the 1936 production Lincoln Zephyr.

Edsel had plenty of guidance to offer to Gregorie in designing his dream car. His vision was influenced by the distinctive automobiles he saw in Europe--vehicles with long hoods, short trunks and spare tires mounted on the back. He called these "continental styles." In September 1938, Edsel returned to Dearborn with a "continental" car in mind. Fortuitously, Gregorie was already thinking along the same lines. A year later, Gregorie sketched a prototype from a 1939 Lincoln Zephyr. Taking this car, he lowered and lengthened the hood, removed the running boards and added a spare tire on the rear. Edsel approved the clay model and the project was sent to Henry Crecelius of Lincoln Body Engineering.

There, Gregorie selected a 1939 Lincoln Zephyr body as the basis for the new design; he chose a convertible sedan to take advantage of the chassis bracing. The Zephyr's floor pan, wheelhouses and basic body panels were used, but inserts were placed in the front fenders, stretching them a foot. Another foot was added to the hood, but the rear of the car didn't differ much from the original Zephyr design. Most body panels were hand-formed with liberal amounts of solder and lead--in the end, the car weighed nearly 5,000 pounds. Power came from Lincoln's 267-cu.in. V-12, equipped with a three-speed manual transmission. The first prototype, H-74750, was sent to Florida in the winter of 1939, where Edsel was on vacation. There, his two oldest sons, Henry II and Benson, drove the car near Palm Beach. People were so impressed with the car that Edsel received 200 orders almost immediately.

Designer of this true classic was Eugene T. Gregorie

Despite it having a water leak problem, Edsel phoned Gregorie during his vacation to have him start building a second prototype, with some changes. Our feature car, owned by Bob Anderson of Houtzdale, Pennsylvania, is that second prototype, known as the "engineering car." It was built as a 1940 prototype on the same 125-inch wheelbase as the unit-body Zephyr and Edsel's personal car; the hood and front fenders were lengthened by only eight inches. The doors were moved further forward and the interior room increased. The trunk on the second prototype stood a little taller to increase luggage space. Most of the other parts were standard-issue for 1939 Lincoln Zephyrs or Mercurys. The standard Zephyr door handles, hubcaps and "teardrop" taillamps were used. Inside, a huge circular speedometer and odometer housed all gauges. There were two ashtrays and a lone cigarette lighter, but no radio, heater or other accessories. Even the steering wheel was a standard Mercury part.

The engineering car, painted black with a tan leather interior, was completed in June 1939. The Lincoln engineering staff drove the car that summer for testing and to refine the mechanical features planned for the 1940 production models. Edsel gave the vehicle to Gregorie in late September 1939 for his personal use. In fact, Bob has the ultimate piece of documentation for his prototype--the original 1939 Michigan registration in Gregorie's name, with his signature, a gift from Gregorie's widow, Evie.

Rear bumper is same as front. Edsel Ford loved exposed spare, so Gregorie obliged

The first car was ordered dismantled. A document dated October 9, 1939, gives the reason for dismantling prototype No. 1 as being "of no further use." Rumors have circulated for years a third prototype was built, intended for Benson and Henry II, but they're just that--rumors.

Gregorie drove the second car until 1941, when he sold it for $800. By that time, he had modified it so heavily that the car could hardly be recognized. Sometime during World War II, the Lincoln made its way to southern California. There, the car was used to drive clients of an aircraft company to meetings. Later, a firefighter bought it and, while building a house in Woodland Hills, he reportedly jammed building materials into the one-of-a-kind car.

Owner Bob Anderson

In 1952, the car was sold for $125 to Ralph Ball of Tarzana, California. Unfortunately, in 1956, another car plowed into the Lincoln, heavily damaging the car's left side and putting Ralph into a wheelchair temporarily; he then put the car in storage.

In 1959, Lincoln and Continental enthusiasts heard about the car and tried to buy it for a club restoration project that did not materialize. However, Lincoln and Continental Owner's Club member Jesse Haines was eventually able to buy the car and had it shipped to Ambler, Pennsylvania, in April 1963. He began a restoration, but never completed the project. Around 1972, Bob, the current owner, began hounding Jesse to sell the car and, in 1977, succeeded in his quest. He brought the car home to Houtzdale in what he described as "derelict" condition.

Bob, a lifelong Ford and Lincoln enthusiast, had other priorities and put the prototype Lincoln into storage until 1999, when its restoration began in earnest. Bob spent years sourcing Lincoln N.O.S. parts, and so had many at his disposal. "The car had had a V-8 installed while it was in California. It was missing an engine and transmission when I got it, but I had a V-12 and transmission, so it worked out."

The elder Anderson does not profess to be a mechanic by any means, but dove right into the project anyway. He and his sons, Todd and Bob Jr., did much of the work themselves, including rebuilding the V-12. They lavished attention on every detail--even polishing the aluminum cylinder heads.

There was no air cleaner on the prototype, which meant unusually high under-hood temperatures. To alleviate this problem, Gregorie had ordered extensive amounts of lead be put into the hood--today, Bob needs to use a prop rod to keep the hood open due to the weight. Bob Jr. had to fabricate an air cleaner, because the one normally found atop a 1939 Zephyr V-12 wouldn't work; since the hood and cowl of the Continental prototype were lowered considerably, the taller Zephyr air cleaner wouldn't fit.

Another problem facing Bob during the restoration was that the doors' latch parts conflicted with the window mechanisms. No one knows if they ever successfully worked together on the prototype. Without answers, the Andersons re-engineered the parts to make them mesh. That issue solved, another problem reared its ugly head--when the top was down and the door glass raised, it is impossible to close a door without breaking a window channel, because there's nothing to support the heavy glass at the top when the door hit the jamb. On production Continentals, a rigid bar separating the vent window from the side glass includes a deep channel that eliminated this problem. Unfortunately, the Andersons haven't been able to engineer a comparable solution for the prototype; Bob says they just make sure to roll down the windows when the top is down.

After finishing the car, Bob wanted to ensure that the engine was properly broken in. He rented out Clearfield (Pennsylvania) Speedway, which was then paved, and put 75 miles on the car riding around the 5/8-mile track. Bob says he doesn't drive the car much today, as most of the streets around his town are in terrible condition.

We recently had the pleasure of viewing this piece of history on a sunny day in this central Pennsylvania town. The ride was quite comfortable and extremely quiet, thanks to the V-12. During our photography session with this one-of-one, Bob mentioned a leather-wrapped steel tube "X" brace under the dash. "Gregorie had driven the car to New York once and felt vibrations so bad, he stopped at a lumber yard, bought some 2x4s and built a temporary brace. When he returned to Michigan, he had a brace made and welded in under the dash to keep the body from twisting," Bob said. The only brace ever made remains in the car today.

The Andersons' restoration efforts paid off and, when the car was first shown at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance in March 2002, it wowed the crowd and won First in Class. During that trip, Bob arranged to meet with Gregorie, who had not seen the car in 60 years. The 94-year-old designer reminisced about the car he designed during a ride. "He was thrilled to get a ride in the car with me and he was like a kid at Christmas. His eyes lit up and it certainly was a thrill for me," Bob says. "It was great for both of us. To get a chance to meet the designer of the prototype and give him a ride was absolutely great." Gregorie died nine months later, on December 1, 2002, but his legacy lives on in the generations of Lincoln Continentals derived from his original design.