After taking a multimillion dollar bath on its late-Fifties design extravagances, the Lincoln division of Ford Motor Corporation condensed its lineup for 1961 down to a single model, the Continental, which was available as a coupe or a convertible.
The fourth generation of Continental was of unibody construction, like its predecessor, but smaller, having a 123" wheelbase. (The design proposal was originally floated as a Thunderbird, and the unibody was related to that used by the '61 T-bird, but stretched.)
Under the hood was a 430 cubic inch MEL ("Mercury Edsel Lincoln") big block V-8 with a four-barrel carburetor with a 10.1:1 compression ratio, rated at 320 gross horsepower. All cars had a three-speed Turbo-Drive automatic transmission driving a 2.89:1 rear axle ratio.
The cars were given a lengthy dyno run-in and a 12-mile road test on completion, and were delivered with a two year, 24,000 mile warranty, which was the longest of any domestic car at the time.
The slab-sided "suicide door" Fourth Generation Continentals, like this Spanish Red 1963 convertible are, to my eye, a refreshing break from the chrome-laden rolling Wurlitzers of the late Fifties. They won several design and engineering awards, sold like gangbusters and Chrysler hired their designer, Elwood Engel, away from Ford to serve as Virgil Exner's replacement as head of the styling department at Mopar, where he remained until his retirement in '73.
The slab-sided "suicide door" Fourth Generation Continentals, like this Spanish Red 1963 convertible are, to my eye, a refreshing break from the chrome-laden rolling Wurlitzers of the late Fifties. They won several design and engineering awards, sold like gangbusters and Chrysler hired their designer, Elwood Engel, away from Ford to serve as Virgil Exner's replacement as head of the styling department at Mopar, where he remained until his retirement in '73.
This one was photographed in August of 2022 using a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV and an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens.
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