In 1932, Lincoln introduced the V12-powered KB in response to Ford’s V8 Model 18, but sales were disappointing. That same year, however, Eugene T. “Bob” Gregorie began designing the car that would eventually become the Continental. It started as a one-off project for Edsel Ford, who wanted a European-style car for Florida vacations - something smaller and spiffier than the boxy designs his father’s company was known for.

Introduced for the 1936 model year, the sporty Zephyr, which featured a 1.8 liter V12, was so successful it almost became a brand name, and it was also Gregorie’s inspiration, because what he did was to section a 1938 Zephyr Coupe about four inches, allowing most of the existing dies and tooling to be retained, and adding the distinctive vertically-mounted spare tire. This became the Continental, and by the time it ended production in 1948, more than 5300 of them had been built, almost entirely by hand. The original Zephyr stopped production in 1942, and was never revived.

In 1955, the Continental Mark II revived the concept. It was produced for one year by the Continental division, before it was returned to the Lincoln marque, and it had a list price of $10,000 - the same as that year’s Rolls-Royce. In 1958, the Edsel division merged with Lincoln-Mercury, becoming the Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln division until the Edsel was discontinued in 1960. Meanwhile, the Continental became Lincoln’s flagship model until 1981, when the Town Car, formerly the Lincoln’s top trim level, became its own model, and usurped the role.

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