Continental Mark II.American Luxury at it's Finest.

Yesterday I wrote a Hub about the 1957-58 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham,which is one of my favorite cars. Well I kind of got ahead of myself on this story. The Eldorado Brougham was built as a response to Ford Motor Company's 1956 Continental Mark II.

The 1956 Continental Mark II is not a Lincoln Continental. It was manufactured without the Lincoln nameplate. At the time Continental was a separate division within the Ford Motor Company(FMC). So to call this car a Lincoln Continental is incorrect and will get you snickered at by those in the know. Which aren't that many people. It's also the only model ever produced by FMC to carry the Continental name solely.

The Continental Mark II was the brain child of William Clay Ford ,the son of Edsel Ford and Grandson of Henry Ford. He wanted Ford to use the Continental Division to go up against the best the world had to offer in luxury cars. He wanted to challenge General Motors Corporation's Cadillac division,and England's Rolls Royce in building the World's Finest Car.

In my opinion they came close to that goal. Once again,this is my opinion,but I think this is the best looking solid body automobile to ever come out of Detroit. It's elegant and refined. The lines are subtle and even flowing. This is a beautiful car and so far ahead of it's time. Remember this is 1956. American cars were growing tail fins and sprouting chrome plated everything at an alarming rate in the mid 50's. This car was designed with an elite purchaser in mind. It also bore a elite price tag. With a sales price of just over $10.000, Ford Motor Company still claimed to have lost more than a thousand dollars on each Continental Mark II sold.

Ford had originally planned to built 5.000 Mark II over a five year span,but due to the high production costs the cars did not sell well. Only 2.550 were built during the 1956 model year. Another 446 were built in the 1957 model year for a total model run of 2.996 units. Of the 1957 Continental Mark II,two of these were built as convertibles.These were the only two convertible models ever produced. There's an estimated 1.500 Continental Mark II known to still be in existences today.Both convertible model are held in private collections.

The Continental division was merged with Lincoln for the 1958 model run and the Mark II production was ended.

The desire to produce the World's Finest Luxury Car in the 1950's gave us both the Continental Mark II and the Cadillac Eldorado Brougham. While both cars were built with a certain buyer in mind. A rich buyer that is. The two cars are both fine examples of what the American Auto Industry could produce if they strove for perfection. To bad they couldn't make a profit off of the cars. They would have built more.