1968 Lincoln Continental
Amazingly Preserved & Maintained in California
& Arizona for Nearly 40 Years
- No Rust Ever! - Single Family Ownership from 1968-1998, Only Two Owners
Since
Please wait for all pictures to load and read description carefully!
Comprehensively original throughout apart from
one high-quality respray in the original Code 'N' Platinum (white with a
hint of blue), this 1968 Lincoln Continental is an unrestored time-capsule
survivor example delivered new to the Los Angeles regional distributor per
the build sheet.
I am very fortunate to know and have as a good
friend of mine one of the original owner's closest friends. According to
him, the car was purchased by the original owner's son John for his mother
when she did not like the yellow/black '68 Continental Coupe his father
bought her earlier in the year. She liked this a LOT more!
In October, 1968, this Lincoln Continental sat
in the showroom of Santa Ana Lincoln/Mercury. As mentioned above, it was
sold new to Dorothea Bradley after she did not care for another Lincoln
that her husband Jack had bought for her; her son John traded the yellow/black
Continental Coupe back to the dealer and paid the difference out of his
own pocket.
The elder Bradleys were retired and intended
to use the Lincoln primarily to drive up and down the coast to visit their
family in the San Francisco Bay Area, including maintaining a house on the
Seventeen Mile Drive in Pebble Beach in sight of the Lodge, where Jack showed
Bugattis and other Grand Classics from the earliest days of the Concours
d'Elegance. The vast majority of the mileage was accrued in the 1970s from
their numerous trips. By the early 1980s, the car began to see less use
as the Bradleys continued to advance in age; despite this, John reported
that his mother would visit and talk to the car out in the garage long after
she was no longer able to drive.
It is fortunate that the Bradleys stopped driving
when they did, as there's no evidence that the car was ever in a fender
bender or more serious accident with the car. It drives beautifully and
the body is straight down both sides. When Jack and Dorothea passed on in
the late 1980s, their son John kept the car warehoused in Van Nuys. During
the 1994 Northridge (L.A.) Earthquake, a box fell off a shelf and cracked
the paint on the roof. John opted to have the warehouseman's insurance paint
the entire car rather than attempt to match the original lacquer. The result,
over 15 years later, remains remarkable with no flaws apart from a few touch-ups.
Even the original pin-striping was professionally done by hand. Furthermore,
the chrome and brightwork are all original and overall in beautiful condition.
John sold the car to a Scottsdale, Arizona collector
of American luxury cars in 1998. The car had just short of 89,000 miles
at that time. Records indicate that the new owner had a bit of work ahead
of him given the length of time the car had been sitting without more than
just occasional use over the last decade and a half. However, he was a serious
Lincoln enthusiast very impressed with how solid and rare this car was and
remained dedicated to it. He replaced all the usual old heavy car stuff
that most of you reading this expect to have to do on cars of this age and
more and a stack of receipts that remain with the car document the replacement
of major brake, suspension, engine, transmission and other repairs, replacements
and services to make it a safe and reliable car for him to enjoy.
Most of the work on the car was completed by
the end of 1999, though the occasional repair ticket pops up throughout
the early part of the last decade. It would appear that he drove the car
around 4,500 miles before consigning it for sale with a local collector
car dealer in Scottsdale. In 2006, a North Carolina collector bought the
car and shipped it home to the east coast. Apart from putting 1,000 or so
miles on the car, it would appear that he did little with it but keep it
in good running order as its prior two owners had.
Fast forward to last summer. A friend of mine
bought it from the last owner in June for his collector car dealership inventory.
I drove it from the auction back to his showroom, and by the time I got
there, I made him a very generous offer for the car - which he declined,
given the amazing paperwork, history and condition this car is in. Not long
thereafter, I traded him another car for this and drove it home 150 miles
on the Interstate at 75 miles per hour.
There were a few little issues I had to correct
- I rebuilt the headlamp switch (bad panel light dimmer), the wiper switch
(and freed up the cable to the 'motor' - hey, it never rains in Southern
California, right?), rebuilt the driver door window motor with a new gear
and rollers, lubricated other door parts while I was in there, put a fresh
cap, rotor, plugs, points and condenser in under the hood. I even took apart
a set of wiper blades for their inserts and made a set to fit the original
Trico arms, which are perfect. I also want to run it through my friend's
front end alignment rack this week just to check out the front end - he's
been gone for three weeks, so this is my first opportunity.
While this is a car I'd like to hold on to for
a few years and enjoy myself, I've got a collection of cars coming my way
in the short term that I need all available funds and room to handle, so
I thought I'd offer this here one time before putting it in a friend's dealership
on consignment where it will undoubtedly sell for more. Take a very good
look at the photos above and beneath - if you've ever wanted an exceptional
example of a car that has become incredibly rare simply through a very low
survival rate, this is the one. (While you're looking at the front end,
let me point out that the headlamps are FoMoCo script sealed beams - and
not repros, either...)
I've been tempting you with the paperwork that
comes with this car above - this is a fraction of the documentation that
conveys with this car and tells its history the best. The Bradleys saved
both their temporary and permanent Ownercards, most of their receipts and
earliest registrations and lots more documentation that's remained with
this special car for over four decades.
The original build sheet, protected by a plastic
sleeve. Note that the car has always been a 'slick top' - i.e. no vinyl
top ever.
The original owners manual is still in the glove
compartment, filled out in 1968 with all of the Bradley's information overleaf.
In addition to the above, service documentation
from the 1990s and 2000s as well as reproduction service manuals (1967-1968
supplement) and other documentation convey with the car. There's quite a
bit here.
I also wanted to point out that the power antenna
works flawlessly.
As do the automatic-dimming headlamps.
A great contrast to the Platinum exterior, this
car is appointed with its 100% original blue leather interior inside.
The steering wheel is crack-free as is the dashboard.
The tilt steering column is nice and tight, adjustment is easy by pushing
the turnsignal stalk towards the dashboard. Even the original carpeting
has been protected from wear by mats, themselves not even worn.
Note the wiper switch - the wipers in 1960s-vintage
Continentals are driven by the power steering pump. The knob pulls a cable
that opens a variable pressure valve in the 'motor' that allows for about
8 wiper speeds. Additionally, this regulator also will wipe about 3-4 times
when the knob is pushed in, as it takes a vacuum signal from the knob. Pretty
neat. The master cruise control on-off switch is here as well, this works
great from the button at the end of the turnsignal stalk.
The driver's side shows only light wear and
exceptional care. The springs and foam are still supportive. There is no
evidence that the leather and/or any other interior materials were ever
re-dyed.
I just had this panel off to repair the window
motor. All of the vacuum power lock parts are like-new as are the window
regulators.
The switches open and close the front vent and
all four door windows without complaint.
The automatic temperature control works great
- the air conditioning blows cold and the heat is quite warm. The headlight
switch has been out as well - I completely removed and dismantled this as
well as I had to de-corrode the panel dimmer rheostat and repair the catch
that retains the headlight knob. The little dial beneath the headlight knob
controls the sensitivity of the automatic dimmer. Yes, this works great
- as well as they do in this modern reflective sign and license plate era,
anyway.
I've put a few miles on the car since this photo
and am 'upgrading' the mileage in the listing - but this is the original
miles from new, with the majority of these miles having been put on while
the car was still less than 2 decades old. The speedometer is the ribbon
type and changes from white to red at 70 mph.
The radio works great as well - it has the Town
and Country seeking buttons (which Chris at Lincoln Land suggests should
not be used) as well as the antenna raise and lower buttons - the antenna
does not go up when you turn the radio on like a modern car, they did not.
It's not often that the original sweep-hand
clock works in these cars once the battery's been let to discharge once
or twice. Forget about it. This clock keeps near-perfect time too over weeks
and weeks.
You may ask 'why are there so many seatbelt
buckles here?' Well, this was the advent of the shoulder harness - a strap
held by clips in the headlining. You first buckled your lap-belt, then pulled
the shoulder belt down and buckled that up as well. Plus, there's a lap
belt for the center passenger. Yeah, right!
The passenger door panel is just as clean and
tidy as the rest. Everything is where it should be.
Directly behind the last photo, the 'suicide'
rear door opens opposite. The rear doors trigger a control relay that illuminate
an indicator on the dash if they are left open.
It is very likely that nobody spent much time
in the back seat of this Continental. Leather, carpet and the rest are all
immaculate.
And from the other side.
More of the same again, primo, primo.
Just like the interior, the trunk compartment
remains all-original.
Behind the right-hand 'curtain' in the trunk,
all the jack parts are here.
Looking at the original 460 engine from just
in front of the windshield. Serviced, but not restored - lots of original
parts and pieces here. It's running comfortably at idle here. This is likely
one of the very first 1968 Continentals with the 460 as Ford were still
using up the last of the 462s used in prior years.
From the driver's side.
Very clean and tidy on the passenger's side
as well. No need to spray a bunch of tire foam and armor all to clean this
engine bay up like the dealers do. It looks fantastic and like a car with
1/5 the miles. Even by California and Arizona standards, this is immaculate.
why am I selling?
I couldn't get this car out of my head for weeks
after I first saw and drove it - I've owned more of these 1960s and 1970s
Lincolns as well as tons of similar-vintage Cadillacs over the years and
I've had plenty of them in a variety of different conditions. Many of them
have been cars with less than 20,000 miles. I can't remember one of them
that was this tidy: inside, outside or underneath. I often tell clients
of mine for whom I do appraisals or inspections that cars with regular,
documented miles are preferable as drivers and tour cars to those that haven't
been used - or may have dubious roll-back odometers or other fraud. It definitely
goes without saying that buying a car from out west that has been kept indoors
is also a great way to save a ton of money on body and paintwork - not to
mention dried out interiors, et.c.
From a condition standpoint, this is as good
as a 7-8 year old original car would have been - that puts us in, what,
1975-76?
However, I've got a bunch of cars in my inventory
and am staring down the barrel of having to deal with the liquidation of
a large collection in the near future. I may even need to buy several of
those out of pocket. I'm going to try to avoid that, but I think I could
use the space, if not also the money, to help with that possibility. It
doesn't help either that a deal I made two months ago on a car out in California
fell through and that is now coming east in the short term.
So I'm either going to let this go here on eBay
at wholesale - or park it in a high-traffic collector car showroom I have
an interest in until someone pays retail. It's not the high point in the
collector car season in most of the United States, but now would be a good
opportunity for you can buy a good car at a more-than-fair price. Added
to that, while I certainly prefer to sell outright, I am not averse to considering
swaps for similar-quality examples, particularly British or European cars
and oddball/orphan marques.
payment /
shipping
Payment is due in cash, cleared cashier's cheque
in my bank account or wire transfer within 7 (seven) days of auction close
- no exceptions to this unless
cleared with me in advance. Please contact me with any questions or
concerns about this. As it happens, I'll be out of town most of the week
following auction close doing a memorabilia auction in Ohio, so I will be
quite lenient on these terms if you ask.
Shipping/pickup needs to occur within 14 (fourteen)
days of auction close. If you need help with or a referral to a quality
automobile transporter, please
don't hesitate to ask me. I don't use the cheapest guys, I use the best
guys - who aren't usually the most expensive. Live close and want to drive
it home? I give no guarantees but with a fresh tune and a great-running
powertrain, it shouldn't present you with many problems. Live outside the
USA? No problem there, either, so long as you are patient and work with
me, I'll be happy to help or refer you to someone to get it to the port
for you.
Bottom line, I aim to please - I've sold lots
of cars to people over the internet for many years and usually make new
friends. I go above and beyond to help folks out.
QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? CONCERNS?
E-MAIL ME
OR CALL 804-357-4926