1956 Continental Mark II - Exception to the Rule

I'm not a fan off too many cars from the '50's, 1956 and 1957 Continental Mark II's, which were made by the Ford Motor Company, are rare exceptions. This one is a 1956. 

 

I find it amazing how designers at Ford went from what they had been doing previously for Lincoln to these cars. What they replaced these with come 1958 as well. These cars are an aberration. 

This isn't a Lincoln Continental but rather a "Continental Mark II". Although sold in Lincoln-Mercury showrooms, in 1956 and 1957, "Continental" was a stand-alone division the Ford Motor Company positioned above Lincoln to compete with, supposedly, Rolls Royce. Designed to emulate the Lincoln Continental of 1939-1942 and 1946-48, the 1956 Continental was dubbed "Mark II"; the back story created that the original Continentals were "Mark I's", which they were never referred to as. 

 

Considering the ostentatious chrome and tail fin fest of the mid to late 1950's, the Continental Mark II was remarkably clean. Save for the hump on the trunk, the Mark II was a delicate flower compared to a Cadillac of the same vintage. Lincolns as well. 

 

Same can be said for the spacious, tastefully appointed interior; got to love the color retina searing contrasts here, so '50's. All Mark II's had interiors that were hand stitched
 

 

The simple and elegant dashboard wouldn't look out of place in a BMW of the same vintage. The massive steering wheel a "throw-back" to the not so distant past when even luxury cars didn't have power steering. 



As remarkable as the exterior styling was on these cars, they were unremarkable mechanically. That 368-cubic inch, overhead valve V-8 was an off shoot of the then current Ford Y-block and made just 285-horsepower, that's gross-rated too and not a lot to push around a 5,000-pound car. Automatic transmission was a Lincoln built three-speed they called, "Turbo Drive". Independent front suspension, leaf springs out back on a solid rear axle. Somewhat interestingly, power steering was a recirculating ball unit supplied by General Motors. The brakes were dual-servo hydraulic, internally expanding four-wheel drums; stopping these cars was done by appointment only. 

Single biggest problem with these cars was their $10,000 sticker price, twice what Cadillac charged for a Coupe deVille at the time. No surprise that just 2,550 were sold in 1956, just 444 for 1957, with the high cost of manufacture, Ford lost more than $1,000 on each one they sold. Ford pulled the plug on the "Continental" division after 1957 although they sold "Continental Marks" through 1960.