Lincoln Continental Mark IV 1959 images

This 1959 Lincoln Continental Mark IV represents Lincoln at its most luxurious, and its most cautious, after toning down a wild 1958 redesign just one year later. Only 2,195 convertibles like this one were built, powered by a 430 V8 making 350 hp. Here’s the story behind one of the rarest personal luxury cars of its era.

This is the ultimate in a personal luxury car in 1959 and would likely create interest where-ever it is driven. The vehicle here is very rare and perfectly restored with the best materials available with an interior large enough to seat up to six large adults in complete comfort. There is a 430 cu in V8 engine under the hood and it is bolted to the “Turbo-Drive Matic” three speed automatic transmission. This elegant vehicle is complete with power-seats, power steering, power windows, and the power convertible top. Other goodies include Air conditioning, AM radio and traction control. A standard feature for this flagship model is the ceramic coated exhaust manifold.

Our thanks to Gateway Classic Cars for these images.

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Some of the rarest cars in the muscle car world aren’t muscle cars at all, they’re the enormous, ultra-luxury land yachts that shared showrooms with them, and this 1959 Lincoln Continental is a perfect example of a car built to impress rather than race. Nearly nineteen and a half feet of steel rolled off the line wearing a toned-down version of a design so wild the year before that Lincoln’s own engineers apparently felt the need to calm it down. Six adults could ride in genuine comfort, every convenience of the era came standard, and yet almost none of these survived in the exact configuration seen here. What made this particular body style so rare, and why did Lincoln pull back on its own design just one year after debuting it?

A Design Lincoln Immediately Toned Down

Lincoln totally restyled and re-engineered its lineup for 1958, then made only minimal updates for 1959, mostly reining in the previous year’s dramatically sculpted front grille and fenders. The 1959 car picked up a new slanted, dual-headlight design and fresh grille, but was otherwise the same Elwood Engel and John Najjar-designed body: 230 inches long, on a 131-inch wheelbase, and 80.7 inches wide.

Why So Few Survive Like This

Under the hood, the 430 cubic-inch V8 made 350 hp at 4,400 rpm and 490 lb-ft of torque, sent through the Turbo-Drive Matic three-speed automatic. Convertible versions like this one were especially scarce even when new, Lincoln built only 2,195 Continental Mark IV convertibles for the model year, which is a big part of why a fully restored example like the one pictured draws so much attention today.

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