60 Formal Sedan

[ensignba]

Hello to the board. I just recently purchased a 1960 Continental Formal Sedan, and am wondering about the existence of others. I have only seen two other pictures, one in FL, and the one on ebay. Supposedly there were only 126 made? I already know about how hard a '60 Lincoln is to get parts for, but for a formal sedan? I hope I can find a donor car or a really good Hollander. Thanks for your time and any responses...Brandin Benson
1964 Thunderbird
1960 Continental (23B)

[Scott C. Anderson]

Hi Brandin..

Boy, you DO have a rare bird. I had a 1960 Formal Limousine from 1988 to 1992, and sold it to a fellow LCOC member who still has it, in Okla. City.

The production figure for my car was 36.

I found out about a 60 Formal Sedan for sale at an estate sale in Grosse Pointe, MI many years ago, and when I went to view the car, I opened the door, I saw concrete driveway looking back at me!! Oh well.....PARTS CAR !!!

The daughter of the deceased owner of the car was aghast that I made an issue of this, she not realizing that this car was a Unibody car, and the structural integrity was most definitely compromised with this big a rust hole in the floorpans, and she properly shooed me off as soon as humanly possible. Bad for business, she said!!

I later was told that she sold the car for $1500 to an unsuspecting teenager (Original asking price of $3k)

I saw the car in the Detroit Free Press Classified ads a month or two later for $750.

What parts are you in need of??? There is really only a few parts unique to the Formal Sedans, as they don't have the rear A/C and the partition and the retracting window.

There was even one or two on Ebay in the last few weeks.

I did some extensive research on my car when I first acquired it back in 88, and even contacted Mr. Willard (Bill) Hess the retired President of Hess and Eisenhardt, the company that did the conversion on your car. He was quite nice on the phone, and he later sent me a whole package of information and some hand written notes, and recollections of those days, along with a few pictures and brochures. All of this I still have and treasure. Bill Hess died a few years ago at 95 years old.

I remember the biggest downfall of my car was that the partition was fixed, and way too far forward, and there was absolutely no leg room for the driver. Unless you were 5 ft tall or less. TONS of legroom for the rear compartment passengers, Hell, you could be 8 ft tall, and still never feel cramped. I guess they had it right...Who cares about the comfort of the driver/chauffeur????? The only one who REALLY matters is the dude ridin in da back.....

Probably of all the thirty or forty Lincolns I have owned since the 80s, this Limousine was probably THE one that got the most attention. I miss it sometimes, but you can't keep them all.

Even Elvis had the identical car, and he had his retrofitted with a pair of Landau Irons on the C Pillar. Someone in the LCOC owns the car today.

Just waxing a little nostalgic here.......

Let me know what parts you are looking for, I may be able to help you out or refer you to a few guys who can.

Thanks.....

[kim fitzgerald]

Hi Brandin,

Just a FYI........on page 501 of the 4th edition of STANDARD CATALOG OF AMERICAN CARS 1946-1975 there is a photo of a 1960 LC Mark V Executive four door limousine of which the stats indicate 34 copies were produced. The similar Town Car was issued 136 times. The photo of the limo shows the mentioned landau bars. These cars were very expensive for their time: $10230 for the limo and $9207 for the Town Car, which is the model you apparently own. I know I have other references to this vehicle in other books--post if you need more info.

Kim

[ensignba]

Thanks for the info. So there were 136 Continentals made with the 23B option? I have a service manual for 1960, so I'm kind of decoding it from that reference. the vin has the 92H in it, and you're right, it doesn't have the rear AC or the partition. Were these exclusive to the formal limos? And Hess & Eisenhardt did the conversion on the formal sedans and the limos? It seems from other Continental pictures that all they did was replace the roof.
Some history: My father was a mechanic at the Lincoln dealership in Cheyenne, WY, in the early 60's, and supposedly there were 2 formal sedans delivered there. I bought mine in Cheyenne, from a high school friend for $2000. I assume this is one of the 2, and has been in WY for its whole life.
Being a current student, I don't really have the time or money for a full on restoration, but I figure I had better start looking for parts now, and pick them up when I can. I am sort of looking around for:
Multiluber? parts, diagrams, basic info
What kind of rear end do these have? I assumed a 28 spline 9", but it doesn't even look similar.
Does anyone make window switches for less than $50 each? I need ten of them!!
Why are '58-'60 shunned so badly? Low production numbers?
Basically I'm looking for driveability parts, like tie rod ends, shocks, bearings, brakes...
Kanter and the like want way too much for common parts that just haven't been researched. Such as, I found tie rod ends for my T-Bird from a '76 Maverick. I work at an auto parts store, so my cost was $13.00 each. Kanter, Larry's, Birdnest, all wanted $45-$60 each. Let me do some digging on this Lincoln, and see what I come up with. I already found that the starter is the same as an FE's, and the alternator is about as common of a Ford part as the voltage regulators.
And I'm sure you all know, but I'm already getting tired of saying "No it does not have SUICIDE DOORS!!"
Thanks for all the help...
Brandin Benson
1964 T-Bird
1960 LC (23B)

[Jim Smith]

Brandin, 1960 was a recessionary year in north america at least, and no cars sold really well. Fuel prices were also rising and gas guzzlers like ours weren't popular.

That's a couple of reason for the low sales. And of course, compact cars had just appeared (Falcon, Corvair and Valiant), also making our giants somewhat unfashionable!

Congratulations on obtaining your prize! They are true luxury cars! [img]images/smiles/icon_cool.gif[/img]