Here’s a late-1950s land yacht packed with sharp-angled, pointy fins and gleaming chrome charisma. One of its many features is an automatic, reverse-canted rear window that lets cool air in during the summer. Carefully restored at great expense, it previously won an AACA award. Most people’s standard of living went up in the 1950s, which was a big year for developments like TV, the building of America’s towns and the Interstate highway system, and the inclusion of Alaska and Hawaii into the United States. There were big dreams and big drives at the time. At the end of the decade, the goods of America’s three top automakers reached the peak of outrageous size and style. This 1959 Lincoln Continental Mark IV four-door hardtop is for sale at Bring a Trailer, a Hearst Autos subsidiary that gives invoice pricing. Because this car is so big, “SS” should be written on the front bumper. It’s beautiful in Cameo Rose and shines with chrome and mid-century positivity. It’s just shy of nineteen feet of luxury. The Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) gave this car a national award when it was rebuilt in the early 1990s. The repair seems to have been complete; in the 1990s, it cost over $60,000 to do work from scratch. With 100 points, it was put away for 20 years and was only found in 2016 after long-term keeping. If you thought this car was big from the outside, check out the inside. It had enough room for an NBA player’s legs, a large trunk, and two bench seats the size of sofas. The Springfield Legitimate Businessman’s Social Club liked it. You can get a power seat, central vacuum door locks, an automatic headlight dimmer, six power side windows, and a ‘breezeway’ rear glass that slides back and forth. Everything works fine, and the air conditioner that was just fixed up blows cool air. With the back window open, though, you’d want to keep all of the windows closed on this beautiful landboat during the summer. When it was brand new, the huge 430-cubic-inch V-8 engine made 350 horsepower and 490 pound-feet of unstressed torque. The huge power and three-speed automatic in this Continental should make it very easy to drive. With this version of the Continental, Lincoln put everything they had into it to beat Cadillac, and it shows. However, the effort did not hurt Cadillac’s standing in the high-end car market. Although it’s less well-known and rarely seen, the ’59 Lincoln still very much around might make a stronger visual impression today, whereas the equally wild ’59 Cadillac has come to symbolize the look of its era.
