Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Frank Lloyd Wright's Lincoln on display

2004 Pebble Beach Concours

The Continental, built from Lincoln's Zephyr platform, was the first automobile to be honored for design excellence and placed on display by New York's Museum of Modern Art.

To promote its stunning new car, Lincoln offered free cars to prominent Americans like Frank Lloyd Wright, who had called it the most beautiful car in the world. But Wright demanded two cars, one for each of his homes. They agreed, and gave him a coupe and a convertible, each one painted in his signature color--Cherokee red.

In 1947, the convertible was rolled in an accident and instead of simply repairing it, Wright decided to redesign the car, penning a town car roof with half-moon shaped opera windows, piano hinged at the bottom, and no rear window. His wife referred to it as his "love wagon."

Now owned by motion picture producer Joel Silver. The cars reside at Silver's plantation in South Carolina, which was built by Wright and restored by Wright's son, Lloyd.

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