Ford Won't Make It But You Can Buy the 2002 Lincoln Continental Concept

One of the recurring comments that enthusiasts make when the issue of making Lincoln into a success comes up is why didn’t they ever put the trio of concept cars they introduced about ten years ago, the Mark 9 and Mark X coupes of 2001 and 2004 and the Continental flagship sedan concept of 2002 (see here and here). All three cars were meant to evoke styling cues from successful Lincolns of the past, particularly the 1961 Continental and the personal luxury Marks of the late 1960s and early 1970s. All three could have been made, but never made it to production, much to the chagrin of a lot of folks cheering for Lincoln to turn things around. Though they never made it to production you’ll now be able to buy a couple of them, including the stunning ’02 Continental concept.

In 2010, Ford sold off a number of their concept cars and Texas businessman Sam Pack, whose holdings have included a number of Ford dealerships and a massive car collection, bought a few of them. Pack is a Thunderbird enthusiast, so in the package there were a couple of Thunderbird concepts from when that nameplate was revived with the Jaguar S Type platform a few years back. Pack also bought the MkX and Continental concepts.

The Lincoln and Thunderbird concepts, along with 126 other desirable cars, are now being auctioned off as Pack wants to winnow down the large collection into something small enough to enjoy. RM Auctions will be handling the sale, which is scheduled for November 14-15 of this year, as a single-seller auction. The auction will take place on the grounds of the Pack Automotive Museum in Farmer’s Branch, Texas, near Dallas. All of the cars are being sold without reserve, which means they’ll be sold no matter what the final bids are.

Though there was also a fiberglass “pushmobile” on the show circuit, the Continental concept now for sale appears to be a functioning automobile with a 6.0 liter V12 putting out 414 hp and 413 lb-ft of torque. That’s likely derived from the Aston Martin V12 which itself is pretty much two Ford V6 Duratecs stuck together. It has four wheel disc brakes and a multilink independent rear suspension so it likely was based on the S Type platform, which was also used for the Lincoln LS, built alongside the Thunderbird. To allow for the center opening doors whatever structure they used has been reinforced at the A pillars, C pillars, the sills and the roof rails. All of the show car power gizmos including the trick parallelogram trunk lid work and it comes with fitted Zero Halliburton luggage and golf club cases.

When Pack bought the Continental concept four years ago, he paid $56,100 including RM’s 10% fee. When you think about how that much money doesn’t buy you much exclusivity with today’s production luxury cars the price seems like a bargain for what is a handmade, coachbuilt one-off factory prototype. Unfortunately, though, should you buy it, even though it’s apparently a functioning automobile you won’t be able to drive it, at least not on public roads. It can’t be registered because as a prototype show car, it’s being sold without a VIN, on a bill of sale.

RM’s catalog description for the Mark X is here. They haven’t yet published the description of the Continental concept, but when they do, it will be here, though it will likely be a rehash of what they wrote when they auctioned off the car in 2010. Supercars.net has Ford’s original 2002 press release on the Continental Concept here.

Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can get a parallax view at Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don’t worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks for reading – RJS