Exterior Photos
1956 Continental Mark II Convertible 1956 Continental Mark II Convertible 1956 Continental Mark II Convertible 1956 Continental Mark II Convertible 1956 Continental Mark II Convertible 1956 Continental Mark II Convertible
1956 Continental Mark II Convertible 1956 Continental Mark II Convertible 1956 Continental Mark II Convertible 1956 Continental Mark II Convertible 1956 Continental Mark II Convertible 1956 Continental Mark II Convertible
Interior Photos
1956 Continental Mark II Convertible 1956 Continental Mark II Convertible 1956 Continental Mark II Convertible 1956 Continental Mark II Convertible 1956 Continental Mark II Convertible
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This Continental Mark II convertible is the first of three made for the Ford Motor Company. Only two convertibles are known to exist today.
All Mark II convertibles started off as a Stock Sports Coupe, as they were called by the Continental Factory. They were then sent to a custom shop and converted to convertibles.

The Continental engines were blueprinted and run on a dyno before being installed in the cars. It's a 369 cubic-inch engine with 4-barrel carb, rated at 285 horsepower. The car weighs about 5,300 pounds.

The 56 Mark II is the first of Ford's products with ladder frame construction. This allowed for foot wells, which meant they could produce cars which were built much lower to the road.

A stock Mark II was $10,000 in 1956. Derham and Hess & Eisenhardt both estimated a convertible conversion to cost $18,000 to custom build. That's why there were so few Mark II convertibles.
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In 1956 two brand new Mark II coupes were damaged in transit from Detroit to Chicago. Both cars had damaged roofs. Ford's Chicago district had these Mark II's made into convertibles by Hess & Eisenhardt, of Cincinnati, OH, a company that had a long standing relationship with Ford marketing.

The Continental Mark II was introduced in October, 1955 at the Paris Auto Show. It was offered in only one body style, a two door hardtop coupe and was a virtually hand assembled car with a price tag of $10,000. The Mark II was powered by a factory blueprinted (the parts being hand selected) Lincoln V8 engine with 368 cubic-inches. Every luxury feature known in 1956 was available on this car and all were standard except air conditioning which was a factory option and the electric eye dimmer.
Porsche 356 1955 Porsche 356

EventGroup 
Ault Park Concours d'Elegance1956 Autorama 
Hilton Head Island Concours d'EleganceAmerican Avant Grade 1949-1975 Open