Lincoln K-Series

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LIGHTWEIGHT: In fact this two-seat cabrio weighs nearly three tons! And there are extra seats hidden where you’d expect the boot to be. Toggles on steering reveal an early form of cruise control. (Nemanja Seslija/ITP)

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(Nemanja Seslija/ITP)

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(Nemanja Seslija/ITP)

Quite possibly the only one of its kind, this 1931 Lincoln convertible links all of the US 'big three' together. Fraser Martin explains.

Despite the constant round of mergers and demergers that seems to plague the motor industry at the moment, this month's classic proves that nothing really, is new, as its history links each of the US 'Big Three'.

Henry Leland set up Cadillac in the early 1900s and was bought out by General Motors in 1909. Leland then founded Lincoln in 1917 which was taken over by Edsel Ford in 1922.

The coachwork on this 1931 Lincoln was designed and built by LeBaron (later bought by Chrysler) a company formed by Ray Dietrich and Tom Hubbard whilst working for Brewster, another coachbuilding firm with Ford contracts. Phew.

With that complicated history lesson out of the way, what we have here is, believe it or not at nearly three tons, a 'lightweight' two-door Lincoln K-Series Convertible, typical of the period in that practically all of Lincoln's pre-'40s cars were, in common with the prestige marques of the time, entirely coachbuilt, and it is indeed quite possible that this particular car, owned by a Dubai-based collector, is the only one of its kind.

At more than four metres in length, it was a big car even for the time and would have cost in excess of $5000 when it was originally sold, shortly after the Great Depression of 1929.

Edsel Ford's reasoning behind the purchase of Lincoln was that with the success of his father Henry's Model T, at $500 per unit, it was perhaps prudent to cash in on the emerging wealthier end of the US car market.

The two-door body made the Lincoln very much the Gentleman's roadster of the day with only two proper seats inside the cosy cabin and a golf-bag flap accessing the floor space in the rumble or 'dickey' seat.

Though comfortably upholstered to match the enclosed compartment, and with neat fold-out armrest pads, the rumble seat has no second screen and it is no bigger across the bench than a modern hatchback.

Without the aid of any sort of power assistance to the steering, the wheel is a monster of four spokes featuring advance/retard for the ignition, hand throttle and light switches on concentric bezels at its centre.

The dash is flat and is flanked by two deep compartments that sink into the cowl by about 18 inches - the volume of one alone is easily bigger than an average modern day glovebox.

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