A Cream Dream... [PIC]

Well, technically, it's Starmist White. Anyway, for me, it's the most elegant looking '56 Continental Mkll of the bunch. (I think FM amortized this tooling about 15 times over). Unfettered by the excessive chrome trim that was de rigueur to demonstrate how expensive the particular model was, this would be the most expensive car FoMoCo would ever produce and at just under $10,000 MSRP (and they still lost $1000 per unit sold). Ford created a new "Continental Division" to produced these cars at the Allen Park Body and Assembly Plant, Allen Park, Michigan. This tudor coupe was to be the vanguard of other models including a 4 door hard top and a solid roof retractable convertible. Beyond a few prototypes, that never happened and after a two year run, the car and its division was cancelled. The dedicated Allen Park plant was converted to produce... Edsels (and we all know how that worked out!). The virtually unadorned long hood, short deck with door and fender accent lines reminiscent of the original Continental  was a portent of designs a decade away. The famed Continental kit was merely a stylized bump to allow the trunk to close over the vertically mounted spare in the trunk. For your $10K, you got ever accessory and feature imaginable for the time except for AC which was a $569 extra. I've loved this car since the '50s, and FM's model, although a bit long in the tooth, is still one of my favorites.