I was at my mechanic friend's garage today and saw this 1956 Lincoln he was working on.  The pictures arent the best being inside the garage, but maybe you can see what appeared to me as definite similarity in lines to the T-bird.  The motor is a 368 Lincoln Y.

The owner wanted Bill to install a Tach drive distributor he had obtained ($500).  However familiar problems developed.  The old dizzy was stuck.  After 2 hours it was out.  Soon Bill discovered the tach drive unit had no weights for centrifugal advance, only going on vacuum advance, and the distributor did not come with the vacuum unit.  Another compounding problem was there was a different carb in place than original, so even had there been the vacuum advance, the carburetor didnt match.  So at this point the motor is set on a fixed non advancing 20 degrees.

Edit:  Sorry no pics.  Two times tried and each ended with and internal server error.  The car was exciting to see.  I was especially interested in the factory stainless steel exhaust manifolds which exited into the inner fender then went down and back between the frame and outer body panels.  They are very similar to what I need to fab some day. 

The car is/was apparently a factory custom with lots of specials, including a completely different front grill. 

Mike, located in the Siskiyou mountains, Southern, OR 292 powered 1946 Ford 1/2 ton, '62 Mercury Meteor, '55 Country Squire (parting out), '64 Falcon, '54 Ford 600 tractor.

If I understand you Gary, a 292-312 type distri. can be used in the Lincoln with the Lincoln gear.  That is good to know and will pass it on.  I took over a Loadomatic from a '55 to see if the vacuum advance was the same and Bill thought it was.  He had already installed the tach drive unit and didnt want to pull it again.  Neither of us thought to look at the drive gear.

Mike, located in the Siskiyou mountains, Southern, OR 292 powered 1946 Ford 1/2 ton, '62 Mercury Meteor, '55 Country Squire (parting out), '64 Falcon, '54 Ford 600 tractor.

It sounds like the car you're describing is not exactly a Lincoln.You probably are looking at a Continental,which in 56 was a seperate entity from Lincoln,although it used a lot of Lincoln parts.They were in essence hand built and were without question the best built cars of the era,bar none.Cadillac was not even close to the quality of these cars.

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO

Paul, you could very well could be correct.  I havent seen this style before.  Two door, short looking top/passenger compartment, would love to have one.  I will try one more time on the pictures.

Nope, it says I have already exceeded my alloted space.  368 KB with this little bit of typing?

Mike, located in the Siskiyou mountains, Southern, OR 292 powered 1946 Ford 1/2 ton, '62 Mercury Meteor, '55 Country Squire (parting out), '64 Falcon, '54 Ford 600 tractor.

Here they are.

http://www.fordmotorforum.com/forums/attachments/f25/3711d1185168771-1956-lincoln-my-mechanics-

Maybe this will work?

and this: 

 

and one more: 

Mike, located in the Siskiyou mountains, Southern, OR 292 powered 1946 Ford 1/2 ton, '62 Mercury Meteor, '55 Country Squire (parting out), '64 Falcon, '54 Ford 600 tractor.

Beautiful, Continental Coupe! One of the prettiest cars Ford ever built! Probably a collecters item too. I've wanted one since 56 but will never be able to buy a good one. Wow! Chuck in NH

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

That is a Continental Mark II.I'd love to have one also,but as they are so rare,they will always be out of my price range.They were only built 2 years,56 and 57.I don't remember the exact production figures,but it was somewhere around 6000.The only option available was air conditioning.Everything else you could think of in 56 was standard equipment.The engines were hand built,balanced and blueprinted and so well built and tuned that they put out about 20% more H.P. and torque than a standard 368 Lincoln.Fantastic car!!!!!!!! 

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO

Google search resulted in information which has the production numbers for 56 and 57 at 2994.  Price was 10,000.  Quality exceeded everything in the US, rivaling RollsRoyce. 

And now I have a tiny piece of the '56 Continental on my truck, kind of .  Went to Bill's yesterday for help with my distributor.  The rotor would not go down onto the shaft all the way and kept chewing itself up.  After a little filing and fitting, Bill took the rotor from the dizzy he withdrew from the '56 and installed it.  Works much better.

Mike, located in the Siskiyou mountains, Southern, OR 292 powered 1946 Ford 1/2 ton, '62 Mercury Meteor, '55 Country Squire (parting out), '64 Falcon, '54 Ford 600 tractor.

Your relatives are very lucky to own one of these cars.In many respects they are probably the best car that has ever been built in this country by Ford or anyone else,for that matter.Also ,I and many others think the MarkII is one of the most beautiful.

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO

In '56, what impressed me (a 10 yr. old kid) most about these cars (other than their looks/price, and the fact that Elvis had one), was the 150 MPH speedometer in a luxury car!

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA