Lincoln
Continental Coupe (first model year)

Why it matters

The 1940 Continental Coupe was the hard-top version of the Continental Cabriolet that Edsel Ford and designer E.T. Gregorie created from the Lincoln-Zephyr. The LCOC article calls it a "hardtop convertible" and the most influential predecessor of the 1950s hardtop, though not the first hardtop.

How rare is it?

Six separate kinds of rarity – never combined into one number.

Each kind of rarity is rated separately and never combined.

Photos

Exterior, interior and detail photos with their licences.

• Lincoln Continental Coupe (first model year) (Wikimedia Commons search)
  Photo: Kaz Andrew from Edmonton,Alberta, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0
• Lincoln Continental Coupe (first model year) (Wikimedia Commons search)
  Photo: Kaz Andrew from Edmonton,Alberta, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0

Production

Every figure says what it counts.

Independent counts (e.g. engine and colour) are never combined into a calculated figure. Surviving examples are never presented as original production.

History

Edsel Ford began work on the first Continental in September 1938; it was finished in February 1939, and a second 1939 car followed as the prototype for production. In April 1939 Edsel decided to build the 1940 Continental. The Cabriolet was built first; work on the Coupe began shortly after, its clay model being a Cabriolet body with a coupe roof.

The Coupe went on sale in May 1940 and was built for only about six weeks, from 23 May to 10 July 1940, in which time 54 were made against 350 Cabriolets for the year. The Henry Ford dates its April 1940 photograph of a coupe within the first-generation run, 1940 to 1948.

Technical specifications

Engine

Transmission & drivetrain

Chassis, body & dimensions

Performance

“Not yet verified” means no source has been checked for that value yet. Nothing is estimated to fill a gap.

Identification guide

How to tell an original from a replica or later conversion.

Other than the top, the Coupe differed from the Cabriolet chiefly in the windshield and doors: it used stainless steel channel-frame door windows, an adaptation made for low-volume production, and kept the centre post behind the door. The name "Continental" does not appear on any 1940 car, which was catalogued as a special-bodied Lincoln-Zephyr.

Sources

Each number links to the exact facts it supports.

1. 1
   1940 Lincoln Continental (reprint of Continental Comments Parts IV and V) Level B Lincoln & Continental Owners Club · 1995-01-01

   • only 54 of the Coupes were made
   • The V-12 L-head ... uses aluminum heads
   • bore of 2 7/8" and a stroke of 3 3/4", giving 292 cubic inches
   • bore of 27/8"
   • a stroke of 33/4"
   • compression ratio of 6.7:1
   • rated at 120 hp. @ 3,900 rpm

   Accessed 2026-11-12
2. 2
   Ford – The Origins of the Lincoln Continental Level A

   • 54 Coupes in first model year (plus 350 Cabriolets)

   Accessed 2026-11-11