JFK’s Cool Factor Would Have Been Off The Dial In This Coyote-Powered Continental

The Elwood Engel-designed fourth generation Lincoln Continental is one of the most important designs of the 1960s.

Clean and uncluttered, it made the bloated, finned and fussy luxury cars Detroit had been producing through the late 1950s look like dinosaurs when it appeared for the 1961 model year. And the coolest of the lot was the clap-door Continental convertible that, sadly, will forever be associated with the assassination of JFK.

This modern, hip luxury car was the perfect set of wheels for a young, charismatic leader like Kennedy, but just imagine how much cooler he would have looked riding in this restomod Conti from Arizona’s Weld County Kustomz that’s scheduled to be auctioned by Barrett-Jackson this month.

Called “Gold Dust” and coated in a glassy covering of white gold paint, what started life as a 1962 Continental has ended up as a blueprint for how to to do a restomod right. Too often we come across old cars that are unsympathetically updated, ruining the character of the original vehicle. And you just know that they’re going to look terribly dated a couple of years down the line.

But despite its fat 10-inch-wide billet wheels this one looks almost liked it rolled out of the factory like this, or at least how Engel and his design team might have imagined it in their early sketches before the engineers, bean counters and the technology available in 1960 toned it down for production.

The interior is as tasteful as the exterior, and features a pasture’s worth of premium cow on the seats, dashboard and steering wheel. Absent are nasty modern gauges that would spoil the feel, or so it would appear. In fact, Dakota Digital gauges are mounted inside the factory bezels, and there’s definitely plenty more modern technology hidden beneath this car’s skin.

Under the hood in place of the original carb-fed Ford big block is an aluminum 5.0-liter Coyote V8 making upwards of 460 horses, and while the original car had a unibody structure, this one rides on a full custom frame that surely helps with stiffness, and probably makes those doors shut cleanly. Rounding off the chassis is a Chevy Silverado rack and pinion setup, uprated suspension and Wilwood brakes.

Is this your idea of a great restomod or do you prefer a little more 2022 with your 1962 classic, or maybe just a bit more emphasis on the custom side of things, as on this ’64 Continental? Leave a comment and let us know.