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Ford never built the Continental Mark II to make money. It built the Mark II to be the finest automobile in America, and it succeeded so completely that the company reportedly lost money on every car that left the line. Only 3,005 were assembled across two model years, each one hand-finished to a standard no other Detroit product came close to. This 1956 coupe, offered by Broad Arrow Auctions at The Audrain Auction 2026, is one of the very best of them — and it is crossing the block without reserve.
Chassis C56E2881 was completed on March 1, 1956, the sixth Mark II built that day. It left the factory finished in Deep Green over a two-tone green leather interior, its Light Green seat biscuits set against Medium Green bolsters with Light Green welts, exactly as body specification 05-1C2D-301-6 called for. From there it was shipped to Bristol Lincoln-Mercury of Forestville, Connecticut.
A Name You Already Know
The first owner makes the story better. Per the Continental Mark II Registry, the car was originally delivered to Edward George Kingsford — the American timber cruiser and charcoal baron whose name still sits on bags of briquettes in half the garages in the country. Kingsford was recruited in 1919 by his wife's first cousin, Henry Ford, to develop the company's Upper Peninsula timber and sawmill operations, and he later served as general manager of Ford's lumber division. A Mark II is exactly the car you would expect a man that close to the Ford family to order.
Three Decades Of Winning
The show record is where this one truly separates itself from the pack. Following a comprehensive restoration that totaled close to $200,000 — a job that also added factory air conditioning — the coupe opened its record with Best Primary Division for 1956-1957 Continental Mark II at the 2003 Lincoln and Continental Owners Club Eastern National Meet.
It repeated that class win at the 2008 Eastern Nationals with a score of 99 out of 100, taking home a William Clay Ford Trophy along with a Best 1950s Engine Room award — a distinction the judges declined to hand out to any car at all the following year. In 2009 it was back on the podium at the Eastern National Lincoln Show, scoring 99.17 out of 100 and earning a second William Clay Ford Trophy.
Twenty-three years after that first trophy, it still presents like a car fresh off the trailer. The paint and interior carry the same crisp finish that earned those scores, and the 368-cubic-inch Lincoln V8 sits in an engine bay that concours judges have already declared the best of its decade. The documentation backs every word of it: restoration invoices, photographs, correspondence, the original hardback owner's manual still tucked in its original envelope, a factory sales brochure, and more.
Peak American Luxury
The Mark II was the most expensive American car of its day, and it has always drawn owners who could buy anything they wanted — Elizabeth Taylor famously had a 1956 example of her own. The nameplate's later chapters were interesting in their own right, from the 1958 Mark III Jay Leno has driven to the Coyote-swapped 1977 Continental that reimagines the formula with modern power. None of them ever quite recaptured the purity of this first act.
Broad Arrow has this one estimated at $100,000 to $150,000, which is a genuinely striking number when the restoration alone cost roughly $200,000 and the car has the hardware to prove where that money went. It joins a strong Newport docket that also includes a rare L-series Ferrari Dino 246 GT with concours pedigree. With no reserve attached, one of the finest surviving Mark IIs in the world will find a new owner regardless of where the bidding lands.
Images and details courtesy of Broad Arrow Auctions.
