Continental Mark II History

The Continental Mark II was the only car of Ford's new Continental Division, created in April 1955 to build a worldwide flagship that revived the spirit of the 1939–1948 Lincoln Continental. The 'Mark II' name followed European practice, marking it as the second generation of the Continental family.

Sold for the 1956 and 1957 model years as a single, clean-lined two-door hardtop coupe, the Mark II was largely hand-assembled to exacting standards. It drew its 368-cubic-inch Lincoln Y-block V8 from the standard Lincoln line — about 285 hp for 1956, rising to roughly 300 hp for 1957 — paired with a three-speed automatic.

At a base price near $10,000 it was the most expensive American-built car of its era, marketed against the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud and Bentley Continental. It reportedly cost Ford more to build than it sold for, and only about 3,005 were made before the Continental Division was wound down and the Mark II discontinued after 1957.