 |
| Frank Lloyd Wright |
It was apparently circa 1946 that Frank Lloyd Wright's Lincoln convertible was involved in a road accident as it was being driven by one of Wright’s apprentices (other accounts say a member of Wright’s family was at the wheel). Although the driver, whoever it was, survived relatively unscathed, the car was in need of serious bodywork and mechanical repairs.
Wright, who was never one to let tragedy get in the way of an opportunity, decided to "improve" the design of the car, with the goal of showing the boys at Lincoln how to design a "proper luxury vehicle." The car was shipped to Hollywood, along with Wright’s blueprints, and bids were taken from mechanics and coachworks. The mechanicals and some of the bodywork were repaired there, but the car was shipped back to Wisconsin to be modified at a local body shop, whose bids were presumably much cheaper than the well-known coachworks in Hollywood.
At last, Wright’s Lincoln was on the road -- a custom design that he believed would be "the future in luxury motoring." The convertible top went away and a sedanca roof was installed to make it a town car. This half-roof was integrated into the lower body. The rear window was removed and semicircular opera windows were installed at the sides. The line of the roof arched along the same radius as the window, rather than following the roof line set by Lincoln. A removable fabric roof stretched between the red sedanca and the windscreen. Much of the rest of the car was relatively stock Lincoln, with exception of a Wright-designed custom leather interior and a restored Cherokee Red colorway.
 |
| Frank Lloyd Wright |
No comments:
Post a Comment