1933 Lincoln Dual Cowl Phaeton: Still unchanged after all these years
$15 investment in 1948 has soared in value as a result of doing nothing
The Lincoln Motor Car Company was founded in 1915 by Henry M. Leland and a group of investors.
Leland was one of the founders of Cadillac, which came about when a group of investors squeezed Henry Ford out of the ownership of his second company, the Detroit Automobile Company.
Soon after they took control, it was renamed Cadillac and was later purchased by General Motors.
Henry Ford considered the $8-million US acquisition of the bankrupt Lincoln Company in 1922 a great personal triumph given the previous history and ill feelings between him and Leland.
Ford and his son Edsel quickly turned things around and Lincoln became one of America’s top-selling automobiles.
The KB series launched in 1932 featured attractive coachbuilt bodies placed on a lengthy 145-inch wheelbase rolling chassis fitted with a 67-degree, 448-cid, V-12 engine, which produced 150 hp through a three-speed manual gearbox.
The pictured 1933 Lincoln Dual-Cowl Phaeton was one of the cars
I judged in the preservation class at the 2014 San Marino Classics in California.
The car is owned by Howard Henkels, who has owned it since 1948.
He told me he paid $15 for the car. I immediately made him an offer to double, triple or even quadruple his investment but he declined; a wise move, as the car is probably worth $250,000-$300,000 today and even more valuable because it is absolutely untouched.
All he has done to it is changed the oil, kept air in the tires and enjoyed 40,000 miles behind the steering wheel.
He recently thought about painting the wire wheels, but changed his mind knowing that this would lead to other work and perhaps a complete restoration.
On the subject of preservation, July has been proclaimed by the provincial government as classic car appreciation month in British Columbia and this Saturday is classic car appreciation day.
I would encourage all classic vehicle owners to take their vehicles out for a drive, perhaps clubs could organize a cruise and if you do, please send me the details and some photos so that we can pass this information along to Victoria with our thanks and appreciation for recognizing our hobby.
