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1956 Lincoln Continental [Down On The Street]

Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. It appears that we have a new Ultimate DOTS Neighborhood in Alameda, one that's provided us with the '67 Imperial, the '69 Volvo P1800, the '67 Olds Vista Cruiser, the '70 Lincoln Mark III, plus several cars you haven't seen yet… all in a one-block area! Some are clearly owned by the same lover of old iron, but the whole neighborhood seems to be infected by the glorious madness of vintage machinery.

This is either a 1956 or 1957 model; I can't tell the difference, so I flipped a coin to choose. You Lincoln experts can save the day by pointing out what makes it one or the other. Either way, it's pretty solid and it runs; since it's too nice for rat-rod-ization, my guess is that it's going to go the restoration route.

Check out this fine trunk ornament. Knights! Coats of arms! Somehow, this schtick wasn't lame in the 50s, very much unlike the Broughamized cheeze Detroit pasted on their cars in the 60s and 70s. Or was it always cheeze?

And the vents behind the rear quarter windows- what's the deal here? They look functional, but for what? Rear-mounted air-conditioning unit? Early attempt at flow-through ventilation? Rear brake cooling for total hoons?

First 350 DOTS Vehicles • DOTS FAQ

The Top 10 Most Toxic Cars

A report released yesterday by a Michigan-based non-profit environmentalist group, the Ecology Center, ranked the interior air quality of about 450 2008-09 model vehicles. The investigation is part of a two-year old (fledgling) endeavor initiated by the Ecology Center known as the Clean Car Campaign.

The CCC’s primary objective is to raise consumer and manufacturer awareness concerning, beginning with their official findings. Accordingly, the Ecology Center’s report ranks vehicles based on the potential threat they pose to human and environmental health. Ranked on a scale from 0 to 5 (0 being little-to-no threat), a vehicle’s score is tabulated by measuring the amount of toxic chemicals present in its interior. According to the report, the ten most toxic cars in descending order are [with score appearing beside vehicle model]:

Mitsubishi Eclipse Spider GT [4.7]

Suzuki Reno [4.2]

BMW 128i [3.9]

VW Beetle [3.9]

Lincoln Mark LT 4×4 [3.5]

Suzuki Forenza [3.5]

Mazda 6 Sport Value Edition [3.4]

Lincoln Navigator [3.3]

Kia Rondo LX [3.3]

Audi TT Coupe 2.0 [3.3]

When asked by Automotive News about the significance of these findings, Jeff Gearheart, who is spearheading the Clean Car Campaign, said, “Companies are starting to take this seriously.”

I beg your pardon, starting? Shouldn’t interior air quality already have been important? I mean, I know the fuel crisis is what’s on the front burner right now, but I don’t want a car that gets 40 mpg if the flame-retardant material used to upholster the seats is going to give me Black Lung.

[Full article & additional report results available at Automotive News]

Latest Cars News Blog

1956 Lincoln Continental [Down On The Street]

First 350 DOTS Vehicles • DOTS FAQ

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