• A Lincoln Continental limousine used by U.S. President Lyndon Johnson has been sold at auction.
Presidential limousines are truly unique items. Over the years, some of them have gone down in history, for all sorts of reasons. Of course, the most famous is President Kennedy's Lincoln Continental, in which he died in November of 1963 in Dallas, Texas.
Former presidential limousines are usually destroyed or sent to a museum. Kennedy's is at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearbon, Michigan, as is President Truman's.
But there are a few exceptions. And what a surprise it was to discover one of them up for auction on the Bring a Trailer website last weekend! Bids were open until Sunday, March 24); the car sold for $130,000 USD.
Incredibly, another Lincoln Continental owned by President Lyndon Johnson previously sold on this site, but it was a regular model that the politician liked to drive on his ranch. The limo just snapped up stretches 21 feet.
This model is one of 500 stretched and reinforced limousines manufactured by Chicago firm Lehmann-Peterson between 1964 and 1970. The federal government purchased 15 of them, and of those, this Lincoln is possibly the only one to have fallen into the hands of a private owner.
The seller was one John Lawlor, who had kept the car for 22 years. It bears a Massachusetts LBJ (Lyndon B. Johnson) licence plate. It has been driven over the years, so it does show 37,000 miles of wear and tear. It's not much, but it's a lot for this kind of model.
As for its handling, the owner compares it to a concrete block. One can easily imagine the enormous weight of this car, probably in the area of 6,000 lb.
This Lincoln is not armored, however. It's powered by a 430-cubic-inch (7-litre) V8. Its equipment includes a small bar with crystal decanters and a White House telephone with direct access buttons above the handset. Some modern equipment, such as a Sony CD player and Panasonic speakers, added by a previous owner, date from the Clinton administration and are tucked away out of sight.
When Lawlor bought the Lincoln in 2002, he thought he'd acquired a regular Lehmann-Peterson limousine. But the delivery included a unique box, including a gold key ring and a pen identified with Johnson's 1965 inauguration.
Modern presidential limousines, true armored tanks, have nothing in common with the production versions of the models on which they are based.
That's what makes the sale of this Lincoln all the more special. We may never see this kind of sale again.
