1955 Lincoln Indianapolis Boano Coupe. While every car on display at this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance was exquisite in its own right, few stood out like a beacon in the night quite as much as the 1955 Lincoln Indianapolis Boano Coupe. After taking the Lincoln Trophy and a second place ribbon in the Lincoln Custom Coachwork Postwar category at this year’s event, the jet-age influnced Lincoln will soon cross the stage at RM’s inaugural New York sale. Seeking to prove that Ford’s products could be as stylish as concepts being produced by Chrysler and Italian design house Ghia, Henry Ford II reached out to former Ghia employee Felice Mario Boano to create a concept that embodied the jet age. Working with his son on a Lincoln chassis that Henry Ford II provided (chassis number 58WA10902, according to RM), Gian Paolo Boano, the pair crafted an automobile that blended influences from jet aircraft (such as its pointed nose, rear fender intakes and pronounced fins) with typical Italian refinement. The result, sprayed in a hue of orange guaranteed to draw attention, and powered by a 225hp Lincoln 341-cu.in. V-8, was named by Ford in honor of the annual 500-mile race in Indiana. As Bloomberg Businessweek explained in a 2006 article, original build quality of the Lincoln Indianapolis Boano Coupe left much to be desired. The clamps for the hood release were reportedly fashioned from oil cans, bent into the proper position and painted to match the car’s finish. The hood did not present the type of panel gap that modern buyers have come to expect, possibly because the left front fender was more than an inch longer than the right side. It almost goes without saying that the roof wasn’t straight and that the Boanos used prodigious amounts of lead body filler. How much? When a previous owner stripped the car down for restoration, he removed enough lead to fill a 55-gallon drum to the halfway mark. Despite the car’s original flaws, Henry Ford II himself reportedly drove it around following its debut at the 1955 Turin Motor Show. At some point he then gave it to actor Errol Flynn, but it’s unclear how long Flynn owned it before it changed hands again. At some point along the line, a fire had damaged the car’s interior, which further complicated the restoration process. Still, the two-plus year effort proved worthwhile, as the restored car debuted at Pebble Beach in 2001, then owned by Thomas Kerr, and took first place in that year’s Postwar Custom Coachwork class. The attention to detail brought an impressive price at auction, too; when Gooding and Company sold it in 2006 at Pebble Beach, the car drew a winning bid of $1,375,000. Fresh from its latest trip to Monterey, RM expects the Indianapolis to sell for between $1.5 million and $2.5 million. RM’s Art of the Automobile sale in New York, which it will conduct in association with Sotheby’s, will take place November 18-21 in the Sotheby’s Manhattan galleries. For more information, visit RMAuctions.
Posted on: Wed, 25 Sep 2013 14:08:24 +0000
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