Lincoln Zephyr Owner’s Club meets in Fayette County
The original Lincoln Zephyr has a faithful following who believe the car’s streamline styling, V-12 performance and its place in automotive history make it the ultimate classic. Members of the Lincoln Zephyr Owner’s Club recently extolled the virtues of their rare cars at their 39th annual meet, the “Gathering of the Faithful XXXIX,” held at the Summit Inn in Wharton Township.
It was held in conjunction with a Lincoln Owner’s Club meet.
The differences were obvious between the old Lincolns, such as a massive, ornate chauffer-driven 1932 KB model with a wood-framed body and a huge 400-cubic-inch V-12 engine, and the mid-sized Zephyr, which debuted in 1936 with a smaller 110-horsepower, 267-cubic-inch, V-12 engine and teardrop fenders that highlight its revolutionary aerodynamic design.
“It was a style leader in the ’30s and, as far as I’m concerned, it still is,” said John Sweet, a LZOC member from Sterling, Va., whose idea it was to hold the meet in Fayette County.
The last of the original Zephyrs was produced in 1942 and club members – who have spent a great deal of time researching their prized cars and tens of thousands of dollars restoring them – are natural history buffs.
History was the main reason Fayette County was selected for this year’s meet, which was held June 6-10.
Ford founder Henry Ford was once a guest at The Summit Inn, said Sweet’s father, Jack Sweet of South Union Township, who owns a 1946 Lincoln Continental Cabriolet, which he and his son restored from the ground up.
The historic hotel faces the National Road, which added another historic element to the meet.
Meets are usually held where there are other attractions and sights for members and their families to see, and this one included a tour of Fallingwater.
Fallingwater’s famous designer, Frank Lloyd Wright, owned two 1941 Lincoln Continentals, said National LZOC President Jerry Emery of San Jose, Calif.
Zephyr owners said their cars saved Lincoln from demise during the Great Depression.
“The Zephyr saved Lincoln during the Depression,” said Jack Shea of Fort Myers, Fla., who owns five classic Lincolns, including a 1936 Zephyr. “Lincolns were chauffer-driven.”
Before the Zephyr hit the market, Lincoln was producing only large expensive cars such as the 1932 KB model, which sold for about $5,000.
Lincoln sent its frames to coachbuilders who handmade the wood-framed bodies to customer specifications, John Sweet said.
The 1936 Zephyr sold for $1,275, Sweet said. It was a mid-priced alternative to Ford cars, which went for about $500.
“We’re basically historians. We enjoy the past and like to restore it,” said Cecil Bozrath, who came from Chapel Hill, N.C., but left his 1937 Zephyr Coupe at home, where it is being restored.
Sweet owns a 1948 Lincoln, which is among the H series cars with V-12 engines built from 1936 to 1948 that are accepted in the LZOC.
The 1948 Lincoln is the most rare of the H series cars. Only 318 were built, but Sweet was so busy with arrangements that he never got around to bringing it to the show at the Summit Inn.
LZOC member Fred H. Coon made it to the show driving his 1941 Zephyr three-window coupe all the way from his home in Elma, N.Y.
“Not a high-point car. It’s a driver. We drove it all the way from just outside Buffalo, New York,” Coon said. “Once I drove it to St. Louis, Missouri. It goes right along. You see it has a two-speed rear end in it.”
The overdrive rearend, which is activated by pulling a knob below the dashboard, reduces the engine speed by 28 percent for better mileage while driving on highways.
Coon said he owns and drives five classic Fords, but the Zephyr is his favorite.
“I like the V-12 engine. I like the shape of the car. It’s a nice driving car. Quiet,” Coon said.
“It’s a work of art that will go down the road at 70 miles per hour,” said Bozrath, who assisted in the judging at the car show.
He said Zephyr’s teardrop-shaped fenders, nameplate, headlights, trunk latch and the car’s streamlined shape make it look like it’s moving while it’s standing still.
Emery said the Zephyr’s prow hood flanked on both sides by teardrop-shaped fenders gave it a streamlined appearance.
Several club members suspect that name Zephyr was chosen to help market the car’s aerodynamic body. Zephyr is defined as a gentle breeze.
Shea, who serves on the board of the Lincoln Motor Car Museum and Heritage Foundation, said the Zephyr had one of the first aerodynamic body styles. The Zephyr’s style and small V-12 motor are what made it such an innovative car in its day and what makes it appealing to car nuts today, he said.
“It was strikingly streamlined,” said Chadwick Combs, a past LZOC president from Nokesville, Va.
“It was beautiful. Three hand-buffed coats of enamel paint gave it a deep luster. To drive an original ’36 Zephyr is an eye-opening experience. It was a style trendsetter.”
He said there were about 186,000 Zephyrs and Lincoln V-12s built from 1936 to 1948.
They were priced to compete in the post-depression market with the Packard 120 and the Cadillac LaSalle, Combs said.
“It’s the ultimate Ford. Driving a V-12 is like driving a steam engine, smooth acceleration from ground zero,” Combs said. “They were fast, sporty and handled well. They were enthusiasts’ cars. It was just a revelation.”
Lincoln used the Zephyr as the starting point when it designed the Lincoln Continental, he said.
Emery said the Continental has a more prominent place in automotive history that the Zephyr, but the Zephyr’s relationship to the Continental is part of its allure.
“In 1940, the first Continental was made by customizing a Zephyr,” Emery said.
Sweet estimated that more than 70 percent of the original Continentals survive today, but just a little more than 10 percent of the original Zephyrs still exist.
Lincoln used a 1936 Zephyr when it introduced a new version of the Zephyr last year. Since then, the car has been renamed the Lincoln MKZ.
“A lot of people didn’t know it existed before,” Emery said about the original Zephyr.
Mercury borrowed the Zephyr name in the late 1970s. That mid-sized car survived only a couple years and didn’t get much attention from the LZOC.