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Los Angeles, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Matthew Finio for the hookup!
Help me out with NPOND. Hit me up at rob@jalopnik.com and send me a fixed-price tip. Remember to include your Kinja handle.
Two historically important Lincoln limousines that carried President John F. Kennedy – one of which he rode in on day that he was assassinated – will be offered during Bonhams’ live/online American Presidential Experience Auction in New York on October 14, just three weeks ahead of the presidential election.
The white 1963 Lincoln Continental convertible that was designated “Limo One,” and which carried the President and first lady on the morning of November 22, 1963, in Fort Worth with Texas Governor John Connally, has a pre-auction estimated value of $300,000 to $500,000.
The Lincoln, which was on loan from Bill Golightly of Golightly Auto Sales for the Fort Worth tour, carried the Kennedys and Connally to the Hotel Texas Ballroom, where Kennedy delivered his last speech, and then to Carswell Air Force Base where they boarded the flight to Dallas.
The other Lincoln is a 1960 Lincoln Continental Mark V Executive Limousine used by President Kennedy for personal trips in Washington, DC. The Mark V was specially outfitted by Hess and Eisenhardt for presidential use with bulletproof doors, divider window, passenger air controls and a two-way telephone in the back seat, which was an uncommon luxury for the period.
The car was sold in March 1964 to James C. Walsh, a doctor who had known John Kennedy. Walsh confirmed in a letter that “He [President Kennedy] did use this car for his own personal uses in contrast to the official use of the larger White House limousine.”
Valued at $200,000 to $300,000, the ’60 Lincoln has had its body restored but the interior is original, according to Bonhams.
Several unusual collector’s items from the Kennedy years also be auctioned, including two mockups that provided a glimpse into the President’s life.
Kennedy was known as the first jet-age president, when Air Force One became a Boeing 707, and a full-scale replica of the plane that was used as an exhibition piece for the public will be among the auction offerings.
“The replica includes the full cockpit, crew officers’ workstations, the state room where Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as President and the President’s quarters,” Bonhams says in a news release. “It recreates in minute detail the original designs by Raymond Loewy, who created the distinct blue livery which has been used for all Air Force One airplanes since.”
The display piece is valued at $200,000 to $300,000.
Just as evocative is a full-scale mockup of the White House Oval Office, “complete with wooden panels, a fireplace and furniture including a scale fine-wood reproduction of the Resolute Desk,” Bonhams says.
The replica, which has been used on such TV programs as Saturday Night Live and The Today Show, is valued at $40,000 to $60,000.
A more-personal item from the Kennedy pieces is the leather Air Force One bomber jacket originally owned by the president. The government-issue G-1 flight jacket with the presidential seal sewn on was given by Kennedy to his close friend and “special assistant” David Powers during Kennedy’s term in office.
The presidential flight jacket is valued at $200,000 to $300,000.
Bonhams will conduct the Presidential Experience Auction, which also includes a number of other historic presidential items, with a live auctioneer on the rostrum at the Bonhams’ showroom on Madison Avenue and live streamed on the Bonhams website, with bids accepted online, by phone or by absentee bidding.
The Kennedy limousines will be available for viewing at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia from October 9 through 11, then by appointment at Motor Car Manor in Ramsey, New Jersey.
For more information, visit the Bonhams website.
I’ve participated in the Lemons Rally before, and it’s a ridiculously fun and ridiculously tiring trek in an assemblage of some of the worst cars you’ve ever seen. Craigslist garbage that everyone else passed on gets picked up for a song and thrashed into something resembling working condition to go on a lengthy and grueling road trip. Often the cars receive modifications in the tradition of Lemons, and every year someone outdoes everyone who came before. This year that honor has to go to the Hot Tub Lincoln.
What do you get when you cut the roof off of an early-70s big-block Lincoln, fiberglass in the whole interior, fabricate seals for the pedals and steering column, and fill it with 700 gallons of water? Well, the Lincoln itself is said to have weighed around 5300 pounds brand new, and a gallon of water weighs about 8.34 pounds at room temperature, so… I guess you get something close to 11,000 pounds of Lincoln sloshing its way down the road. Seems like a great idea, right?
To add to the insanity of this project, this particular Lemons rally took place in the high elevation of Colorado, and water does one hell of a number on body heat, especially when the wind of, say 60 miles per hour cruising is taken into consideration. The geniuses behind the Hot Tub Lincoln decided the best method to keep temperatures up was to route the engine’s coolant hoses directly into the cabin/hot tub. With enough water, the idea was that the 200-ish degree temperatures of the engine would dissipate enough through the 700 gallons heat exchanger that the car had become.
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Needless to say, that didn’t exactly work out, and I’ll leave it to Lemons’ own Eric Rood and Nick Pon to explain just what went wrong.
I’d seen this rolling WTF on social media as the rally was happening, but the true extent of the vehicle’s absurdity wasn’t uncovered until the most recent installment of Lemonsworld. You should watch this, as the next-level car weirdos at Lemons never fail to inspire other car idiots to do sketchy shit in cars. That’s pretty much always a good thing. Maybe.
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Can you beat this? I’m thinking the only way to do such a thing would be to build a proper fish-bowl out of an AMC Pacer. Weld everything shut, seal it up tight, enter the car through a hole in the roof, fill it to the brim with water, and drive it in a full scuba suit. I’ll go start drawing up the plans.
