1932 Lincoln Victoria Coupe

The body on this car was also used on the 1933 and 1934 Model KA Lincolns that had the same wheelbase as this car. If someone has a 1933 or 1934 Lincoln Model KA chassis and likes the styling or the V12 engine used on those cars better than the styling or the V8 engine used in this car, then this car would be an ideal parts car for them. They can remove the body from this car and build a gorgeous 1933 or 1934 Lincoln Model KA Victoria 5 passenger coupe using the very impressive Lincoln V12 engine. Now you know why I listed this car as being a parts car even though it is very complete in itself. 

 

     I have watched 2 fairly good 1932 Ford Victoria 5 passenger coupe bodies sell here in Montana in the last few years for $25,000 and $27,000 each. Those bodies sold for that amount because they are used to build absolutely gorgeous cars. Nobody has and likely never will reproduce the Victoria coupe like they have already reproduced the 3 window coupe and roadster bodies. This car looks like a 1932 Ford Victoria coupe on steroids. If this gem in the rough is not worth twice as much as a 1932 Ford Victoria coupe is to someone out there, then I will be happy to store it and look at it for the rest of my life whether I fix it up or not. Thanks for your continued interest. 

 

     The first time I listed this car I only had a few very poor photos showing this car in the back corner of a machine shed on the home ranch. Sometime in October of 2016, I spent several days at the home ranch removing equipment from the shed so this car could see the light of day for the first time in 18 years or so. The first photo shows this car in the rain. It started raining soon after I removed it and did not stop until we received about 3 inches of rain which is very unusual for fall weather here in Montana. Some of the rest of the photos of this car show it setting in mud. 

 

     When I got back up home a couple of weeks later, I installed the front and rear bumpers, the rear mounted spare tire & bracket assembly and the pair of original tail lamps. I forgot to take the new reproduction greyhound radiator cap & ornament, the pair of small front fender tool boxes & covers and the 3 hubcaps that are missing in these latest photos. 

 

This listing is for a very rare if not unique unrestored 1932 Lincoln Model KA Victoria 5 passenger coupe. This model is arguably the most beautiful Victoria coupe that the Ford Motor Company ever built. When I bought this car back in the mid 1980's, an expert on early Lincolns such as this told me that only about 165 were originally built and that only 6 were known to still exist at that time. I suspect that perhaps another one or two may have turned up in the last 30 years or so. At that time 2 of the 6 were restored, 2 were street rods and 2 (including this car) were unrestored. I believe that one of the 2 unrestored cars has since been made into a street rod since then so my car is most likely is the only one left that has not been restored or made into a street rod.

 

     It is interesting to compare the production of this car to the number of 1932 Ford Victorias that were produced. According to the very interesting site:

 

                                                                                                                                       

 

     Ford built 8,870 Victorias in 1932 with the V8 engine plus 729 more with the Model B 4 cylinder engine for a total production that year of 9,599 5 passenger Victoria Coupes. Ford produced 214,159 passenger cars that year with the V8 engine plus 108,803 more with the Model B 4 cylinder engine for a total passenger car production of 322,962. 

 

     Production of the beautiful Ford Victoria 5 passenger coupes accounted for 2.97% or just a hair under 3% of the Ford passenger car production in 1932. In other words, Ford built about 33 Ford automobiles for every Ford Victoria coupe they built that year.

 

     To put into perspective how rare this 1932 Lincoln Victoria coupe really is, one can divide the number of 1932 Ford Victoria coupes produced (9,599) by the number of 1932 Lincoln Model KA Victoria coupes produced (165). That exercise with tell you that Ford built about 58 Ford Victoria coupes in 1932 for every Lincoln Model KA Victoria coupe they built that same year. 

 

     The Model KA in 1932 was the last V8 that Lincoln built until the 1949 model year. Lincoln automobile production started in 1921 with the Model L which featured a very high quality flat head V8 engine of 358 cubic inch displacement featuring fork and blade connecting rods rated at 81 horse power. Lincoln was soon in receivership and the company was purchased by the Ford Motor Company for 8 million dollars in 1922. The Lincoln automobile was continued with only minor changes and modest power increases for several years. 

 

     In 1928 the engine displacement was increased to 385 cubic inches and was rated at 90 horse power. In 1931 the Model K with a 145 inch wheelbase ed the former Model L that had a 136 inch wheelbase. The Model KA with a 136 inch wheelbase replaced the Model K in 1932. It used the same basic engine that was used for 11 years in the Models L and K but a mechanical fuel pump replaced the vacuum tank for fuel delivery in 1932. 

 

     1932 was also the first year of Lincoln production of a V12 powered automobile when the Model KB was introduced on a 145 inch wheelbase. Many parts including the wheels, front axle assembly, most rear axle parts, springs, front fenders, steering gears and lesser items were common to both the Model KA and Model KB automobiles. 

     Murray produced the vast majority of the bodies on the new 1932 Lincoln Model KA automobiles. Those same bodies were used with only minor hardware changes on the Model KA Lincolns built in 1933 and 1934. I also own a 1932 Lincoln Model KA convertible coupe that has external folding landau irons. That body was carried over into 1933 for the Model KA basically unchanged. For 1934 that same convertible coupe body was again on the Model KA but the folding landau irons were hidden inside the top assembly much like the landau irons used on the Ford cabriolets built from 1932 onward.  

     I don't know who the man was that styled this car. Edsel Ford no doubt had a hand in it because I don't think Bob Gregorie was working for the Ford styling department yet at that time. As you can see, this gem in the rough looks like a 1932 Ford Victoria that was on steroids. This Lincoln is much longer that the 1932 Ford and has a small integral hump trunk with a functional lid at the back. The Ford Victoria coupes did not have a deck lid until 1934. 

     There is no mistaking how this car and the 1932 Ford Victoria shared the same upper front and rear roof styling. The Reo Royale Victoria coupe bodies of this vintage were also built by Murray and have identical styling except that the front doors open backwards or are "suicide" doors. The fronts of those doors are vertical rather than slopped so they look rather awkward when they are open.

     This Lincoln rides on a relatively long for 1932 wheelbase of 136" while it's little brother Ford rode on a 30" shorter or 106" wheelbase. This car is 204-5/8" long overall while the 1932 Ford is 28-5/8" shorter at 176" long overall. The longer wheelbase and length of this car add tremendously to the beautiful looks of it. 

     This car weighted approximately 4,800 pounds when new while the Ford weighed slightly over half as much at approximately 2,580 pounds. Ford produced 322,962 Ford automobiles in 1932 and only 2,224 Lincoln Model KA's of all body styles. Therefore, Ford built over 145 Ford automobiles in 1932 for every Lincoln Model KA that they built that same year. That should give you some perspective as to why these cars are so scarce and very rarely seen in collections or at meets or car shows today.    

     The Lincoln listed here is a bit rough in some respects with some rusted sheet metal in the bottoms of both of the doors as well as the quarter panels in front of the rear wheels. The bottoms of the cowl panels appear to be fine. The rear part of the floor from under the front buck seats back is made from a stamped steel panel that is very solid and not rusted through anywhere. I have the very special folding right front bucket seat even though it is not shown in these photos.   

     All of the lower wood body framing will have to be replaced but it is good enough for patterns. A previous owner had started to work on this car when he found another 1932 Model KA Victoria coupe that was about half restored. He high graded the welled front fenders and the windshield frame off of this car. That is why the front fenders are painted with red oxide primer and do not match the gray primer on the rest of the car. That is also why the windshield frame on this car has been re-chromed.   

     The engine and transmission were missing and he located them and installed them in this car. I believe the engine in this car may have some frozen water jackets but I never filled it with coolant to find out. Both of the the front seats were missing as was the rear spare tire carrier and both of the bumpers when he found this car in California. As I recall, he told me he bought the front seats, rear spare tire carrier and the bumpers from someone in Florida who made another 1932 Lincoln KA Victoria into a street rod. 

     This car is very complete now except for both of the rear seat cushions and one of the sun visors that hung down from the inside of the roof in front of the driver and front seat passenger. Those sun visors featured a very dark green glass panel that one could not see through. I have several boxes of loose parts that go with this car to make it very complete and have one of the dark green glass internal sun visors. Those sun visors would be the same as those used on the sedans. 

     The second photo of this listing is a scan of the original 1932 Lincoln Model KA sales catalog illustration. That beautiful color artwork is very well done to scale and accurately represents this beautiful automobile. Many of the paintings of vehicles of this vintage made them look longer or lower but that is not the case with Lincoln catalog artwork of this era.