This Restored 1954 Lincoln Capri Coupe Packs GM Genes, and No One Bats an Eyelid

That’s not to say that Lincolns, in general, aren’t something special in the ocean of valve-ticking followers and supporters, but this one has a story attached that makes it stand head and shoulders above the mass.

Dan Staehle from Brownsville, Wisconsin, owns a 1954 Lincoln Capri two-door hardtop built on June 14, 1954. The car was called in FoMoCo literature the Capri Special Custom Coupe (see the attached PDF for the brochure of the era), but it’s a B-pillar-less two-door body, so let’s settle for ‘hardtop,’ shall we?

The car has been in the man’s possession for 25 years, since 1998 – to be accurately fair, since June 14, 1998. That’s the day Mr. Staehle bought the Lincoln from the previous owner—forty-four years to the day after the car was assembled. Of course, it was a fortunate coincidence – the alignment of the stars was a stroke of luck and not a prearranged deal.

The previous owner – one of Dan Staehle’s former work colleagues – knew very little about her automobile. She had inherited the car from her brother in 1988 (an entire decade before she would come to sell it) and hardly ever sat in it.

Never mind driving the luxurious coupe – that was her husband’s duty on seldom occasions, to give the Lincoln regular stretches – so it’s understandable why the car didn’t have a dowry rich with road experience.

After getting possession of the car in 1988, the woman told Dan Staehle about it. At that time, Lincoln was almost unanimously associated with the Continental, as far as Dan was concerned. However, he did some research on the model and found several pieces of information that spurred his interest.

Ever the loyal comrade, he shared his newly-acquired information with the owner of the Capri, along with his interest in the automobile. He didn’t explicitly say he wanted to buy it, but he offered help if the woman ever wanted to sell the car.

That was it. Dan Staehle and the lady who owned the 1954 Lincoln Capri Custom Special Coupe didn’t speak about the car for ten straight years. Until one day, after her retirement, when Dan’s phone rang. Out of the blue, he was in for the purchase of his automotive life – and he bought the automobile.

Afterward, he restored the car from the ground up. When I say ‘he,’ I mean he did the work, not pay someone to do it or take the vehicle to a restoration shop. The parts that weren’t available to buy anymore had to be fabricated, but the overall project turned out to be a masterpiece.

Look at the car in the video below – probably this Lincoln never looked so sharp, and that is saying something about the quality of craftsmanship. Ford’s luxury division was riding the big waves of the early fifties when the Capri rolled out. Launched in 1952, the high-end coupe with an Italian name quickly made its name known to the motoring world by winning its class in the Carrera Panamericana for three straight years between ’52 and ‘54.

In the last year of the race – which coincidentally happens to be 1954 – Lincoln offered sportiness and lavishness in one package. The sleek, bullet-streamlined car was clad with styling elements - like the gold-plated hood ornament, the crest, the intricately shaped bumper, and its staggeringly large Dagmars, or the masterfully simple interior.

Apart from the looks, the car also had – and this particular example still has – the power. 205 hp (208 PS), to be exact, from a 317.5 cubic-inch Y-Block V8 (5.2-liter) with overhead valves. The four-barrel Holley carb, together with the increase in compression ratio and intake valve size and the hotter cam, produced a crank-spinning force of 305 lb-ft (414 Nm).

Naturally, a Lincoln wouldn't give its driver the hassle of fiddling with a clutch pedal while simultaneously stirring the gear lever. The automatic transmission – sourced from the General Motors archrivals from across the road – is a dual-range four-speed Hydra-Matic. (A bit of trivia: In 1952, Rolls-Royce acquired the license to produce the Hydra-Matic for Rolls-Royce and Bentley automobiles until 1967).

Regarding production, the ’54 Lincoln Capri – the division’s top-of-the-line model, above the Cosmopolitan – was the preferred car for 29,552 buyers. 14,003 of those came in the two-door hardtop variant. For reference, the Cosmopolitan only sold 7,441 – a quarter of its posh sibling’s results.

Mr. Staehle’s extraordinary Lincoln is a car show appearance now – it gets about 500 miles (roughly 800 km) worth of yearly drive. However, it turns heads and starts conversations wherever it pops up since usually there isn't another one like it. And definitely not in this condition – in 2019, this car won ‘Best in Show’ at the Sixth Annual Lincoln Homecoming.

The 50,616 (81,441 km) miles registered on the very discrete odometer are original, but the engine is as quiet as a mouse. Naturally, since Lincoln wasn’t a rapturous tremor of V8 eruptions but a silky-smooth expression of American motoring mastery. In the owner’s opinion, the only smoother than the engine sound is the suspension – no matter what roads the Lincoln is driving on, the ride stays dead level every single time.