Harvey and Marie Bane roll into the parking lot of the Chattanooga Choo Choo on Wednesday in a 1958 Continental Mark III as they and other enthusiasts gather for the Eastern National Meet of the Lincoln and Continental Owners Club.Driving a Lincoln Continental, said Jeanne Talbourdet, "is like taking the living room out for a spin."
For members of the Lincoln and Continental Owners Club like the Massachusetts resident, though, there's nothing better.
In truth, said several owners who brought their classic behemoths to the Chattanooga Choo Choo for the club's Eastern National Meet last week, it's all about the style.
"Lincoln's always been a style setter," said James Kaster, meet chairman. "It's been known [for that]."
The 1961 Continental, for example, won a major design award and is considered by many to be the pinnacle of Lincoln style.
Luxury cars of the 1950s-1970s were marketed with somewhat of an aspirational message, said John B. Fryday, Southern Region director of the club. The marketing hinted the cars were something you could move up to.
"I think Detroit missed the boat," he said. "That's been lost. I think that's why you have this feeling [of nostalgia]."
The Lincoln division of Ford Motor Co. may be changing that, according to Kaster. It is slated to offer seven new models over the next two years, including one this fall, he said.
Indeed, Lincoln and Continental Owners Club officials compared the hoped-for renaissance of their favorite model with the renaissance of Chattanooga at the meeting, which drew members from at least 16 states and Canada.
"We're pushing them to see Chattanooga," Kaster, 49, said after arriving in the city. "We want them to see how Chattanooga regenerated itself."
The Lincoln Continental owners hope the new models have the same panache as the ones they drove to the meeting, such as the 1958 black four-door from West Virginia, the 1961 yellow, four-door convertible from North Carolina and the 1969 two-door, blue and white coupe from North Carolina.
But it's not likely they'll have foot after foot of chrome, a trunk that would hold a Smart car and weigh up to 5,700 pounds like those at the Choo Choo, though.
Fryday, 60, who drove his 1961 yellow convertible with turquoise interior, said his love of Continentals started early with a 1961 model owned by a close neighbor of the grandparents who raised him.
"I would wash it and wax it," he said. "I went to my high school prom in that car."
It was the 1961 model, Fryday said, that killed the late 1950s-era tailfin.
"Everything looked old and dated" when it debuted, he said.
The smaller, restrained styling -- with its trademark "suicide doors" -- set it apart from its main luxury rival, the Cadillac, Kaster said.
"It had subtle, slick sides instead of sculpting," he said.
It was also the model -- a 1961 with 1963 updates -- in which President John F. Kennedy was riding when he was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963.
"It is a big, luxurious car that people recognize," Fryday said.
Lincolns and Continentals at last week's gathering -- they'll pull out of the Choo Choo this morning -- were a combination of low-mileage originals, complete restorations or somewhere in between.
Talbourdet, 54, and her husband, John, have owned the 1966 Venetian Yellow convertible they drove for more than 20 years. In fact, they love the model so much they've got another one -- copper with a white top -- on the way.
"It's coming from San Diego," she said, having purchased it from another club member. "I have known it for 15 years. They drive real nice."
Kaster's 1969 Continental Mark III -- its license reads 68.5 MK3 -- has been restored to original with the exception of the two-tone paint scheme he had applied in the style of a 1979 model.
"My father and I bonded through cars," he said, explaining that the two would go to car lots on Sundays when blue laws prohibited dealers from opening that day. "He drove Mercurys but lusted after Lincolns."