When it comes to large automobiles produced in Detroit, the Continental Mark III might very well win the prize. The latter half of the 1950’s were a time of fins and lot of steel. The 1958 Continental Mark III stayed away from extra large fins but instead caught your eye with it’s massive size.

The 1958 Continental Mark III is said to be the longest and widest (non limo) passenger car ever built in Detroit. It was longer than that years Cadillac, it’s main competitor. Some would say that the Mark III’s size was excessive but when you look back at the 50’s many automobiles could fit that description in one way or another.

Built by Lincoln, the 1958 Lincoln Continental Mark III had a weight of 4,900 lbs. An interesting side note was that the very first Lincoln Continental was a 1939 model built as a one only model for Edsel Ford’s personal use and amazingly was sketched out in about an hour by design Bob Gregorie. Gregorie reportedly used the Lincoln Zephyr designs and made alterations. Auto enthusiasts may remember that Bentley also used the name Continental at one time on some of their lines.

1958 Continental Mark III Design

Continental offered four 1958 models. These included the four door sedan, the two door hardtop, the four door hardtop and the two door convertible. The Continental was not a separate line of cars but represented the top of the line Lincoln models. The separate Continental Division was phased out in 1957. As a result of this distinction between the two car divisions, some mistakenly call the 1956 and 57 Continental a Lincoln Continental when in reality it was separate from Lincoln as a marquee.

Ford Motor Company Designer John Najjar

Design credit for this car is chiefly credited to John Najjar. Najjar was a lead designer for the Ford Motor Company and is also credited for the design of the Ford Mustang logo. John Najjar joined the Ford Motor Company Apprentice School in 1936. After a chance meeting with Henry Ford Najjar was given an opportunity in the the design department and ended up working for Ford Motor fordtop rations. . o usachment_8053" aria-describedby="4aption-attachment-8053" style="width: 300p4" class="wp-caption alignleft">