In this classic Lincoln, there's no place quite like chrome

Originally published Saturday, July 26, 1997

By JON HAHN  
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST

Merrill Robison is Bainbridge Island's resident sense of humor. When his classic 1948 Lincoln Continental convertible -- as he says -- "crapped-out" during the July 4th parade, he laughed and waved while volunteers pushed his grand marshal's car along Winslow Way.

He laughed so much over his car's vapor lock that he just about gave himself a case of vapors on that hot afternoon. And he's laughed at all the ribbing he's taken in the aftermath.

This guy's a classic himself. The car just happens to be a certifiable classic American car owned by a guy who believes that such cars are to drive and have fun with.

"And it's a great way to meet interesting people -- even when it craps out on you!" said the retired Weyerhaeuser executive.

The almost-cherry condition green-lacquered car with rolled-leather upholstery doesn't look 49 years old any more than Robison looks his 72 years. Each has been driven hard and put away wet, but they were good when they were made and they were made to last.

"Some classic-car owners keep them under wraps and only take them out in good weather . . . on trailers. When they bring 'em home, they put them up on jacks in the garage," Robison said in a rather non-judgmental tone.

"I bought this car mostly to have fun driving it! Even that parade was fun, although there was a full front-page picture of me being pushed in the local paper the next week." And yes, there he was in living color, smiling broadly and waving from behind the wheel as a half-dozen volunteers pushed him along the crowded street.

Because he's sort of thrown himself into community work now that he's retired and living comfortably at the tip of Eagle Harbor, Robison can be seen driving his classic car to chamber of commerce meetings, Help Line board meetings, public access TV channel board meetings or weekly gatherings of old car buffs at the Port Orchard A&W Root Beer drive-in.

He's a big man with a bench-vise handshake and a great shock of gray hair over a tanned face, just the kind of fellow you'd imagine driving a classic 5,000-pound convertible with more front-end chrome than a couple hundred teenagers in orthodontia.

His artist wife, Sally, "likes it because it has pneumatic brakes, but she doesn't drive it much," he said. But they do like to take it out for a top-down spin when the mood strikes them, Robison said.

I am not a car nut or classic-car freak, but from the time I was about 12, I have lusted for the real Lincoln Continentals, those Edsel Ford specials that originated in 1941, '42 and '43 and then were resurrected in 1948 with a more massive chrome grill. You might remember Lincoln Continental as the car shot full of holes in the original "Godfather" film when one of the Corleone boys bought it at a turnpike tollboth. Oh, that hurt when I saw that beautiful Lincoln get feloniously fenestrated.

Luckily for Robison, the Bremerton man who owned this Continental before him had entirely rebuilt the V-12 engine and kept it in prime condition. Even so, the road monster's 20-gallon gas tank is good for "maybe 150 miles max!" Robison said.

He, too, lusted after it before he owned it. "But I already had a '34 Buick four-door Phaeton in perfect shape, which I didn't want to sell. And some guy in Chicago wanted that car real bad. He called one day, just after I learned this one was available, and asked if maybe my car was for sale for more money than I ever thought I'd see, and I said: 'You know, it's just been put up for sale!'"

The 125-horsepower V-12 comes to life slowly with the six-volt system, but produces a throaty roar once it's turned over. The two-jet carburetor looks too small atop the main power plant festooned with chrome head bolts.

That massive grill has a Cheshire cat smile, with original turn-signal lights. Twin chrome spotlights and side-view mirrors complete the symmetry, along with the push-button doors. The old 7.00-15 "fat" whitewalls and the barn-door fender skirts give the car a sort of Big Daddy-in-spats appearance from the side.

The "continental" in Continental is, of course, that European-style trunk configuration and the kit-mounted spare tire astern. What I'd never appreciated until Robison opened it, is the size of the trunk that extends under the living-room couch-size back seat. You could put a couple of bales of hay or whatever in there.

He's put new canvas on top and 5,000 new miles on the odometer that sits in the broad, almost vertical dash. The chrome radio -- "It still works!" -- about the size of a bread box dominates the center dash. The hand- or foot-operated "station seeker" tuning works, but the pneumatic antenna doesn't. The automatic windows do.

"This car works for me for three important reasons," Robison said.

"It's gotta be fun, and it is!

"It helps you meet interesting people, even when it doesn't run.

And like his various waterfront homes over the years, "it doesn't lose me any money." Which is his way of saying he can double what he paid for it.

That's good for your sense of humor. You can laugh all the way to the bank.

Jon Hahn is a staff columnist who writes three times a week in the P-I.