Lincolns Reign as Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Ends Monterey Car Week with a Flourish

The legendary Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance returned for 2022 with its full complement of cars, costumes, classics, prototypes and related events.

Lincoln aficionados in particular had a lot to enjoy. Two fantastic Lincoln prototypes—one of which was introduced at Pebble Beach—shared center stage with nearly two dozen beautiful Lincolns of the past, as Lincoln’s 100th anniversary celebration as a Ford family member made it the featured marque of this year’s Car Week. The L100 concept car was unveiled at a gala intro during the week and a Star concept vehicle with center opening doors and an interior gave hints of possible Lincolns of the future.

100 years of Lincoln are encapsulated in this photo of a 1922 Sport Phaeton next to the L100 concept car introduced this year at Pebble Beach.

Will your next new Lincoln look like this L100 concept car introduced by Lincoln at Pebble Beach?

Or this Lincoln Star concept car?

The lead photo of this post is one of two actual prototypes that were commissioned by Edsel Ford for his personal automobile in 1938 after he returned from Europe bringing visions of its pre-war auto design elegance with him. The prototypes were longer and lower derivatives of the Lincoln Zephyr. Edsel reportedly drove the first prototype around Florida. It was a hit with his well-heeled friends who urged him to put it into production. He did, and the new model was aptly named the Continental after its European inspiration.

The second prototype was used for engineering development and once belonged to famed Lincoln designer E.T. “Bob” Gregorie. Nowadays it resides at the Edsel Ford House and Museum in Grosse Pointe Shores, MI, but for Car Week it was shipped to Pebble Beach for all of us to enjoy.

Several generations of Continentals inspired auto industry design trends and examples such as a 1948 Cabriolet, 1956 Mark II, 1960 Mark V, and 1962 convertible were displayed along with milestone Lincolns such as the 1922 Lincoln L 7-passenger touring car, 1932 Lincoln L roadster, 1939 Zephyr, 1953 Capri Derham coupe, and 1956 Premiere convertible—more than 20 in all.

Motor Trend TV’s Wayne Carini’s 1938 Lincoln K LeBaron coupe was among those judged.

Adding to the festive concours day feel was a film crew making a feature production on Lincolns through the years who were interviewing Lincoln Motor Company President Joy Falotico as well as some of the car owners. At Pebble Beach and later, the crew filmed LCOC members such as former Lincoln designer Jim Powers and Halsey Posadas, among others. It remains to be seen how much of this footage survives the cut. But we are hopeful for TV release of the finished feature in 2023.

LCOC’s Western Region Director JIm Ayres, left, discusses Lincoln styling with Ford and Lincoln’s Chief of Design Anthiny Lo.

This year’s concours also celebrated 100 years of the famed LeMans endurance race with exhibits of various participants there over the years. A few of these racers are pictured below.

The elegant and unusual vehicles for which the Pebbles Beach event is famed were everywhere. Among Duesenbergs, this gorgeous 1932 J model Figoni Sports Torpedo was not only a class winner but also was named Best-in-Show!

A special class featured Unorthodox Propulsion with not one but two coal powered Citroens. A 1963 Chrysler Turbine Ghia was part of this group and there was even a 1916 Owen Magnetic Model O-36, among others.