Babe’s 1948 Lincoln Continental Coupe

Babe’s 1948 Lincoln Continental Coupe

Babe’s 1948 Lincoln Continental Coupe
This was Babe Ruth’s last car. The ’48 Lincoln Continental Coupe has a V-12 engine; the last V-12 ever produced by a U.S. auto manufacturer. Base retail price for the coupe was then listed at $2,727 about $57,000 today. This was the last time that the Continental name was used for almost a decade.
Then, after an eight-year hiatus, for the 1956 model year, the Continental nameplate made its return; to launch the vehicle, Ford created a namesake “Continental” Division, centered around its new flagship vehicle. To again highlight the European influence of the original Continental, Ford assigned the Mark II suffix to the new Continental (also in an effort to distinguish itself from the similar Bentley Continental. Slotted well above Lincoln-Mercury, Continentals would be marketed and serviced through the new Lincoln dealership network.
Now, the New York Yankees star had more than his share of fender benders over the years, and they apparently had no effect on his thrill for speed, since he continued to purchase customized, powerful automobiles, and then promptly wreck them, or get caught for speeding. He routinely ignored stoplights and traffic signals on the drive from the Astoria Hotel to Yankee Stadium, but police usually let him go with a smile. In July 1920, however, Ruth threw caution to the wind and was lucky to walk away with only an injured knee.
On a road trip to Philadelphia and Washington, Ruth was driving late one night just outside rural Wawa, Pennsylvania, with [his first wife] Helen, and three friends from the club. When he sped dangerously around a curve, the auto skidded out of control. As the machine went off the road, Helen and coach Charley O’Leary were thrown clear as it flipped over. “Crawling from the wreck, Ruth found his wife in fine health, but O’Leary was looking unconscious and dead.
“Oh God, bring Charley back. I didn’t mean it,” Babe cried, and O’Leary did in fact turn out to be OK. The car was another story, and after walking to a nearby farm and spending the night, the group returned to the crash site accompanied by a mechanic. ‘Sell it,’ Ruth supposedly said of the wreck. “Take whatever you can get for it. I’m through with it.”
Leaving the stunned mechanic and his free parts supply behind, Babe’s party proceeded on to Philadelphia. RUTH REPORTEDLY KILLED IN CAR CRASH read the headline found in one local paper, but Babe was supposedly well enough to purchase a new version of the identical car when he returned to New York. Newspaper accounts did not specify the year, make, and model of the car Ruth was driving; the Sacramento Union referred to it only as a “big touring car.”
The Great Bambino, who retired from baseball in 1935 with a then-record 714 home runs, died from throat cancer 76 years ago on August 16, 1948, nearly three decades after escaping serious injury from a crash while on that road trip.
Nearly three decades after that accident, the Sultan of Swat still loved touring cars. In his final days, he drove this 1948 Lincoln Continental that he received as a gift from Ford Motor Company in appreciation for his tireless support of Little League Baseball. It was the last car he owned. Before becoming too weak to travel, Ruth drove the Lincoln around the country giving speeches and hitting lessons to young baseball players. We know a lot about the beautiful Continental because it was featured in newspapers across the country twice—first when it was given to Ruth and many years later, in 2012, when Texas collector Lonnie Shelton purchased the pristine two-door hardtop coupe from the Texas Museum of Automotive History.
George Herman “Babe” Ruth was born on February 6, 1895, and died on August 16, 1948 – He was only 53.
The top photo was taken after The Ford Motor Company presented it as a gift to the Babe. The bottom one is the car as it is now.
Baseball, Apple Pie, and Lincoln Continental.