Henry Leland's Other Automobile Company

[Charles D. Barnette]

We all know that Henry Leland started Cadillac and later also started Lincoln. The relationship between Henry Leland and Henry Ford is the subject of volumes of printed page. Last year I as activity director for the Tex Ark Antique Auto Museum in Texarkana, Arkansas, help arrange for the displaying of the magnificent 1956 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham Town Car (a Motorama car)  at our museum for our local Quadrangle Festival. This year I wanted to top that! I thought it would be cool to bring the 1953 Cadillac LeMans #4 from the Heritage Center in Detroit to Texarkana. Alas when I finally ran down the proper person to ask I found out the car was assigned to a show in Iowa during September 8th and 9th, the days I needed it in Texarkana. Plus the cost would have been very high to transport this Cadillac between Detroit and Texarkana round trip. I then turned to Lincoln (Leland's other company) to provide a headliner for my museum regarding said festival. Now note that at this point I have typed the word Cadillac 6 times including in this sentence (for those of you who might say or complain that this is not a Cadillac oriented post). The Lincoln I found to feature is the 1962 Lincoln Bubble Top Town Limousine built for first Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. The Secret Service designated it as 297X, and the car is also known as "The Small Bubble Top" (not to be confused with the X100 Lincoln automobile President Kennedy was riding in at the time of his assassination). The 297X was also used by First Lady Lady Bird Johnson who died just last month and by First Lady Pat Nixon. The car was retired in 1972. If you are in the area of Texarkana during September 8 and 9, come by our Museum to see this piece of history. Our museum is located at 217 Laurel Street, Texarkana, Arkansas. Thank you Henry Leland for both automobile companies. Charles D. Barnette

[ForwardLook]

here's a link to the Lincoln club
http://www.lcoc.org/