Did it start life as a Ford or a Lincoln? I always thought the original was built from a Lincoln.
Denny called it.
Only one original prototype ever actually built was in 1954, and built entirely by hand by the Ghia Body Works in Turin, Italy.
It was intended to see full production in 55 which was a flop mostly due to production cost, and partly being way too far ahead of it's time.
It original factory color was pearlescent white which was the first creation and use of pearlescent finish auto paints.
George Barris bought the former show car for 1.00 directly from Ford Which had been painted red for a 1959 film by that point.
Lincoln was founded in 1917 by Henry and Wilfred Leland , but sold to Ford in 1922... so if it's a Lincoln, it's still a Ford unless you have a Unicorn 1917-1920 Lincoln.
Ironically Henry Leland was previoisly a founding member of Cadillac after a heated dispute between Henry Ford and his investors, two of which backed Leland... Cadillac was sold to GM by 1909
So "Chevy v/s Ford" is an age old feud from the bedrock of Michigan.
As of August 2016, Dave Anderson in Fairfax, Virginia owns the #1 made from the Futura Concept Car and he also owns the #2 car (the first replica that Barris built from the ground up)
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of course then again it occasionally has the opposite effect
