My father owned a company by the name of Grandale Motors Sales in Farmington, MI in the 1940s. As a reward for his service of preparing trucks for the war in 1941 by converting them to tandem axle vehicles, adding stronger frames, fifth wheels and large dump bodies, my father was awarded a robin egg blue 1941 Lincoln Continental from Henry Ford I, himself .

My father was invited to pick the car up from Mr. Ford’s Fairlane Estate and I was lucky enough to be invited to go along. At the time, I was twelve years old and just starting to drive. It was an honor to be invited to such a momentous event and I was excited to see the new car with push button door latches and push button automatic windows. It was a beauty.

My father and I arrived at the Estate and we were greeted by Mr. Ford and his wife Clara. An exquisite lunch was served to all of us in the dining room. After lunch, my father was awarded that brand new 12 cylinder Lincoln.

I was the talk of the town as I drove it through the streets of Detroit. I met my wife in that car and we were so proud when we attended the St. Mary of Redford prom with our friends. Our friends still talk about that car today . I am 83 years old now and I still have many fond memories of all the years we owned the Lincoln. We drove that car until 1947 and put well over 100,000 miles on it.

Richard