Vanderbilt Cup Races

Frank Lloyd Wright- Wikipedia

Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements of the twentieth century, influencing architects worldwide through his works and mentoring hundreds of apprentices in his Taliesin Fellowship.Wright believed in designing in harmony with humanity and the environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture. This philosophy was exemplified in Fallingwater (1935), which has been called "the best all-time work of American architecture"

Frank Lloyd Wright's 1940 Lincoln

"According to lore, Frank Lloyd Wright was approached by the Ford Motor Company in the late 1930's with a revolutionary idea in product placement. Ford was interested in creating an advertising campaign stating that the twenty most prestigious Americans all drove Ford Motor Cars. Frank Lloyd Wright was on that list. The only way Ford could guarantee that all these twenty Americans were driving a Ford Motor Car was to provide each and every one of them with a brand new car all manufactured by Ford. Mr. Wright's response was understandable, of course, he would accept the offer but since he had two residences he would require two automobiles. When Ford was confronted with his proposal their response was simple, "That's not the deal." Wright's response was equally simple. "Then I'm not interested." When Ford finally agreed to the two-car option Wright responded saying, "Okay, here's the color I want you to paint the car."

"The 1940 Cabriolet was only the 16th one built in December 1939. It was the first Continental to be delivered through the Milwaukee Wholesale branch. It was damaged early in its life by one of Mr.Wright's associates when it rolled over in a foggy Wisconsin night. When he realized the cost of replacing the convertible top and the damaged windshield, Wright decided he could better redesign the car anyway. The car was customized at Kayser Motors in Madison Wisconsin and Wright did all those things that he was known for, even eliminating the rear window completely. "I'm only interested in where I'm going, not where I've been," while adding two silly half-round opera windows on the sides and taking out the roof over the driver completely.
The second car -the 1941 Coupe- was pretty much stock, with a couple of Wright adjustments. Both cars were painted the same Cherokee Red color, and have been restored to the way they were when Wright owned them, to the best of our ability."

The car eventually fell into the hands of Hollywood movie director and producer, Joel Silver, well known as an aficionado of architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

 In 1985, Silver formed Silver Pictures and produced successful action films such as Commando (1985), the Lethal Weapon franchise, the first two films of the Die Hard series, as well as the first two films of the Predator series and The Matrix franchise of action films.

In 1984, Silver bought the Wright-designed Storer House in Hollywood and made considerable investments to restore it to its original condition. The Storer House's squarish relief ornament then became the company logo of Silver Pictures. Silver sold it in 2002 for $2.9 million. In 1986, he purchased the long-neglected C. Leigh Stevens Auldbrass Plantation in Yemassee, South Carolina, and has been restoring it since then. Both restorations have been managed and supervised by the architect Eric Lloyd Wright (grandson of Frank Lloyd Wright).

Silver has also owned and restored two Lincoln Continental automobiles previously owned by Wright, one a 1940 convertible and the other a 1941 coupe. After the 1940 car was damaged, Wright had a body shop rebuild the car based on his custom redesign. For a time both cars were displayed in the Storer House.

Tragedy befell the Lincolns when an electric vehicle fire broke out in one of Silver's garages recently. The 2 Lincolns were sadly destroyed.

But all may not be lost.

Silver and his people reached out to Rob Ida at Ida Automotive in Morganville, NJ. Rob and his team have been tasked with the nearly insurmountable job of restoring the damaged Lincolns. If any auto restorer can perform such a herculean task such as this, it's Ida Automotive.

The cars were shipped to New Jersey, where they await their transformation back to Wright's vision.

Good luck to Rob and his team and VanderbiltCupRaces.com will track the progress of the iconic cars.

We look forward to seeing Wright's Cherokee Red Lincolns back to cruising the boulevards like they would have been seen traveling back to Wright's Taliesin home in the 40's.

Frank Lloyd Wright Automobiles, A Morgan Family Lecture By Ann Palmer

1940 Lincoln at 37:26