Wayne Graefen is a car journalist’s best friend. He travels widely, is always on the lookout for remarkable vehicles, and takes lots of pictures. This time he’s come up with the Continental drift.
These days Continental is synonymous with Lincoln, but when this Continental was built no one at Ford Motor Company had contemplated such a model. This is a 1933 Continental Flyer, built by the Continental Automobile Company, a division of Continental Motors. Continental? Didn’t they build engines, not cars? Well, yes. Through the 1920s Continental was the chief supplier of engines to manufacturers of so-called “assembled cars,” those built from parts supplied by outside companies (“outsourcing” is nothing new).
Continental’s Muskegon, Michigan, plant had been supplying engines for the DeVaux automobile, built in nearby Grand Rapids. But in 1932, when the DeVaux-Hall Motors Corporation failed, Continental took over its Michigan assets to settle unpaid bills for engines. Building the last few DeVauxs in the plant, Continental brought out their own car for 1933, in three models: an entry-level Beacon four-cylinder model, a Flyer (the type photographed by Wayne), and a top-of-the-line Ace. All cars, of course, used Continental’s famed Red Seal engines. 3,310 were built in 1933, and a further 953 Beacons were sold in 1934 before operations ceased. Continental Motors was acquired by Ryan Aeronautical Company (builder of Lindberg’s Spirit of St. Louis) in 1965, which in turn was purchased by Teledyne in 1969. Today Teledyne Continental Motors builds piston and turbine engines for light aircraft.
Wayne snapped this Flyer coupe at a Veteran Motor Car Club of America meet at Fredericksburg, Texas, in July 2003. A bit down at the heels, it was solid and complete. It sold quickly.
