From 1932 through 1948, Lincoln sold cars with twelve-cylinder engines. The Lincoln V12 story starts with the huge KB engine of 1932. Later, the streamlined Zephyr and the Continental carried a smaller twelve into the postwar years.

These eight cars trace that run from the first big engine to the last one. Each figure below comes from an auction record, a museum or a period reference. As a result, a few numbers carry a name next to them where sources disagree.

1. 1932 Lincoln KB

The KB arrived in 1932, and it entered a crowded field. Cadillac had launched a V-16 in 1930 and a V-12 in 1931. Meanwhile, Pierce-Arrow, Marmon and Packard all added multi-cylinder engines of their own by 1932.

According to RM Sotheby’s, the KB’s Lincoln V12 displaced 447.9 cubic inches and made 150 horsepower. It had seven main bearings, fork-and-blade connecting rods and separate cylinder blocks. Lincoln built only 216 KBs that model year, RM notes. However, the engine cost so much to build that Lincoln replaced it within two years.

2. 1933 Lincoln KA

For 1933, Lincoln gave its smaller KA line a V12 too. That engine displaced 382 cubic inches, according to RM Sotheby’s.

RM describes it as a cheaper option to the KB. In fact, it borrowed ideas from the bigger engine but was simpler and less costly to make. That made the KA the more economical way into a twelve-cylinder Lincoln for that one season.

3. 1934 Lincoln KA convertible roadster

Then, for 1934, Lincoln dropped the two-engine plan. Instead, it built one 414-cubic-inch V12, rated at 150 horsepower, with a two-barrel carburetor and a three-speed manual, per RM Sotheby’s. RM calls this version the company’s finest V12 design.

The roadster RM sold at Amelia Island in 2012 is one of 75 built in that body style. It rides on a 136-inch wheelbase and carries CCCA Full Classic status. That car brought $192,500.

4. 1935 Lincoln Model K LeBaron convertible roadster

By 1935, the 414-cubic-inch, 150-hp L-head V12 was the heart of the Model K. Customers who wanted something special ordered bodies from coachbuilders such as LeBaron.

According to RM Sotheby’s, this LeBaron roadster is one of 30 that Lincoln built in 1935. It also appeared in the 1982 film Honkytonk Man. RM offered it at Fort Lauderdale in 2016 with a $175,000 to $225,000 estimate, but it did not sell.

5. 1936 Lincoln-Zephyr V12

The Zephyr gave Lincoln a second, smaller V12 in 1936. Its body sat on a strong unibody structure from engineer John Tjaarda. Eugene Turenne Gregorie shaped the body under the direction of Edsel Ford.

Its own V12 first displaced 267 cubic inches and made 110 hp at 3,900 rpm, according to Silodrome. Later, a 292-cubic-inch version arrived in 1940 and a 306-cubic-inch version in 1942. Silodrome gives that engine a production life from 1936 to 1948. The Museum of Modern Art later called the Zephyr “the first successfully streamlined car in America.”

6. 1939 Lincoln Model K

The big K-series reached its end in 1939. According to the Studebaker National Museum, that was the last year for Lincoln’s most expensive line. The museum lists a 414-cubic-inch, 150-hp V12.

Also, the museum counts 139 K-series cars that year, with only two roadsters among them. RM Sotheby’s sold a 1939 Brunn convertible victoria, one of two built, for $110,000 at Amelia Island in 2012.

7. 1940 Lincoln Continental

The Continental began as a personal car. Edsel Ford, then president of Ford Motor Company, commissioned a one-off custom coupe for his 1939 vacation. Chief stylist Bob Gregorie drew it from the blueprints of the Lincoln-Zephyr.

According to Silodrome, a couple of dozen Continentals left the factory in 1939. By 1940, output had climbed to about 400 a year. Even so, workers shaped body panels by hand until Lincoln had press dies in 1941, Silodrome adds.

8. 1948 Lincoln Continental

After the war, the V12 returned at 292 cubic inches. Lincoln had reduced the bore from the earlier engine because of cylinder-wall problems. Output was 120 hp, then 125 hp from 1947, according to Sports Car Market.

Sports Car Market calls the 1948 the last V12 model Lincoln built, because the V8 Cosmopolitan followed in 1949. Silodrome goes further and calls the 1948 Continental the last postwar American production car with a V12. Finally, one 1948 convertible coupe sold for $28,080 at Barrett-Jackson’s West Palm Beach auction in April 2003, Sports Car Market reports.

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This article was created with the help of AI and was reviewed and edited by Fast Lane Only editors before publication.