Find Of The Day: 1931 Lincoln Model K LeBaron Convertible Roadster

The Model K was a one-year-only model that Lincoln introduced to compete with Cadillac’s new V-12 and V-16 cars as the company readied its own V-12-powered Model KB. Yet this was no stopgap; its powerful V-8 engine and new chassis were the ideal foundation for elegantly sporting LeBaron coachwork, as seen on the example offered through a Hemmings Marketplace Classified Ad. This 1931 Model K Convertible Roadster has incredible provenance both for its early ownership and its high profile in the collector-car world.

Lincoln priced its new Model K keenly, with the most basic, factory-produced body style costing $4,400, equivalent to $91,376 today. For that sum, a buyer got a 145-inch wheelbase (up 9 inches from 1930) that rolled on 19-inch wheels (1 inch smaller, lowering the chassis), a three-speed manual transmission with freewheeling, and a dual-downdraft-carbureted 384.8-cu.in. L-head V-8 making 120-horsepower (up 30 hp from 1930).

Elegance With Sporting Appeal

For discerning potential customers for whom off-the-rack coachwork simply wouldn’t do, this automaker offered “salon-type” custom models through famous coachbuilders that included Dietrich (builder of the Convertible Coupe and Convertible Sedan), Judkins (Coupe, Two-Window Berline and Three-Window Berline), Brunn (All-Weather Cabriolet and All-Weather Brougham), Willoughby (Panel Brougham and Limousine), and Derham (Convertible Phaeton). LeBaron built for Lincoln the All-Weather Cabriolet and this Convertible Roadster. Reportedly, 275 of the latter were produced and each cost $4,700, inflation-adjusted to $97,600 today. In total, the Lincoln Motor Company offered more than 20 different body styles for 1931, when it would build fewer than 3,600 cars.

This restored ’31 Convertible Roadster -a jaunty survivor whose odometer displays 97,862 miles, representing just 1,041 per year- is no stranger to the Hemmings Nation, having starred in a July 2006 Hemmings Classic Car feature story titled “The Case of the Velvet Claws,” and in a subsequent Classic Car Profile in Hemmings Motor News.

Take The Case

That HCC feature title was a tribute to the detective story of the same name, starring a lawyer character named Perry Mason, published in 1933 by Erle Stanley Gardner. The proceeds from that popular novel allowed Gardner to buy this two-year-old Lincoln, which he would keep for more than 20 years and which would, in subsequent long-term ownership, be used to tour extensively.

The older restoration of this Model K appears to be holding up beautifully, and the car has been treated to some changes that make it easier to handle in today’s traffic. Among its desirable original features are a golf-bag door and an onboard air compressor with a 20-foot-long air hose that’s capable of reaching each road wheel.

From the seller:

“The car is a WONDERFUL driver and has some non-authentic modifications to enhance tour car experience, mainly carburation, fuel pump, and ignition. Genuine leather sewn by craftsman, moreover wool carpet and canvas top. This was a favorite driver of the last owner of 25 years and is not a trailer queen but a very presentable driver, local car show circuit candidate. The engine starts instantly and can idle down to minute revolutions. Owned and fastidiously maintained by an aviation and classic car connoisseur.”

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