This is a true piece of American automotive history, the documented first car converted by the legendary George Hurst. The automotive pioneer is best known for the Hurst shifter, the innovative Jaws of Life rescue tool, and his long association Miss Hurst Golden Shifter, Linda Vaughn.

Built in a small garage in Abington, Pennsylvania, this vehicle is the foundation of the Hurst legacy. It is one of 201 Lincoln Continental convertibles built in 1946, and production number 9,747 of the 16,584 Lincolns built that year. Its earliest owner is unknown.

That mystery may never be solved, and the first official appearance of the car is in 1956. At that time, a certain Captain Smart, stationed at the Willow Grove Naval Air Station outside Philadelphia, asked Hurst to replace the black Lincoln Continental's pre-war-designed 130-horsepower flat-head V-12 with a modern, 365-cubic-inch, overhead-valve Cadillac V-8 with 285 horsepower. It is fitted, beneath the copper-plated air cleaner, with two four-barrel WCFB carburetors.

The three-speed manual transmission comes from a 1952 Lincoln Cosmopolitan backed up with a Packard 180 overdrive unit and a rear end supplied from a 1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan. The brakes were upgraded front and rear drums from a Lincoln Cosmopolitan; the radiator came from a 1956 Oldsmobile.

In addition to the engine swap, Hurst modified and upgraded many associated driveline components to handle the additional power. One such change was the installation of the motor mounts. (The motor mounts were yet another product Hurst would become well known for as his company, Hurst-Campbell Inc., grew during the late Fifties and into the golden age of the American muscle car.)

Evidently an early proponent of bling, Smart requested Hurst plate as much of the engine as possible to match his wife's copper-bottom pots.

Known upgrades to the suspension include Jaguar shocks in the rear, chrome-moly radial rods to the rear wheels, along with a titanium track bar in rear (which sounds like something from a modern-day NASCAR stock car).

According to the seller and information from the car's recent appraisal, the 1946 Lincoln Continental convertible is equipped with power windows,