Some of us old timers, we can remember just where we were the moment that President Kennedy had been assassinated. For all Americans, it was a national heart breaking experience that was never forgotten. Part of what made it such an impactful memory was that the day after the assassination, the video image of President Kennedy sitting in the presidential Lincoln limousine with John Connally, governor of Texas, was shown over and over again. Even today there are clips of that sequence shown on TV for various reasons.
So, it was to my surprise to find out that my very good friend Marty Martino, who has been a major contributor in saving and restoring many General Motors Motorama concept cars in the Bortz Auto Collection, was the fabricator of two clones of that very presidential limousine. As a matter of fact, this was Marty’s very first major experience fabricating duplicates of iconic cars from the past.
What brought all this to my attention is when a gentleman from Florida gave me a call and said that he was in possession of one of the two now famous presidential Lincoln Limo’s made by Marty Martino in his very early days of fabrication. He wanted to get in touch with Marty to find out more about the car as he has decided to put it up for sale.
So I decided to contact Marty to find out more about the presidential limo clone that he put together in his early days of fabrication. I quickly found out that eventually Marty made a second copy. The two cars became very famous as the two clones of the Presidential limo in Texas.
I found it most interesting that these two clones have been used in several TV shows and movies for re-enactments of the Dallas tragedy. As Marty began to explain how this came about, I decided to ask Marty to send me his recollection and history on these two cars so I could use them in my Bortz Report in Auto Round-Up.
The following is a description and pictures of the two cars in Marty’s own words.
“In early 1983 ( I was 31) the film commissioner of Virginia asked me if I could "find" a Continental limo like JFK's for an upcoming miniseries to be filmed in Richmond, named "Kennedy.".
I told him that it didn't exist in Kennedy form, but I think I could build one. The producers took a shot at my naive enthusiasm and said they needed it in 6 weeks. I was terrified and excited all at the same time!
I gave them a price of $16,000.00 (more money than I had ever seen to that date!). l knew I had to cheat on certain details like the rear door placement to keep the price and the construction time down, yet the car had to perform under the stress of film making. This is car #1 . After it was filmed, I sold it for the production company to a fellow in New Jersey.
Soon after the sale, I got a call from another enthusiast who has the largest JFK collection of memorabilia anywhere. Since he missed the car by days, he asked if I could duplicate it for the same $16,000.00 as I had charged for the first one. I then built car #2. It was almost exactly like car number 1, except that I cut two cars long instead of adding stretch in the middle like most limos and car #1. It too was off on details that would have cost more to do correctly.
So in the meantime, the Kennedy collector took car # 1 to a restoration and fabrication shop in New England and spent over $60,000.00 (in early ‘80s money), and after a year or so he had car #1 authentically detailed, including the doors and deck being heavily modified in the correct fashion . The results were and still are spectacular!
After a couple of years of showing car #1, the buyer sold it to the owner of the #2 who now had both replicas that I had built. His focus of course was now on the correct #1 car, so he sold his #2 car. It ended up in a museum in France where it remained for over 20 years before the museum sold it. It then came back to the U.S. a few years ago.
The major collector of Kennedy memorabilia still has #1, and that car that has been in many Kennedy films since 1983.
I have always found the X100 more a tribute to JFK, than a morbid reminder of the assassination.
Kennedy was hands on in ordering the car. Among other personal touches, he picked the color which was never used before or after on a presidential car. He and the car were quite a sensation whenever they toured the globe!
In my mind, all 1961-63 Lincolns are somewhat of a tribute to the Kennedy Camelot era.
I think that car collecting brings together not only the cars themselves or the aesthetic value but very often their history reminds us, especially in the United States, how we got to be where we are. I think that Marty Martino’s two clones have done that for me and certainly many other people that will be reading this column, both old timers and young timers together.
After this article comes out in Classic Car Round-Up we will be posting it on my Facebook and would love to hear from anybody that would like to comment on my thoughts in this column and the history that was made on that day of November 24, 1963 as well as how Marty Martino’s two clones have been able to help historians create visual reminders of this history.
We all owe a great debt of gratitude to those historians who help to save and preserve history in general. Without that knowledge, we would lack an important compass for our lives going forward.