The Continental Mark II is an ultra-luxury coupé that was sold by the Continental Division of Ford for the 1956 and 1957 model years. The only product line ever marketed by Continental during its existence, the Mark II served as the worldwide flagship vehicle of Ford Motor Company. The vehicle derived its name from European manufacturing practice, with 'Mark II' denoting a second generation (succeeding the 1939–1948 Lincoln Continental). As the most expensive American-produced automobile of the time, the Mark II was marketed against the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud. Produced solely as a two-door hardtop coupe, the Mark II used standard Lincoln mechanical components, including its 'Y-block' V8 and automatic transmission. The rest of the vehicle was largely hand-assembled, leading Ford to lose thousands of dollars for each example produced. (Source: Wikipedia.org, CC BY-SA)