Photo courtesy Bonhams.

When a replica of SS-100-X, the Hess and Eisenhardt-bodied Lincoln Continental limousine that President John F. Kennedy was shot in, popped up for sale last year, it came along with plenty of unanswered questions. Now that it has appeared among the listings for an upcoming auction, it’s also provided an opportunity to circle back and answer those questions.

As has been thoroughly researched and documented, SS-100-X started out as a regular Wixom-built 1961 Lincoln Continental four-door convertible (serial number 1Y86H405950), and that year went to Hess and Eisenhardt of Cincinnati for its conversion into a presidential limousine, a process that included adding 3-1/2 feet to its midsection, adding flashing red lights in the front bumper, a hydraulic rear seat to elevate the president, and retractable steps on the rear bumper for Secret Service agents.

It debuted in its modified form in June 1961, and during Kennedy’s administration, it received a 1962 Continental grille and 1957 Lincoln wheelcovers. After the assassination, it went back to Hess and Eisenhardt for further modifications, including a permanent roof, bulletproof glass, and additional up-armoring, the configuration that visitors to The Henry Ford will see nowadays.

The later modifications, however, meant that no Lincoln Continental existed in the configuration seen on the day of November 22, 1963. That remained the case, at least, until the spring of 1983, when restorer and replica builder Marty Martino of Gum Springs, Virginia, worked with Tommy Glenn to stretch another Lincoln Continental and give it the presidential limo look for the 1983 NBC miniseries Kennedy. Martino said he spent six weeks building the car and that, following production of the miniseries, he sold the limousine to Kevin MacDonald. MacDonald in turn made the acquaintance of Bill Hess of Hess and Eisenhardt and borrowed the blueprints for SS-100-X in order to further modify it, eyeing complete authenticity.

Kennedy with Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie in SS-100-X, October 1, 1963. Photo from the National Archives.

One of those modifications, Martino pointed out, is key to identifying the replica Kennedy limousines. When transforming 1Y86H405950 into SS-100-X, Hess and Eisenhardt’s craftsmen stretched the rear doors nearly the entire length of the chassis stretch, leaving a narrow filler panel between the doors; Martino instead left the rear doors alone and made up the gap with a wide filler panel. MacDonald, in his pursuit to make the miniseries replica more authentic, had its rear doors lengthened and the filler panel narrowed.

Not long after Martino sold the miniseries replica to MacDonald through an ad in the October 1983 issue of Hemmings Motor News, another collector, F. Nick Ciacelli, contracted Martino to make him a replica as well, one built with Doug Swain and using short rear doors, like the first replica. “It did have a few more authentic details than the first, but still is no match for the first after Kevin got through with it,” Martino said.

(By the way, Martino built his second replica by cutting apart and reassembling two Lincoln Continentals – a 1962 and a 1964. From the leftover bits he assembled a shortened Continental, which surfaced in Virginia a couple of years ago.)

MacDonald later sold the miniseries replica to Ciacelli, who, finding no use for two replicas of the Kennedy Continental limousine, sold the second (short-door) replica in 1985 for $30,000 to the Musée automobile des voitures de chefs d’État in Sauvigny-le-Bois, Bourgogne, France.

Photos courtesy Coys.

The latest attempt to sell the short-door replica, chassis number 3Y82N420576, is the third in as many years. In 2012, Heritage Classics, a collector-car dealer in Los Angeles, advertised the short-door replica for $125,000, describing it as “in the style of President Kennedy’s original Hess & Eisenhardt X-100.” Then last year, still in the hands of the museum, it appeared in the Bonhams Zoute sale in Belgium (described as a replica) with a pre-auction estimate of €90,000 to €160,000 (about $120,000 to $220,000). Now it’s scheduled to cross the block at the upcoming Coys Ascot auction (described as “arguably the truest representation in existence of the original presidential limousine” and “a real piece of American coachbuilt history”) with a pre-auction estimate of £70,000 to £100,000 (about $113,000 to $160,000).

As for the long-door replica, it has since appeared in a number of films depicting the assassination, including Oliver Stone’s JFK. Ciacelli has more recently been touring the United States with it as part of the Kennedy Experience, an exhibit of Kennedy footage and memorabilia.

The Coys Ascot auction will take place October 11 at the Ascot Racecourse. For more information, visit Coys.co.uk.