Lincoln Continental V12 Coupe
This is the Lincoln Continental V12 of ‘Sonny’ Corleone, eldest son of Don Vito Corleone, in the movie The Godfather (1972)
One of the most horrifying and memorable scenes the film industry has ever produced is without a doubt the one in The Godfather (1972) in which Santino ‘Sonny’ Corleone, eldest son of Don Vito Corleone, is ambushed at a toll booth and is riddled with machine gun bullets while standing in front of his car.
Sonny Corleone (played by actor James Caan) does not survive the attack, but his twelve-cylinder Lincoln Continental does, and it is this car that is displayed in the Louwman Museum.
During the shooting of this scene in 1971 the Lincoln was replaced by two other Continental Coupes. One had .45 bullet holes drilled in it. The special effects team fitted the other car with explosives to simulate the impact of the bullets.
Lincoln is the luxury car division of the Ford Motor Company, and the Continental, which went into production in 1939, is the most prestigious model of all. For a while Lincoln was even an independent make within the Ford concern. Various generations of Continentals would follow until 2002. However, in 2015 Ford showed a Continental concept car at the New York Auto Show.