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With this JFK replica car you can re-enact in miniature form your very own grassy knoll assassination! Creepy or Collectable?

For a while I worked as an assistant for someone who would help liquidate estates. During that time I saw a lot of strange things, but none of them struck me more than the John F. Kennedy 1961 Lincoln Continental replica car.

My job was to sell the client’s moderately stuff any way I could. (The business owner sold the big stuff.) For an item such as this where there was a history of similar items on Ebay, that was where we’d sell them. If I remember correctly our JKF car sold at auction for around $125 bucks. That seems like a lot for a replica car, but not for one that is equal parts creepy, fascinating, and eerily cool.

Background (We are really gonna breeze through this part…)

JFK was the 35th President of the United States. He was assassinated on November 22nd, 1963 in Dallas, Texas while in a car on a parade route. (You know all that already, right? Right? Back, and to the left………)

The Morbid Replica

Their are 1961 Lincoln Continental replicas, and then their are 1961 Lincoln Continental X-100 Presidential Parade Vehicle replicas. This replica, made by a German company called Minichamps, is part of a 1:43 size presidential car series. The series contains: the Dallas X-100, another Kennedy X-100 commemorating his trip to Berlin Germany earlier in ’63, and the Lyndon B. Johnson rebuilt and fortified vehicle, but we can’t help but think the other two were just an excuse to make the Dallas car.

Here’s some information about the car from the packaging:

If that is hard to read, here is the text:

The Presidential Parade Vehicle, dubbed X-100 by the US Secret Service, began life as a stock 1961 Lincoln Continental four-door convertible. Ford Motor Company and Hess & Einsendardt, custom automobile builders of Cincinnati, Ohio, worked together to create the most modern open parade limousine of its day. The X-100 originally painted midnight blue, was packed with numerous special features including two radio telephones, auxilary jump seats for extra passengers, interior floodlights to illuminate the president at night, and retractable steps for Secret Service agents. A hydraulically-operated rear seat could be raised nearly eleven inches to give crowds a better look at the president and his guests. The most notable feature was a series of removable steel and transparent roof panels that could be installed in various combinations from an enclosed hardtop to a totally open car. The X-100 carried no armor or weapons because the purpose of the car was to make the president more visible, not to provide protection. That philosophy changed completely after November 22, 1963.

On that day, President John F Kennedy was assassinated while riding in the X-100 through the streets of Dallas, Texas. Presidents Kennedy’s wife, Jacqueline, sat next to the president in the rear seat. Also riding in the car was John Connally, then governor of Texas, and his wife, Nellie. Governor Connally was seated in the jump seat directly in front of the president and was also wounded in the attack. Neither Mrs. Kennedy nor Mrs. Connally were injured. Two Secret Service agents were in the front seat.

A Better Look

Here is an actual photo of President Kennedy and the other passengers shortly before the assassination:

Here is a full length photo of the replica:

Here’s a front view.

And for fun, here’s a Lego recreation of the car and the November 22nd, 1963 scene:

What do you think? Creepy or collectable?

For more information on the Lego recreation books Click Here

Visit My American Odessey for more on the JFK assassination and  The Sixth Floor Museum

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