Sven Hansson’s Lincoln Cosmopolitan: Lead sleigh with seagull wings

Unfortunately, cars like the Predicta or Charlie Ryan’s Lincoln are too famous. There is a lot of information about them, and although their rich history and life path are extremely interesting, they are sometimes described in too much detail. As a result, it turns out that an article about a legendary car requires too much time, and I always have very little time. Therefore, here is once again something little-known and forgotten by everyone – however, at the same time, it is no less delightful.

This car is a 1951 Lincoln Cosmopolitan, which by the will of fate ended up in Sweden, in the hands of Sven Hansson. Comrade Hansson, by the way, is extremely well-known on the Swedish custom car scene: in raggare culture, Sven is quite deservedly the European Ed Roth and George Barris in one person. We can safely say that Hansson is one of Sweden’s most famous custom builders, and this Cosmpolitan is one of his most famous cars. Of course, the first thing that catches your eye when you look at this car is the doors in the style of seagull wings. Made famous by cars like the Mercedes-Benz 300SL and the DeLorean DMC-12, these doors look extremely exciting on an American car from the 50s. Such a curiosity is extremely organically executed, so it’s not surprising why this particular car has become one of Comrade Hansson’s most famous custom cars. I immediately want to see a similar door design on some Mercury Eight. But, unfortunately, apparently such a design seems too European and uncanonical to American car builders, and nothing like Sven’s Cosmopolitan could be found.

At some point, the Lincoln Cosmopolitan got a flame on the roof, the chrome front bumper was repainted to match the body color, and the red plush lowrider interior was changed into something more aggressive and black. No one knows in what order all this happened; only one date can be named for sure: 2006. The interior was still red at the time, which means the photos with the black seats are the last pictures of the car at the moment. And yes, in 1988, Lincoln returned from Europe to his homeland, America. Sven, by the way, also moved to the USA at some point – which, however, was almost inevitable, given his love of American cars.

Since the car was conceived as a lowrider, the technical interest is mainly in the body, painting and suspension. By hook or by crook, the car was understated by 37 and a half centimeters. In order not to scratch its belly on the asphalt, the Lincoln can rise fifteen centimeters higher. 12.5 centimeters were cut down from the roof, after which another 10 centimeters were cut out of the body. By the way, Hansson was one of the few in Europe who dared to engage in sectioning.

Among other things, in ’83, the car had things like SAAB 99 springs, a 56 Studebaker bumper, and Chevy Camaro disc brakes. The door mechanism included dampers from Volkswagen Polo and locks from Mercedes. For the hydraulic suspension, the parts were borrowed from Citroen. In general, a salad of everything is very typical of custom cars, which at the same time amazes with an abundance of European details that are not at all typical of such cars. It is very interesting how many European components were left in the car several decades later, and even after moving to the United States, but it is not possible to find out about this.

Well, it’s worth noting the engine. On the one hand, there is nothing outstanding. A small block from Chevrolet, 350, looks almost standard. Nevertheless, even without any special changes, the classic V8 looks very beautiful, and a modest 350 in liters turns into a solid 5.7. In the 2006 announcement, it was noted that over the years this Lincoln Cosmopolitan has won more than 175 awards at various auto shows in Europe and the USA – and, for sure, In the years since then, this number has only increased. I think it’s well deserved.

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