The 1932 Lincoln Model KB, the company’s first 12-cylinder model, has been widely heralded as one of the most beautiful and finest automobiles of the Classic Era. Especially striking were the bodies created for the chassis in Lincoln’s own shops, rumored to have been with considerable inspiration from famed coachbuilder the Walter M. Murphy Company of Pasadena, California—not coincidentally, also a prominent Lincoln dealer.

The dual-cowl sport phaeton offered here was formerly owned by the longtime Lincoln collector Jim Bickley of Illinois, who acquired it as a project from Jim Griffin of Wisconsin. Mr. Bickley began the restoration of the car with the well-known George Kovanda of Chicago Restorations. While the chassis and engine numbers on the car do decode to an original Murphy-designed dual-cowl sport phaeton, in a 2017 conversation Mr. Kovanda recounted that the work included an entirely new body, carefully produced to the original design by Lincoln specialist Rick Kriss. The restoration was eventually completed in 2003 to a very superb standard while under the care of new owner Mike Cormany of California and included striking concours-quality paint, leather upholstery, and a canvas top, as well as painted wire wheels with chromed hubcaps.

The Lincoln went on to make numerous show and concours appearances, including First Place in the K Open Class at the 2003 Ford Centennial; First in Class at the 2004 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance; and Classic Car Club of America Primary First and Antique Automobile Club of America First Junior prizes, the former with a score of 99.75 points. In 2005 it was acquired by a collection in Southern California, in whose care it was well-preserved but shown only once in the Lincoln Owners Club Western National Meet in 2008, receiving the Lincoln Trophy for the Best Primary 1921-39 Lincoln.

Janet Cussler lovingly refers to the Lincoln as “the Broken Neck Car,” a testament to the fortitude and passion of her late husband, Clive, who after injuring his neck in an accident at home, nonetheless insisted on attending the RM Sotheby’s Arizona 2018 auction where this car was offered—and buying it. His usual eye for quality and style paid off as, not long after, the couple displayed the car at the Texas Concours in Arlington, winning Best of Show.

Still one of the most beautiful Classic Lincolns, this car holds the same appeal for any enthusiast that it did for Mr. Cussler, and that it does for Mrs. Cussler—a striking, beautiful machine, meticulously restored, superbly presented, and a thoroughbred in its very bones.