Jim Rohn

[Jim Rohn]

most of you knew my father, Elmer Rohn. He was very active in the LCOC and helped write the Mark II authenticity manual for them (if anyone wants them, we still have all his communication and notes from that project). I "had" to grow up with them as my dad was the A/C, heating and ventilation engineer on the Mark II and worked for Continental Division.

The company car I remember riding in when I was 2-3 (! it made an impression !) is now owned by Dennis Carpenter (or at least my dad sold it to him, I DID see it there in 97) and is one of the pre production Prototypes.

I remember going to a grocery store somewhere on Grand River in Detroit in that car and all the people staring at the car as if "if we were driving a car like that why didn't we have the maid do the shopping?" :-)

Fast forward to the late 60's and early 70's when my mom kept on saying that we should have bought a Mark II when they disbanded the Continental Division as employees we given the opp'y to buy one at half price. (My dad bought a new 56 Ford wagon with the big V8 and overdrive instead ...)

I was a gear head and started reading the classifieds and ended up finding a 56 with air not too far away. We went and looked at it and bought it. Turned out my dad remembered the car from work as it had a bermuda bell attached under the floor board. The car was originally Crusoe's, the sales manager for Continental Division. It also had a rear window wiper.

here are some pics of that car:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a26/JimRohn/mk2lf.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a26/JimRohn/mk2rearwiper.jpg

Later on he found his old company car buried in the Henry Ford Museums' excess inventory and was able to buy that from them (they had the Harvey Firestone Mark II on display and they deemed that more "interesting" than a prototype). The Crusoe (sp?) car went to Chicago.

[Shelly Harris]

Welcome Jim... very interesting. I had a Bermuda Bell on the floor of my '55 Chev when in high school.. within two years it rusted like crazy and lost it's sound. I love those pics. Glad to have you on the forum.

[Nick DeSpirito]

Welcome Jim!

I remember reading that your dad was in charge of testing the air conditioning system on the Mark II and the story about him driving it through the hot Arizona dessert. I also remember seeing pictures of his test vehicle with the gauges. Do you still own the car? It would be so cool to see pictures of it.

I really enjoyed viewing the pictures of the Mark II you posted with the rear windshield wiper. I've never seen one on a Mark II. I remember when I was in grade school and one of the teachers had a '49 or '50 Ford coupe with one and it stuck in my head as being so unique.

BTW, my Mark II's air works great! Damn near freezes the top of my head off!

Any other pictures or stories from your dad's work with the car will be much appreciated.

Thank you from all of us Mark II owners!

[Jim Rohn]

my dad gave me the option of keeping the car in the mid/late 90's before he died, but I had a young son at the time and no place to keep it. He sold it to Dennis Carpenter. I do not know if Dennis still has it or not.

Here is an inside the trunk shot of the wiper mechanism:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a26/JimRohn/06f150/mk2insidereartrunkwiper.jpg

There were a couple (or more?) articles my dad wrote for LCOC on the car and he shared a lot of the pictures he had taken on the test trips.

I do not know what issues they are specifically, not sure if there is a search function for articles with LCOC.

I DO know he spent a LOT of his time doing things for the LCOC and would always go out of his way to assist anyone with a question regarding them.
Posted via Moblile Device

[Nick DeSpirito]

Very cool picture, Jim. Thanks! What is that to the left of the wiper motor? Looks like a blower motor housing. Does it have a rear window defogger too and maybe that's the blower motor housing for it?

[Jim Rohn]

I forgot all about that

that car had a lot of features :)

oddly it did NOT have the front bumper guards

[Barry Wolk]

Did you know that we got the UP in exchange for Toledo? Who got the better deal?