A luxury car that Orson Welles bought in 1942 for future wife Rita Hayworth is up for sale this month.
The 1941 Lincoln Continental Coupe is being sold by Worldwide Auctioneers. No reserve price has been set.
According to the auction house, the classic car has been professionally restored and remains in excellent condition. The Enthusiast Auction is set for April 22-23 at the Kruse Plaza, south of Auburn, Indiana.
During Hayworth’s courtship with Welles, the filmmaker bought the Lincoln Continental Coupe for her in California and had it delivered for her 24th birthday on a movie set in Georgia. They were married the following year.
There are several images of Hayworth and the Lincoln Continental, including one where she is sitting on the back deck of the luxury car without bumpers, having donated them to America’s World War II scrap metal recycling campaign.
Back in the day, the Lincoln Continental sold for $2,800, while the typical family car went for $850. The average annual household income was $1,750 and gasoline was 12 cents a gallon.
Year later, Hayworth gifted the car to her secretary, Frita Wolfe, who later sold it to Aspen Pittman for $2,000.
Aspen was starting a new music business called Groove Tubes, and eventually sold the Lincoln Continental to the Art Astor Collection, where it was correctly restored in the proper Paradise Green livery and refitted with what are believed to be the original Georgia license plates.
Hayworth and Welles were married for four years and had a daughter, Rebecca.
The couple appeared together on radio, on stage in the Mercury Wonder Show, and in the film The Lady from Shanghai.
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