In 1941, only 725 Lincoln Zephyr Convertibles were produced, and only a handful of those remain. For Ed Avedisian, the effort he put into restoring his Volante Coach Maroon 1941 Zephyr Convertible was motivated by a desire to pay tribute to an old friend.
As a teenager, Ed and a friend shared a love for Model A Fords. However, Ed soon found himself drawn to the collection of Lincolns his friend's older brother had amassed and restored on his own. The master mechanic had fixed up all but one Lincoln, a barely-running Zephyr that he'd purchased and then proceeded to dismantle. The pieces were scattered around the garage, leading many, including Ed, to believe that the vehicle – jokingly known as "Peter's Runner" – was doomed to finish its days as a donor vehicle.
After Peter passed away, his brother inherited the Lincoln collection. He called Ed and offered him a choice of any of the vehicles in the collection. Ed immediately chose Peter's Runner, inspired to remember his lifelong friend and his dedication to the art of restoration. “It would become a memorial to him, a moving one,” Ed stated. “I was able to get the car on wheels: a fitting tribute to a truly dear friend.”
To help restore the Zephyr, Ed reached out to members of the Lincoln Zephyr Owners Club for assistance. After four years of receiving their expert advice and employing his elbow grease, Ed's Zephyr was finally ready to hit the road. The first stop was at an auto show in Pennsylvania, where the automobile took home five awards – the most important of which was the memorial trophy handed out annually in Peter's honor.
At that point, there was only one other place to take the car. Ed drove it to Rhode Island and presented the car (and trophy) to Peter's wife. She was elated to see the Zephyr on the road again, as that was the very car that Peter had driven on their first date.
Ed continues to drive the Zephyr, knowing that each drive is the reward he was seeking when he began the restoration project. “Every time I get into it, I think of my friend,” he said. “That’s an automatic.”
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