If it weren't for the four-door Continental convertible of the present day, little would remain of "the great days of touring" but memories, nostalgia, and a few carefully preserved antiques. The Continental convertible is the sole heir to this great tradition of motoring not only because of its four doors, but because of its great beauty, and because no other car like it is being made in America today.

Ask anyone over fifty his fondest recollections of bygone automotive days and he will tell you it is of the phaetons, tourers, and other open cars rolling over the open roads. The 1963 Continental convertible preserves the elegance of those revered cars in a 1960s styling interpretation and adds to it electrical, hydraulic, and electronic conveniences that make it an engineering marvel. Owners of early-day phaetons, for example, scanned the horizon with a weather eye and raised and lowered the top by hand. The owner of a Continental convertible flicks a switch and four electric motors tuck the top into a compartment below the rear deck, concealing it beneath a waterproof covering. This is only one of many Continental marvels.

A backward glance shows that the predecessor of the Continental and all other open-body models was the horsedrawn phaeton, a four-wheeled carriage with open side, and frequently with a top that could be lowered or raised. It always connoted distinction. The lines and appointments were so inviting that often the proud owner would dismiss his coachman to other chores and take up the reins himself.

A vehicle of such elegance called for a name of equal elegance and phaeton was chosen because of Phaeton in Greek mythology, the son of Helios, the sun god, who took his father's chariot on a grand ride across the heavens. Grandeur and phaetons have always been associated with one another. The countryside of many lands resounded with the clop of a lively pair or two pulling their silent phaeton under the reins of a country squire or his teenage son.