(December 29, 2012) Two rare 1941 Lincoln vehicles used in the 1972 movie "The Godfather" will be sold at The Bonhams Scottsdale (Arizona) auction Jan. 17 at the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa.

The two cars used in Francis Ford Coppola's epic movie are a 1941 Lincoln Custom limousine and a 1941 Lincoln Continental coupe.

According to Bonhams, one of the world's largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques, the Continental coupe was conceived as a personal car based on the Lincoln Zephyr for Edsel Ford's use at his winter home in Hobe Sound, Fla. The Continental's clean, simple, elegant design was greeted with instant acclaim. It was quickly put into production and the design proved so successful and timelessly dignified that it continued largely unchanged well into the postwar years.

The Continental was put into production as a four-seat cabriolet, Lincoln soon added a coupé to the Continental line. Its grace, comfort, five-window style and security soon made the coupé more popular than the cabriolet.

The Continental is powered by 292-cubic-inch L-head V-12 mated to a three-speed manual transmission.

Although the Lincoln Custom  limousine appeared little changed from 1940, there were major changes that were nearly invisible but made Lincoln a much stronger, quieter and better handling automobile.

With a new, stronger frame, longer leaf springs with rubber bushings between each leaf and wider axles that added two inches to the track dimension, the 1941 Lincolns not only were better driving cars but also boasted wheel placement that prominently filled the fenders' arches, vastly improving the integration of Lincoln's distinctive, modern design.

The Lincoln Custom, on a 138-inch wheelbase, catered to the small but important clientele of Lincoln customers who required large, comfortable chauffeur-driven automobiles. Standard Borg-Warner or Columbia overdrive contributed to these luxurious V-12 powered cars' quiet, smooth ride. The Lincoln Custom came in only two body styles, a 7-passenger sedan and 7-passenger limousine with division window.

Only 650 of both Lincoln Custom body styles were delivered in 1941, making them some of the rarest and exclusive of all Lincolns.

While Richard Nelson is given credit for securing the cars as the car coordinator for the The Godfather movie, the Bonhams description for both cars notes that Chuck Hannah was tasked with finding appropriate cars to use in the film and that he approached the Mid-Atlantic Region of the Lincoln Continental Owners Club to fill out his roster.

At least two of the region’s members responded: Charles Murray of Brookville, N.Y., with his Custom limousine, and Eugene Beardslee, also of Brookville, with his Continental coupe. The limousine, which had just come out of restoration not long before, was deployed for a brief scene as an opposing mob boss’s car, but the Continental became the car in which Sonny Corleone would meet his demise at a Jones Beach causeway toll booth.

Beardslee, who founded Beardslee Transmission Equipment on Long Island, put together a well-known collection of mostly Lincolns before his death in 2000. Since then, his estate has sold off a handful at a time, most recently at the Bonhams Greenwich auction this past June.

A few other Beardslee cars — including a 1938 Lincoln Zephyr convertible sedan, a 1948 Lincoln Continental cabriolet, and a 1925 Lincoln Model L four-passenger sedan — will join the two movie cars at the upcoming Bonhams Scottsdale auction.

Sources: Hemmings Blog, Bonhams