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NAIT autobody students will work on a former royal ride as they restore a Lincoln Cosmopolitan that carried the future Queen of England, Elizabeth II, on the Edmonton leg of her tour of Canada in 1951.

“When we introduced the class to the project and we thought, ‘oh, is anyone dying to work on this?’ Basically everyone in the class raised their hands,” says NAIT Auto Body Department Program Chair Cecile Bukmeier.

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The vehicle was generously donated to the program by Edmontonian, Ron Lyons, who purchased it from a friend in Calgary. Bukmeier said restoration responsibilities are spread across different grades and years in the program, meaning roughly 90 students will have the chance to work on the Royal ride when it’s finished.

Although NAIT’s mandate is to have students work on modern vehicles to best prepare them for what they will see in their careers, Bukmeier said the school likes to be able to offer a special project like this to create more buzz for the students. In the past, students restored another Lyons car, an old Corvette was later featured on school ads around town, and last year they repainted a 1985 Jeep CJ.

Work has already begun on the royal journey in 1951.

“They have to strip paint and then they have to apply modern coatings to this vehicle. So it fit pretty well within a lot of the goals of NAIT. Also…you don’t really see one of these cars every day,” Bukmeier said.

History

A beautiful and unique car in its own right, the Lincoln at NAIT is even more special when you consider its wider history.

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Before she was crowned Queen Elizabeth II at the age of 25 in February 1952 following the death of her father, King George VI, the newly married Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip were on a tour of Canada when the Cosmopolitan was used to transport them here and there. Lincoln was one of 60 cars purchased across the country by the federal government for the royal tour.

It was Queen Elizabeth II’s first trip to Canadaand filled in for his father, King George VI, who was too ill at the time to travel. More than 100,000 people packed the streets of Edmonton to see the couple, who used the Lincoln to take a 20-mile (32 km) tour of the city. The tour lasted a total of 10 hours before the pair continued on their Canadian jaunt. Less than four months later, King George VI died, handing the throne to Queen Elizabeth II.

In an email, Lyons acknowledged the car’s rich history, but said that wasn’t what drew him to it.

“I just thought it was cool and over the top with its size and classic good looks,” says Lyons.

Bukmeier explained that Lyons “has a longstanding relationship” with NAIT. As a co-owner of Legends Golf & Country Club, Lyons has also supplied golf carts from his golf cart museum for students to work with.

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“I have a connection with both the staff and students of the NAIT Autobody Program, says Lyons.

“I feel that there is a huge upside to restoring vintage cars and that young people entering the NAIT program can learn an interesting and unique trade and stand to earn a very good salary and restore the cool old classics to their original showroom.”

Once the restoration is complete, both NAIT and Lyons look forward to displaying the finished piece of history. The school hopes to have it at its car show, while Lyons plans to take it to a few local shows before bringing it back to join his museum at the golf club.

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