Clenet cars for sale
About these listings
Every Clenet listed on MotorLoop.
United States
Overview
Clénet Coachworks built neo-classic cars — vehicles styled after the luxury automobiles of the 1920s and 1930s but built on contemporary running gear. Around 250 examples of the first car were made, and they sold to a specific and well-documented audience of entertainers, diplomats and business owners.
The mechanical package is the reassuring part of the purchase. Under the long bonnet and the sweeping guards sits Lincoln Continental hardware supplied by Ford, so the drivetrain and suspension are ordinary period American parts rather than bespoke components with no supply chain.
History
Alain Clénet studied design in Paris and emigrated to the United States in 1974, settling in Santa Barbara. In 1975, at 33, he formed Clénet Coachworks with investors, rented a disused aircraft hangar at Santa Barbara Airport in Goleta, assembled a team of craftsmen and negotiated a deal with Ford to supply Lincoln Continental frames, engines and components.
The first production car appeared in 1977 as the Series I. The planned run of 250 was reached in September 1979, and the company built limited-edition cars in Santa Barbara County until 1987. The cars appeared regularly on television through the 1980s, in Dallas, Dynasty and Dragnet among others.
Buying a Clénet
Body and trim are where the money is. The mechanical parts are shared with mass-produced Lincolns and remain findable, but the coachbuilt panels, the brightwork and the interior are specific to a run of a few hundred cars, so damage there is slow and costly to put right.
There is an active owners’ club for the marque, and for a car built in these numbers the club register is the most reliable way to confirm what a given example is and what has been done to it.