Iconic car model have a way of reappearing, years after they were discontinued by their manufacturers. The 2001-2005 two-seat Thunderbird revival is a case in point. Another is Lincoln’s Continental Mark II, re-introduced in 1956; eight years after its predecessor left the scene. Some cars, like the Chrysler Thunderbolt, have never been revived, while others, like the original Olds Fiesta and Buick Skylark, bequeathed their names to successors of a completely different idiom. And then there’s the Ford Sportsman.

Built from 1946 to 1948, the Sportsman was a wood-bodied convertible coupe, a prestige model like Ford had never seen. But it was expensive and difficult to build, and Ford was giving up wood bodies, in favor of wood motif appliqué, even on station wagons. The company mocked up a 1949 Sportsman coupe and convertible, using Country Squire-like trim, but nothing more was heard – until this car turned up.

Ostensibly a Lincoln Sportsman, it does not appear in any of the many books on Ford or Lincoln, and a search of auto show records for the period has found no reporting on it, until a feature article in an enthusiast magazine in 1987.

Regardless of its origins, it remains an essay on what a modern-day Sportsman might have been. Complete wood bodies were a thing of the past by 1955, so an appliqué is in character, as Chrysler used for the K-car-based Town & Country Convertible. It is equipped with power steering, power brakes, power windows and seat, central chassis lubrication, windshield washers, an AM radio and a heater-defroster. An accessory visor, complete with traffic light prism, has been fitted to the windshield. It has Lincoln’s 341-cid overhead valve V-8 and Turbo-Drive automatic transmission.

Paint, body and brightwork are all very good, although the workmanship of the wood appliqué is not of artisanal quality. An interesting foray into what might have been, it is the center of attention wherever it goes.