John Bean Prototype, Built by Lincoln

Measuring in at 11 feet long with 26” wide doors, this earliest Visualiner is 2 1/2 feet wider than the standard merchandiser it was built from. In 1946 the Lincoln Engineering factory in St. Louis fabricated this workstation for John Bean, to be used as their first trial Visualiner cabinet.

This prototype looks to have been shipped out to a couple larger car dealerships to be tested and refined. The above test unit stayed close to its roots and was used in Minnesota then in Iowa. The other cabinet was sent to a Buick dealership in Tacoma Washington, called Mueller-Harkins, as seen in the b/w photos below.

The desk is less deep than the other Lincoln’s and there is a thin chrome trim across the top. The top sign is not original, and didn’t come out til months later in production when John Bean decided to build their own purpose-built alignment cabinets.

I am honored to be the new owner/caretaker of this nearly lost piece of history.