
Car Models
The Town Car
Historic Lincolns
Current and Future
Models
Lincoln cars-The Early
Years
The Lincoln brand of
automobiles was founded in 1917 by Henry M. Leland, who was also the
founder of Cadillac. His longtime hero had been Abraham Lincoln and that
is how he named the brand. Five years later Lincoln was acquired by the
Ford Motor Company and became known as their luxury brand of automobile.
During the first World War Leland left GM and Cadillac and established
Lincoln Motor Company. Originally it was to work with his son, Wilfred, to
produce Liberty aircraft engines. Once the war was over, however, the
factories were redone so that they could manufacture luxury automobiles.
The main reason Ford Motor Company took them over in 1922 was because of
sales. The body type of the Lincoln was not as favorable to consumers as
other luxury models, and thus in the first quarter of 1922 Lincoln had
only produced 150 cars. Forced into bankruptcy Lincoln was bought out by
Ford Motor Company. After taking over Ford reduced the pricing and made
some changes to the bodywork and between March and December of 1922 sold
over 5500 vehicles.
Other body styles would continue to be introduced to the public. In 1923
Ford started producing four door sedans with two or three windows. They
even made a phaeton that would carry four passengers. The name phaeton was
used because of the similarity to the horse drawn carriages that had been
popular at the time. By the end of 1923 the company was back in profit
helped by the new styles Ford had come up with. The increase in sales was
not only due to these changes, but also to the fact that they had come up
with a touring sedan or limousine that fit seven passengers as well as a
two passenger roadster.
In 1924 large touring sedans were being produced and were the first luxury
vehicle to become a police car. Police Flyers, as they were known, were
specially equipped vehicles which featured bullet proof windows and spot
lights mounted to the vehicles windshield.
In 1927 the greyhound was adopted as the Lincoln emblem. This was
eventually replaced by the diamond that we know Lincoln's by today. The
Lincoln Continental, now known as the Lincoln Town Car, is probably the
most recognized Lincoln on the market today. The original design was being
worked on in 1932 for Edsel Ford for driving around Florida on vacations
as an alternative to the "box-like" cars his father's company was
producing.
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