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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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Copyright 2008 Don Poole