Love the Lincoln - the models

Introduction The Town Car Historic Lincolns Current and Future Models

Lincoln Car Models

The Lincoln Zephyr was introduced in 1936 and because of it's popularity almost became a brand name instead of just another model. In it's first year of existence the Lincoln Zephyr increased the company's sales by nine times what was sold the previous year. The 15,000 Zephyr's that were sold that year accounted for 80 percent of Lincoln's total sales for that year. In 1936 the Zephyr was considered exceptionally modern and featured an aerodynamic design and integrated fenders. The Zephyr was the model that would eventually spawn the Lincoln Continental. After World War II ended Lincoln no longer used the Zephyr name, choosing to just call their cars "Lincolns". Therefore after 1942 the Lincoln Zephyr became a car of the past. Lincoln did put out a Zephyr model in 2006, but this was changed in 2007 to what is now known as the Lincoln MKZ.

The first available Zephyr was a two or four door sedan. The following year a three door coupe was added and in 1938 was offered as a convertible sedan and coupe. Starting in 1940 a club coupe was also available for purchase. The Zephyr became known for it's vertically mounted spare tire.

While the Zephyr was no more after 1942, the Lincoln Continental would go on to become one of the top selling Lincoln's ever. To this day those who work on custom cars still call adding a similar mount to the Continental's spare tire mount a "Continental kit". The Continental was produced by Lincoln from 1939 to 2002. It was then replaced by the Lincoln Town Car and the Lincoln LS. The first Continental was produced in 1939 and was an aristocratic convertible with a long hood covering and long front fenders. The externally mounted covered spare tire was to become a trademark of the Lincoln Continental, and helped make this car become known as one of the classiest in the world. These cars were mostly built by hand due to the fact that dies from machine pressing were not available until around 1941. Even though it was built in 1939, this car is most commonly referred to as the 1940 Lincoln Continental. In the early 1980's the Continental went from a full sized luxury vehicle to a mid sized luxury car. It stayed that way until 2002 when it was no longer produced.

The Continental Mark II was turned over to Lincoln from the short lived Continental division in the middle of 1957. In 1958 Continental and Lincoln merged. The Mark II had the same list price as a Rolls Royce at that time. When it first emerged the Mark II was one of the most luxurious cars of it's time, and the availability of the model was scarce thus making it even more of a desire to those who could afford the ticket price. Only in production for about two years, the Continental Mark II became known as a legendary type of car that most could only dream of owning. Elvis Presley and Henry Kissinger were just two of the well known celebrities who could be found driving one of these vehicles.

The Mark II was not produced after 1957 as the Continental division was dissolved. However, in 1958 the Mark III was produced to try and maintain Lincoln's share in the luxury car market. Even it's new feature of a retractable back window could not produce many sales however, due to 1958 being a year of recession in the U.S. The Mark III was one of the largest automobiles ever produced, and was followed up by the Mark IV in 1959 and Mark V in 1960. The Mark III was again produced from 1968-1971 and was actually based on the sedan platform of the Ford Thunderbird. The Mark IV was then produced from 1972 through 1976, followed by the Mark V which was produced for 1977,78, and 79. From 1980 through 1983 the Mark VI made it 's way on the market, with the Mark VII lasting from 1984 though 1992. The Lincoln Continental Mark VIII was the last of the Mark series and lasted from 1993 through 1998.

In 1982 the Lincoln Town Car took over as the flagship model for Lincoln, thus putting an end to the Continental' s hold over that denomination for almost a quarter of a century. The Town Car is a full size luxury sedan with real wheel drive, a V-8 engine and large dimensions both outside and inside. The Town car is the most widely used car for limousines and chauffeured vehicles. Since 2003 it has even been offered with "ballistic protection", meaning it is similar to an armored car, but the price tag on this type of Town Car is well over 100,000 pounds. In 2007 the production of the Town Car was moved from the United States to Ontario,Canada. At a length of nearly 5.5 meters for a standard and over 5.6 for an L edition, the Lincoln Town Car is the largest car ever produced in Canada. The Town Car is also known to be one of the safest cars on the entire continent. Today's Lincoln Town Car is known as the third generation of these vehicles.

The next big development in the Lincoln line came in 1998 with the emergence of the Lincoln Navigator. The SUV was actually a redesign of the Continental and Town Car. This was the first time Lincoln made a 4 wheel drive vehicle, as well as their first SUV. Much like the Lincoln Mark II the Navigator became a favorite of many celebrities. The Lincoln Navigator is basically a luxury edition of the Ford Expedition. Like the Town Car the Lincoln Navigator also is a three generation vehicle.

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