We look back at Lincoln’s past 100 years under Ford.
There’s no better place to start than the beginning. While the Model L didn’t set sales reports ablaze or fall into the public consciousness like Auburns, Cords or Duesenbergs, this Lincoln showed that Ford could complement its fleet of Tin Lizzies with a premium machine, and essentially set the tone for the brand’s next century. Oh yeah, the Lincoln Model L also introduced Lincoln buyers to the technological marvel that is hydraulic shock absorbers.
While the Lincoln-Zephyr wasn’t the first Lincoln, it did represent a massive shift for Ford. With a relatively powerful flathead V12 underhood, the Zephyr was revolutionary. Ranging from the personal luxury-spec three-window to the family-hauling sedan, the Zephyr was a one-stop shop for Lincoln buyers fond of art deco sculpture.
If the Zephyr wasn’t nice enough to replace your aging Cord, Lincoln cranked up the luxury quotient with its Continental. Based on the Zephyr, the Lincoln Continental was even more aggressively styled and more luxurious, and was based on a prototype built for Edsel Ford. Ultimately, the first round of Continentals laid the groundwork for modern Lincolns — at least, modern Lincoln names.
World War II put a justified hold on automotive developments after the Continental. The 1952 Lincoln might not be the first post-War clean-sheet design from the team at Lincoln, but its clean lines represented a new styling language for the brand. Powered by Ford’s new overhead-valve V8, Lincoln officially joined the horsepower wars of the 1950s. The new Lincoln also showed off a ball-joint suspension, which improved vehicle dynamics.
The Lincoln Futura Concept showed a handful of styling decisions that would eventually show up on future Lincoln products, including tail fins and the partially hidden headlights. This discarded concept car made its way to George Barris and became one of the iconic versions of Batman’s Batmobile.
With the advent of the pedestrian Capri, and the Premiere that followed, Lincoln lost some brand cachet. So, the team at Ford designed one of the most over-the-top cars of the era and spun it off into its own short-lived division. Competing with the likes of Rolls-Royce and highly optioned Cadillacs, the Continental Mark II combined elegant, minimalist styling with an interior to please the most particular customers. Lasting only two years, the Mark II showed that the team behind Lincoln and Continental could build a world-beating personal luxury machine.
After 1957, Continental folded back into the Lincoln lineup for the Mark III, which embodied more of the radical 1950s styling. Its follow-up took a step backward and helped set the tone for automotive styling for the next decade. The stately, boxy 1961 Lincoln Continental was as subtle as a superyacht. The fourth-generation Continental might be the most popular of any vintage Lincoln today.
Non-car enthusiasts probably know about Lincoln’s fourth-generation Continental for two reasons: it was President Kennedy’s limousine and it starred in “National Lampoon’s Animal House.” This cruiser started life as, well, a stock 1964 Lincoln, but was destroyed throughout the movie before becoming the Deathmobile.
Okay, this might be a surprise. Sure, there are great Lincolns from the 1970s onward, but they mostly followed the trends laid out by the fourth-generation Continental. The Lincoln Navigator helped pioneer the expansive (and lucrative) world of luxury SUVs. Say what you will about a luxury SUV on a pickup-truck chassis, but the Navigator paved the way for premium family haulers in the US.
The 2020 Lincoln Continental Coach Edition was a swan song for traditional Lincoln sedans. Sharing its platform with the Ford Fusion, the most interesting of this final tenth-generation Continental was this special Coach Edition that brought back the reverse-opening rear doors from past Continentals. Will this actually be Lincoln’s final sedan? Well, that’s the story now. But with modular battery-electric platforms heading to Ford’s portfolio, that could be a way to sneak a sedan back into showrooms.
Keyword: Our 10 Favorite Lincolns From the Past Century