HISTORY OF LINCOLN

LINCOLN HISTORY

'''Lincoln''' is an American luxury automobile brand, operated under the Ford Motor Company.

History

The company was founded in 1917 by Henry M. Leland. Leland, one of the founders of Cadillac, left the Cadillac division of General Motors during World War I and formed the Lincoln Motor Company to build Liberty aircraft engines. After the war, the company's factories were retooled to manufacture luxury automobiles.

The company encountered severe financial troubles during the transition, and was consequently bought by Ford Motor Company in 1922, who still owns and manufactures cars under the Lincoln marque in its Lincoln-Mercury division. The purchase of Lincoln was a personal triumph for Ford who had been forced out of his second company by a group of investors led by Leland. That company was renamed Cadillac. In 1927, Lincoln adopted the greyhound as their emblem.

The Continental which became the most important car made by Lincoln began as a one-off project car for Edsel Ford to drive around on vacations in Florida. Edsel wanted a European-style car unlike the boxy designs his father's company produced. The Continental proved popular and plans were made to sell it.

The Continental Mark II was produced by the short-lived Continental division from April 1955 to July 1956 before it was returned to the Lincoln marque. The Mark II had a basic list price of $10,000, the same price as a Rolls-Royce that year. The Edsel division was merged with the Lincoln-Mercury division in January 1958 to form the Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln division until the Edsel was discontinued in 1960.

The Lincoln Continental became Lincoln's flagship model until 1981 when the Lincoln Town Car, previously the top-of-the-line trim level on Continental, became its own model and took over as Lincoln flagship model.

As recently as 1998 Lincoln was the best-selling luxury brand in the United States, helped by the massive success of the Navigator SUV, and a redesign of the Town Car and Continental. In recent years, however, the company has fallen behind Japanese, European, and American competitors for a lack of new models. The company is working to remedy this, however, and is sharing parts and platforms with other Ford divisions worldwide in an attempt to bring more new models to market faster. The company promises five new models in the four years 2004-2008, and has already begun with the new 2006 Mark LT pickup and Zephyr.

Presidential Cars

Lincoln Automobiles

Current *Lincoln Aviator (2003- ) *Lincoln LS (2000-2006) *Lincoln Mark LT (2005- ) *Lincoln Navigator (1998- ) *Lincoln Town Car (1981- ) *Lincoln Zephyr (2006-)

Historical *Lincoln L-series (1920-1930) *Lincoln K-series (1931-1939) *Lincoln Blackwood (2002) *Lincoln Zephyr (1936-1942), a car line priced between Ford and Lincoln *Lincoln-Zephyr Continental (1940-1942, 1946-1948), later Lincoln Continental *Lincoln Custom (1941-1942) *Lincoln (no other name) (1946-1951) *Lincoln Sport (1949-1951) *Lincoln Cosmopolitan (1949-1954) *Lincoln Lido (1950-1951) *Lincoln Custom (1955) *Lincoln Capri (1952-1959) *Continental Mark II (1956-1957), produced when Continental was a separate division *Continental Mark III (1958) *Lincoln Premiere (1956-1960) *Lincoln Continental (1961-2002) *Lincoln Continental Mark III (1969-1971) *Lincoln Continental Mark IV (1972-1976) *Lincoln Continental Mark V (1977-1979) *Lincoln Continental Mark VI (1980-1983) *Lincoln Continental Mark VII (1984-1992), later just Lincoln Mark VII *Lincoln Versailles (1976-1980) *Lincoln Mark VIII (1993-1998)

Concept Cars *Lincoln Futura

Source: Wikipedia