Lincoln Motor Company
The Lincoln Motor Company Plant, built in Detroit, Michigan, by Henry Leland in 1917, was closed after 1952; subsequent Lincolns were produced alongside Mercury Montereys and Mercury Montclairs. For the 1957 model year, Ford opened Wixom Assembly in Wixom, Michigan, as a facility to specialize in Lincoln production. From 1957 to 2007, the facility produced Lincoln vehicles nearly exclusively, along with the Ford GT and several generations of the Ford Thunderbird.
For the 1956 model year, Ford Motor Company created the Continental Division, slotted above Lincoln as the flagship marque of Ford Motor Company. At its launch, Continental introduced the Continental Mark II as its model line, intended as a successor to the 1940-1948 Lincoln Continental personal luxury car. Offered as a two-door hardtop coupe, the Mark II broke from a number of American styling precedents of the time. While fitted with whitewall tires, the exterior was fitted with minimal chrome trim on the body sides; tailfins were left off of the body completely. In place of the bumper-mounted spare tire of the original Lincoln Continental, the trunklid of the Mark II showcased the design element, with a large imitation spare tire bulge (which fit over the actual spare tire inside the trunk). The Mark II was largely hand-built, with extensive quality testing done to each engine and transmission before leaving the factory.
Lincoln Motor Company
In 1986, to eliminate the long-running nameplate confusion, the Continental Mark VII (marketed, sold and serviced by Lincoln) was renamed the Lincoln Mark VII, dropping the Continental nameplate. The Mark VII would be the final generation of the Mark series sold with a Designer Series name, with a Bill Blass Edition being sold through its production (a Gianni Versace edition was sold from 1984 to 1985), eventually becoming the standard model. As a sport-oriented model, Lincoln sold the Mark VII LSC (Luxury Sports Coupe) from 1984 to 1992.
While Lincoln exited the struggles of the Malaise era by 1990, the division found itself in a different struggle. While largely catching up to rival Cadillac in sales, the brand did so with only three model lines (in place of the seven of Cadillac and four of Mercedes-Benz). After following the traditional Lincoln model cycle, the Town Car underwent a full redesign. While mandated by both passive-restraint requirements and fuel-economy improvements, a redesign to the Town Car proved risky, as the model line itself accounted for over half of all Lincoln sales.