Lincoln Motor Company
The Lincoln Motor Company was founded in August 1917 by Henry Leland and his son Wilfred. Among the founders of Cadillac, Leland had sold the company to General Motors in 1909, remaining on as an executive until 1917, when he left over a dispute with GM President William Durant. Naming Lincoln Motor Company after Abraham Lincoln, the first President for whom he ever voted (1864), Leland financed the company by securing a $10 million contract to build Liberty V12 aircraft engines, breaking ground on the Lincoln Motor Company Plant. To build the Liberty engines, Lincoln sourced parts from other manufacturers; along with cylinders produced by Ford, other parts were sourced from Buick, Cadillac, Marmon, and Packard. In total, 6,500 Liberty V12 engines were produced by Lincoln before the end of World War I ceased wartime production.
Lincoln Motor Company
In addition to more closely competing against General Motors in different price segments, the purchase of Lincoln also held personal value within Ford management. In 1902, Henry Ford had been forced out of his second company (Henry Ford Company) by a group of investors led by Leland. Henry Ford Company was renamed Cadillac Automobile Company; sold to General Motors in 1909, Cadillac has remained a chief competitor of Lincoln from 1920 to the present day. While Henry and Wilfred Leland were initially retained to manage Lincoln, on June 10, 1922, both Lelands were removed, with Edsel Ford brought in to manage the company.