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 Continental
By the late 1980s, the luxury segment in which the Continental competed had changed drastically from a decade before. In addition to traditional competitors Cadillac and Chrysler, the downsized Continental now competed against Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi as well as the top of the line vehicles of Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti. Lincoln chose to completely reinvent the Continental. On December 26, 1987, the Continental was launched and shared its unibody chassis with the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable. The 1988 Continental became the first front-wheel drive Lincoln and the first Lincoln since 1948 sold without an available V8 engine. As part of a more conservative exterior, the sloping "Continental trunklid" was deleted. Although four inches longer, it was 170 pounds lighter than its predecessor. For the first time since 1979, the Continental closely matched its Cadillac Sedan de Ville counterpart in size. By interior volume the Continental was the largest front-wheel drive car sold in 1988, and was recognized by "Car and Driver" on its 1989 Ten Best list. Power was provided by a 140 hp 3.8L Essex V6 newly introduced to the Taurus/Sable for 1988. An exclusive feature to the Continental was adaptive air-ride suspension and variable assist power steering was standard. In 1990 (MY 1991), engine output was revised to 155 hp, and to 160 hp for MY 1993. All Continentals were equipped with a 4-speed overdrive automatic transmission.