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
Initially planned for withdrawal in the mid-1980s until stabilization of fuel prices mitigated fuel-economy concerns, the Lincoln Town Car progressed through the decade largely unchanged. As its design began to age, the model line began to increase in sales, as transitions of Cadillac to front-wheel drive and further downsizing of its full-size model lines were poorly received by both buyers and automotive industry critics. For 1988, the Lincoln Continental underwent a second redesign. Splitting from the Mark VII, the Continental became the first front-wheel drive Lincoln, as it became an extended-wheelbase version of the Ford Taurus; the 3.8L V6 engine also marked the first time in a Lincoln that no 8-cylinder (or V12) engine was offered. In an effort to further reduce model overlap, the front-wheel drive Continental was developed for vehicles that neither Cadillac nor the Lincoln Town Car were marketed against: European and Japanese-produced luxury sedans. Following the debut of a driver-side airbag in the Ford Tempo, the 1989 Lincoln Continental became the first sedan sold in the United States equipped with standard dual airbags.
For 1980, the Continental Mark VI made its debut, replacing the Mark V. Originally slated to adopt the Ford Thunderbird chassis as part of downsizing, the Mark VI remained a full-size car, adopting the Ford Panther platform. Following the departure of Lee Iaccoca from Ford, the development of the Mark VI shifted from stand-alone model range to a four-door sedan and two-door coupe. Following its marketplace success, many design elements of the Mark V were carried onto the Mark VI, including its sharp-edged sheetmetal, hidden headlamps, opera windows, and fender louvers (now non-functional). The Mark VI coupe shared the same exact 114” Ford/Mercury wheelbase of the Panther chassis, with its own distinct roofline, while the four-door Mark VI shared its body with the Lincoln Continental/Town Car-Town Coupé, on a 3” longer wheelbase (at 117”).