Lincoln Motor Company
Lincoln Motor Company was founded in 1917 by Henry M. Leland, naming it after Abraham Lincoln; in 1922, Lincoln was acquired by Ford. Following World War II, Ford formed the Lincoln-Mercury Division, pairing Lincoln with its mid-range Mercury brand through 2010. In 2012, Ford rebranded the Lincoln division under its original name, Lincoln Motor Company. Originally founded as a freestanding division above Lincoln, Continental was integrated within Lincoln in 1959. The Continental-branded Mark Series was marketed through Lincoln starting in 1968, adapting the Lincoln name in 1986. The Lincoln star emblem is derived from a badge first used on the 1956 Continental Mark II.
Lincoln Savings and Loan Association
Lincoln then became headed by Charles Keating, who as chairman of a housing construction company, American Continental Corporation, purchased Lincoln in February 1984 for $51 million. Keating fired the existing management. Over the next four years, Lincoln's assets increased from $1.1 billion to $5.5 billion.
Such savings and loan associations had been deregulated in the early 1980s, allowing them to make highly risky investments with their depositors' money, a change of which Keating took advantage.