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
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”).