Lincoln
Brief History
Henry Leland had founded the Cadillac Motor Car Company in 1902. In 1909, he sold the company to General Motors, but remained on to run it. Being a great patriot, Leland wanted to build Liberty aero engines during World War I, so he asked GM that Cadillac might be able to do this. He was refused, so he left and founded his own company to build these engines. His favorite President had been Abraham Lincoln. Thus, in 1917, at the age of 74, Leland founded the Lincoln Motor Company. After the war, in 1919, Leland needed a use for his factory. What better purpose than to resume the building of automobiles? So was born the second of America’s greatest luxury cars. When Leland announced that he was going return to the manufacture of cars, he immediately received orders for a thousand, based solely on his reputation for quality.
He had his first model on the road by 1921. Fifteen different body styles were available on wheelbases of 130 and 136 inches. Powered by a V8 engine of 358ci, it was rated at 81 horsepower. It was comparable in size and price to a Cadillac though had a larger, more powerful engine. But economic conditions at the time were not favorable to an expensive car like the Lincoln. And while it was built with the greatest of care and quality, Henry’s forte was not styling. Combine a stogy appearance with the tight economic times and the new Lincoln did not sell well.
The financial condition of Lincoln required Henry Leland to sell his beloved motor car company at a fire-sale price. Henry Ford was always interested in a bargain and Lincoln would allow him to produce cars at both ends of the spectrum. His son Edsel was a connoisseur of the finer things in life and this would give him an outlet for his interests. Thus a deal was struck and in February, 1922, Lincoln passed into the hands of the Ford Motor Company. Over the next many years Edsel would add the refined, elegant styling that would make Lincoln one of the premier motor cars in the world.
Production of Lincolns stopped in February, 1942 for the war effort. After the war, Lincoln resumed production using the same basic pre-war vehicle.
The party was over. The pent-up demand for cars after Word war 2 had been fairly well supplied by 1948. Up until then, any warmed-over pre-war model was quite acceptable. But the normal laws of economics dictated that once this demand had been met, the various players would actually have to compete against one another. This meant new products. Lincoln answered the challenge with an entirely new car for the 1949 model year, first offering it for sale in April, 1948.
Lincoln seemed to go a different way in 1952. An entirely new body style, much more sporting, would be copied by Pontiac in 1955.
Lincoln started the decade offering a luxury car of the first order. Not sure of its direction, it swayed toward performance in the middle, and then back to luxury at the end. Styling went from bathtub to bizarre. In the decade to come, Lincoln would forever establish itself as a builder of premium quality luxury cars with styling that would not be equaled by any of its competitors.
