The Gilmore Car Museum, Hickory Corners, Michigan, July 31, 2017--Part 7: Lincoln

The famous Lincoln Greyhound mascot, designed by Gorham, silversmiths in Rhode Island

The Gilmore Museum does not limit itself except insofar as its focus as on American cars, which allows for a broad enough range.  After walking through the special area devoted to Franklins, the visitor next comes to a wing given over to Lincolns.  The Gilmore has offered space to car clubs and the Lincoln Motor Car Heritage Museum at the Gilmore is actually under the auspices of the Lincoln Motor Car Foundation.  Growing up in a Ford town as I did, it was always a dream to own a Lincoln and I even once had the chance to drive a magnificent 1968 sedan with the famous suicide doors--and power vent windows.  But in the years since Lincoln has become something closer to what Mercury once was: gussied-up Fords, and now Ford SUVs.  But in years past the Lincoln was a marque as good as any in the industry, as the cars at the Gilmore Museum show.

Origins of the Lincoln Motor Company

The Lincoln Motor Company was founded in 1917 by Henry Leland, an expert in precision machining. In 1902 he had been brought into the Henry Ford Company to determine what should be done with its assets after a falling-out between Henry Ford and his backers.  Ford left but Leland persuaded the investors to keep the company going, using engines he was producing at his firm.  The revived company was renamed The Cadillac Automobile Company and was eventually purchased by General Motors in 1909.  Leland and his son Wilfred struck out on their own with a contract to build Liberty aero engines under license and then, in 1920, the first Lincoln automobiles appeared.  Beautifully engineered by unimaginatively styled, the cars sold poorly and by 1922 Lincoln (named after the first President for whom Leland voted) was on the ropes.  It was purchased by Henry Ford in March 1922 at the urging of his son Edsel with the idea of having a separate luxury car subsidiary to compete with Cadillac, Packard and other high-end makes.  While the Lelands came with the company, there was an element of revenge in the story as Henry Ford soon fired them both in June 1922, never forgetting what had happened in 1902.  Edsel Ford was brought in to manage the subsidiary and under his guidance, Lincoln was to produce some of the most attractive and expensive cars of the interwar period.

1926-27 Lincoln Chassis and Engine

1922 Lincoln L Sport Phaeton by the American Body Company

The first Lincolns produced under Ford ownership were essentially the same cars that the Lelands had been building and the Lincoln L, with its L-head V8, was to continue with the same drivetrain and chassis until 1930 but the major difference was the new body styles that were introduced, as well as offering custom coachbuilt choices.  The American Body Company of Buffalo, New York, had been a supplier of bodies for the Ford Model T, as well as for the noted manufacturers located in the Buffalo area: Franklin, Pierce-Arrow and Thomas.  In the Teens and Twenties American also supplied bodies to Marmon, Wills St.Claire and others, and due to the existing relationship with Ford also provided standard bodies for the Lincoln L.  The company specialized in touring models, of which the car on display is a fine example.  Researchers at the museum have examined the body and are not entirely certain it was from the American Body Company as Brunn & Co., also of Buffalo, provided similar bodies to Lincoln.

At some point in its life, the display car had the rear portion of its body removed and it was turned into a truck.  A Lincoln enthusiast had the body recreated to its original appearance.

1928 Lincoln Convertible Sedan by Dietrich

Raymond Dietrich was a principal in the LeBaron coachbuilding firm in New York and designed cars for the leading brands of the day.  In 1925 he was enticed by Edsel Ford (via the Murray Body Company, a major Ford supplier) to establish an operation in Detroit, Dietrich, Inc., to design bodies exclusively for Lincoln.  Dietrich's arrangement with Murray allowed him to do additional freelance work as well, notably for Franklin, Packard and Chrysler.  By 1930 the Great Depression had put a major brake on the business and Dietrich left to become head of design at Chrysler.  Dietrich, Inc. was wound down in 1936.

The Convertible Sedan was a Dietrich specialty and this car features fixed side-window frames and a division window behind the front seat.  With the top down, it becomes an open Phaeton, with the glass in the doors and the division window serving as a windshield for the rear passengers.  The car had a factory price of $6,500 and 38 were built in this style.

1930 Lincoln Type 172 Berline by Judkins

The J.B. Judkins Company of Merrimac, Massachusetts, was the coachbuilder that supplied more custom and series-built custom bodies for Lincoln than any other firm, providing nearly 5,904 bodies from 1921 until 1939.  Their Berline model, a five passenger body introduced in 1922 after the Ford takeover of Lincoln, was Judkins' most popular design, with 3,110 constructed up until 1939.  This car, which was discovered in a warehouse in California in 1969, was built in the Lincoln L's final year of production and was priced at $5,600.

1928 Lincoln Type 163B Sport Phaeton by Locke

Established in New York City in 1902, Locke & Co. provided bodies for a number of prestige makes,, supplying them from a factory in Rochester, New York, after 1926.  The company was included in Edsel Ford's expanded program for custom and semi-custom bodies starting in 1925.  This allowed production runs of 25-100 bodies which, while not strictly unique, were products of the best designers and of high quality, while also saving the customers some money compared to a one-off.  This handsome dual cowl phaeton, one of 150 built, sold for $4,600 and featured a clever mechanism that automatically raised the rear cowl when either of the rear doors was opened.  Locke & Co. closed their Rochester plant in 1932, continuing only to paint and refurbish cars in New York City until shutting down in 1937.

1923 Lincoln Type 123A Phaeton by Brunn

Jack Passey, who was to eventually own 92 Lincolns, purchased this car in 1949 for $40 and kept it until his death in 2015.  The car was placed into storage for three decades as Mr. Passey's collection grew and it has been loaned to the museum by his daughter.  The car, with its body built by Brunn & Co. of Buffalo, NY, sports an usual feature: the "California top."  This could be removed in fine weather, turning the car into an open tourer, and reinstalled for bad weather season, a clever solution when closed cars were still a rarity.

1932 Lincoln KB Convertible Sedan by Dietrich

The Lincoln K series replaced the L in 1931 and in 1932 the line was split into the KA and KB, the latter equipped with a new V12 engine, aimed at competing with Cadillac.  The body is another example of Ray Dietrich's convertible sedan style.

1939 Lincoln K Convertible Sedan by LeBaron

After 1935 all Lincolns were once again designated as Ks, and equipped with a 6.8 litre V12 engine that had been introduced in 1934.  Sales of these large and expensive cars declined until production ended quietly in 1939.  Numbers are disputed but range 1939 production is thought to range from 133 to 221 cars.  Two famous ones were built that year: a special car to be used for the Royal Tour of Canada in 1939 and another Brunn convertible sedan, the "Sunshine Special," delivered for the use of President Roosevelt.  The Royal Visit Lincoln is on display at the Lincoln Motor Car Heritage Museum and the Roosevelt car can be seen at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

1939 Royal Canadian Tour Car by LeBaron

On loan to the museum is this one-of-a-kind car used by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth during their Royal Visit to Canada and the United States in 1939.  During the tour, which lasted from May 17 to June 15, the couple visited every Canadian province, the Dominion of Newfoundland (as it then was) and, briefly, the United States from June 7-12, meeting President Roosevelt.  Each of the Big Three automakers doing business in Canada was invited to provide a car.  GM provided two stretched McLaughlin-Buicks, made in Oshawa, and Chrysler a Windsor-built Royal.  Only the Lincoln was built in the United States.  After the tour was over, the cars were returned.  The Lincoln was at the Henry Ford Museum for many years but is currently in private hands, as is one of the McLaughlin-Buicks.  The other McLaughlin-Buick is in possession of the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa but not on display while the fate of the Chrysler is unknown.

1940 Lincoln -Zephyr Brunn Town Limousine

It had become clear during the ongoing Great Depression that huge  and expensive V12-powered coachbuilt cars was not going to sustain Lincoln and a decision was made to introduce a smaller, albeit with a smaller V12, model, the Zephyr in 1935 as a 1936 model.  The Ford lines of cars extended from the Ford V8 Deluxe to the Mercury and on to the Lincoln-Zephyr below the Lincoln K.  The Lincoln-Zephyr was distinctly modern car and was the most successful car sold in the Streamline idiom, with 15,000 finding buyers between 1936 and 1943.  Lincoln-Zephyrs made up 80% of Lincoln sales in that time.  By 1941 the K was gone so all Lincolns were based on the Lincoln-Zephyr and in 1942 the Lincoln-Zephyr was dropped as a semi-separate brand.  The Zephyr name was not revived when production of cars resumed after World War II.  Although production Lincoln-Zephyrs came with handsome factory bodies, there was still the possibility of a coachbuilt car, as this example from Brunn & Co. shows.  In 1941 and 1942, Ford offered a "Lincoln Custom" line of extended wheelbase sedans and limousines based on the Lincoln-Zephyr.

1942 Lincoln-Zephyr Sedan

1936 Lincoln-Zephyr Coupe Sedan

1940 Lincoln-Zephyr Continental Cabriolet

In 1938 Zephyr designer Bob Gregorie was commissioned to come up with a special car for Edsel Ford's March 1939 vacation in Florida.  Using the Lincoln-Zephyr as a starting point, Gregorie came up with a convertible with a redesigned body seven inches lower than the Zephyr and a number of European-style touches, including minimal chrome trim.  The car was ready on time and the reaction to the car was so strong as Edsel Ford tooled around the Sunshine State that a decision was quickly made to put the car into production on a limited basis.  Around two dozen 1939 cars and 400 1940-built ones used hand-hammered body panels as dies for pressed were not available until 1941.  Most of the cars were "Cabriolet" convertibles, with only a few coupes made.  The "Continental" name for this Lincoln was used to note the European-inspired details.

1946 Lincoln Continental Club Coupe

The first design changes to the car were in 1942, with squared-off fenders and a revised grille but production was curtailed by World War II.  The Lincoln Continental returned to production in 1946 with a redesign by Raymond Loewy with a big chrome grille in keeping with the style of the time, which added nothing to the gracefulness of the original design.  1948 marked the last year of the original Lincoln Continental, and the last cars with a V12 engine to be marketed by a major US automaker.

1955 Continental Mark II Sport Coupe Prototype

The Mark II was not actually a Lincoln but was the sole product of the Continental Division of the Ford Motor Company.  It was a massive 5,000 lb ultra-luxury coupe that was the most expensive domestic car sold in the United States.  The car, produced only in 1956 and 1957, used a 6 litre V8 that produced 285 hp the first year, upgraded to 300 hp the second.  It was originally planned that there would be three cars in the Continental line but only the coupe saw production.  3,005 of these well-equipped cars were built and it is claimed that Ford lost money on each one.  The car on display was the first Continental Mark II to come down the line and was extensively tested before actual production for customers was to start.  There were three prototypes and this was scheduled to be crushed like the others but eventually ended up in the Henry Ford Museum before a private owner obtained it and donated it to the Lincoln Museum.

1960 Lincoln Continental Mark V Four Door Hardtop

Even heavier than the Continental Mark II were the Lincolns produced subsequently but it appears that only the 1960 car got the Continental moniker.  The others were simply Lincoln "Mark III" and "Mark IV."  The Lincoln Continental Mark V and its immediate forebearers are among the largest standard non-extended wheelbase cars ever made and the heaviest, with some versions hitting 5,700 lbs in limousine form.  It is interesting that this car appeared after the Continental Mark II and before the 1961 Lincoln Continental, both very restrained in their design language.

1962 Lincoln Continental 4 Door Sedan

After losing more than $60 million on the 1958-1960 Lincolns, Ford needed a winner if the brand was going to continue. The 1961 Lincoln Continental, sold only in four door form as either as sedan or convertible, was a totally different car and is considered an icon of design today.  It used components from the 1961 Thunderbird, such as the chassis, and had actually been originally envisaged as a four door T-Bird.  The car remained in production until 1969, although refreshed twice, in 1964 and 1966.  The 1966 car saw a body lengthened five inches for additional rear seat legroom and the roof was also raised.

1971 Lincoln Continental Mark III 2 Door Hardtop

Henry Ford II once described it as "A Mustang for the Chairman of the Board."  The Lincoln Continental Mark III was the brainchild of Ford President Lee Iaccoca, who instructed his designers to put a Rolls-Royce grille on the front of a Thunderbird.  Introduced in 1969, the car, featured a prominent grille and retro styling cues,notably the faux spare tire hump in the trunk lid.  Powered by a 460 cu. in. 365 hp V8 engine, the Mark III was the direct competitor of the Cadillac Eldorado.  It weighed 4,866 lbs and sold for nearly $7,000.  It was an enormous hit and spawned a series of Mark cars that made a great deal of money for Ford.  Iacocca claimed that it cost less than $30 million to develop the Mark III due to the ability to use existing Thunderbird components and in 1984 he said that the Mark series was the greatest financial success he (of Ford Mustang and Chrysler Minivan fame) had seen in the car industry.

2017 Lincoln Continental Concept Car

Introduced at the New York Auto Show in 2015, the Continental name returned with this concept car, which was the basis for the new sedan launched in 2015.  Powered by a V6 engine, the new Continental is a handsome, if somewhat subdued, car that is related to the Ford Fusion.  To mark the 80th Anniversary of Edsel Ford's 1939 Lincoln Continental a special commemorative version was built with rear-hinged rear doors, as in the 1961 Continental.  Sales of the current Lincoln Continental are as strong in China as in the United States, at roughly 12,000 cars in each market annually.

The Lincoln Motor Car Heritage Museum

Continue to Part 8 of the Gilmore Car Museum visit here.

Concours d'Elegance of America, Plymouth, Michigan, July 30, 2017: Part Eight--Auburn/Cord/Lincoln Motor Cars

"Class C" at the Coucours d'Elegance of America was devoted to one of our favourite (albeit doomed) car companies, featuring two of the three brands of the Auburn Automobile Company, namely Auburn and Cord.  That such a smallish company from a little town in Indiana could produce some of the most striking designs ever offered by an American car manufacturer never fails to impress and it is always a pleasure to admire these cars from the high point of Moderne design.

1930 Cord L-29

Introduced in 1930, the Cord was the first mass-production front-wheel drive car by an American manufacturer and its lowered ride height and elegant coachwork went some way towards making up for its rather lacklustre performance.  This was the most popular body style, a cabriolet produced for Cord by the Limousine Body Company of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and styled by Cord's designer Al Leamy.  The car, powered by a 125hp Lycoming straight-eight engine, weighed 4,300 and listed new for $3,295.  L-29 production, which ran from 1930 to 1932, totalled 5,010 cars.

1932 Auburn 8-100A Speedster

Only 75 of the Al Leamy-designed Speedsters were built in 1932 by Auburn.  This particular car actually began life as a sedan but was rebodied with a Speedster body from the Union Body Company, which supplied in-the-white bodies to Auburn.  The 8-100A  was powered with a 100 hp Lycoming and featured a three speed transmission coupled to a two speed differential rear axle, providing appropriate gearing for city driving as well as the open road.

1932 Auburn 8-100A Phaeton

Yet another handsome Al Leamy design, the Phaeton was powered by the same 100hp engine as the Speedster above and sold new for a mere $975, an indication of the effect the Great Depression was having on car prices.  While 1931 was Auburn's best year, with 28,000 cars sold, but a year later only 11,646 were produced and the company began to lose money.  By 1932 sales had plunged to 6,000 and by 1936 no more Auburns were produced.

1935 Auburn 851 SC Phaeton

Using the same 150hp supercharged engine as the more famous Auburn Speedster, with the supercharger adding $220 to the cost of the car, the handsome Phaeton, a reworking of an unsuccessful Al Leamy design by Gordon Buehrig, offered excellent styling, good performance and a bargain price (although the highest for an Auburn four door that year) of $1,725. the company was on the rocks financially at this point.  This car was the top of the line model and included the Columbia dual ratio rear axle.

1935 Auburn 851 Coupe

With the restyling of the Auburn line in 1935, no money was available to develop a coupe body style so the designers simply took the cabriolet model and added a padded top over a wooden frame.  These are quite rare models.  This car was restored by the owner himself from a basket case after acquisition in 1975 and then subsequently re-restored in 1995 by the same owner to its current condition and then presented to his granddaughter.

1935 Auburn 851 Speedster

1936 Cord 810

The magnificent swan song of the Auburn Automobile Company, the Cord 810, designed on the cheap by Gordon Buehrig--the stylish holes in the hubcaps were actually a measure to reduce heat from the brakes!--the coffin-nose Cord is a landmark of auto design.  In addition to its front-wheel drive, the car offered independent front suspension and a semi-automatic four-speed transmission.  In 1937 the 812 model offered supercharging as an option.  While the 810 was a sensation at the New York Auto Show in 1935, production problems hampered sales to only 1,174 cars in the first model year and subsequent reliability problems cooled the initial enthusiasm.  Unsold cars were re-labelled as 1937 models and given the 812 designation but when production ended in 1937 only around 3,000 Cord 810/812s had been produced.

Coming from Oakville, the headquarters of Ford of Canada, our family naturally thought that Lincolns were the top of the automotive heap in the 1960s and 1970s, although we never did have one.  At the Concours, there were two classes for Lincolns, pre-World War II and post-War.

1927 Lincoln L Coupe

Founded by Henry Leland in 1917, the Lincoln Motor Company, which was better at engineering than styling, was on the ropes by 1922, when it was purchased by the Ford Motor Company and Henry Ford's son Edsel put in charge.  The "L" was the first Lincoln developed under Ford auspices, although using an engine derived from Leland's work, and this particular car was fitted with a custom Opera Coupe body by coachbuilder Judkins of Merrimac, Massachusetts.  1927 marked the first year that four-wheel brakes were made standard on Lincolns and the company guaranteed that its cars were capable of 70 mph.  Prior to the current owner, who purchased the car in 2013 and has driven it on tours extensively, the car was in possession of one family for more than forty years and had been restored when it first came into their ownership.

1930 Lincoln L Type 172 Berline

1930 marked the final year of Lincoln L production and this sedan, a Berline by J.B. Judkins, features safety glass in its steeply raked windshield.  Judkins was noted for the Berline style and build over 3,000 examples for various car companies between 1922 and 1939.

1933 Lincoln KB Convertible

The 12 cylinder KB was Lincoln's first foray into the V12 market in 1932 and the following year became the first car producer to manufacture exclusively V12 cars when it dropped its straight-8 version.  The very expensive KB was offered in no fewer than 26 body styles from 17 different coachbuilders and this car was a Five Passenger Convertible Coupe made by the Hermann A. Brunn coachworks and is one of only three known to survive from a run of 15 cars.  In all, only 533 KBs were built in 1933 due to the economic circumstances.  The K-series would soldier on in tiny numbers as a halo car for Lincoln until 1939, although displaced by the more popular and practical Zephyr and Continental models.

1933 Lincoln KB Convertible Coupe by LeBaron

1934 Lincoln Convertible Victoria by Brunn

1932 Lincoln KA Town Sedan

This KA, powered by a Leland-derived V8 engine of 120 hp, features a Town Sedan body by the Murray Corporation, a major supplier of bodies to the Ford Motor Company from 1925 until 1939, including many for the Ford Model A.

1935 Lincoln K Series 541 Coupe  by LeBaron

1937 Lincoln K Touring Car

Weighing in at over 3 tons, this seven-passenger touring car by coachbuilder Willoughby of Utica, New York, was meant for Lincoln's most elite clientele.  Powered by a V12 engine, it sits on a 145 inch wheelbase. This particular example, one of two known to survive from seven built, was used as a parade car for the Governor of California and features innovative styling features for the period, such as the faired-in headlights and steep "V" windshield.  It listed for $5,500 when new.

1940 Lincoln Continental Cabriolet

1947 Lincoln Continental Cabriolet

Considered to be the brainchild of Edsel Ford, the Lincoln Continental came about as a custom car based on Lincoln Zephyr underpinnings, for Edsel to drive in Florida.  People were enthusiastic about its European-type styling and the car went into production in 1939 and 1940, with 350 being build in both cabriolet and coupe versions.  The design was squared off a bit subsequently but production came to a halt in 1942 with the advent of World War II.  Continentals were again on the market from 1946 to 1948 but its looks were marred by a big chrome-slathered grille, ruining the original car's simple and elegant lines.  The Continental was to be the last American car offered with a V12 engine.

1951 Lincoln Cosmopolitan Convertible

The Cosmpolitan was a full-size luxury car produced from 1949 to 1954 and shared its V8 engine with Ford's heavy truck line.  The car was considered the top-level Lincoln and was available in four door and two door versions, as well as the convertible.  Power windows and seats were standard equipment in 1951.  Modified Cosmopolitans were used as Presidential State Cars by Truman and Eisenhower.

1956 Continental Mk II

Not actually a Lincoln but clearly meant to invoke the style of the 1939 Edsel Ford custom, the Mk II was produced by the Continental Division of the Ford Motor Company between 1955 and 1957 as its only product.  Unveiled at the Paris Auto Show in 1955, it was the most expensive car produced in America at its introduction.  It weighed 5,000 lbs and was powered by a 285 hp V8 (upgraded to 300 hp in 1957). Only 3,005 of the handbuilt Mk IIs were sold and it is estimated that Ford lost $1,000 on each sale but achieved its goal of demonstrating it could build a quality car to the highest standards in the world.  Ford re-entered the luxury personal car market in 1969 with the Lincoln Continental Mk III, which was less expensive but offered some of the same styling features.  Around half of the Mk IIs built are still extant.

1964 Lincoln Continental Sedan

Introduced in 1961, the suicide-door Lincoln Continental is considered a modern classic.  This car, which we had previously seen at the "Eye on Design" show in Dearborn, is probably the most original one there is as it has only 1,700 miles on it.  The car is fully equipped for the period, boasting air conditioning, a transistorized radio with a power antenna and a power trunk release.  It is powered by a 7 litre (430 cu in) V8, putting out 320 hp and 465 lb-ft of torque.  Fuel consumption for this 5,258 lb car is an unsurprising 9.7 mpg (US).

Continue to Part Nine here