The Battle Creek Enquirer (where’s my cereal toy?) reports that The Lincoln Motor Car Foundation will be building a Lincoln-centric museum on the campus of the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan. Naturally, Ford Motor Company will be kicking-in some dough for the project. With Lincoln all but dismantled at this point, a museum dedicated to such a storied marque makes a truckload of sense. Sort of like a pre-historic fly caught in amber, only nicer. And you can extract the design DNA without unleashing rampaging dinsoraurs. This new museum should provide car fans a terrific opportunity to check out some classic American Lincolns from the days when the only thing the brand worried about was Cadillac and the occasional Imperial. [Note to RF’s former press car provider John Lawlor: time to donate LBJ’s limo. Summer’s fine and the tax credit’s are easy.]
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I thought we already had a Lincoln Museum…oh, sorry. It’s my local dealer. Mybad.
Now I understand the confused look on the doorman’s face when I tried to buy a ticket to get in.
If new Lincolns had as much class and style as that 1965 model, perhaps we wouldn’t be worried about whether the brand’s next stop is the automotive graveyard.
The AACA Museum in Hershey has a pale yellow 1967 convertible sedan…what a car!
I’m fortunate enough to live a mile from the Petersen Automotive Museum. They have some strange and interesting things in there.
The suicide door Continental has always been one of my favorite cars of any type, hands-down. Only if Lincoln made any museum worthy cars nowadays…
Pffff… What???
The car pictured is what I always think of when I hear Lincoln, a real Lincoln and proudly American luxury car.
@TriShield:
Yup.
Will it showcase cars from bygone era, when Lincoln actually could compete with Cadillac (nevermind the rest of the world)?
They better have all the Designer Series models covered, otherwise its a waste of real estate. (kidding)
It’s not all good news. Sooner or later the Lincoln museum has to add an MKX to show what Lincoln was like in the “end times”.
As a life-long Lincoln lover, I applaud the effort to celebrate the great Lincolns of the past. (I have had 4 early 60’s Continentals and currently have a convertible version of the car pictured.)
But I wonder if the museum will be enough to resurect the brand’s ethos for the car lovers of today. Putting lipstick on Mazda and Volvo “pigs” is not doing much to reestablish street cred as a true luxury brand. Ford needs to undertake a 1956 Mark II-scale project as a first step to restoring Lincoln’s very tarnished luster.
willbodine : Ford needs to undertake a 1956 Mark II-scale project as a first step to restoring Lincoln’s very tarnished luster.
I may be the biggest Lincaholic on here, but even I know something like the Mark II is the worst thing they can do right now, given Ford’s current crop of problems.
@Trishield: Amen, brother. Next in my head are the oversized Mark IIIs and IVs, and then the ’40/41 Continentials.
I’d love to see a museum dedicated to Henry Leland’s other luxury brand.
I am a huge fan of Lincoln and I love my 97 Mark however there is not one vehicle Lincoln sells today that provokes any excitement or emotion.
I correct myself, just thinking about Lincoln’s current lineup does evoke some feelings; boredom and sadness.
“I thought we already had a Lincoln Museum…oh, sorry. It’s my local dealer. Mybad. ”
HA! Best line ever!
Sajeev, I should have explained that better. I’m not suggesting a new Mark; but rather a cost-no-object “statement” project to rebuild the brand’s bona-fides. The Mark II had some serious marketing and design flaws. But it was virtually handbuilt on a cost-no-object basis. It made a giant statement. And even today, a Mark II is a far better ownership proposition than the other super-luxury project car of the day, Cadillac’s Eldorado Brougham.
But the real legacy of the Mark II was the building of the quality, testing, and manufacturing knowledge-base that Ford was able to use later, in varying degrees, on all their cars. The ’61 Lincolns were equivalents in most every way of the Mark II for $4,000 less. They made Lincoln a top-tier desirable ride. With a cleanliness of design that was shamelessly copied in the following years by Imperial and Cadillac, among others.
I am guessing that developing the MKZ and MKS cost plenty and have not turned the marque around (or increased market penetration.) Only an automotive Apollo Project is gonna save Leland’s other luxury car.
I know “slab-sided” is an adjective that gets thrown around a lot when talking about Lincolns like the one pictured, but my God, never have slabs looked so confidently beautiful.
If we must bring out neo-retro automobiles and call them the “next great thing,” (I’m looking at you, Chevy Camaro, Dodge Challenger, Ford Thunderbird, et. al.) then surely this museum will provide ample inspiration. And I, for one, would love to see a new, long, low, slab-sided Lincoln. A Continental with suicide doors? Broad-shouldered bombast? Yes, please.
What’s that picture supposed to be of, a White House aide sneaking Marilyn Monroe through the servants entrance ?.
@Banger:
Google 2002 Lincoln Continental Concept. Tell me THAT shouldn’t have made production. Gorgeous.
Justin:
Exactly. This should’ve been the MK-whatever series’ overall look. Even today, six years after the fact, it’s gorgeous.
to me the 61-65 Lincoln Continentals remain today as the most beautiful cars ever built. Of all the cars ever made this is one that I would still like to own.
I love the idea of the museum, and plan on checking it out if I am ever in Michigan.
The car in the photo is gorgeous, as were many of the classic Lincolns. There is large classic car community in my area, and occasionally classic Lincolns, Mercuries, and Fords show up at the dealership for service or just so the owners can show them off, and they always draw a crowd (of both salespeople and other customers).
While I would have loved to have seen the 2002 concept make its way into production, Lincoln currently has to dance along a thin line between attracting new younger buyers with accessible pricing and modern design/features while not alienating the older crowd that has been its bread and butter in recent decades. The number one complaint I hear from the elderly customers with any new Lincoln or Mercury is that there is no option for front bench seats.
I post this link every time its mentioned:
http://www.dieselstation.com/archive/Lincoln-Continental-Concept/index.shtml
I still have fond memories of being five, and seeing the first new 1965 Lincoln Continental cruise through the neighborhood. I was hooked then. When I was 14-16, one of my more well-to-do buddies used to cruise our whole gang around in a 1963 Connie sedan…..man, that was living. Lincoln lost the plot with the Mark IV, my best friend at Cabrini High School cruised us to prom in that baby (his dad’s), and let me drive it. It was like driving the QEII, with that unnervingly long hood. which canted at about a 30 to 40 degree angle when you took a turn faster than walking speed. I adored the 1980’s “bustle-back” Continental (saw a PRISTINE maroon one at my local Lowe’s store the other day….had to wipe the drool from my chin, but at the same time, I was lamenting that beneath that style was REALLY sub-standard hardware. Lincoln did engage in a modern “’56 Continental” program in the late 90’s when they developed the LS….and “missed it by THAT much.” I checked out the previous posters advice, and they SHOULD have found a way to build that 2002 Continental concept, rather than wasting all that money on the Blackwood and the Navigator (yeesh!)….
Now, I live not far from the Gilmore Auto Museum (not bad, you all should check it out if you like that sort of thing…especially when they have weekend specials like “British Sports Car” weekend, but I digress….)and I look forward to visiting and seeing those classic Lincolns of my youth. Even if Lincoln survives as a brand, the automotive future will never be conducive to the production of cars with the grandeur of the great Lincolns of the 50’s and 60’s…..
If I could borrow a phrase from one of my favorite author’s…..the world has moved on.
Since they closed Wixom, they don’t even build Lincolns anymore – they sell dressed-up Fords as a Lincoln. There is no pride anymore in being a Ford employee and working in the Lincoln factory.
Lincoln – What a Luxury Car Should Be – Made In Mexico.
I feel honor-bound to point out that while the fifties and sixties Lincolns were competitive with Cadillac in style and performance, Cadillac outsold them by more than five to one. In fact, Cadillac usually outsold Lincoln and Imperial combined by at least three to one.
Even in their stylistic heyday, they were a niche player. It wasn’t until the 80s and the advent of the Town Car that they really became a serious Cadillac competitor, which was as much because Cadillac stumbled (8-6-4, 4.1L, Cimarron, downsizing) as because Lincoln was doing anything right.
It’s true that Cadillacs were still vastly more popular than Lincolns in the 1950s and 1960s, although I think part of that may have been because Cadillac usually offered a much wider lineup.
From 1961-65, for example, the entire Lincoln line consisted of the sedan and convertible sedan. A two-door hardtop wasn’t even available until 1966, while the Coupe DeVille had always been a strong seller for Cadillac.
Lincoln’s relatively low sales numbers in the 1960s made them seem more exotic and “special” to me than comparable Cadillacs. That, and the distinctive style and suicide doors.
geeber
Well, that’s true to a point, although the substantive difference between Cadillac’s different trim series was pretty modest. Cadillac did have hardtop coupes, and through the mid-sixties a choice of four-window or six-window sedans. On the other hand, Cadillac’s lead only got larger after they consolidated in the middle sixties. Look at 1966, the year Lincoln finally added a hardtop. Cadillac was down to four body styles (pillared sedan, hardtop sedan, hardtop coupe, and convertible), but even comparing Lincoln only to the De Ville line, which was Cadillac’s bread and butter, Cadillac’s sedans outsold Lincoln’s two to one; the hardtop by more than three to one; and the convertible by six to one.
Again, it had little to do with the qualitative merits of the cars. A ’66 Lincoln is perhaps not as distinctive as the ’61 Continental, but it’s an attractive car with plenty of power for the time and a generally high standard of fit and finish. The problem was that Cadillac had badge cachet that Lincoln dealers could only dream of. Lincoln was respectable, but people put themselves in hock to drive a Cadillac.
I think there’s an instructive parallel to the present, sadly. Even if the MKS were a startlingly brilliant sedan, which it isn’t, its price cozies up to Lexus and BMW 5-series territory (it’s a little further under the E-class). As with Cadillac forty years ago, they just don’t have the clout.
For a marketing company, Ford made some pretty stupid mistakes with Lincoln in the 60’s. Sales for the 61-65 period averaged about 35K per annum, about 20% of Cadillac’s output. Adding the 2 door coupe in 66 increased sales over 15K. But it was the Marks III and IV that sent Lincoln sales into overdrive and in the 70’s Lincoln finally caught up with and then outsold Cadillac.
Unfortunately, in the same period Mercedes (and to a lesser extent, BMW and Jaguar) offered cars more and more acceptable to the high end US car buyer. They offered high technology and that foreign cachet when Cadillac and Lincoln just offered more of the same ole same ole. Class is a hard-to-define concept, but this was when Detroit ceded the high-end to Europe (and later Japan.)
They are very late to the party and seem to be stuck in the “near luxury” category. Which is why I think something outrageously unexpected is needed to signal that they intend to compete with the world’s best.