Monday, March 01, 2021
Random auto thought
Ford has always been confused about the branding of Lincoln. Henry originally bought the company to give young Edsel a hobby, a way to seem respectably busy. Edsel showed real talent, and in '36 used the Zephyr to set trends for the rest of the industry. Unfortunately Edsel died in '43, leaving the Lincoln without its internal champion. From '49 to '51, Lincoln looked like a Mercury that had fallen on hard times. Sunken eyes, missing teeth. From '52 to '55, Lincoln looked like a cheap version of the Ford, while Mercury looked like the luxury brand.
To make it worse, Lincoln was sold as the performance brand from '52 to '55, which is NOT what luxury buyers want, and duplicated the earned reputation of Mercury as the real performance brand.
Finally in '56 Lincoln got its own body, and for the first time Lincoln looked and felt like a luxury car, a proper answer to Cadillac.
Today I noticed a visual clue proving that Ford KNEW which of their '55s was the luxury brand.
When they designed the '56 Lincoln from scratch on its own body, they copied the '55 Merc front end, NOT the '55 Lincoln front end.
Another Mercury connection.
When they designed the '56 Lincoln from scratch on its own body, they copied the '55 Merc front end, NOT the '55 Lincoln front end.
Another Mercury connection.
Labels: Asked and partly answered
¶ 11:41 PM
