LV 2
A few months back, I returned to Shakey Pictures North HQ, a transcontinental journey to Zuma Beach, California. The object of the journey was to attend a director’s screening of Volume 1 of The LincVolt Years. We’d be watching all five one-hour episodes with the executive producers. I was pretty nervous.
The Driver picked me up down on the beach at precisely 10:30 a.m. as designated. He was driving LincVolt – top down and gleaming in the morning sun. Her odometer had just turned over to 70,000 miles. I took one look at her and fell in love all over again. What an extraordinary accomplishment she is. But you’ll get to watch all that unfold real soon so I’ll stick to the point here: love.
The Lincoln Continental was born of an idea based entirely on love. Love of the open road, love of the great vistas of North America, love of the fusion of motion and freedom and friendship that comes on a grand journey in a big great car.
Bob Gregorie designed the Ford Motor Company’s 1st generation of Lincolns. His cars established the nameplate as a world’s finest rivaling even Rolls Royce vehicles for style and quality. Each one hand crafted by Detroit’s great car builders. In 1945, at the end of World War II, Gregorie left the company. In 1948 Ford stopped building Lincolns all together. But love brought ’em back.
The design team of John Najjar, Elwood Engel and Don Delarness loved the Lincoln so much they resuscitated the line. 2nd generation Lincoln Continentals made their debut in 1956 with the Mark II. A gorgeous hand built automobile that matched the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud in every way imaginable, even price. The Mark II was the most expensive production car built in America in the day. They sold for $10,000.00, five times more than a regular sedan. Ford lost millions on the venture.
To keep the Lincoln brand alive with prices that people could almost afford the company stopped building them by hand. In 1957 a brand new assembly plant, designed specifically for Lincolns, Thunderbirds and, later, Ford-GTs was opened in Wixom, Michigan. The 3rd generation began to roll off the line. That’s where LincVolt was born.
What’s not to love about a big beautiful car epitomizing the very apex of American automotive design? She had a 430 cubic inch (7.0 liter) V-8 engine, Auto-Drive transmission, Auto Lube and a Unibody platform. There were only two options on the Mark IV, air conditioning and an FM radio. She had both. Very, very hip.
But LincVolt wasn’t always the symphony of electro mechanical romance – a straight quote from The Driver – that she is today. His interest in her was sparked 30 years after her birth by a want ad in a local newspaper. She’d already been through a tumultuous love affair. Love doesn’t always run smooth you know.
Stay tuned. The LincVolt Years will cover all of that later. For now here’s the story of the very beginning of an epic love story that’s spanned decades.
And don’t you just love love?
Onward
the passenger