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Aus Wikipedia zur Industriegeschichte Dorsten
Lincoln Cars - An Interesting History
Most do not realize that Lincoln actually had its beginnings like a company separate from Ford Motor Company. The organization was started by Henry Leland in 1917 and named for one of Leland's heroes, President Abraham Lincoln. Henry Leland had been one of the founders from the Cadillac Car Company, which in fact had been the Henry Ford Company. The Lincoln Motor Company was designed to build Liberty aircraft engines for the United Stated during World War One. With the end from the war, Leland had the factories retooled to create automobiles. Ford Motor Company was able to acquire Lincoln in 1922 when the luxury automobile manufacturer encountered severe financial hardships. Henry Ford was quite very happy to have the ability to acquire the company from Leland. He viewed it as being retribution as Leland had led investors to make Ford from the Detroit Automobile Company, a business that Ford had founded.
Once Ford acquired the company, body style changes were introduced and the price was lowered. These changes led to increased sales to five,512 vehicles bought from 1922. Up in the previous 150 models sold the previous year, which had resulted in the hardship that had forced the company into bankruptcy.
In 1923, a number of different body styles were introduced including a two-passenger roadster and a seven-passenger limousine.
An exclusively designed police model, known as the Police Flyer was marketed to police force divisions around the country. A special draw was Ford's willingness to modify the vehicles to suit the needs of cops within the field. Bulletproof windows were added, spotlights were positioned on the sides from the vehicle and gun racks were mounted to the interior section of cars. The cars were also fitted with four-wheel brakes a complete 2 yrs before they were offered on vehicles intended for private sale. These police cruisers along with the success of the 4 door private sedans allowed the Lincoln division to show a profit margin by the end of 1924 just 2 yrs following the company have been pulled from the jaws of bankruptcy.
The bestselling car in Lincoln's history was created by a designer named Eugene T. "Bob" Gregorie. Gregorie was designing a car for Edsel Ford who wanted a sleeker vehicle more in line with European style cars. The Lincoln Zephyr evolved as the result and was offered for the 1936 model year. Sales skyrocketed its first year on market and sales for Ford increased by 9 times what it really tried the year before. This was the car that will eventually be the Lincoln Continental, probably the most important cars in the history of Lincoln. The car was so successful it was nearly used as a brand name alone. The advent of World War Two ended manufacture of the popular Zephyr when Ford converted a lot of its factories to war work. The Continental which may continue to become so famous was based on mostly completely of the Zephyr.
Lincoln has also occupied a prominent place in history by providing many of the vehicles that would be used as official state vehicles for presidents of the United States. The very first Lincoln vehicle for use within this capacity was a 1939 Lincoln V12 utilized by Franklin D. Roosevelt. The limousine being used on that fateful day in Dallas in November 1963 was also a Lincoln. It is currently on display at the Henry Ford Museum. Lincoln vehicles have also been used by Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Bush.
Beginning in 2007, Lincoln designed a switch to its marketing strategy and began giving three-letter names to all new models with the exception of the Navigator and also the Town Car. Last year, Lincoln is anticipated to make the MKS its new flagship model, replacing the city Car, that has had that position within the Ford line up since 1981.
