Boots Travel Insurance – not Cheap, but Worth every Penny
As Lincoln’s first truck, the Navigator attracted buyers who had never looked at a Lincoln before, just what planners had hoped. Though it lost some sales momentum once Escalade arrived, Navigator remained vital to Lincoln sales into the new century, good for roughly 32,000 to 39,000 orders per year, each one a high-margin payday. After adding a few conveniences through 2002, Navigator was fully redesigned with a ride-enhancing independent rear suspension and power-operating standard third-row bench seat, both class firsts shared with Expedition. The makeover also introduced Ford’s Advance Trac antiskid/traction-control system as an option and standard curtain side airbags to protect the heads of those in the first- and second-row bucket seats.
Lincoln was little more successful with its second SUV. Developed by Volvo, now owned by Dearborn, RSC employed special sensors that could detect an impending rollover and would automatically activate the antiskid system to help prevent it. A laudable 2004 option became standard for model-year ’05: the Advance Trac antiskid system with new Roll Stability Control. Included were that pair’s optional 4.6-liter V-8 with a bit more power, curtain side airbags, power-adjustable pedals, rear-obstacle-detection system, and an uptown interior. A 2003 debut, the Aviator applied Navigator-like styling and trappings to the familiar Ford Explorer and related Mercury Mountaineer.
Spare tires lived within new built-in trunk compartments (unless sidemount spares were ordered), and factory bodies received their first Vee’d windshields. The V-12 gained hydraulic lifters and moved further forward, which improved ride. As ever, standard Model K interiors were done with rich broadcloth and curly-maple garnish moldings; rarer woods and fabrics were available in custom styles. Nominal horsepower remained 150, condo for sell in bangkok – official statement – but post-1936 models probably had more usable power because of a different cam contour. The lush luxury-car market of the 1920s had long since dried up in the economic drought of the ’30s, and Lincoln suffered as much as any premium make.
Likewise, ’59 Lincolns were lightly touched-up ’58s. Though the division desperately held prices close to previous levels — $4900-$5500 for Lincolns and Premieres, $6600-$7000 for standard Marks — Imperial surged ahead in 1959 model-year volume — and would win again the following year. Horsepower was reduced to 350 for all models in a faint sop to a now mileage-minded public. Lincoln’s ’59 total was dismal at 15,780, plus 11,126 Mark IVs.
Cost pressures, however, compromised the result. A four-main-bearing L-head unit of 267 cid, the Zephyr V-12 employed a “monobloc” casting similar to the V-8’s, with an exhaust cored between the cylinders. Gregorie. The changes made for a much prettier car than either Tjaarda’s prototypes or the curved-nose Airflow, yet the essential shape remained more slippery than the Airflow’s even though it wasn’t “styled in the wind tunnel” like portions of the Chrysler design. Initial horsepower was unimpressive for a twelve at only 110. The rest of the drivetrain was also derived from Ford V-8 components. Zephyr styling was similar to that of Tjaarda’s prototypes, but a pointy rear-hinged “alligator” hood and matching Vee’d radiator were grafted on under Edsel’s direction by Ford stylist E.T.
And where S-Types came only with five-speed automatic transmission, the V-6 LS offered a five-speed manual too. Not many buyers opted for it, but it indicated that Lincoln was serious about the enthusiast market. The driver-focused LS was a radical break with Town Car tradition, but necessary and overdue. But the LS did little to change Lincoln’s fuzzy image or bottom line. Indeed it was: agile and assured on twisty roads and quick on the straights, with 0-60 mph taking around 7.4 seconds for a manual V-6, 7.2 for an automatic V-8.
