Henry Ford bought Lincoln from the man who had once pushed him out
In 1902 investors led by Henry Leland forced Henry Ford out of his own car company and reorganised it as Cadillac. Twenty years later Leland's next venture, Lincoln, was bankrupt, and Ford bought it at a court-ordered sale. Within months the Lelands had been forced to resign. The luxury brand has belonged to Ford ever since.
Leland had sold Cadillac to General Motors in 1909 and stayed on until a wartime dispute with GM's president in 1917. He and his son Wilfred then started Lincoln, naming it after the first president Leland had voted for, in 1864. The firm was funded by a 10-million-dollar contract to assemble Liberty V12 aero engines for the First World War, using parts from other makers, including cylinders from Ford. By the armistice it had built 6,500 engines and employed 6,000 people.
Turning to cars proved harder. The first Lincoln, the Model L, appeared in September 1920, but production stumbled, some buyers waited almost a year, and critics found the styling old-fashioned. By 1922 the company was in receivership. Ford's opening bid of 5 million dollars was the only one, and the court made him raise it to 8 million for a company valued at 16. Edsel Ford took charge, expanded the factory, offered custom bodies, and had the business in profit by the end of 1923.
Prestige followed quickly. In 1924 a Model L became the first official presidential state limousine, for Calvin Coolidge. In 1933 Lincoln became the first carmaker anywhere to build nothing but V12-engined cars. The cheaper Lincoln-Zephyr of 1936, the first Ford-group car with a unibody, sold more than 15,000 in its debut year.
Edsel himself sparked the brand's most famous name. Finding American cars boxy, he had designer E. T. Gregorie build him a one-off, lowered, European-style convertible for a Florida holiday in 1939. People kept asking about its continental look, so in 1940 Lincoln put the Continental into production, with 404 made that year, the first going to Mickey Rooney. Today Lincoln sells only SUVs and crossovers.
Source: Lincoln Motor Company
