{"id":14752,"date":"2022-02-06T09:07:10","date_gmt":"2022-02-06T14:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=14752"},"modified":"2022-02-06T09:07:10","modified_gmt":"2022-02-06T14:07:10","slug":"lincoln-designer-series-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=14752","title":{"rendered":"Landau yachts: The history of Lincoln’s Designer Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Lincoln<\/a> Designer Series was introduced in 1976, at the end of the imposing Mark IV Continental<\/a> generation. Four big-name fashion designers of the era \u2013 all-American country clubber Bill Blass, psychedelic Italian pattern-maestro Emilio Pucci, venerable French jewelry-maker Cartier, and \u00e0 la mode French fashionista Hubert de Givenchy \u2013 were asked to slather their elegance on Lincoln\u2019s personal luxury coupe.<\/p>\n

This experiment was a wild success. According to documents uncovered in the Lincoln archives \u2013 with the incomparable guidance of official brand historian Ted Ryan \u2013 the Designer series \u201caccounted for more than 27% of Mark IV sales\u201d shortly after its introduction. It was such a runaway hit, that it continued on throughout the even larger Mark V generation (incidentally, the longest coupe ever produced by Ford<\/a> Motor Company), and didn\u2019t really peter out on these big two-doors until the early 1990s. \u00a0<\/p>\n

But the true history of the series well predates the era of opera windows, crushed velour and wire wheel covers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you take a step back even further, when Ford purchased Lincoln in 1922, Edsel<\/a> Ford was put in charge of the company. But more than that, he helped establish the first design studio at Ford,\u201d said Ryan. The basic Model T didn\u2019t take much design. Lincoln was different. Edsel is famed for his quote. \u201cFather wanted to make the most popular car, I wanted to make the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

The specific genesis of the Designer Series, however, came along as a result of a long-term personal connection with the marque\u2019s first chairman. \u201cEdsel Ford had a relationship with Cartier, and correspondence going throughout the 1920s and ’30s,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cHis personal cards and stationery were always ordered from Cartier.\u201d<\/p>\n

This enduring link wasn\u2019t formalized until the late 1960s. \u201cI found in product development files, in 1967, that Ford had gone to Cartier for a special 1970 Cartier Continental coupe,\u201d Ryan said. According to internal documents, this package would include unique interior leather\/cloth\/vinyl surfaces and trim, modified dials, and a Cartier jewelry box, as well as golden plating on the steering wheel ornament, dial face ornaments, keys, C-pillar ornaments, door monograms, and dashboard plaque.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink of that. A car that never was, that could have been,\u201d Ryan said, wistfully.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Some Cartier magic did get glossed on Lincolns in the late 1960s. A Cartier-branded dashboard clock originated in the Lincoln Mark III for 1969, and continued to be available on the Mark IV before the launch of the Designer Series.<\/p>\n

The final impetus for the series came from an even more unlikely source.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea for the involvement of outside designers originated in 1974 with a Mustang<\/a> program called \u2018Fashions N\u2019 Wheels\u2019,\u201d said Ryan. This concept involved Bill Blass designing clothing and accessories that would be sold alongside the then-new Mustang II. \u201cThis idea was a big success, leading management to consider how to expand it,\u201d Ryan added.<\/p>\n

The idea went all the way up the chain of command, to company president Lee Iacocca<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have the pitch deck that went to Iacocca, I just have something that says, Lee Iacocca approved, on this date, this particular program,\u201d Ryan said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In order to give the series\u2019 models specificity, and keep them fresh as they changed year-over-year, the designers or their representatives came to Ford headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, annually, for a festival of fabric and trim swatches, creative meetings, concept approvals, and wining and dining. Paint and interior colors<\/a> and materials shifted annually. Ultimately, this process became a signpost, an event, in the Motor City.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe introduction of each new designer edition became something like a fashion line being premiered in Paris or New York,\u201d said Ryan.<\/p>\n

However, the changes were sometimes less than thrilling. \u201cWe have product planning committee minutes, which are dry as toast. It just reads, R<\/em>epresentatives from XYX designers came to Dearborn and selected colors. Changes made include this, this, and this.<\/em> The level of humor and fun is difficult to discern.\u201d Ryan said. \u201cIn one of the Bill Blass ones, he said that he wanted to just add a red stripe on the back of the rearview mirror.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Designer Series continued nearly throughout the end of the Mark coupe range, dying out only with the introduction of the final Mark VIII, in the early 1990s. Gleefully, before it ran its course, the scion of overwhelming Italian opulence, Gianni Versace, got a turn for two years in the mid-1980s. But by the end of the Mark VII, and the series, only Bill Blass was keeping the design embers glowing.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Less clear is why exactly the program came to an end. \u201cWe don\u2019t really know now why it ended. We don\u2019t have any documentation on that. I speculate that it just ran its course. Every good car line runs its course,\u201d said Ryan.<\/p>\n

Other fashion brands \u2013 including Ermenegildo Zegna<\/a>, Thom Browne and Zac Posen<\/a>, John Varvatos<\/a>, Isaac Mizrahi<\/a>, and KITH<\/a> \u2013 have, in recent years, experimented in automotive cross-branding. And it could be argued that AMC predated Ford with its Levi\u2019s, Pierre Cardin, and Gucci<\/a> editions in the early-to-mid 1970s. But AMC is long gone, sadly, and never came close to hitting the 100-year mark.<\/p>\n

The practice remains a distinguishing feature of Lincoln during its century-long automotive reign, and one that aligns with the brand\u2019s foundational mythologies. Edsel Ford was the one who brought in Diego Rivera to Detroit to create the Detroit Industry murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts. He was a designer, and art lover, at heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe DNA of Lincoln was always such that a designer series would have matched it, and matched Edsel\u2019s vision for what Lincoln was and could be,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cHe would be smiling to know that his company had played this role.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Lincoln Designer Series was introduced in 1976, at the end of the imposing Mark IV Continental generation. Four big-name fashion designers of the era \u2013 all-American country clubber Bill Blass, psychedelic Italian pattern-maestro Emilio Pucci, venerable French jewelry-maker Cartier, and \u00e0 la mode French fashionista Hubert de Givenchy \u2013 were asked to slather their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14753,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}