1968 Lincoln Continental Four-Door Sedan

摘要

Lincoln rebooted its styling themes several times in the Fifties, but couldn't break Cadillac's postwar dominance of the luxury market. Ford Motor Company executives concluded that this lack of design consistency was hurting Lincoln. It was decided that stretching the design cycle to as long as nine years would establish a Lincoln "look," reduce body tooling costs, and increase resale values. In the late Fifties, Ford Vice President Robert McNamara insisted that the next Lincoln design be reasonably sized. A short (by luxury-car standards) 123-inch wheelbase was chosen. A problem with the short body was that it was hard to exit the back seat without kicking the door. That was solved by having the rear doors hinged at the rear. "Suicide doors" were a Lincoln Continental feature up to 1970, even after the wheelbase was lengthened to 126 inches in '64.