Dreaming & Flying & Living

"Deadly" Nightshade climbing on the boardwalk in town.

I think the shadows in this photo look like they're leaving for their own afternoon adventure. They don't really seem all that connected to-, or even related to-, the leaves and stems. I like to think I captured this this purple-and-yellow flowering wild vine as it was lazily daydreaming. Perhaps I captured its shadow/dreams departing on their almost-Summer mid-afternoon romp.

B T W : 

"Birds sing after a storm; Why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight remains yo them."

—Rose Kennedy (1890-1995)

This photo was shot on Thursday, with birds flying under the storm clouds, while there's just a bit of blue sky finally breaking out on the right. These birds were squawking, and singing, and shaking the rain off their wings, and the scene reminded me of the quote by President Kennedy's mother, Rose, above. If it reminds long-time readers of something else, I paraphrased the quote last year on this chop of a new Lincoln sport sedan...

I paraphrased Mrs. Kennedy's quote for the tagline on this early 2011 chop of a rear wheel-drive Lincoln sport sedan.

2013 Lincoln MKZ—Theirs/Mine. Close/No Cigar!

 

2013 MKZ concept vehicle just shown in Detroit—the first fastback Lincoln since the 1949 Cosmopolitan Town Sedan!

The glass roof, arched roofline, full width taillights and letterspaced L-I-N-C-O-L-N on the trunklid were previewed on my MKE below. What I don't "get" on this car, is the matte black panel below the rear window on the trunklid. I 'm guessing it's supposed to make the rear window look larger, but it's an odd fake touch to me. I would have worked out a different solution.

 

B R E A K I N G   N E W S — Just introduced at the North American International Automobile Show in Detroit, this Lincoln MKZ concept vehicle is a thinly disguised peek at their production version due in the Spring. I'm still digesting the details, and trying to decide just how much of the car is "show" and how much will be on the production version. Overall, I'm struck at the difference between Cadillac's design direction, which borders on macho and performance, and Lincoln's, which seems to be smoothly futuristic and efficient. Of course, both are full luxury automakers, and both will offer all the electronic bells and whistles necessary in today's market, but the way they're going about it is striking. In all of my 30+ chops of new Lincolns in the past 18 months, I didn't quite get "there" with the MKZ, but parts of mine have shown up on this concept. 

Even though I used a 4-window greenhouse instead of the new concept's 6-window, there is something about the overall geometric shape of the windows and arched roof of my MKE and the MKZ concept car that are very similar. I'm glad to see L-I-N-C-O-L-N letterspaced on the rear trunklid of the real car, too.

I was "designing" fastback Lincolns as long ago as 1988!

 Another fastback, glass-roofed MKZ, my Sportback from 2010.

My fastback MKZ coupe from early 2011.


 Another of my fastback MKZ renderings, this time a sedan from 2011. I emphasized the fastback with a horizontal triangular sixth window, and Lincoln has demphasized theirs with a slimmer, more vertical sixth window, but the idea of a sleeker, fastback Lincoln is very similar.

My Lincoln MKL from 2010 used a 6-window greenhouse very similar to the new MKZ concept.

The Flying Dutchman—1966 Lincoln Berline

The spiritual successor to the mammoth 1958-60 Lincolns, cars which are finally getting the respect they so richly deserve. I enlarged the already large second-generation "slabside" Lincoln from 1966, giving it engine room perhaps for a revived, and mythical, V12. The roofline is of course, a revival of the Mark III, IV and V from '58-'60, but extended for even more leg-and head-room. I painted the wheelcovers with a touch of body color, and placed the car at a seaside marina—perfect for those ephemeral, very occasional-glimpses-if-you're-lucky of the Flying Dutchman. You'd be lucky to catch a glimpse of this Lincoln Berline as well.

Far, far, away, and much, much, in the future from the Berline at the top, is my Lincoln MKH, a four-door hybrid hatchback. Lincoln has showed a small concept car at shows recently, the C Concept, and there are rumors the esteemed marque will actually soon be selling a C-segment car based on the Ford Focus, a very highly-developed small car platform. I've hedged my bets by giving my chop European license plates!

2003 Lincoln NaviCross. Opportunity Wasted.

1:18 scale model of the Lincoln NaviCross show car. I wanted a real one so badly!

M Y   C O L L E C T I O N — All four suicide doors open, and its twin glass sunroofs readily visible, this Lincoln NaviCross concept from 2003 was an opportunity missed, in this writer's humble opinion. The car was an all-wheel drive crossover sedan, a luxurious car with utilitarian functionality in a tidy size, and would have been unlike anything else on the market. During the late 1990s and the early 2000s, Lincoln fielded one interesting concept car after another, sedans, coupes and a roadster, and none of them ever went beyond that concept car stage. I'm not sure if Lincoln was really experimenting with various ideas or just trying to keep the brand relevant and in the public eye without the slightest thought towards producing any of them. It was a really frustrating time for Lincoln fans like me.

Doors closed, this view shows the tidy proportions and elegant detailing of this unique Lincoln concept.

Rear hatch lifted vertically, with the lower portion folding out like a tailgate. This scale model includes a couple of nicely detailed aluminum luggage pieces, and the interior is fairly close in color and texture with the real car. For less than $30, I was really happy to see this model on the shelves seven years ago.

B T W :  

I posed my Lincoln model sitting on this needlepoint piece my uncle made for my birthday in 1976. I was just finishing my freshman year at Vassar, and while the piece was made from a crafts kit, he changed the background colors to pink and gray—Vassar's school colors. He also worked in his initials and the year. Hoohoo, his wife, always stressed the importance of signing and dating work, and the importance of it is apparent to me today.

Lincoln Versailles: As Overdone as the Palace?

Pages 4-7 of the 1978 Lincoln Versailles brochure. Notice the plastic digital clockface is endowed with a Cartier signature, not exactly the classicly roman-numeraled timepiece of the original '68 Mark III!

M  Y   CO L L E C T I O N — Lincoln was caught off guard in 1975 with the introduction of the Cadillac Seville. Cadillac created that new small top-of-the-line luxury car by carefully re-crafting GM's Nova platform, which by that time had been used for Chevy's N-ova, Oldsmobile's O-mega, Pontiac's V-entura and Buick's A-pollo. Cadillac "badge engineered" the Seville the correct way, without sharing a single exterior body panel, nor any interior pieces. The only shared pieces were parts of the undercarriage, suspension, and inner upper body structure. Lincoln, in a very rushed program to counter the Seville by 1977, had no choice but to utilize Ford's Granada platform, and with such a short time to the planned production date, many of the same body panels as the much lower cost Granada. 

As a result, the Versailles always looked exactly like what it was: an over-trimmed, overwrought, overblown Ford. Introduced for the 1977 model year, it wasn't for another two years that it was granted a unique roofline, and even then it was an oddly proportioned vinyl covering that was placed on top of the original roofline. The Versailles was offered in the 1980 model year, but was withdrawn before the year was over, not to be replaced for close to two years. It wouldn't be until 1982 that Lincoln fielded a new Continental to take the place of the Versailles, again using a shared platform, but with its own dedicated, and fairly elegant body.

The Versailles introduced Halogen headlights to the industry, as well as clearcoat paint finishes. Both became ubiquitous to the industry in the 1980s and '90s, but they was just about the only "firsts" that Versailles can claim.

• For the Wiki on the Versailles, click here.

 The 1978 Versailles brochure was a fairly large format 10 1/4 x 12 inch, 12 page booklet, with onion skin end papers and a very nice thick and textured cover/back cover for a total of 16 pages. The type appears to be embossed, but is not. The word "Versailles" however is a very nice metallic gold ink.

Pages 6-7. From the front, the Granada's origins were fairly well masked.

Page 8-9. Optional leather seats were very impressive looking, and the option list was as long as the arms necessary for the deep pockets required for the list price.

Pages 10-11, discussing the "uncommon integrity"of the body structure on the left, and the "stunning clarity" of the "wet-on-wet electrostatic" paint finish on the right.

1979

The next year, 1979, saw the introduction of a unique rear roofline to the Versailles, but the brochure was cheapened quite a bit. The cover stock is the same glossy paper as the interior, and the typography is much less elegant, though not poorly kerned or sloppy in any way. The booklet was now 12 pages including covers and missing the onion skin end papers.

Pages 2-3, showing the new roofline, and the newly padded Continental 'hump' on the trunklid. The '77-'78 Versailles' hump was painted metal, but by '79 Lincoln garishly padded it and edged in thick chrome.

Pages 4-5. Apparently the rear seat was fit for a Roman goddess, lol. The standard cloth front seat was a solid bench seat with a fold down armrest. For individual front seats, or leather, the buyer had to consult the options page.

Pages 6-7. The clearcoat paint finishes were really beautiful, especially in darker hues like this Cordovan.

Pages 8-9. This Diamond Blue Versailles sports the extra-cost padded rear coach roof with a Frenched in rear window. 

B T W :

C H O P — I can't believe how crude my chops were back in 2006, I had already been working in Photoshop for close to 14 years. I only used the program to color correct images and add shadows for layouts though, not the intensive work needed to create cars, but still... This Versailles II was always meant to be over-the-top and garish, as was the original. I parked it in front of the actual palace at Versailles and made the grille texture as busy as the overdone windows in the background. I used the original MKS concept of 2006 for the base of my reborn monstrosity, lol. 

An interesting detail I just noticed is the front wheel flare that I made a bit higher than the hoodline, breaking the straight beltline. That's not a Lincoln trait at all, but I wanted to add a detail that seemed overdone. The recently introduced facelifted MKX crossover uses the same large front wheelwell flare that also breaks the beltline. They're watching me!

LIFE Magazine—February 6, 1956

It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times

The cover of this mid-Fifties Life magazine shows Shirley Jones, star of the then-new movie, Carousel. Shirley not only played David Cassidy's mother in the Partridge Family TV show, she was his real-life step mother, having married Jack Cassidy in 1956. Interestingly, the wear-and-tear of this almost 55 year old magazine, shows that an extra layer of magenta-ink/varnish was used to make this image even more "sugary" sweet and warm. Notice the edges where the darker overlying inks have worn away, revealing the extra layer of magenta. This issue is dated February 6th, 1956, which was my grandmother's 61st birthday, and approximately 15 months before I graced the Earth with my presence, lol.

Who knew that CBS, The Columbia Broadcasting System, had a division that built TVs in the Fifties? I remember the days when picking out a new TV meant having a choice of actual wooden cabinetry. We had some absolutely beautiful television sets when I was growing up. Even our stereo was in a huge wooden cabinet, and included a record player and AM/FM/Weather Band radios, and storage space for the records. It must have been six feet long and 2 feet wide, a very real piece of furniture that needed to be taken into account in the design/decoration of the livingroom. Notice the pretty white women used to sell these American television sets. Reality and diversity had not begun to make much-needed inroads into the advertising world yet. More on this Fifties reality below.

OK. Whatever happened to this wall refrigerator and freezer? Apparently GE designed this unit to take the place of eye-level kitchen cabinets. I've never seen one in person, and have never even seen an ad for one until I came across this one. I'm fascinated by the concept! How very Mid-Century Modern to build the refrigerator into the space instead of having it just standing up taking space.

This is an ad for General Motors, not just Chevrolet, touting the corporation's new four-door pillarless bodystyle. This Bel-Air Sports Sedan's Sierra Gold/Adobe Beige two-tone color combination, was one of Chevy's most popular, and can be seen today at almost any car show featuring Tri-Five Chevys, the nickname for the '55-'57 generation of Chevys.

Way before one of my favorite James Bond movies was filmed, Diamonds Are Forever, there was this ad for "A Diamond is Forever." Featuring the Love Letter, painted for the De Beers Collection by Herbert Saslow, the actual shiny gems are relegated to the bottom left, and appear almost as an afterthought. The diamond shapes in the painting are wonderful, the sentiment is lovely, and I can't help but think this would never be approved today. The product must always be front and center, lest the message be lost on America's less-than-brilliant general population. I know, snarky, but the dumbing down of America is just about complete in my opinion. If a message isn't immediately understood by someone with a 5th grade reading comprehension level, it's no good today.

It wouldn't really be an artandcolour post without a Lincoln in it somewhere, right? Except, this phenomenally gorgeous Continental Mark II isn't technically a Lincoln at all. For this limited production, ultra luxury coupe, FoMoCo added an entire division, the Continental Division, to its corporate stable. The 4-pointed star logo was created for this Continental. A short couple of years later, the division was folded into the Lincoln-Mercury family, and by '61 would be selling the classic suicide door Lincoln Continental sedan.

And Think of Mother! That's the text in this ad for Bendix's new electric clothes dryer. I mean, my gosh, hanging the clothes in the basement means Dad and Sonny-boy are terribly inconvenienced in their quest for All-American recreation activities. The two-color layout is very eye-catching though, as well as less expensive than a four-color ad, no matter how sexist the marketing statement was.

This ad for the '56 Oldsmobile 4 door pillarless hardtop, a Holiday in Olds-speak, has wonderful typography. The horizontally-scaled type for "The Car with the Power Personality" works beautifully with the rocket flying through it, and the wonderfully vertically-scaled "88" is a perfect way to lead your eye to the paragraph of text on the far right.  These were the years of the Rocket 88s, and the space-age theme was repeated on the engine, the dashboard, the corporate logos on the hood and steering wheel, and would prove to be a long-lasting Oldsmobile theme, right on through to the 1970s.

Now lest we start to get all warm and fuzzy with these "wonderful" glimpses at American life in the 1950s, LIFE also had this story on the "South Rises Again" in a campaign to delay integration. Notice all of the middle-aged white men from all walks of their limited lives. In the top photo which goes across the spread, there is a lawyer, a farmer, a couple of U.S. Congressmen, two teachers, three U.S. Senators, an insurance executive, and a state representative. Governors of the southern states are represented in the lower photos, There is a photo of a Pontiac Catalina coupe with "anti-negro" slogans all over it, carrying segrationists from Nashville.

The story runs six pages, and includes a photo of a closing prayer at a citizen's council meeting in Jackson, Mississippi. The Presbyterian minister Albert Sydney Johnson, named for a Confederate general, gave the Benediction. A President-Emeritus of Bellhaven College declared: "Segregation is not a child of race prejudice . . . segregation can be defended because it is the only reasonable and practical means to prevent racial intermarriage." Yes, "racial intermarriage" was a large part of their racism. I'm sure cries of "this will ruin the sanctity of marriage" were heard throughout the cracker South. As incredibly hard as it is to believe, it was not legal in all fifty United States for blacks and whites to marry until 1967, with the Supreme Court case, Loving v. Virginia making it a Federal law (ironic court case name, right?). Something tells me with the radical right-wing Roberts Supreme Court of today, they would find a way to decide the case differently.

Sound familiar to anyone today? Today's Focus on the Family, Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, and other homophobic hate groups exist only to "prevent the ruin of the sanctity of marriage" but today they rail against gays instead of blacks. At least today we have the internet and we have civil rights attorneys around the world working on our behalf. And we have the Southern Poverty Law Center calling out these hate groups for what they really are.

1981 Mark VI—Red Hot Chili Pepper Edition?

. . . or perhaps Mercury's former top-shelf Comet, the Caliente, was making a comeback as a Lincoln? 

M Y   C O L L E C T I O N — My last crop of little red chili peppers is drying nicely. I thought about stringing them together, they make very cool looking garlands for the kitchen, but I'm having fun setting them up in photoshoots. Here they are accessorizing my 1981 Lincoln Continental Mark VI dealer brochure. The satin gold cover, and the trés elegant typesetting really harmonize with the deep red peppers for an unexpectedly "holiday" appearance, wouldn't you agree?

This series of Marks came with several designer editions, which I've photographed below. Generally, the designer packages were paint and trim combinations with no specific mechanical for performance changes from the standard Mark. Although the Red Hot Chili Peppers wouldn't form in L.A. until 1983, I think a Mark VI designer interior made from tube socks would have been perfect for them...

I absolutely love the style of the illustrations and the layouts used in this brochure for these designer Marks. The rest of this booklet uses "regular" photography. By employing these artistic renderings, the concept of the fashion designer influence is really emphasized. This is a really well-done square brochure, 11 1/4 inches x 11 1/4 inches. When it's opened, the spreads are deliciously large!

The outline font used for this cover is extraordinarily tasteful and well-done. The kerning, or inter-character spacing, is spot on, with the very slight exception of the A-L connection in the word Continental. I'm not sure why the designer felt the need to add the teeny tiny dividing line. The rest of the cover has nicely connected letters when necessary, and that A-L could certainly have done without the divider. Yes, I'm a typesetting NUT as y'all know, lol. 

All photos are clickable thumbnails so you can see these illustrations in greater detail.

• For the Wiki on Lincoln's long history of their Mark series, click here.

The Hubert de Givenchy edition came in Black and Dark Pewter Tu-Tone (Ford's spelling, not mine), with a Black landau vinyl roof and wire-spoke aluminum wheels. The interior could be had with cloth or leather, both in Pewter. This generation of Lincolns, both the Town Car/Coupe and the Mark series, were greatly downsized from previous years losing almost a foot in length and close to 1,000 lbs in overall weight. By continuing these "ultra luxury" special editions, Lincoln was stressing that the luxury factor had not been downsized in the least. 

The Emilio Pucci edition came in a subtle tone-one-tone, in Medium Fawn Metallic with a Light Fawn bodyside molding and a full vinyl roof in Fawn. Wheels were the wire-spoke aluminums also used on the Givenchy edition. The interior was furnished in Light Fawn leather with a Tu-Tone Light and Medium Fawn leather-wrapped steering wheel. I think the full vinyl roof treatment he chose was really tasteful. Many luxury cars, Lincoln included, had the option of a half- or Landau roof treatment, which I always found to be a bit tacky. I owned an '85 Town Car for nine years, and I had to choose a base-level Lincoln sedan to get a full vinyl roof instead of the Landau version. The dealer offered me a great deal to get the more expensive Landau roof, but I just couldn't look at it every day, lol.

The Cartier edition came only in Pewter, inside and out. The Landau roof was Medium Pewter, while the paint was Medium Pewter Metallic. A thin Dark Red coach stripe on the body and decklid was the only relief from the gray. The wheels were the Lacy Spoke cast aluminums offered optionally on other Lincolns.

Finally, Bill Blass really went to town with his nautical-inspired Mark coupe. The exterior was Dark Blue Metallic over Light Fawn Metallic, and the roof used an exclusive Cloth Carriage roof—a simulated convertible treatment. Earlier Blass Continentals were offered in White and Navy Blue. I think this Fawn and Navy Blue softened the look and "classed" it up a bit. The interior, available in cloth or leather, was also in a Tu-Tone Blue and Fawn combination. The wheels were the cast aluminum lacy spoke versions, which I also had on my Town Car. All Designer Edition Marks came with a personalized instrument panel nameplate for the buyers of these luxury cars. I like this Blass edition—I think the Tu-Tone paint treatment really made these newly-shortened cars look as long and as sleek as possible.

This generation of Marks, 1980-83 included the only four-door sedan in its rich history. Illustrated here is the Signature Series, the upper level of Mark sedans and coupes. The Signature Series, in 1981, was only available in this gorgeous Dark Red Metallic or Silver Metallic, both with color-keyed Landau vinyl roof and bumper rub strips, with matching interiors. This would be the last Mark series to utilize the inset oval opera windows, a look begun by the '72 Mark IV. Starting in '84, with the Mark VII, Lincoln reverted to a coupe-only lineup, the beautiful aero-styled Mark VII. The Mark VII stressed performance as a luxury feature, even including a specific model, the LSC for Lincoln Sport Coupe. The era of the "Hot Rod Lincoln" had begun.

Tall, but Short, All Wheel Drive Luxury for Four

2012 Lincoln Innovator Hybrid Crossover Sedan

C H O P — Lincoln luxury in its smallest production package yet, the Innovator Hybrid. Seating for four with Nappa Leather Recaro bucket seats in all positions, this crossover sedan may be short in length, but it's long on luxury and stretch out seating room due to its tall body. The interior is private and open at the same time, combining the raised seating position of an SUV and the glass roof of a concept vehicle. Fitted luggage would be standard in this Lincoln, emphasizing the sedan nature of this hatchback style, rather than having any wagon pretense. This is a luxury car, not a sport utility vehicle of any sort, hatch or not. Speaking of the back hatch, it would be split. The glass would glide up and over the roof electrically, as the bottom portion powered down and into the body if needed, moving under the luggage floor several inches to make loading/unloading as easy as possible. The tailgate wouldn't disappear entirely, like GM's full sized wagons of the '70s, but could embed itself enough to get out of the way, or could remain horizontal outside of the car for tailgating.

Although I've used Lincoln's now-trademark split grille, I've softened it a bit by making the central divider argent instead of body-colored. I've also raised the hood a bit, adding a harder contour instead of its more sloping hood. This made room for L-I-N-C-O-L-N to be spelled out clearly above the grille, a la Range Rover, in a bid to clearly announce Lincoln's arrival on the true luxury scene. 

The body sides are clean and sheer, with just a slight depression highlighting the Lincoln name. The classic Lincoln star logo is proudly positioned on the C pillar, its historical placement on many classic and elegant Lincolns of the past.

Motivation is provided by FoMoCo's latest EcoBoost direct-injected four cylinder engine with hybrid assist at all four wheels for fully electronic all wheel drive. Pure electric drive is possible up to 65 mph with a range of 120 miles before the gas engine is needed and 0-60 is accomplished in less than 7 seconds. Mileage is rated 55 city/48 highway.

Base photo was of the new Kia Sportage, one of my favorite new designs, and one of Peter Schreyer's best cars, in my humble opinion.

Bonus Chop:

This is another of my chops using the new Kia Sportage as the base photo. This is my Mercury Villager crossover, but now that Mercury is no more, I've given the platform to Lincoln, lol. 

Lincoln—Moving Forward

And now something brand new... My Lincoln Zephyr Hybrid 5 door hatchback. 

C H O P — I began with the just-released Peugeot 508 sedan. I extended the wheelbase in front of the cabin and shortened the overhang as I added the current Lincoln trademark split grille. For the greenhouse, I left the thick chrome trim around the windows in the doors, to emphasize a "sedan" look even though I've made it a fastback hatchback. For the "sixth" window, or the C pillar glass, I indented and inset a frameless triangular pane complete with the Lincoln Star logo. The classic Town Car's C pillar opera windows were "frenched" into the vinyl roof, making them non-contiguous with the greenhouse windows, and that's the reason I added these windows without including the chrome frame around them. It's a Lincoln touch in concept if not the usual execution. This car carries almost none of the perceived Lincoln cues, with the exception of the grille, suicide doors and Star logo, but I think it's a high-quality looking car, and would help move Lincoln forward in the 21st century. 

New Lincoln Flagship Based on MKT?

A U T O M O T I V E   N E W S — The word on the street, well actually on the electronic highway anyway, is that Lincoln is preparing a new flagship, perhaps based on the MKT. Jalopnik's story here. Autoblog is also reporting this story. SOMEONE in Detroit may actually be watching my chops, lol. I've been "working" on new Lincoln flagships for quite awhile. I've posted these fantasy Lincolns in this blog before, but to jog your memories here they are again.

With thanks to a friend for alerting me to the Jalopnik piece! All images clickable thumbnails for greater detail. Click on "Lincolns" in the Label list on the right of this blog to see all of my Lincoln creations.

My MKT-based Mark Coupe, a flagship 2 door luxury car, in the tradition of  the Mark I-VIII. This would be a long wheelbase, all-wheel drive coupe.

An MKL, a luxury sedan based on the MKT concept vehicle.

My Town Car, based on the MKT design language. The C pillar features a vertical "opera window" in the manner of the '80s and '90s Town Car. The gentle rise in the beltline is similar to the '70-'71 Lincoln Continentals.

This Town Car, uses the same white MKT EcoBoost model as above, but is a bit more traditional with a "sixth window" following the regular greenhouse shape. I lengthened the trunk quite a bit to give it that old-school sedan look, pushed the front wheels forward and sectioned the body to take some height out of it.

Completely off the wall, but one of my favorite chops, is this Mark Coupe based on the Aston Martin Lagonda concept crossover. This coupe would feature an ultra luxurious Recaro bucket seat interior for four, and all wheel drive.