...you may find, as did Norman Rockwell, that this is the year to change -

"RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht" (ramblininexile)
07/05/2016 at 10:51 • Filed to: None

- to Lincoln.

DISCUSSION (14)

Your boy, BJR > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
07/05/2016 at 11:04

Yeah but he's no Irvin S. Cobb.

xyzabc > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
07/05/2016 at 12:08

Rockwell made originals that became American legends.

Lincoln used to be legendary, but now it just makes copies.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > xyzabc
07/05/2016 at 12:13

The ‘58-’60 Lincolns were definitely weird and look wacky, but they incorporated design elements Lincoln got mileage out of up until the ‘70s and later and Mercury and other Fords ended up with ten years later (late ‘60s T-bird, for one). It was an iffy design, but a true original. And, even with it being lumpy all over, it has *long* tailfins, and not tall ones, which with the reduced chrome count was almost a breath of fresh air.

ranwhenparked > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
07/05/2016 at 19:56

Yeah, but what does Jeff Segler drive?

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ranwhenparked
07/06/2016 at 08:40

A Pinewood Derby car.

JR1 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
07/06/2016 at 09:19

I remember seeing this ad when I was looking at cool Lincoln ads. I can’t help but think Rockwell was lying out his teeth. The 58/60 Lincolns have a lot of interesting styling features but nothing about them scream “clean” to me

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JR1
07/06/2016 at 10:00

And yet - if you look very carefully at the smaller ‘61 Lincoln that Elwood Engel (supposedly) based loosely on a Thunderbird concept, it has all the same major body lines, with all the side relief ironed off and the edges sharpened/points rounded. The roof takes the wraparound glass back and replaces it with more metal “sail”, which had already started with the ‘60 model, but the proportions are nearly exactly the same, as well as the overall side shape and the fendertop->tailfin line.

Kinja'd!!!

There *was*, in other words, a “dramatically simple” shape there - it was just disguised with meaningless relief nonsense down the side and a slightly confused tail design. The tail design the ‘61 ended up with was actually an evolution of the ‘60.

Kinja'd!!!

If I take this picture and “iron it out”, it becomes almost a ‘61, but larger, taller. A little bit of a vertical sectioning later, and...

Kinja'd!!!

In trying to preserve continuity in some form, Elwood Engel preserved (accidentally?) the best features of the ‘58-’60 design, which then went on to be the most iconic parts of Lincoln designs up into the ‘80s - the fendertop line which breaks into a pseudo-fin at ~65% back, the slab sides, the broad landau-angled rear roof sail, the long rear overhang, the short front drop, the trailing front fender opening...

Basically, the whole time, there *was* a good shape hiding behind the unnecessary fender scoops and detail line and fold running down the side, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Norman Rockwell -as a brilliant artist and illustrator - could see it - script or no.

JR1 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
07/06/2016 at 10:42

I never looked at the evolution but you’re right it is absolutely there. The long rear fin is perhaps the most prominent styling feature that stayed and continued on. One you can see even today in the new Contiental. Perhaps the greatest change was the lack of a side cove like the Corvette had. With that gone the design in my opinion becomes significantly more clean.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JR1
07/06/2016 at 10:58

I think I read somewhere that the monstrous side cove on the ‘58 was trying to evoke the highly decorative fenders of the ‘40s generation Continental:

Kinja'd!!!

Since it wasn’t possible to bulge fenders out further, they mirrored the shapes into the fender instead. Yeah, bad idea. For the ‘59 and the ‘60 they made it a non-recessed side cove instead, which works better at evoking the shape *and* doesn’t look as stupid, though it continues to make the design cluttered.

JR1 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
07/06/2016 at 14:13

Yeah they definitely dialed back the cove in 59 with helped with the look. But at that point the damage was already done regardless. However it makes the design look unique and it is easily distinguishable compared to most late 50's cars

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JR1
07/06/2016 at 14:42

What’s telling, I think, is that the car looks like what somebody trying to draw a ‘50s car would come up with as a car of the ‘60s, having only had existing ‘50s cars described to him. Maybe with some closeup shots of a windshield and a fin. The styling is definitely bleeding edge ‘50s, but it doesn’t really fit concisely into *car* styling of the late ‘50s. More like a constructivist sculpture of a ‘42 Conti Of The Future.

Kinja'd!!!

The cove in the side mostly got abandoned in favor of full length side reliefs, as seen on the Falcon. Which then bred with the four-fin Lincoln Futura influences and the same 35-40% of body length fin on the ‘64-’66 Thunderbird. Which also had a squared off (Lincoln) landau styled top, as all Thunderbirds from ‘58 on did. Anything stolen from Thunderbird concepts by the ‘61 Lincoln was part of an overall scheme of back and forth robbery.

Kinja'd!!!

Speaking of which, anybody noting some similarities between the ‘58 T-bird and the styling on the ‘59 Lincoln (such as a reduced fender cove, minimal fins, and a over-wheel barb body contour) is a total liar. A liar, I say.

Kinja'd!!!

The fin mostly skipped the late ‘60s T-bird, but a lot of other influences, particularly Lincoln ones, absolutely didn’t. For one, it regressed to having the slab sides and front “keel” styling of the early ‘60s T-birds and the Conti... that was being made alongside it.

Kinja'd!!!

Wait, they were being made in Wixom the whole time? Their designs were being tinkered with at the same time as being built on the very same assembly lines as Lincolns, starting in ‘58 and lasting until the T-bird was dead and gone? UNPOSSIBLE.

So yeah, I think we need to accept reality on this one - all Thunderbirds post ‘57 are actually just allegedly-Ford Lincoln sports cars that have far more in common with their luxury siblings than Ford main lines.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JR1
07/06/2016 at 14:45