Lincoln Town Car
Size matters
After thirty years Lincoln have ended production of their luxury limousine model, the Town Car. But the famous automobile will live on for a while, at least in Las Vegas where a stretch limo is as ubiquitous as flashing neon. (Sebastian Viehmann , 16.01.2012)
The Town Car rules in Vegas
Flashy architecture, neon making day of night, loud music and countless premium automobiles cruising the Strip… in a normal car the driver feels seriously out of place in Las Vegas. The stretch limo is the almost obligatory form of transportation in order to be driven for the short trip from one casino to the next. The vast majority of these ultra-elongated vehicles are based on the Lincoln Town Car. There are, to be sure, stretched Hummers and Chryslers but it is the Lincoln which dominates the urban landscape of the playground city in the middle of the Nevada desert.
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- The first generation Lincoln Town Car was built from 1981 through 1990.
The epitome of automotive opulence
The term ‘Town Car’ goes back to the early twenties of the last century. Comparable to the Landaulet carosserie familiar to Europeans, the American Town Car had a body configuration which left the driver sitting in the open air while the cosseted passengers rode in considerable luxury in a roofed cabin behind him. The Town Car designation was given new life in the 1960s, although it was only in the following decade that the Lincoln Town Car came to represent the ultimate in American automotive opulence. Electrically adjustable leather seats, air conditioning and elongated wheel-base were features of the Town Car variant of the Lincoln Continental models and the auto soon found favour among the rich and famous. Hotel valets turned up their noses at a mere Cadillac, bankers let themselves be driven to the office in the limos which were usually finished in discreet black. From 1990 the second generation of the Town Car was offered in three versions, the top one carrying the suffix ‘Cartier’. The third and final generation of the Town Car built from 1998 was without the so-called ‘Opera’ window in front of the ‘C’ pillar which until then had been a prominent characteristic of the auto’s rear end.
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- …a stretch limousine is almost mandatory.
That movie star feeling
The flashy metropolis which is Las Vegas is the perfect setting for the Town Car. In many older Hollywood films the streets of Sin City seem to have room only for Cadillacs and Town Cars. Today Vegas is a brash, bright and sometimes boorish destination for those who want their partying to be in ‘XXL’ format. Limousine services offer all-inclusive packages… the stretch chauffeurwill pick his customers up at the airport and the trip to the Strip will be made more agreeable with a bottle of champagne ad red roses for the ladies, all for little more than 150 Dollars. This allows even Mr and Mrs Average to feel for a moment like celebrities, lounging on comfy leather banquettes, sampling the ice-cold drinks from the mini-bar or standing with their head and torso emerging from the sliding roof section in the rear… actually against the law… toasting the crowds on the sidewalks.
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- Although the amenities on board a Lincoln Town Car are indubitably sumptuous there is no sign of any high-tech equipment. Xenon lighting, pneumatic suspension or even a navigation system are conspicuous by their absence. The version introduced on 1998 and upgraded in 1003 nevertheless boasted an electrically operated tailgate, parking assistance and electrically adjustable pedals. In comparison with European rival models by Mercedes, Audi or Jaguar the Town Car remained hopelessly outdated.
No high-tech here
Although the amenities on board a Lincoln Town Car are indubitably sumptuous there is no sign of any high-tech equipment. Xenon lighting, pneumatic suspension or even a navigation system are conspicuous by their absence. The ride is as soft as butter, the steering can be most kindly described as sluggish and the gear-shifting is handled by and antiquated four-speed automatic transmission from the early eighties. The most recent version was introduced in 1998 and re-vamped in 2003 and does at least have an electrically operated tailgate, parking assistance and electrically adjustable pedals. In comparison with European rival models by Mercedes, Audi or Jaguar the Town Car remained hopelessly outdated. Originally it was planned to end production in 2007 but the outcry from customers was so vehement that Ford continued construction for a while longer. But in 2011 the luxury limo took its final curtain.
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- Limousine services offer all-inclusive packages… the stretch will pick their customers up at the airport and the trip to the Strip will be made more agreeable with a bottle of champagne ad red roses for the ladies, all for little more than 150 Dollars. This allows even Mr and Mrs Average to feel for a moment like celebrities,
Ford’s last claim to luxury
It cannot be said that the Lincoln marque is currently thriving in the best of health, although it is the last bastion of the Ford concern in the premium luxury segment. In recent years Ford has cast off all its noble sub-marques with Aston-Martin, Jaguar and Volvo passing to new ownership. The American automobile manufacturer also allowed the Mercury badge to vanish, although the cars were in truth nothing more than slightly better appointed Ford models. In 1989 there were two hundred thousand Lincolns sold but since that year… the best of all… things have been going steadily downhill with only 85 thousand sold in the past year. That was only slightly less than in 2010 but at the same time the Ford concern recorded an overall increase in sales of 17 percent.
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- No other automobile is as often stretched by specialist customizers as the Lincoln Town Car.
Still sought after
Lincoln’s weak sales figures can be partly ascribed to the discontinuation of the Town Car which right up until the end was a major player in the fleet sector. Now the final models are up for sale with prices starting at 47,225 Dollars… about 37 thousand Euros. At the Detroit Motor Show the new MKZ model was presented with pride by Lincoln and the show car is destined to go into production essentially unchanged. But the new model is built on the platform of the new Ford Mondeo and is thus far too short to be seen as a successor to the Town Car which… even before stretching by customizers… in its ‘L’ version was already 5.6 metres long.
Lincoln Town Car
Size matters
After thirty years Lincoln have ended production of their luxury limousine model, the Town Car. But the famous automobile will live on for a while, at least in Las Vegas where a stretch limo is as ubiquitous as flashing neon.
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