MKF "Lincoln Flex" Spy pics

[silvrsvt]

What classification do the Cadillac SRX and Mercedes R class fall under?

 

The SRX is a CUV with more SVU styling to it IMO

 

The R looks like a puffed up station wagon IMO

[RichardJensen]

I wonder if the MKF will end up taking some volume from the Navigator.

 

 

Oh, and Watchdevil, the embedded spare tire in the Bustleback Seville shows that copying goes both ways---and GM hasn't had a good chief designer since Bill Mitchell retired.

[MarkFive]

I wonder if the MKF will end up taking some volume from the Navigator.

Oh, and Watchdevil, the embedded spare tire in the Bustleback Seville shows that copying goes both ways---and GM hasn't had a good chief designer since Bill Mitchell retired.

 

That Seville is an aftermarket customization. The Seville production model did not come with an embedded spare tire.

 

As for GM copying Ford, the 1983 Thunderbird took GM completely by surprise. They rushed back to try and make their entire GM10 program more aerodynamic but with little success. They also tried to make their largest sedans more aerodynamic - remember the mid-80s Olds/Buick large 2-door sedans with the sloping rear windows.

 

 

For a while in the 80s Ford was the leader in styling.

Edited January 5, 2008 by MarkFive

[syrtran]

How many times do I have to say it? It's only a testing mule, just like what Ford did w/ Flex.

I'd bet it's actually the -same- testing mule, just painted white with the Lincoln front.

[RichardJensen]

For a while in the 80s Ford was the leader in styling.

Everybody's still working off the Taurus benchmark.

 

Anyway, since Bill Mitchell retired, GM's styling has been all over the map.

 

Not to say they haven't produced some good looking cars--in fact I -love- the '84 Corvette, but they have made some real turkeys, and have pretty much become the 'fruitcake' company as far as car design goes.

 

 

There's good stuff in a fruitcake, but it's still nasty.

[FordFanForEver]

If that is the lincoln MKflex, then i'll shoot myself.

[TomServo92]

If that is the lincoln MKflex, then i'll shoot myself.

 

Yeah, if the MKFlex looks like a cobbled-up test mule like in the pics, I'll shoot myself too.

[RichardJensen]

That Seville is an aftermarket customization. The Seville production model did not come with an embedded spare tire.

Hmm. I thought that was a 'limited edition' put together by the factory.

 

Odd odd looking car. Have no idea what was the thinking behind it. Amusing thing is that without even bothering to consider whether it looked good, Lincoln put the bustleback Continental on the market, and Chrysler put a bustleback on the Imperial.

 

And believe me, that made for one goofy looking convertible:

 

http://www.imperialclub.com/Yr/1981/Factor...ra/Convertible/

 

Edited January 5, 2008 by RichardJensen

[MarkFive]

Hmm. I thought that was a 'limited edition' put together by the factory.

 

Odd odd looking car. Have no idea what was the thinking behind it. Amusing thing is that without even bothering to consider whether it looked good, Lincoln put the bustleback Continental on the market, and Chrysler put a bustleback on the Imperial.

 

And believe me, that made for one goofy looking convertible:

 

I loved the '80 Seville. I thought it was really cool looking particularly in two-tone black and silver. By that time, GM had pretty much put the one unique design detail of the original Seville on almost ever car - the nearly vertical back window. By 1980 it was on the Chevy Malibu, Cadillac Eldorado, Olds Cutlass, Buick Regal and so forth. Then they come out with that back-end mimicking an old Rolls. A lot of people hated it, but GM was known for design expertise and the other manufacturers were always trying to catch up as they had done throughout the 70s.

 

At the same time, I think Lincoln was trying to make up for the Versailles. Aside from the front end, roof and fake wheel bulge on the trunk lid it was just a gussied up Granada (the dashboard was identical). Maybe Lincoln thought that if they made the back end of the Versailles replacement look a bit like a Seville, more people would buy it. The one thing that bothers me about the '82 Continental was that the greenhouse was much too tall for the body which made the bustle back look even worse. You can see elements of the Fairmont which it was based on in the greenhouse (upright A pillars, tall windows).

 

They built the Imperial in my home town of Windsor along with the new square Cordoba and Dodge Mirada. Although they were new, the quality was horrible. Chrysler even advertised that the Imperial went through a 30 mile special quality check once it left the assembly line - but it didn't help at all. I think it was the first year that Chrysler had those solid crystal hood ornaments - the ones that you couldn't keep on the hood because kids kept stealing them at the first chance.

 

Look at the front overhang on the Imperial. Its really bad.

 

Here are some brochures for these cars.

 

Imperial

 

Versailles

 

Continental

 

Cadillac including old bustle-back Seville

Edited January 5, 2008 by MarkFive

[Blue II]

Desirable? Competitive? Uncalled for!

 

Please, decline to respond when asked about luxury cars. You have the taste of a beggar.

 

Once upon a time, a few weeks ago.......... "you were a LincolnFan".

[Watchdevil]

I wonder if the MKF will end up taking some volume from the Navigator.

Oh, and Watchdevil, the embedded spare tire in the Bustleback Seville shows that copying goes both ways---and GM hasn't had a good chief designer since Bill Mitchell retired.

 

Cadillac never offered an embedded spare tire as a factory design or genuine GM add-on accessory. That is a non-GM aftermarket accessory add-on.. And even that tacked on piece of baroque gaudiness is inspired more by the open spare tires added to the back of cars in the 30's and 40's. Lincoln Mark II and subsequent models were distinctive because it was a hump sculpted in the decklid that suggested the spare tire was stored right under it. If you gauge the wide ellipse of the Mark VIII decklid that would be an oddly shaped large spare tire cut in half!

Edited January 6, 2008 by Watchdevil

[syrtran]

Hmm. I thought that was a 'limited edition' put together by the factory.

 

Odd odd looking car. Have no idea what was the thinking behind it.

Probably this, but there seems to be a slight discrepancy between idea and actualization:

(wikimedia image)

 

Amusing thing is that without even bothering to consider whether it looked good, Lincoln put the bustleback Continental on the market, and Chrysler put a bustleback on the Imperial.

 

And believe me, that made for one goofy looking convertible:

 

http://www.imperialclub.com/Yr/1981/Factor...ra/Convertible/

 

To be honest, Chrysler never intended it to be a convertible.

[Watchdevil]

Maybe the MK-Flex will help Lincoln in the same way the Navigator did when it first arrived. As a mini-van "type" luxury vehicle, does it have much competition that isn't already classified as an SUV? What classification do the Cadillac SRX and Mercedes R class fall under?

 

By the way you are scaring me. The MKR front doesn't look bad on the Focus. I need a drink.

 

Many ugly bitches look good if you put a bag over her head...

 

Maybe after your drink you will go buy a Focus and believe it is a world class Lincoln...

Edited January 6, 2008 by Watchdevil

[timmm55]

With a TF (errrr Ecoboost) and 4WD it might be interesting.

I tried a chop for the hell of it.

Edited January 6, 2008 by timmm55

[EMDEE]

Oh how I missed hearing remarks like that.....wow...a camo front end....we know everything about it and so it is sure to be a failure.

Right on! We have no idea what this vehicle is. All we can so for sure is that it's carrying what looks like a Lincoln front clip. It may be very well be a test mule which started as a Taurus X and had the Lincoln MK-whatever front end stitched on for development purposes. A lot of testing goes into the front end of new vehicle to make sure the engine gets enough air, there's adequate crush zones, room for all the options, etc. It is common practice to do some of this kind of testing on mules that join and existing older car and the new front. Joining the new Lincoln front clip to a Taurus X body makes perfect since for testing since they share the basic platform and driveline.

 

People are wasting their breath carrying one about the styling and likely future of the car shown in phone. This is not a concept car, it's likely not a pre-production or early production prototype. We just don't know what it. So who cares what anyone things of it? I'll save my energy for the day when we get to see the real thing, in person.

[rmc523]

I stand corrected as my poor memory forgot it was 1985 not 1984 when the bustle-back Seville bowed out.

 

Ever since 1985 Cadillac was all wrong by downsizing everything into little ungraceful boxes. When 1992 rolled around, it looked as if Cadillac copied the popular late 80's Thunderbirds making what looked more like a 4-door Thunderbird calling it a Seville and an Eldorado that was not too unlike the Tbird coupe roofline but a little more straight edged as opposed to rounded off aero. Cadillac didn't get back to relavence until the Escalade and CTS came along. The Navigator brought the only real relavence to Lincoln and it seems only now they are trying to catch up. Before the Navigator and Escalade came along the only supporting cars were the DeVille and Town Car maketed to old people.

 

Oh yeah we are lucky Lincoln didn't follow the Cimmaron with an Escort sedan with a Mark grille and tire hump. However, there is always hope for the Lincoln MKY...

 

 

You must really like that MKY of yours. You post it every chance you get.

[rmc523]

I stand corrected as my poor memory forgot it was 1985 not 1984 when the bustle-back Seville bowed out.

 

Ever since 1985 Cadillac was all wrong by downsizing everything into little ungraceful boxes. When 1992 rolled around, it looked as if Cadillac copied the popular late 80's Thunderbirds making what looked more like a 4-door Thunderbird calling it a Seville and an Eldorado that was not too unlike the Tbird coupe roofline but a little more straight edged as opposed to rounded off aero. Cadillac didn't get back to relavence until the Escalade and CTS came along. The Navigator brought the only real relavence to Lincoln and it seems only now they are trying to catch up. Before the Navigator and Escalade came along the only supporting cars were the DeVille and Town Car maketed to old people.

 

Oh yeah we are lucky Lincoln didn't follow the Cimmaron with an Escort sedan with a Mark grille and tire hump. However, there is always hope for the Lincoln MKY...

 

 

You must really like that MKY of yours. You post it every chance you get.

[rmc523]

I'd bet it's actually the -same- testing mule, just painted white with the Lincoln front.

 

Actually, I was thinking that too.

[rmc523]

With a TF (errrr Ecoboost) and 4WD it might be interesting.

I tried a chop for the hell of it.

 

It's a good chop, but I hope the real version looks better than that. Sorry if I offended you.

Edited January 6, 2008 by rmc523

[EMDEE]

The 82 Continental came two years before the 1984 Mark VII. All Lincoln did was do what it is still doing today by making me-too designs by Copying the roofline of an "esteemed" luxury sedan of the day which then happened to be a Cadillac Seville of 1980, then adding Lincoln styling cues front and rear. It was odd that thing was sold alongside the Aero Mark VII until the new Taurus based Continental came out in 87. The Seville that the Continental copied left at the end of 1985.

 

The knowledge of automotive history is severely deficient on this site, to the point of being tiring. I'm pointing the example above because it is typical of the comments going on here, not because it's any worse than what others are saying. Point: the rear end of the Mark VII doesn't copy any Cadillac, nor any Lincoln sedan. Every Lincoln in the "Mark" series all the way back to the 1950's had the "continental kit" rear end. It was a distinguishing characteristic of the entire series, not something dreamed up to mimic Cadillac's Seville. Lincoln made one and only one mistake which put the Mark name on a four door, briefly in the 70's. It was awful and they never repeated it. With the Mark VII and Mark VIII, the "continental kit" trunk design became increasingly vestigal, serving only as a link the lineage of past Marks. If they every get around to building an appropriate powerful 2 door coupe named "Mark" followed by a number, I for one hope they give at least a tip of the designer's hat to the old continental kit, no matter what the car mag whiners think of it. They had it just about perfect on the Mark VIII.

[MarkFive]

The knowledge of automotive history is severely deficient on this site, to the point of being tiring.

 

Please be careful with the criticism about automotive history on this site. Here are some corrections to your own statements.

 

"Every Lincoln in the "Mark" series all the way back to the 1950's had the "continental kit" rear end."

 

No - there was a Mark IV in the 50's with no spare tire bump. Please see below.

 

 

To help you out, here is a shot of the rear end of said Mark IV (showing no spare tire bump).

 

 

 

 

"Lincoln made one and only one mistake which put the Mark name on a four door, briefly in the 70's."

 

There was no 4-door Mark in the 70's. The first 4-door Mark was in 1980. It came along with the other downsized Lincolns for the new decade. Here is a picture of it.

 

Edited January 6, 2008 by MarkFive

[suv_guy_19]

 

My god thats ugly.

[MarkFive]

I've done a little more searching on the web.

 

It appears that Lincoln offered the following Mark series in the late 50's (all with the same appearance as the sedan above).

 

'58 Lincoln Continental Mark III

'59 Lincoln Continental Mark IV

'60 Lincoln Continental Mark V

 

Then they stopped the madness and came out with the beautiful '61 Continental.

[syrtran]

I've done a little more searching on the web.

 

It appears that Lincoln offered the following Mark series in the late 50's (all with the same appearance as the sedan above).

 

'58 Lincoln Continental Mark III

'59 Lincoln Continental Mark IV

'60 Lincoln Continental Mark V

 

Then they stopped the madness and came out with the beautiful '61 Continental.

And thankfully forgot those abomination copies of the Turnpike Cruiser when they came out with the '68 Mark III.

 

And to maintain our "correcting historical knowledge" theme, according to Wikipedia (I have no clue, myself), those '56 thru '60 Continentals were actually a separate division, not Lincolns at all.

[MarkFive]

And to maintain our "correcting historical knowledge" theme, according to Wikipedia (I have no clue, myself), those '56 thru '60 Continentals were actually a separate division, not Lincolns at all.

 

Here is what Wikipedia says:

 

The Continental division was dissolved after 1957, but in an attempt to retain some of the cachet of the Mark II, Lincoln named its top-of-the-line 1958 model the Continental Mark III. This differed from the lower-model full-size Lincolns only in trim level and in its roof treatment, featuring a reverse-angle power rear "breezeway" window that retracted down behind the back seat. That year's full-size Lincoln sold poorly in all models; 1958 was a recession year in the United States. The new Lincoln was one of the largest cars ever made, larger than that year's Cadillac, and had styling considered by many to be excessive even in that decade of styling excess. 1959's range contained a Continental Mark IV model, and the 1960 range had a Continental Mark V, with more restrained styling than the 1958.

 

Brochures for '58/'59 show the car referred to as "Continental Mark." However, when I look at a '60 Lincoln brochure (see below), it shows the car as being "Lincoln Continental."

 

Wikipedia goes on to say this about the '61 Continental:

 

In 1961, the Continental was completely redesigned by Elwood Engel. For the first time, the names Lincoln and Continental would be paired on a car other than one in the Mark series.

 

Here is a page from the '60 Lincoln Brochure showing the Lincoln Continental (look at the length of the car - it almost requires its own zip code. If you were in a front end accident you only felt the effects a couple of minutes later):

 

1960 Lincoln Brochure

Edited January 6, 2008 by MarkFive