AUTO HISTORY
A refreshened Lincoln emerged in 1949. It would be the blueprint for a succession of models that would dominate the luxury car market for decades to come.
Like most car manufacturers immediately after the Second World War Lincoln offered facelifted 1942 re-runs until they could prepare new models. When the new 1949 Lincolns did arrive they were a complete break with the styling of the past.
The 1949 Lincolns introduced in April, 1948 were thoroughly modern post-war designs. They looked like larger versions of the equally new Mercury, with which they shared some sheet metal, and both had their fenders fully integrated into the body.
By today's standards the new Lincolns looked large and bulbous, following the then popular "inverted-bathtub" school of design. The rearhinged rear "suicide doors" were, however, definitely becoming passé.
The standard Lincoln got a two-piece windshield while the more luxurious Cosmopolitan received a modern one-piece. The rear deck was smoothly rounded, erasing all vestiges of the Continental's distinctive name-inspiring externally mounted spare tire. And large, chrome plated “eyebrows” over the front wheel wells of the 1949-50 Cosmo looked strangely out of place; they would disappear in 1951.
Although hidden headlamps had been planned, they were eliminated late in the design. This left the lights set back in stainless steels “tunnels” that gave the front end its most distinctive feature: a sad-eyed, new puppy look that was somehow rather appealing in spite of itself.
Lincolns for 1949 came in two sizes: the standard model and the Cosmopolitan with wheelbases of 3,073 mm (121 in.) and 3,175 mm (125 in.). Power came from a new 5.5 litre (337 cu in.) side-valve, 152 horsepower V-8 mated to a threespeed manual transmission with optional overdrive. Ford had not yet developed its own fully automatic transmission, so it made General Motors’ HydraMatic available.
While the V-8 was an improvement over the previous Lincoln V-12, it would be rendered obsolete a few months later by trend-setting shortstroke, overhead valve V-8s from Cadillac and Oldsmobile, a configuration that would become the industry standard. Lincoln had to wait until 1952 to get its overhead valves.
When the new Lincoln got into the hands of car testers it proved to be a pretty good performer. Tom McCahill of Mechanix Illustrated drove an overdrive-equipped Lincoln to 164 km/h (102 mph) and claimed it was the fastest American car since the 1937 Cord. The zero to 97 km/h (60 mph) acceleration times of 15 seconds for the regular Lincoln and 17 for the heavier Cosmopolitan were a little slower than the Cadillac and Oldsmobile 88.
Motor Trend (7/51) tested a duplicate of the Lincoln that won the 1951 Mobilgas Economy Run, which meant it was geared for maximum fuel economy, not performance. Although by that time Lincolns normally came with Hydra-Matic, the economy champ had a three-speed manual transmission with a Borg-Warner overdrive which gave an overall final drive ratio of 2.39:1.
In spite of this ultra-high "plains" gearing it accelerated to 97 km/h (60 mph) in 15.6 seconds and averaged a 156 km/h (97 mph) top speed. In the Mobilgas Run the Lincoln achieved 25.4 miles per U.S. gallon (9.4 L/100 km) driven by legendary featherfoot Les Viland.
In spite of its size the Lincoln even enjoyed some racing success. It won two of the 19 National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) events in 1950, and 16 Lincolns and Cosmopolitans were entered in the first running of the Carrera Panamericana held in 1950. Better known as the Mexican Road Race, this mad, almost uncontrolled dash was run from one Mexican border to the other. The best 1950 Lincoln finish was ninth; in the 1951 race a Lincoln finished eighth.
The Lincoln also enjoyed political recognition in 1950 when 10 stretched Cosmopolitans became the fleet of the United States Secret Service. A bubble-topped version served presidents Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy.
After the rather slow sales from 1946 to 1948 the all-new '49s gave Lincoln a boost. With a total of 73,507 regular Lincolns and Cosmopolitans produced it was Lincoln's best year to that time. Changes for the three years 1949 to 1951 were confined to grilles and other trim items.
For 1952, it was replaced by an all-new, slimmer, trimmer, more angular Lincoln. Thanks to such advancements as ball-joint front suspension and a new overhead valve V-8 (relegating the sidevalve V-8 to truck use), they were much better handlers and performers than the 1949s to 1951s. They became legends by winning the sedan class in the Mexican Road Race from 1952 to ’54, when the event was cancelled.
Although never outstanding cars the '49 to '51 Lincolns were big luxurious cruisers. Because of their somewhat bland, bulky styling and mundane mechanicals they didn't become strongly sought-after collectibles. But as plush land yachts they were right in step with the times, and could deliver surprisingly good fuel economy.