Lincoln

US, 1909

Lincoln Motor Vehicle Co, Lincoln, Ill.

This Lincoln car was a high-wheeler with solid rubber tyres, using a 4-stroke, 2-cylinder air-cooled engine of 1.7-litres. Three Lincoln car-models were made, two with shaft drive and one with a single chain.

US, 1911 – 1914

Lincoln Motor Car Works, Chicago, Ill.

After the closure of the Sears venture, the Lincoln Motor Car Works made a high wheeler of similar design to the Sears for a few years. Most Lincoln cars were commercial vehicles.

AUS, 1919 – 1924

Lincoln Motor Car Co, Sydney, N.S.W.

The Lincoln car was an attempt to place on the roads of Australia a car embodying the best of standard components and Australian workmanship, the latter including the radiator design and body. A Continental 6-cylinder engine was used on the Lincoln car for power and the touring Lincoln car sold in 1923 for £A590 with wire wheels extra. The Lincoln Motor Co of Detroit, Mich., requested the Lincoln car company to drop the Lincoln name in 1923, but it is not recorded that the Australian Lincoln car company did so.

US, 1920 to date

Lincoln Motor Co, Detroit, Mich.

After Henry M. Leland’s resignation from Cadillac in 1917, he evolved another big sv V8 which came on the market under the name of Lincoln in 1921. This Lincoln car had a capacity of 5.8-litres and developed 81bhp. Cylinder heads were detachable and full-pressure lubrication was adopted at a time when many American makers pinned their faith to splash systems. Over 70mph was possible with the Lincoln car and it was not excessively expensive at $4.300, but the style of the bodies did not match the quality of the mechanical components, and Henry Ford acquired the Lincoln car company after it had encountered financial difficulties in 1922. Both Leland and his son Wilfred resigned a few months later for the Lincoln car company , but Ford retained the traditions of quality, adding aluminium pistons from the time of his takeover. Lincoln cars were much used by both gangsters and police, the latter driving tuned versions capable of over 80mph and equipped with front wheel brakes, a luxury not available to the general public on Lincoln cars until 1927. President Coolidge bought a Lincoln car in 1924, establishing a link between the Lincoln car marque and the White House: Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Sunshine Special was one of the last 12-cylinder Lincoln car Ks, Harry S. Truman ordered an open Lincoln Cosmopolitan in 1950 and John F. Kennedy bought a Lincoln Continental in 1961.

Lincoln cars sold steadily in limited numbers – nearly 9.000 Lincoln cars in 1926. Engine capacity went up to 6.3-litres in 1928. 1931 Lincoln cars had a 12ft 1in wheelbase, downdraught carburation and 120bhp engines, but in 1932 there came a new 7.2-litre Lincoln KB-type V12 with vacuum booster brakes. This Lincoln car was joined the following year by a smaller 6.2-litre Lincoln KA-type 12 at $2.700, and all subsequent Lincoln cars made up to 1948 were to have 12-cylinder power units. In 1934 both Lincoln cars gave way to a 6.8-litre Lincoln K with aluminium cylinder heads, and a top speed of nearly 100mph. The Lincoln car Division could not, however, support itself on the dwindling prestige-car market, and for 1936 they offered a popular V12 Lincoln car, the 4.4-litre, 110bhp Lincoln Zephyr. Unitary construction was adopted on Lincoln cars; other characteristics were a synchromesh gearbox, headlamps faired into the front wings, a fastback style and an alligator-type bonnet. The brakes, however, were mechanical, and Ford’s traditional transverse suspension was used on Lincoln cars as well. It cost $1.320 and the engine of the Lincoln car was used in Anglo-American hybrids of the period: the Allard, Atalanta and Brough Superior. 1938 Lincoln Zephyrs had a dashboard gear change. Hydraulic brakes followed in 1939, and column change in 1940. Meanwhile the Model K Lincoln car had at last been dropped; sales for the combined 1939 and 1940 seasons had been 120 of these Lincoln cars and the black-bordered emblems on the last models were symbolic. To balance this, a new Lincoln car-product had been launched in 1939, the Lincoln Mercury. There were also some relatively inexpensive prestige Lincoln cars – Edsel Ford’s Zephyr-based Continental coupés and cabriolets, with 4.8-litre engines. Options on the Lincoln car in the last pre-war seasons included overdrive, a fluid coupling, and power-operated hoods and windows. No entirely new Lincoln cars appeared until 1949, when a change was made to Ford’s new styling and coil-spring independent front suspension for the Lincoln cars, while at the same time the 12-cylinder engine was replaced by an sv under-square 5½-litre V8. Manual transmission was dropped finally from Lincoln cars in 1951, and 1952 models swept the board in the touring-car class of that year’s Carrera Panamericana, the winning Lincoln car averaging 90mph. 205bhp ohv engines were introduced for 1953, and the 1956 line of Lincoln cars consisted of the 6-litre 285bhp Lincoln Premiere and Lincoln Capri, as well as a revived Lincoln Continental at $10.000 made in very limited numbers. Dual headlamps were adopted for the 1957 Lincoln cars, and 1958 Lincoln cars had unitary construction – this was the year of Lincoln-Mercury Division’s disastrous Edsel. After 1961 the Continental became the staple Lincoln car, and unusual body style being a 4-door convertible of a type not offered by the American motor industry for some years; this was discontinued in 1968, when Lincoln cars had 7.571cc 340bhp engines and front disc brakes (standardized in 1966 on Lincoln cars). This short-wheelbase Lincoln Continental III luxury 2-door hardtop introduced during the year reverted to the separate chassis and the traditional radiator grille. List price of the Lincoln car was $6.585. The company also built a $500.000 Lincoln car, a bullet-proof Lincoln Presidential limousine on a special 13ft 4in chassis.

All 1970 Lincoln carmodels had concealed headlamps an perimeter frames; that year’s production of 58.771 Lincoln cars was well below Cadillac’s level, but appreciably ahead of Chrysler’s prestige Imperial. By 1973 cylinder capacity was 7.359cc, and improvements on the Lincoln car for the year were mainly concerned with safety. Most expensive Lincoln car was the Lincoln Continental IV, basically the 1972 revision of the Continental III with a Rolls-Royce style grille. Prices for this Lincoln car ranged from $7.322 for the Continental 4-door sedan to $8.774 for the Continental Mark IV coupé.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; GNG, GMN, MCS

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com

Morris

GB, 1913 to date

(1) W.R.M. Motors Ltd, Cowley, Oxford, 1913 – 1919

(2) Morris Motors Ltd, Cowley, Oxford, 1919 – 1970

(3) Austin-Morris Division, British Leyland Motor Corp Ltd, Cowley, Oxford, 1970 to date

W.R. Morris (later Lord Nuffield), an Oxford cycle and motor agent, launched his Morris-Oxford light car in 1913. This Morris car was made from proprietary parts, the engine being a 1-litre T-head four by White and Poppe. At £175 the Morris car was one of the best of the true light cars (as opposed to cyclecars) and over 1.000 Morris cars had been sold by the end of 1914. A larger model, the famous Morris Cowley, arrived on the scene in 1915; this Morris car was assembled from American components, the engine being by Continental. After World War 1 Morris cars marketed two 1½-litre L-head sv fours, with power units by Hotchkiss of Coventry; the Morris Cowley differed from the Morris Oxford mainly in its more austere equipment and the absence of a starter. In an inflationary climate, Morris cars was brave enough to reduce the prices of its Morris cars(a Morris Cowley two-seater cost £465 in October 1920, £299.10s a year later, and £225 in October 1922) and ensured a steady flow of Morris carproduction by acquiring his suppliers, such as Hotchkiss, Wrigley (transmissions) and Hollick and Pratt (bodies).

The Morris ‘bullnoses’ were soon best-sellers backed by a nation-wide service organization of Morris cars, and in 1925 Morris outsold all his competitors with 54.000 Morris cars. From 1924 to 1926 the staple Morris cars were the 1½-litre Morris Cowley and the 1.8-litre Morris Oxford, both with 3-speed gearboxes and the wet-plate clutches which persisted on some Morris carmodels right up to 1939. The Morris Oxford acquired front wheel brakes in 1925, and they were available as an option on Morris Cowleys a year later. 1927 Morris cars produced the flat radiator and also a venture into the export market with the unsuccessful Empire Oxford Morris car of 2½-litres, which had a 4-speed box and worm drive. Equally unsuccessful was a plan to market Gallicized Morris cars built in the Léon Bollée plant at Le Mans.

Meanwhile Cecil Kimber had produced the first of the Morris-Oxford-based MG sports cars, and a new name had been born. Morris had made a few six-cylinder Morris cars in the early 1920s, but his first serious attempt in this direction with Morris cars was a 2½-litre ohc model for 1928, the engine of this Morris car inspired by the Wolseley 16/45, a make which had come under Morris control the previous year. 1929 saw another ohc Morris car, the 847cc Morris Minor at £125. Never a best-seller, the Morris car none the less served as the basis for MG’s Midget. The 1930 6-cylinder Morris cars had hydraulic brakes, extended down the range until they were universal by 1934 on all Morris cars, and in 1931 Morris managed to offer a simplified sv two-seater version of the Morris Minor for £100. The early 1930s proved very difficult for the Morris car company, which had no obvious best-seller and too many different models of Morris cars. Sliding roofs and electric fuel pumps by the Morris-owned S.U. concern were innovations for 1932 and 1933 Morris cars pioneered the semaphore-type traffic indicator in Britain. That year Morris cars sv 1.3-litre Morris Ten-Four came out as an answer to Austin’s Ten and Hillman’s Minx. All 1934 Morris cars had synchromesh and the bigger sixes the added refinement of a free wheel.

The best-seller Morris car came at last in 1935 with the 918cc sv Series I Morris Eight, which retailed at £132.10s for a fully-equipped Morris car saloon and helped reach their first million Morris cars by the summer of 1939. In a bigger category were the Series II Morris carmodels with modern styling, 3-speed gearboxes, and built-in jacking systems, ranging from a revised Morris Ten-Four up to a 3½-litre 6-cylinder Morris Twenty-Five at £280. These Morris cars were contemporary with the Series I, though introduced some months after that Morris car. All 1938 Morris cars except for the Morris Eight had push-rod ohv engines (already applied to Wolseley and MG). Later that year Riley was absorbed into the Nuffield Morris car empire. Two 1939 winners were a revised Series E 8hp with a 4-speed gearbox and headlamps faired into the wings of the Morris car, and the 1.140cc ohv Series M Ten, which introduced integral construction to Cowley and this Morris car was made after World War 2 by Hindusthan in India.

Only the 8 and 10 Morris cars were made in the first post-war years, the first really new Morris car for ten years being the 1949 Morris cars designed by Alex Issigonis. Of these the MM series Morris Minor used the old 8hp sv engine, but boasted integral construction, rack-and-pinion steering and torsion-bar independent front suspension and set a new standard in popular car handling. A million of the basic design Morris cars had been sold by January 1961. Its companion Morris carmodels, also chassisless, and with independent front suspension were a new sv 1½-litre Morris Oxford and the 2.2-litre ohc Morris MS Type Six.

The amalgamation of Nuffield and Austin to form the British Motor Corporation in 1952 resulted in a gradual process of rationalization. First the Morris Minor went over to Austin’s 803cc ohv A30 engine in 1953. The Series II Oxford Morris car and its less powerful companion, the Morris Cowley, of 1954 had Morris hulls, but their engines were also ohv Austins. In 1955 the Morris carrange was completed by a new Isis using the 2.6-litre BMC 6-cylinder unit – this Morris car was discontinued in 1958. In the late 1950s some Morris cars were made and sold in Australia under the Morris car name which were in fact more closely akin to other makes in the BMC group. The 6-cylinder Morris Marshall was really an Austin A105, while both the Major and its Austin counterpart, the Lancer, were based on the Wolseley 1500.

With the arrival of the Farina-styled 1½-litre Morris car saloons in 1959, differences between Austin and Morris cars had been reduced to house colours and radiator emblems. The front-wheel-drive Mini (1960) was shared between the two makes and though its bigger stablemate, the 1100 of 1963 with Hydrolastic suspension, was initially a Nuffield monopoly Morris car, the inevitable Austin variant followed a year later. In the case of the third front-wheel-drive model, the 1800, Austin were ahead of Morris cars in introducing it by nearly eighteen months. The 1968 Morris car range comprised the fwd Mini, 1100/1300, and 1800 as well as the conventional 1.600cc Oxford and the indestructible Morris Minor 1000, now with 1.098cc engine and still selling close on 60.000 Morris cars a year. This sole survivor of independent Morris car design did not disappear until the end of 1970. Minis became a separate make that year. From 1971 Morris car versions of the 1100 and 1300 disappeared; the name was reserved for the Marina, an orthodox rear-wheel-driven family saloon with Minor 1000 front suspension, semi-elliptics at the rear, and drum brakes on the simpler variant Morris cars. Push-rod 1.300cc and 1.800cc B.L.M.C. 4-cylinder engines were used, and the original 2-door coupé and 4-door saloon were joined by a station wagon Morris car in 1973. The largest fwd cars were still available with Morris car badges – there was a version of the 6-cylinder 2200 in 1972.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com