The ’46-’48 model years were a quiet time for Lincoln, with a limited number of models and body styles and equally limited sales.

1947 Lincoln Cabriolet and Lincoln Continental Coupe

Like every other Detroit automaker, The Ford Motor Company’s Lincoln division resumed production at the end of World War II with barely warmed-over 1942 models. The noticeable changes at Lincoln included a heavier grille and bumper to splash more chrome onto the front end and a name change. The Lincoln-Zephyr badge was dropped, and for the ’46 model year forward, the cars were marketed simply as LIncolns.

1946 Lincoln Continental Cabriolet Indianapolis 500 pace car

While all the carmakers struggled with the return to production, Lincoln struggled more than most. Fewer than 600 cars were produced in calendar year 1945, as the production line didn’t really get rolling until 1946.  Edsel Ford was always the driving force behind the Lincoln division, but he passed away in 1943. His son and the new chief executive at Ford, 28 year-old Henry Ford II, had his hands full dealing with the automakers’ vast operational problems—reportedly, the company was then losing $10 million per month.

Product at all the car brands took a back seat for the time being, and the Lincoln division fell into a period of benign neglect, it seems. The entire product line for ’46 consisted of three basic body styles for Lincoln (Club Coupe, Sedan, and Cabriolet) and the Continental Coupe and Cabriolet. One small bright spot: A yellow Lincoln Continental Cabriolet served as pace car at the 1946 Indianapolis 500, with young Henry Ford II himself behind  the wheel.

1946 Lincoln Sedan 

As the Ford Motor Company’s problems were sorted out, real consideration was given to eliminating the sleepy Lincoln division altogether, especially the Continental. While the stylish Edsel Ford/E.T. Gregorie creation brought glamour to the brand, the Continental sold in very modest numbers. But since the Continental shared its semi-unitized platform with the standard Lincoln and the tooling for both was already in place, it was decided to continue.

1946 Lincoln Sedan 

So Lincoln carried on with only minimal changes from 1946 through 1948, on much the same platform introduced on the 1936 Lincoln-Zephyr. While advanced in some ways for ’36 it was backward in others, with a beam axle up front and transverse buggy-spring suspension at both ends. Though the L-head Zephyr V12 engine was continually refined through the years, it never developed a sterling reputation. And while Cadillac boasted Hydra-Matic and Chrysler had Fluid Drive, Lincoln offered only a three-speed manual transmission. Ford’s 1942 attempt at an automatic, Liquamatic, had been a failure. (See our feature here.)

1946 Lincoln instrement panel 

Styling on the standard Lincoln models, an evolution of the original 1936 Lincoln-Zephyr design, also seemed to be out of step with the times. (No one would fault the timeless look of the Continental.) While this may surprise some, Lincoln designer E.T. Gregorie would later say he preferred the bulbous, bulging look of the later Lincolns to the trim, streamlined Zephyrs. He felt his later design gave the cars more physical presence on the road.

Production volume at Lincoln in these years was a mere fraction of that at Cadillac, its luxury-class rival: 16,645 in MY 1946, 21,460 in ’47, and only 6,470 in ’48. However, there’s some good news couched in the especially low ’48 number. In that season, the production schedule ran only five months. On April 22, 1948, the Ford Motor Company introduced a 1949 Lincoln line that was more contemporary in every way.

1946 Lincoln Cabriolet