One-Year Wonder: The Fastback 1949 Lincoln Town Sedan

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For 1949, Lincoln briefly joined Detroit’s 1940s fastback craze with the Cosmopolitan Town Sedan. Here’s more on this obscure and interesting body style. 

 

 

Introduced on April 22, 1948, the 1949 Lincoln line was the carmaker’s first new postwar passenger car. Like its Ford and Mercury siblings, Lincoln received a complete redesign for ’49, and the luxury brand was treated to coil-spring independent front suspension, a big new 336.7 CID L-head V8, and the GM Hydra-Matic automatic transmission. Body designs were all new as well, including one body style that would last just a single year, the Town Sedan with its dramatic fastback roofline.

 

Fastback body styles were red hot through much of the 1940s. General Motors led the trend with swoopback models for all five of its car lines—Chevy, Pontiac, Olds, Buick, and Cadillac—while Packard, Nash, and Hudson also joined in. Ford Motor Co. largely avoided the movement, with this notable exception. The Lincoln Town Sedan (body type 74), offered only on the premium Cosmopolitan platform with 125-inch wheelbase, used much of the same sheetmetal as the conventional Sport Sedan four-door (type 73), but with a long, sweeping greenhouse that stretched all the way to the rear bumper.

Designed by E.T. “Bob” Gregorie, the stylist responsible for many prewar Ford classics, the Lincoln body package of 1949-1951 incorporated a number of novel features, including suicide (front-opening) rear doors. Curb weight for the big Cosmopolitan sedans was a hefty 4200+ lbs, and luxurious interior materials and appointments made a positive impression. However, many critics will say—with considerable justification—that these Lincolns bore too much resemblance to the Mercury of the same period. That’s an especially fair assessment of the Lincoln base series, which shared its chassis and basic sheet metal with Mercury. Among these cars, the fastback Town Sedan definitely stands out.

 

Hedging its bets, the Lincoln division offered two distinct four-door sedan styles in 1949: the fastback Town Sedan and the standard three-box Sport Sedan (illustration below). While the two models were identically priced at $3,238, the conventional Sport Sedan was the clear winner in the annual sales sweepstakes with 18,906 units produced, compared to just 7,302 units for the fastback, and for 1950, the exotic Town Sedan was removed from the lineup. The ’49 Lincoln fastback remains a rare sight today at the car shows and auctions, so if you happen to encounter one, be sure to check it out.

 

11 thoughts on “One-Year Wonder: The Fastback 1949 Lincoln Town Sedan”

  1. Interesting that the fastback roof line was employed on the four door, rather than the two door body style. I would imagine that rearward vision would be challenging to the driver, but other than that, I like it. Apparently some survive, as elsewhere on the internet there is a 3/4 side/rear view of a maroon Town Sedan, and it looks sharp! In that particular view, with the large quarter window, it looks almost “limousine-ish”.
    Thanks for the insight into a seldom seen – and possibly forgotten – model.

  2. Despite the fact that my dad hated cars, he somehow ended up owning some very cool ones. The only car I can ever remember him speaking fondly about was his fastback Cosmopolitan Town Sedan. Someday I’ll have one.

  4. In the Alex Tremulis plea to the 50’s Ford brass to build a wind tunnel, he cited the drag coefficient of the ’49 Lincoln Cosmopolitan as one of the best. He added if the current Lincoln engine of 205 hp were in the ’49, the car would do 120 mph, 8 more than the current Lincoln.

  5. Interesting that Ford was using GM automatic transmissions even in this period. Ford seemingly has always needed GM’s help with automatic transmissions. The six speed of today amongst them.

  6. Apparently the Lincoln V8 exceeded the capability of Ford transmissions at the time, and was well served by the Hydramatic. Many of the independents also used the GM Hydramatic, which almost seems like overkill, given the physical size and weight of the transmission, vs. the 6 cylinder engines which in many cases it was bolted behind. I always thought it strange that while others – including those outside the GM family – embraced the 4 speed Hydramatic, Buick used the admittedly smooth, but lifeless
    “revolutionary one speed automatic, with emergency low” (as it was described) Dynaflow.

  7. A bit of Hudson Hornet there, I think before the Hudson Hornet.
    As for GM transmissions even Rolls Royce used the [far later] turbo 400.
    And Saginaw steering boxes and pumps were used by no end of manuafturers.

  8. In 51 Ford introduced Fordomatic a three speed as I recall. The same year Mercury had Mercomatic and Lincolns version was named Turbodrive. I think Lincolns used GM’s Hydramatic until 1955. In 1942 Ford developed a semi automatic called Liguidrive but it was a failed venture and Ford replaced all of the cars so equipped with standard transmissions in Lincolns and Mercury’s. Borg Warner and Ford teamed up in the design and production of these new automatics.

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