The Lincoln division of the Ford Motor Company plays hardball against archrival Cadillac in this original dealer film.
Today, we don’t often see automakers attack each other’s products as aggressively as Lincoln goes after Cadillac in this 1958 dealer film. First, there’s a head-to-head styling comparison in which the Lincoln spokesman calls the Cadillac exterior “Old-fashioned, hard to distinguish from the rest of the General Motors line.” Ouch.
True, Lincoln did sport radically new styling for ’58, directed by John Najjar, that shared little with other Ford products, especially its diagonal quad headlamps. There’s also a demonstration, this one a bit more objective, in which the Lincoln is shown to have a significantly wider interior than the Caddy—thanks no doubt to its wide, square proportions.
Next, Lincoln takes a direct shot at the old Clark Street plant in Detroit where all Cadillacs were then produced, then gives us a brief tour of Ford’s brand-new Lincoln facility for 1958. Specifically designed to assemble Ford’s first unit-construction cars in the USA, the Lincoln and Thunderbird, the Wixom, Michigan plant was the company’s most advanced. But ironically, the Lincoln’s unit body (marketed as “Uniframe”) did suffer some early structural problems, attributed to the body shell’s formidable size (131-inch wheelbase, 229 inches overall) and an inadequate welding process.
The ’58 Lincolns were indeed desgined to improve the competitive position of the division, then headed by Ben D. Mills, and at considerable cost. That goal was not achieved. All the luxury brands took a beating in the 1958 recession, but while Cadillac slipped 18 percent, Lincoln took a 28 percent hit in sales that year. Cadillac continued to lead the class by a wide margin. Still, it can’t be denied that the ’58-’60 Lincoln and Continental made a remarkable styling statement. Video below.
My Dad was a Ford Electrical Engineer during the mid-50s and frequently drove prototypes and “mules” to the delight of his family. They were often loaded up with all sorts of electronics being tested well in advance of their introductions into production vehicles. They were cool, to say the least. And all of them gave spectacular rides.
I’ve always loved these big cars from the big 3. My first Cadillac was a 1959 Coupe deVille that I bought cheap in the late 60s and it was too beat up to to afford the constant repairs. Then I test drove a 10 year old 1958 Lincoln 4door HT. I went back 2 or 3 days later to deal on it and the salesman said it caught fire sitting on the lot and was burned up. Talk about good luck and procrastination. Could have been in my dad’s driveway. (Yes, I was still living at home).