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When it comes to American luxury vehicles, you’re a Cadillac lover or a Lincoln lover. And when it comes to Linc’s, the apex is their flagship Continental. Originally inspired following a trip to Europe, Edsel Ford commissioned the curvy, stylish low-slung coupe with its distinctive rear-mounted spare tire and launched it in 1940; no less than Frank Lloyd Wright described it as “the most beautiful car ever designed.” The first generation lasted through 1948 (with a brief pause during WWII) and was the final America production car to carry a V12 engine. Revived in the mid-fifties and positioned effectively as America’s Rolls-Royce (these Continentals were initially built by hand with premium pricing to match), Ford reintroduced it as the Continental Mark II, with the more affordable Mark III rolling out a couple years later. A full redesign in 1961 ushered in a new decade-long era for the Continental; it’s a much more compact version of the car (no longer a Mark, just Continental again) with the most famous versions featuring a convertible top and distinctive “suicide” rear doors. Its popularity carried it to the White House; the Continental would serve as the Presidential state car until the late 1970s. Through the ’70s the Continental continued to grow (as did the competing Cadillac Eldorado) finally topping out from 1977 to 1979 as the longest cars ever produced by Ford. After hitting that size, the dimensions declined in the ’80s, as Lincoln moved it to a boxy mid-size platform; the Lincoln Town Car took over as the full size Lincoln. A redesign in 1988 moved the Continental towards a curvier, classier look (even as it lost its traditional “Continental” sloping trunk) and immediately revived the brand. The car remained popular through 2002, when Ford transitioned it into the MKS, which then changed back to Continental in 2017. The final years of the model featured the first rear-hinged passenger doors since 1969.
