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Landau yachts: The history of Lincoln's Designer Series

The Lincoln Designer Series was introduced in 1976, at the end of the imposing Mark IV Continental generation. Four big-name fashion designers of the era – all-American country clubber Bill Blass, psychedelic Italian pattern-maestro Emilio Pucci, venerable French jewelry-maker Cartier, and a la mode French fashionista Hubert de Givenchy – were asked to slather their elegance on LincolnÂ’s personal luxury coupe. This experiment was a wild success. According to documents uncovered in the Lincoln archives – with the incomparable guidance of official brand historian Ted Ryan – the Designer series “accounted for more than 27% of Mark IV sales” shortly after its introduction. It was such a runaway hit, that it continued on throughout the even larger Mark V generation (incidentally, the longest coupe ever produced by Ford Motor Company), and didnÂ’t really peter out on these big two-doors until the early 1990s.   But the true history of the series well predates the era of opera windows, crushed velour and wire wheel covers. “If you take a step back even further, when Ford purchased Lincoln in 1922, Edsel Ford was put in charge of the company. But more than that, he helped establish the first design studio at Ford,” said Ryan. The basic Model T didnÂ’t take much design. Lincoln was different. Edsel is famed for his quote. “Father wanted to make the most popular car, I wanted to make the best.” The specific genesis of the Designer Series, however, came along as a result of a long-term personal connection with the marqueÂ’s first chairman. “Edsel Ford had a relationship with Cartier, and correspondence going throughout the 1920s and '30s,” Ryan said. “His personal cards and stationery were always ordered from Cartier.” This enduring link wasnÂ’t formalized until the late 1960s. “I found in product development files, in 1967, that Ford had gone to Cartier for a special 1970 Cartier Continental coupe,” Ryan said. According to internal documents, this package would include unique interior leather/cloth/vinyl surfaces and trim, modified dials, and a Cartier jewelry box, as well as golden plating on the steering wheel ornament, dial face ornaments, keys, C-pillar ornaments, door monograms, and dashboard plaque. “Think of that. A car that never was, that could have been,” Ryan said, wistfully. Some Cartier magic did get glossed on Lincolns in the late 1960s.

Ford to spread all-wheel drive across performance range

Car and Driver took a closer look at the all-wheel-drive system in the Focus RS, Ford reps having made "broad hints" about it being applied to other performance vehicles. One spokesperson even said that he "can see this as one of those technologies of the future." That would make sense because, as C/D notes, it couldn't have been an inexpensive job to engineer the torque-vectoring unit for the Focus – one that can send 70 percent of torque to the rear wheels, and send 100 percent of that portion to either wheel if needed. C/D also clues into the system's close similarity to the AWD unit in the recently updated Range Rover Evoque, which is manufactured by Sweden's GKN Driveline. In the Evoque, torque vectoring is brake based and two electronically controlled clutches turn the Range into a front-wheel-drive crossover under 22 miles per hour. Ford wouldn't comment on the GKN Driveline connection, or even if there is one. No matter where it might come from, more performance Fords are good for every enthusiast, and we do not look an AWD, torque-vectoring gift horse in the mouth. Featured Gallery 2016 Ford Focus RS News Source: Car and Driver Ford Technology Hatchback Performance

Honda giving away free Civics in Forza Horizon to celebrate launch

Just a friendly reminder from Honda: The Honda Challenge Pack DLC is now available for Forza Horizon. To reward you for the trouble of pressing a few buttons on your Xbox controller, you'll get the 2013 Honda Civic Coupe, an HPD Rally Fit and a 1986 Honda Civic Si Coupe in your garage, and you'll get them free. The event of the new DLC has also kicked off a photo contest that will reward someone with an Xbox 360 console wrapped in a Honda Civic Si theme.
Otherwise, the word "Challenge" keeps coming up because of the chance to run an online race against IndyCar driver Scott Dixon. The track for that digital throwdown has already been decided by Xbox players who voted before January 8. Yet it's not too late to hop into the Honda section in Xbox Live and lay down a time fast enough for a shot at the title "The Driver That Shellacked Scott Dixon," and meeting the man in person.
Check out the press release from Honda below, and the sweetness that is the 1986 Civic Si in the gallery above.