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Junkyard Gem: 1986 Lincoln Town Car

Ford's Lincoln Division applied the Town Car name (originally the Anglicized name for a coupe de ville horse-drawn carriage) to new cars beginning with the 1959 Continental, but it wasn't until the 1981 model year that the Town Car became a Lincoln model in its own right (earlier Town Cars were Continentals). Those boxy, sharp-edged Town Cars were built throughout the remainder of the 1980s and sold well, but they're almost extinct today. Here's one of those cars, found in a Denver-area self-service yard recently. The Town Car was built from the 1981 through 2011 model years, with a complete redesign for 1990 that kept the same chassis but added a less angular body and rear air suspension. In 1998, the Town Car got the full "whale" body treatment seen on its Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis siblings, and production of that version continued until the end. In China, Hongqi built a version badged as the CA7460 Qijian. All 1981-2011 Town Cars lived on the versatile and sturdy body-on-frame Panther platform. For a 1970s design, the Panther stayed relevant for a surprisingly long time. This car was closely related to the Ford LTD Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis, not to mention the Continental Mark VI. The interior is full of "wood-tone appliques" and the gauges come straight from mid-1970s Lincoln-Mercury products. These "twin comfort lounge" seats were just as comfy as they look here, and the Nearly Velour™ fabric just needs a cleaning to be in like-new condition. Of course, the optional Cartier package had much classier upholstery. You'll find one in every car. You'll see. Every 1980s Town Car had some sort of padded vinyl roof as standard equipment. This roof has not fared well beneath the Colorado sun. It's a shame that opera lights have gone out of fashion. Every 1981-1990 Town Car got a 302-cubic-inch (5.0-liter) Windsor V8 under the hood. 1986 was the first year that electronic fuel injection replaced carburetors in the Town Car; this engine was rated at 150 horsepower and 270 pound-feet. The jarring mashup of typefaces on the HVAC and radio controls of mid-1980s Fords always makes me uncomfortable. This car has the optional "wire-style" hubcaps, which cost an extra $341 (about $920 in 2022 dollars). Several flavors of aluminum wheels were available on the '86 Town Car, but no true wire wheels. The MSRP on this car was $20,764, or about $56,130 today. The Cartier Edition would set you back $25,235 ($68,215 now).

Lincoln electric SUV to use Ford-backed Rivian's 'skateboard' chassis

DETROIT — A battery-powered Lincoln SUV, due in mid-2022, will be the first Ford Motor Co. vehicle built on a custom electrified chassis that resembles a skateboard, which was developed by Ford-backed startup Rivian, according to several people familiar with the program. The all-wheel-drive Lincoln SUV could compete against Rivian's R1S, an electric sport utility vehicle slated to go into production in early 2021 that will be priced from $72,500. Both models will use Rivian's so-called skateboard, a flexible platform that combines electric motors, batteries, controls and suspension. On Tuesday, Ford declined to comment. Rivian did not respond to a request for comment. The new Lincoln, which carries the internal program code U787, also could compete with premium offerings from others, including General Motors Co <GM.N>, which plans to introduce at least two new electric SUVs by 2023, one for Cadillac and one that could revive the Hummer name, sources have said. Ford invested $500 million in Rivian this year and plans to help it begin production next year at a former Mitsubishi plant in Normal, Illinois. When Ford made the investment, it said it would use Rivian's skateboard to develop its own electric vehicle, but did not disclose details. It is not clear where Ford intends to build the Lincoln SUV, which will be among the first of several battery-powered utility vehicles planned for Ford's premium brand in North America and China, according to supplier sources familiar with those programs who asked not to be identified. Ford expects to introduce a compact Lincoln electric crossover in late 2021 or early 2022 and a mid-size companion in 2023, the sources said. The U.S. auto industry plans to invest billions of dollars over the next few years to build all-electric pickups and SUVs, sectors of the market that have been among the most profitable, especially for Detroit-based automakers. But analysts have questioned whether demand from consumers and commercial customers will come close to matching production. Founded in 2009, Rivian has raised $1.9 billion from investors, including e-commerce giant Amazon, which has ordered 100,000 electric delivery vehicles from Rivian. The first Amazon vans will be built in Normal and are to be delivered in 2021. Ford aims to sell an electric F-series pickup in late 2021, sources have said.

BMW, Hyundai score big in JD Power's first Tech Experience Index

While automakers are quick to brag about winning a JD Power Initial Quality Study award, the reality, as we've pointed out before, is that these ratings are somewhat misleading, since IQS doesn't necessarily distinguish genuine quality issues. JD Power's new Tech Experience Index aims to solve that problem. The new metric takes the same 90-day approach as IQS but focuses exclusively on technology – collision protection, comfort and convenience, driving assistance, entertainment and connectivity, navigation, and smartphone mirroring. It splits the industry up into just seven segments, based loosely on size, which is why the Chevrolet Camaro is in the same division (mid-size) as Kia Sorento and the Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class is in the same segment as the Hyundai Genesis (mid-size premium). It makes for some screwy bedfellows, to be sure. Still, splitting tech experience away from initial quality should allow customers to make more informed and intelligent decisions when buying new vehicles. In the inaugural study, respondents listed BMW and Hyundai as the big winners, with two segment awards – the 2 Series for small premium and the 4 Series for compact premium, and the Genesis for mid-size premium and Tucson for small segment. The Chevrolet Camaro (midsize), Kia Forte (compact), and Nissan Maxima (large) scored individual wins. Ford also had a surprising hit with the Lincoln MKC, which ranked third in the compact premium segment behind the 4 Series and Lexus IS. This is a coup for the Blue Oval, whose woeful MyFord Touch systems made the brand a victim of the IQS' flaws in the early 2010s. But Ford and other automakers might not want to celebrate just yet. According to JD Power, there's still a lot of room for improvement – navigation systems were the lowest-rated piece of tech in the study. Instead, customers repeatedly saluted collision-avoidance and safety systems, giving the category the best marks of the study and listing blind-spot monitoring and backup cameras as two must-have features – 96 percent of respondents said they wanted those two systems in their next vehicle. But this isn't really a surprise. Implementation of safety systems from brand to brand is similar, and they don't require any input from users, unlike navigation and infotainment systems which are frustratingly deep.