1986 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series on 2040-cars

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Ford applies to trademark term 'Lincoln eGlide'

There's an epilogue to Ford's recent announcement that it's giving up on a battery-electric Lincoln co-developed with Rivian. The MachEClub forum discovered that just a week ago, Ford applied with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark the term "Lincoln eGlide." The goods and services category details use for "Motor vehicles, namely, passenger automobiles, sport utility vehicles, electric vehicles and structural parts and fittings; electric vehicles, namely, passenger automobiles, sport utility vehicles, and structural parts and fittings." Living in an age where a small "e" is shorthand for "electric," and Ford having specified electric vehicles in the patent, the go-to guess is that this is for an electric vehicle. The inclusion of non-electric motor vehicles injects a little fuzziness. Tesla's trademark on the Model S specifies "electric automobiles" only, whereas Rivian's trademark for the R1T seeks coverage for "land vehicles" and just about every part found in or on a land vehicle.   Since Ford must have known about the end of the Rivian effort when it applied for the trademark, we suppose Lincoln has got some kind of eGlide coming no matter what. Lincoln refers to the theme of its latest cabin designs, as in the Aviator and Corsair, "Quiet Flight," and the road-scanning adaptive suspension on the Lincoln Aviator is called "Air Glide," neither term being trademarked. This leads our suspicions to eGlide becoming a vehicle component that could potentially serve a model with any powertrain, not necessarily battery-electric only, and eGlide won't be the name of the Lincoln EV that Ford says is still on the way. Another clue is that Ford included the word "Lincoln" in the term. Trademarked vehicle names such as Aviator and Corsair don't include the make, but services for vehicles do, such as the trademarks for Lincoln Connect and Lincoln Co-Pilot 360. We'll admit that a little bit of hope informs this line of thinking as well. Ford having done Lincoln the fabulous service of giving Lincolns terrific names, we'd be aghast if the Corsair and Navigator had to share showroom space with an eGlide. We've no choice but to wait for a retail product to provide answers. In the meantime, if we could just get to the bottom of this "Fastor Charge" trademark, and what's this bit about "Vandemonium?"   Related Video:        

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).

Ford will keep Escape and MKC plant open an extra week to meet demand

Crossovers keep selling like popular pastries, and for Ford, that means it needs to keep production going. The company announced that, rather than the usual two-week shutdown, its Louisville, Ky., assembly plant will be open for one of those weeks. The plant builds the Ford Escape and Lincoln MKC, which Ford reports have had record sales. According to Ford, Escape sales through May are up 3 percent, and MKC sales are up 10 percent compared with last year. In total, the Escape has sold about 130,000 units through May, and the MKC has sold around 11,000. Keeping the Louisville plant open will allow the company to build an additional 8,500 vehicles. Ford stated that all other assembly plants will continue with the two-week shutdown as scheduled. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2017 Ford Escape: First Drive View 24 Photos Image Credit: Drew Phillips Plants/Manufacturing Ford Lincoln Crossover SUV Economy Cars Luxury lincoln mkc