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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.

Chrysler called out over lackluster Ram Runner by racer who helped develop it

Fans of off-roading and desert blasting might recall that Chrysler offers an aftermarket conversion that can turn a Ram 1500 into a road-legal desert racer, called the Ram Runner. The kit, sold through Mopar, includes some significant suspension upgrades, body tweaks and a brawnier cat-back exhaust for the truck's 5.7-liter V8.
Considering all of this, comparisons with the almighty Ford F-150 SVT Raptor are common. Among the off-road community, that makes these two a sort of Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang for people that prefer driving on dirt. In the Race-Dezert forum, the discussion as to which truck was better was proceeding as normal - Ram fans said their piece and Ford fans said theirs. Then, a man named Kent Kroeker offered up his two cents.
See, Kroeker is a Baja racer, and the man that helped develop the Ram Runner. Despite his association with the truck, though, he had some less than kind words for Chrysler and the Ram Runner.

Ford Focus EV's slow sales trigger massive incentives

The Detroit News reports Ford is having real trouble moving its new Focus Electric. As a result, the automaker is offering substantial incentives in an attempt to lure in more buyers. How substantial? Try $10,750 off of a three-year lease. What's more, the EV can now be had for $37,995 ($2,000 less than its original base price) on top of an additional $2,000 cash discount to buy the EV outright - or you can opt for 1.9-percent financing if you work through Ford Motor Credit. None of which factors in various potential government incentives. Last year, Ford managed to sell a paltry 685 of the 1,627 Focus EV hatchbacks it built.
Ford isn't alone in trying to woo more buyers to its EV effort. Nissan cut the price of its Leaf by a whopping 18 percent for 2013, now down to $28,800 and built in the USA. The move followed the automaker's substantial incentives in 2012.
If you want a Focus Electric, you can now apparently get your hands on one for as little as $285 per month with $930 due at signing for a 36-month lease with 10,500 miles per year.