Take a close look at this car, for its
influence on the modern automobile cannot be underestimated.
It's a 1938 Lincoln Zephyr
V12, four door sedan. But, it's not what's under the bonnet, or the
suicide doors, that make the car significant. Up until the early 1930s automobiles
were still identifiable with the carriages associated with the
horse-and-buggy era. Necessities were added on rather than
incorporated into the overall design.
A good example was head and
tail lights. In many cases the head lamps were bolted on to the
mudguards. There's no doubt the French – who else – were leaders
in the field of aerodynamics. You only have to look at Delage and
Delahaye cars and the influence Figoni and Falaschi had over
streamlining the automobile in the early 1930s.
We suspect this had more to do with
fashion – the car as an art form – than looking for cars to slide
more easily through the air. Certainly these French cars were some of
the finest creations of this era. But, many people credit the Ford
Lincoln Zephyr with popularising the streamlining of cars which was
the start of what we now take for granted.
Not the least of these innovations was
the inclusion of the headlamps into the front fender, or mudguards as
they are called down under. Lincoln Zephyr was not the first to do
this. Other makers had already gone down this path, but the results
were uninspiring. Chrysler tried it with the Airflow, but the car
ended up insipid at the front end with the grille curling back
towards the windscreen. It resembled a sort of bulbous bonnet not
unlike that found on a Volkswagen Beetle.
When we say insipid, read butt ugly. As
the Airflow name suggests makers such as Chrysler were keen to take
the automobile forward, not just mechanically, but also
aesthetically. The Airflow was released in
1934 and also had the head lamps incorporated into the body. After
wind-tunnel testing the car was state-of-the-art aerodynamically.
But, where it mattered – the showroom floor - it was a flop.
Chrysler even returned to a more conventional straight up and down
grille, but the damage was done. So Lincoln had the benefit of
Chrysler's folly.
It is interesting to digress a little
into Lincoln history. There is some irony in the fact Henry
Ford had an unwitting hand in the start of the Cadillac company,
purchased 100 years ago this year by General Motors. Cadillac was formed from what was left of the Henry Ford Company
when Ford departed, along with some of his partners and the company
was dissolved. Engineer Henry M. Leland, who helped help oust Ford,
was called in to appraise the assets and convinced the powers that be
he could resurrect the business using his one cylinder engine.
But,
the business required a new name and Cadillac was selected on August
22, 1902 and this was the company GM bought in 1909. Cadillac went on
to become an iconic brand for GM with one of its major competitors,
Lincoln.
The further irony is Lincoln was started in 1917 by the same Henry
M. Leland to build WW1 aircraft engines. He named the company after
Abraham Lincoln. By 1922 the Lincoln company was bankrupt and its
assets purchased by Ford for US$8 million. So Henry Ford can claim to
have direct responsibility for two of America's surviving luxury
brands ... and had sweet revenge over Leland.
The Lincoln Zephyr was released in 1936 and our 1938 car was a
face lifted variant, with some mechanical changes, due to overheating
engine problems. Aesthetically, the 1938 model had revised design
ahead of the A-pillars. The wheel base was extended slightly, the
mudguards were more integrated, the bonnet smoother and the V-shape
tallish grille was replaced by a lower profile split grille. Even
though the rear widows are split the windscreen is a single piece and
is low-profile and modern.
Up until then the front seats were encased in chrome frame, which
gave way to a soft edge cushion. The 4.4 litre V12 engine was fitted
with hydraulic valve lifters and the combustion chamber shape was
altered.
Even at first glance it is obvious the Lincoln Zephyr is a class
above most cars of this era we see in Australia. It's clean lines are
more indicative of post-WW2 cars, which really shows the car was well
ahead of its time in 1938. While the Airflow did not excite buyers,
the Lincoln Zephyr did – despite the recession – and more than
19,000 units were sold. Not bad for an up-market car.
The start of
America's involvement in WW2 brought an end to production of the car
in 1942. After the war most makers simply re-started production of
the pre-war cars. Lincoln did the same, but the Zephyr name was
dropped, the car simply becoming a small or junior Lincoln. The
Zephyr name did re-appear on Ford cars at a later date, including the
British-built six-cylinder Ford Zephyr, a Holden rival in the 1950s
and 60s. We found this magnificent example at the Maclean's Bridge
Historic Car Show, south of Brisbane in May 2009.
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