Lincoln Custom

The Lincoln Custom is a custom limousine and long-wheelbase touring sedan that was built by Lincoln in 1941 and 1942 and the lower level series Lincoln produced in 1955. Initially it was a replacement for the previous Model K Lincolns (produced from 1934 to 1939) and earlier luxury cars of the 1920s and 1930s. The body work for the Custom was provided by the factory and came in one appearance and abandoned the previous Model L and Model K of years past of manufacturing only the chassis then a long list of coachbuilders would provide coachwork to the customer's preference. In later years it was simply the base model series.

Overview

The Lincoln Custom was based on the Lincoln-Zephyr, a smaller, unit-bodied, mid-range priced vehicle introduced in 1936 with a smaller 267 cu. inch V-12 (based on the Ford V-8) while drawing many similarities to the De Luxe Ford. This engine was enlarged to 292-ci for 1938, 305 ci 1942 only, but reduced to 292 ci after the war for the sake of durability, the "Ford-and-a-half" engine never a paragon of such. This car competed with the Packard Super Eight, Cadillac Sixty Special and Buick Limited while the Lincoln-Zephyr was considered the "junior" introduced in the mid-1930s to a shrinking luxury car market as engineering advances diminished the difference in performance between the outsized earlier luxe and the newer, more rational, affordable offerings. The earlier Lincoln Model K sold 3024 units in 1934, the first year of its production, only 133 units in 1939, 18 in 1940. 1940 saw the Zephyr and the higher priced Continental carrying the Lincoln name.