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Lincoln & The Road Ahead; 357 Days & Counting

by douglasr on Fri Jun 30 07:46:19 PDT 2006

Prime Minister Koziumi of Japan, self-styled Elvis Presley fan, (who sold his own CD of Presley favorites for charity) will visit GraceLand today with President Bush. One hopes that they will arrive in a Lincoln...but no doubt Suburbans will do. At some point during the day the Japanese PM will visit the garage...and stand next to Elvis Presley's Mark II---hopefully with President Bush standing by the fender. We can only hope that they would be photographed IN the car, as well as next to it! Ford Motor would then have to explain why there is no Continental today...when the press prints: "Prime Minister Kuzuimi tries the wheel of Elvis' Continental---a former top model line discontinued by Ford." Even William Clay Ford Sr. might have to comment upon that in the Detroit Free Press. With the demise of Wixom, and the Town Car, Lincoln will have no top-line model to sell the public, if production is not taken up at St. Thomas. While Mr. Ford and Mr. Fields ponder what to do, Cadillac has revived one of its Carrara-Pan-America from 1953-4, putting a modern drivetrain and brakes under the unchanged bodyshell. #127 will ride again, and Cadillac will champion the car as one of the 'Great Racers'. They might forget to mention that Lincoln won the race in its class: an average speed of 90.90mph in its class driven by Chuck Stevenson---and only 10mph below that of the 300SL driven by Karl Kling. Lincoln even performed well against sports cars like Ferrari, who bettered Lincoln's overall time by a similar margin. In 1953-54 Lincoln had used the first of Earl MacPherson's ball-joint suspension design, Y-Block predecessor V8 that was both light-wieght and powerful giving Lincoln a top speed of 116mph---tested by Bill Stroppe at Bonneville. Though Lincoln would be beaten in measured mile speed tests at Daytona (107.88mph vs. Cadillac's 110.85) the balance of the engine and chassis, plus improved brakes gave Lincoln the edge in that November 19, 1953 race south of the border. 14 Lincolns entered the race, two finished-victoriously. But Lincoln will not make light of that victory as Cadillac is reviving bright moments from their past. Now that Lincoln is being "built" in Mexico, it also behooves Ford Motor to bring back the 'Road-Race Lincoln'. This they can do with the Mustang engine, and/or something from Jaguar-Astons. But a red blooded high-performance American V8 is what is needed. Chrysler announced today that it will build Challenger---and with it comes Imperial. The Dodge Boys already have the hot-rod-motors on the shelf they can throw at the competition. You can bet that the product engineers are burning a lot of mid-night oil knowing they can check-mate Ford and Lincoln. As Prime Minister Kozuimi admired both the music, the culture of America, and the real-steel in Mr. Presley's garage, the press will write that the American Auto Industry was beaten back by Japanese competition with their just-in-time inventory system; a system ostensibly copied by Ford Motor at Chicago---where the next Lincolns are built. But that is a misnomer. The Japanese industry, Toyota in particular, copied that system from Ford Motor---Fordson Tractor to be precise: "Kanzler became fascinated with the relationship between production and shipment...So exact were his schedules that supplies arrived practically as needed, freight cars bringing in wheels, radiators, castings, etc. were utilised a few hours after their arrival to dispatch completed tractors". authors Allan Nevins and Frank Hill recount after their June 11, 1956 interview with Kanzler. His methods along with Sorensen were applied across Ford's larger plants at Highland Park, and later the Rouge. Toykyo Gas Co. began importing Ford trucks in large quantities (9,000) after the Tokyo earthquake of 1923---previous military government subsidies unable to spur production of cars and trucks. Ford established its first knock-down assembly plant in Japan, at Yokohama in 1925. Of the 11,303 vehicles sold in Japan that year, 2,381 were imports, 8,677 were Ford knock-down assembled trucks, and only 2.2% of the market: 245 cars were indiginous Japanese domestic manufactured vehicles. After Ford-Japan, and GM-Japan's activities were proscribed and effectively shut down and/or usurped in 1936 by restrictive laws, Toyota dissasembled many American products to study their manufacture---including their systems of assembly. "Kan-Ban" was merely a modification of what Ford Motor had already achieved---the only difference being the establishment of supplier plants near the main manufacturing facility---just as is true at 130th & Torrence Avenue today. So the press will taut how American companies have become more "japanese-like" or 'toyota-like', but that is not true. Like Prime Minister Kozuimi singing and admiring American music, just the key might be a little different. Yet Ford Motor can't forget, like Elvis' songs---and Mr. Presely's love for Lincolns, having purchased a '56 Mark II after one of his first big hits---the roads they have taken. 'Hot-Rod-Lincoln' might not have been an Elvis song, but Mr. Kozuimi might in-advertently remind Lincoln and Ford Motor where they have been---like Cadillac is doing today. Who will sing: "Love me tender, love me sweet..." for Lincoln, and Continental today at Ford? Sweeter still if a reporter asks a Ford representative: "Prime Minister Kozuimi loved the Presley Continental Mark II, stating: "It's too bad they don't make them anymore..."; causing the reporter to ask; "will Ford bring back the Continental?" DouglasR (Sources: 'The Japanese Automobile Industry, Michael A. Cusumano, Harvard East Asian Monographs, Harvard University Press, 1985; 'Ford Expansion & Challenge, 1915-1933' Allan Nevins & Frank Earnest Hill, Scribners & Sons, NY 1957; Prime Minister Kozuimi's Office, Japanese Government; The White House, President George W. Bush, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Wash. D.C.; Automotive News; WSJ; 'The Lincoln Motorcar, Sixty Years of Excellence, Thomas E. Bonsall, Bookman Publishing, Baltimore Md. 1981)

Enjoy this fellas!!!!

by jguadiz on Wed Apr 27 12:59:32 PDT 2005

www.need4speedpower.com/albums/album09/Scribner_April_24th.wmv I ordered my silver SRT-8 on Feb.17th. Unfortunately I just missed the ability to wave the $2100 gas guzzler tax. Im anticipating the arrival sometime in June. Im not in any rush since I'll be getting married on June25th. I just found out from my salesman that we can now pick the Silver Steel color AND the rear video DVD system. I've decided to do both. As for the Kicker system w/10"sub?? I'm hoping by June they'll have their mind made up whether they are really doing it. Good luck and patience IS a virtue!!!!! JC

Steve

by rsholland on Mon Dec 02 06:49:01 PST 2002

We stayed at the Scribner Hollow Lodge, at the foot of Hunter Mountain in Hunter NY. It's in the northern part of the Catskills, perhaps an hour from Albany. The food was superb. It was cold (20 degrees) and there was snow on the ground. I got to test my new Yokohama Avid H4s in the snow. For a tire that's not rated as a great snow tire, they did just fine. :) http://www.scribnerhollow.com/ Loosh- Check out the food menu... BTW, the meals were included with our room price. Bob

Tires: Part II

by rsholland on Sat Nov 30 17:09:24 PST 2002

Just got back from the Hunter Mountain ski resort, in the Catskills. We stayed at the Scribner Hollow Lodge; great food! Put roughly 850 miles on the Toaster with the new Yokohama Avid H4s, in four days. They seemed to work fine. The car was packed—I mean PACKED! The cargo area was almost totally blocked. With 4 adults, and gear, I'm sure I was near the Forester's payload limit. The rear sagged just a tad, so I wished we had the (not-for-America) self-levelling rear suspension. :( I had the tire pressure at 29F & 36R, as the owner's manual recommends for full loads. We had snow up there. It was 20 degrees when we arrived, and there was snow covering the ground. It also snowed yesterday, while we were visiting the Howe Caverns just west of Albany. The (so-so snow-rated) Avids did fine. I didn't push them, (to test their limits) as I had family aboard; but they seemed to handle the light snow just fine. The car is a MESS! Road salt up the wazoo! Need to take it to a car wash—soon... BTW, as I was fueling up the Subie, upon leaving Hunter NY for home, some guy pulled up along side of me at the gas pump in a brand new—and clean as a whistle, 6-speed Mini Cooper S, the supercharged model. He cetainly wasn't driving in the snow! My wife and daughter want one! Final trip comment: I sure wished the Forester had a turbo. The car was somewhat taxed going through the mountains. We drove through the PA mountains too. I would have loved to have another 40 or so HP! With all that mountain driving (from MD to NY, via PA), and heavy load, we barely got 21 mpg! Bob