Lincoln Motor Company, or simply Lincoln, is the luxury vehicle division of American automobile manufacturer Ford Motor Company. Marketed among the top luxury vehicle brands in the United States Lincoln is positioned closely against its General Motors counterpart Cadillac. However, beginning with the 2021 model year, they only offer SUV and crossover vehicles.
The Continental Mark II is an ultra-luxury coupé that was sold by the Continental Division of Ford for the 1956 and 1957 model years. The first product line of Continental, the Mark II was developed as the worldwide flagship vehicle of Ford Motor Company. Developed as a successor for the 1939–1948 Lincoln Continental, the Mark II derived its nameplate from European manufacturing practice, denoting a second generation of the model family; Ford would later use this nomenclature for the Mark Series of flagship personal luxury cars.
A concept car is a car made to showcase new styling or new technology. Concept cars are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not be mass-produced. General Motors designer Harley Earl is generally credited with inventing the concept car, and did much to popularize it through its traveling Motorama shows of the 1950s.
Norman Bel Geddes was an American theatrical and industrial designer, described in 2012 by the New York Times as "a brilliant craftsman and draftsman, a master of style, the 20th century’s Leonardo da Vinci." As a young designer, Bel Geddes brought an innovative and energized perspective to the Broadway stage and New York’s Metropolitan Opera. In the 1930s he became one of the first to hold the title of Industrial Designer. His futuristic Streamline designs re-invisioned many of the utilitarian objects of the day from airliners and cruise ships to cocktail shakers and circuses. He also conceived and oversaw construction of the Futurama Exhibition at the 1939 New York World's Fair.
William Leroy Mitchell was an American automobile designer. Mitchell worked briefly as an advertising illustrator and as the official illustrator of the Automobile Racing Club of America before being recruited by Harley Earl to join the Art and Color Section of General Motors in 1935.
Virgil Max "Ex" Exner Sr. was an automobile designer for several American automobile companies, most notably Chrysler and Studebaker.
A fastback is an automotive styling feature, defined by the rear of the car having a single slope from the roof to the tail.
The tailfin era of automobile styling encompassed the 1950s and 1960s, peaking between 1955 and 1961. It was a style that spread worldwide, as car designers picked up styling trends from the US automobile industry, where it was regarded as the "golden age" of American auto design and American exceptionalism.
Harley Jarvis Earl was an American automotive designer and business executive. He was the initial designated head of design at General Motors, later becoming vice president, the first top executive ever appointed in design of a major corporation in American history. He was an industrial designer and a pioneer of transportation design. A coachbuilder by trade, Earl pioneered the use of freeform sketching and hand sculpted clay models as automotive design techniques. He subsequently introduced the "concept car" as both a tool for the design process and a clever marketing device.
Auburn was a brand name of American automobiles produced from 1900 to 1937, most known for the Auburn Speedster models it produced, which were fast, good-looking and expensive. However, after the 1929 Wall Street Crash, and the economic downturn that ensued, Auburn's expensive automobiles, along with its also very expensive sister marques Duesenberg and Cord, saw inevitable sales downturns, and all vehicle business halted in 1937.
Automotive design is the process of developing the appearance of motor vehicles, including automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, buses, coaches, and vans.
Richard Arthur "Dick" Teague was an American industrial designer in the North American automotive industry. He held automotive design positions at General Motors, Packard, and Chrysler before becoming Vice President of Design for American Motors Corporation (AMC), and designed several notable show cars and production vehicles, including AMC's Pacer, Gremlin, and Hornet models, as well as the Jeep Cherokee XJ and either designed or assisted in the designing of later cars for Chrysler such as the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Neon after American Motors' buyout.
Joseph E. Oros Jr. was an automobile stylist for Ford Motor Company over a period of 21 years — known as the Chief Designer of the team at Ford that styled the original Mustang, and for his contributions to the 1955 Ford Thunderbird. Oros was also an artist, sculptor, painter and industrial designer, having designed appliances and other products.
Frank Stephenson is a Moroccan-born American automobile designer who has worked for Ford, BMW, Mini, Ferrari, Maserati, Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, and McLaren.
Edmund E. Anderson was an automotive designer in the North American automotive industry at General Motors and notably as the lead designer for American Motors Corporation (AMC) from 1950 to 1961.
Motorcycle design can be described as activities that define the appearance, function and engineering of motorcycles.
Helene Rother (1908–1999) was the first woman to work as an automotive designer when she joined the interior styling staff of General Motors in Detroit in 1943. She specialized in designs for automotive interiors, as well as furniture, jewelry, fashion accessories, and stained glass windows. In the early 1940s, Rothier was also active as a comic artist.
Alexander Sarantos Tremulis was a Greek-American industrial designer in the North American automotive industry. Tremulis held automotive design positions at Cord Automobile, Duesenberg, General Motors, Tucker Car Corporation and Ford Motor Company before establishing a consulting firm.
Theodore Wells Pietsch II was an American automobile stylist and industrial designer who, with little formal education, managed to launch a career in automobile design that took him over a period of 38 years to nearly every major automobile company in the nation.
Clare M. "Mac" MacKichan was an automotive designer and executive with General Motors (GM). He is best known for designing or overseeing the design of several significant models for the Chevrolet division in the United States and Opel in Germany.
Clay model seen in Zagato design studio (2009)
AMC designers with clay model (1961)
