The Lincoln Blackwood is a 4-door crew cab from Lincoln, built from 2000 to 2002, in the decade of stability control, dual-clutch gearboxes and the first serious hybrids. Under the bonnet: 5.4L InTech DOHC V8. Patrick Schiavone drew it.
Where it came from
The Lincoln Blackwood is a luxury full-size pickup truck that was marketed by the Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company for the 2002 model year. The first pickup truck marketed by Lincoln, the Blackwood was derived from the Ford F-150 SuperCrew and the Lincoln Navigator. Drawing its name from its simulated black woodgrain cargo box, the Blackwood was offered solely with a black-painted exterior. Although the concept vehicle had a positive public reception, the production Blackwood fell far under sales projections in the United States and Mexico.
After the 2002 model year, the Blackwood was discontinued in the United States, with a short run of 2003 models produced for Mexico. In total, only 3,383 units were produced, making it both the rarest and shortest-produced Lincoln model line. For 2006, Lincoln entered the pickup truck segment for a second time with the Lincoln Mark LT — again based on the Ford F-150. The Mark LT abandoned many of the model-unique features of the Blackwood in favor of providing the functionality of a pickup truck and proved more successful as sales nearly matched the Escalade EXT. The first Lincoln vehicle manufactured exclusively outside of the state of Michigan since 1958, the Blackwood was assembled by Ford at its Kansas City Assembly facility in Claycomo, Missouri, alongside the F-150 from September 2000 to August 2002.
Under the skin
Power comes from 5.4L InTech DOHC V8. It shifts through a 4-speed automatic. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 138.5 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Its family tree is legible: its successor was the Lincoln Mark LT; assembly was at Claycomo, Missouri (Kansas City Assembly), United States. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Hyundai Santa Fe, the BMW X5, the Toyota Yaris — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Lincoln catalogue sit the Lincoln First Call and the Lincoln Funeral Car.