Start with what the Lincoln EL-series is: a 2-door coupe / 2-door Lido coupe / 2-door convertible (car) / convertible / 4-door sedan (car) / sedan with 336.7 cuin Flathead V8, from Lincoln. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Eugene T. "Bob" Gregorie.
How it came about
The Lincoln EL-Series is a full-size luxury car that was marketed and sold by Lincoln from 1949 to 1951. Replacing the H-Series Lincoln, the postwar model line was the first complete redesign of the Lincoln sedan line since 1936 (its predecessor was derived from the prewar Zephyr). In line with its predecessor, the EL-Series Lincoln carried only the Lincoln nameplate, using no model name. The Lincoln was positioned below the Cosmopolitan within the Lincoln model range.
The first Lincoln developed under the combined Lincoln-Mercury Division of Ford Motor Company, the Lincoln shared much of its body with the 1949 Mercury Eight, distinguished primarily by its longer 121-inch wheelbase. For the first time since 1933, a V8 engine was offered in a Lincoln instead of a V12, now sharing its engine with the Ford F-Series "Big Job" trucks. Alongside production from Lincoln Assembly (Dearborn, Michigan), production of the EL-Series Lincoln was sourced from Maywood Assembly (Maywood, California). For 1952, the Lincoln was replaced by a redesign of the Cosmopolitan. with Lincoln reviving the use of divisional nameplates across its model line.
The hardware
The engine is 336.7 cuin Flathead V8. On the scales it comes to 4200 -. Drive goes through a 3-speed manual / 4-speed Hydra-Matic 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 121 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
In the Lincoln line-up the Lincoln EL-series has a clear place: it replaced the Lincoln H-series; it handed the line to the Lincoln Cosmopolitan; the factory was Lincoln Assembly, Dearborn, Michigan. Its Lincoln stablemates include the Lincoln First Call and the Lincoln Funeral Car.