Start with what the Lincoln Futura is: a 2-door coupé with 368 cuin Y-block OHV V8, built from 1954, at the height of the post-war boom. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to John Najjar and Bill Schmidt.
The background
The Lincoln Futura is a concept car promoted by Ford's Lincoln brand, designed by Ford's lead stylists Bill Schmidt and John Najjar, and hand-built by Ghia in Turin, Italy, at a cost of $250,000 (equivalent to $3,000,000 in 2025). Displayed on the auto show circuit in 1955, the Futura was modified by George Barris into the Batmobile, for the 1966 TV series Batman.
The engineering
The engine is 368 cuin Y-block OHV V8. Drive goes through a 3-speed Turbo Drive 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 126.0 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Where it sits
In the Lincoln line-up the Lincoln Futura has a clear place: the factory was Carrozzeria Ghia, Turin, Italy. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the Chevrolet Corvette. Its Lincoln stablemates include the Lincoln First Call and the Lincoln Funeral Car.
Owning one today
There is no federal ownership record for the Lincoln Futura — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.