Ford Motor Company. Lincoln Division

Dates:

Active 1921

Active 1945

Biographical notes:

Henry M. Leland was a noted engineer and tool designer when he began working at the Henry Ford Company, Henry Ford's second automobile manufacturing company. After Henry Ford's departure in 1902, Leland helped to reorganize the renamed Cadillac Motor Company and establish quality control and production standards for the luxury auto maker. Leland left Cadillac in August 1917 and with his son Wilfred established the Lincoln Motor Company to produce Liberty airplane engines for the United States Army during World War I. After the war, the Lelands manufactured a new luxury automobile but were stymied when over-capitalization, high labor costs, and a short but severe post-war recession hampered large-scale production. The company's board of directors requested and received approval for a court-appointed receiver to liquidate the assets of the company. Negotiations with Henry and Edsel Ford led to an agreement wherein Henry Ford, through Ford Motor Company, agreed to pay $8 million for the assets of Lincoln Motor Company in February 1922, and install the Lelands as operating heads of the organization. The situation quickly became untenable, the Lelands were removed from the company, and the Lincoln Motor Company became an operating division of Ford Motor Company.

From the description of Lincoln Division (Ford Motor Company) production records subgroup, 1921-1945. (The Henry Ford). WorldCat record id: 85892354