「With This Change Came New Styling」を編集中

<br>Thanks to George Lehmann's financial backing and Robert Peterson's practical know-how, Lincoln was presented with an opportunity to compete with Cadillac and Imperial for the limousine trade in the 1960s with the 1963-1970 Lincoln Limousine. Just 23 years old, he had finished college and was fresh from a stint in the United States Army. He was an heir to his grandfather's estate, which included the famous Fair Stores. He was also steeped in his hobby of racing sports cars. Surely this set of circumstances would send him down one interesting path or another in life. Of all the places fate could have taken Skip Lehmann during that fall, it chose to route him through a Chicago garage. It was there that he met Robert Peterson. Bob Peterson ran a very successful customizing shop. Ten years older than Lehmann, he had gained a well-deserved reputation as a mechanical genius who was able to handle practically anything automotive. He also had a background in racing as a driver and a mechanic.<br><br><br><br>Lehmann happened to stop by Peterson's shop when he learned that a race car he'd once owned, a rare Scarab, had been severely wrecked. Peterson had rebuilt the car in just a few weeks; Skip Lehmann was impressed. At the time, Lehmann rode around in a Cadillac limousine, but yearned for something different. He had already had more than a year to admire the new slab-sided Lincoln Continental. In fact, he liked it so much that he bought his mother, Morella, a [https://transcriu.bnc.cat/mediawiki/index.php/Usuari:HalBloodsworth1 Alpha Surge Male wellness brand]-new 1962 Continental. It was during one of his visits to Peterson's shop that Lehmann asked Peterson if he could make a limousine out of his mother's Lincoln. For more on the first Lehmann-Peterson Limousine and its features, continue on to the next page. Meanwhile, Skip Lehmann and Bob Peterson's friendship grew and they decided to go into business together. Lehmann-Peterson and Company was formed in 1963. (Its shop at 2710 N. Sawyer Ave. in Chicago would be the company's home throughout its lifetime.) With Lehmann's money and salesmanship skills, plus Peterson's superior mechanical ability, they began a quest to win approval from Ford Motor Company to provide Lincoln-based limousines.<br><br><br><br>Long-wheelbase formal sedans and limos had been cataloged from the marque's beginning in 1921 through 1942. Then for 1959 and 1960,  [https://harry.main.jp/mediawiki/index.php/%E5%88%A9%E7%94%A8%E8%80%85:GeorginaWilkin6 Alpha Surge Male wellness brand] professional-car builder Hess and Eisenhardt, of Cincinnati, Ohio, was commissioned to convert limited numbers of those years' production Continentals into formal sedans and divider-window limousines, albeit on the standard 131-inch wheelbase. Luxury-market rivals Cadillac and Imperial had no such lengthy interruptions in their limousine programs, however. As the 1960s began, Cadillac was turning out almost 1,000 Fleetwood Series 75 limos a year while Imperial was selling tiny handfuls of very expensive Italian-built Crown Imperials. To get Ford's attention, Lehmann and Peterson made an unannounced visit to corporate headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. The pair was told to drive around to the rear and wait by a garage door. After the limo pulled up, a crowd of 40 to 50 Ford Motor Company personnel quickly gathered. Soon an agreement was reached that allowed Ford to extensively test the car for the equivalent of 100,000 miles.<br><br><br><br>Ford research showed that any car stretched more than a few inches would suffer greatly from metal fatigue. The Lehmann-Peterson experimental limo was lengthened by a full three feet in the center section, which Ford engineers believed to be a weak point to begin with. Thus, the engineering department gave the car an acid test whenever possible. Years later it was learned that even top executives joined in on the torture tests. At lunchtime, they would jam the car full of people and speed it over various test-track road surfaces, finally launching it off built-in rises, all in an attempt to break it. To read about the first 1963 Lincoln Limousines made by Lehmann and Peterson for Ford, continue to the next page. They were also tested by Ford and driven at least 100,000 miles each. It was these cars that were used in all the early advertising, as Lehmann-Peterson did none of its own. An added stipulation was that the two cars never be sold to the public.<br>