We think of Ford Motor Company today as Ford, Lincoln, the now gone Mercury brand, and a few Euro brands that Ford might have acquired to date. The truth is however, that in the beginning there was only Ford.

On February 4, 1922, Henry Ford closed the deal to purchase the bankrupt Lincoln Motor Company from Henry Leland. The business move was intended to expand Ford Motor Company into the high end luxury car market. Ironically, it had been Leland who had taken Ford’s first failed automotive endeavor, and turned it around into Cadillac, which was then later sold to Billy Durant as part of the formation of General Motors.

Leland revolutionized the auto assembly business by simplifying it. He had a background as a machinist, and had come from the gun industry. In the firearms business, interchangeable parts saved lives on the battlefield. Taking this model of assembly standardization, and ease of repair to the automotive business revolutionized the way cars were built and maintained. Up until this time everything had been custom fit to the car, each one was different. This meant if something broke, it was often expensive, and cumbersome to repair, given the unique nature of each part, and each car.

Lincoln began as an endeavor by Leland to build war time machinery. The company produced V-12 engines for allied aircraft during World War I. Their first car was the 1920 Model L, which sold for $6,000. Post war economy though wreaked havoc with the market for ultra-luxury cars, especially when a new Model T could be had for just $400.

Ford put his son Edsel, who was then only 28 years old, in charge of the new Lincoln division. Under his guidance the company turned a profit within a year of the purchase. The younger Ford would remain at the helm of Lincoln until the 1930s, guiding the company to eventually become Cadillac’s chief competitor.

We miss the Lincoln of the 40s, 50s, and 60s – just like we miss most cars from those decades. What car brand do you think will be the first to successfully bring back the days of the classics and revive the autos of yesteryear – like it has been done for the musclecar genre already?