05/08/2006
By Mike Blake
Carlisle Events

Major auto manufacturers love to link to the past. Often, they accomplish that by using retro styling, but just as often lately, they try to rekindle the days of yesteryear by bringing back a badge or nameplate that has been on hiatus. Lincoln has joined that group by bringing back the Zephyr.

In 1936, Lincoln created a car that was named and designed to invoke the passion and popularity of the exciting, new, streamlined and diesel-powered Burlington Express train. This was a train that set all kinds of speed records and was a harbinger that the days of the steam engine were over.

In 1936, the twin-grilled Zephyr had a long, high nose, which was created by Ford’s Bob Gregoire. The rest of the vehicle was designed by Briggs Body Corporation’s John Tjaarda. The Zeph was powered by a 110-hp. V-12. Enough to propel the 3800-lb. car with reasonable, but not exceptional speed for its era.

Priced at $1400, about 1500 Zephyrs were manufactured in 1936, and sales garnered about 80 percent of all Lincolns sold. Production ended in 1942, when Lincoln (Ford) had to retool for the war effort – and to allow for a new Mercury line based on more inexpensive Ford running gear and chassis.

After 64 years on hiatus, Lincoln has brought the Zephyr badge back, but it looks nothing like its namesake. Gone is the heavy iron – this one is 400 pounds lighter. Gone is the V-12; the new version is powered by a V-6. And gone is that awesome full-nose double grille; today’s Zephyr has contemporary lines and the Lincoln’s newest incarnation of the waterfall grille. Also gone is the ’36 Zephyr’s $1400 price tag, as my test model stickered for an entry-luxury price of $33,145.

Looking much like its platform-sharing relatives, the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan, the Zephyr is upscale inside and out, though based on the Mazda6 platform. Introducing Lincoln luxury and a classic name to a new generation of carbuyers, the mid-size, five-passenger Zephyr stands on its own as a distinctive vehicle with power, safety, comfort, interior elegance and handling for a fair-market price.

Under the hood is a 3.0-liter Duractec 30 V-6 engine that gallops out 221 horses and 205 lbs./ft of torque. Linked to a six-speed automatic transmission, the system is EPA rated at 20mpg/city and 28mpg/hwy, a value that will get you about 400 miles of travel per tank. My 3410-lb. test vehicle, bathed in Black clearcoat, took to the highways at 29mpg, and even driving to the New York Auto Show, and getting stuck in standstill New York traffic – an experience which gets you zero miles per gallon in any car – I still averaged better than 23.5 total mpg during a weeklong examination.

The Zephyr driving experience was a fun and luxurious one. I was able to power up from zero to 60mph in a hair under 8 seconds, and blazed down a quarter-mile in just a spec over 16 seconds – reaching 90mph. I found that the torque curve is broad and the car was willing in all ranges.

The Zeph’s fully independent suspension and firm platform smoothed out highway ruts, and steering and traction control took charge of the “esses” and slalom situations with sports car aplomb.

While the exterior architecture is subtle but forceful, the interior is all Lincoln refinement. High-quality pebbled leather, chrome-ringed, backlit instrumentation, analog clock and Sand-accented color scheme with real, blond-maple wood inserts, make this a cabin of luxury. The quiet ride is a thing of beauty, and electronically, the Zephyr is ahead of the crowd with the industry's first THX II-Certified® audio system, 14 speakers including two sub-woofers with 600 watts of power, and a sophisticated processor that inputs bandwidth, peak audio levels and coverage uniformity. A solid DVD-based navigation mated to a 6.5-inch-wide screen and text-to-speech technology, makes for a very user-friendly cockpit.

The interior is comfortably finished off with heated, 10-way-power front seats with lumbar support, a spacious three feet of rear legroom, dual-zone climate control, and in-dash 6-disc CD player.

Safety is attended to with Zephyr's Personal Safety System that includes driver and front passenger air bags and seat-deployed side air bags for thorax protection. The dual-stage front air bags are equipped with a crash severity sensor, driver seat-position sensor and front-passenger weight sensor. A full-length safety curtain provides head-protection coverage over the length of the window glass area – from A-pillar to C-pillar. Load-limiting seat belts with pretensioners and height-adjustable shoulder belts for front seating positions have been installed along with three-point safety belts for all seating positions. Four-wheel disc brakes with a 4-sensor, 3-channel anti-lock braking system, electronic brake force distribution and traction assist are standard.

Built at Ford Motor Company's Hermosillo Assembly Plant in Mexico, this is one sweet ride. Car historians and Zephyrphiles will be proud of the new use of the old badge … even without the high-nose of the ‘30s.


Visit www.carsatcarlisle.com for more on the automotive hobby.

MIKE BLAKE, former editor of KIT CAR magazine, joined Carlisle Events as senior automotive journalist in 2004. He's been a "car guy" since the 1960s and has been writing professionally for about 30 years

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