Fear not! While the Town Car may be gone, you can still take your last ride in a Lincoln.
As Lincoln seeks to reinvent itself and court a younger audience, it appears the company will maintain its association with people at the end of their lives. The Town Car, the Lincoln that carried so many people to their final resting place, will finally cease production and head to its final resting place in August of 2011, but the MKT will take up its mantle as the preferred Lincoln for hearse conversion. The company trotted out this hearse some time ago as a demo for the funeral business, and photos have existed for a few weeks, but now that spy photographers are involved, we suddenly care! Well, and the fact that this is the first instance of a liveried MKT means that it?s at least marginally significant.
We knew stuff like this was coming, as Lincoln previously told us that the MKT would be filling the Town Car?s livery roles. What we didn?t expect was that any such results would be so unsightly. While the MKT is a bit awkward looking to begin with, stretching it a couple of feet between the wheels, adding about six inches of rear overhang, and then capping the roof with what appears to be a swamp boat that flipped over and crashed makes a strong case for cremation. Also, we find it inconsistent that funeral directors spend so much time and effort beautifying their clients only to transport them in the back of this thing.
Stretching Exercises
Lincoln will offer two versions of the MKT to livery customers, a standard-wheelbase car and a version prepped for stretching. All MKT-based hearses will be of the stretched variety?and Lincoln will only offer one powertrain option to livery customers looking for a stretchable vehicle?so there will only be one engine option for the casket-carrier, Ford?s corporate 3.7-liter V-6 spinning all four wheels.
While stretched vehicles are the domain of individual upfitters, we can?t imagine other MKT hearse conversions looking much different or better than the one seen here. A unibody platform like the MKT?s has a limited number of locations where it can be split in half and stretched. Note that this vehicle?s extra length was added between the B-pillar and the rear wheel, resulting in an elongated rear door, as well as a beefed up C-pillar?whose additional girth isn?t very well-masked by the opera light.
Then again, there aren?t a lot of options if you need a hearse, and all-wheel drive will likely be appreciated by Northern funeral-home operators. Now all we need is an MKT flower car.
Source: Car and Driver
