The company was founded in August 1917 by Henry M. Leland, one of the founders of Cadillac (originally the Henry Ford Company). He left the Cadillac division of General Motors during World War I and formed the Lincoln Motor Company to build Liberty aircraft engines with his son Wilfred. After the war, the company's factories were retooled to manufacture luxury automobiles.

Lincoln Zephyr

The sportier Zephyr gave Gregorie his chance. Introduced for the 1936 model year, it featured a 267in³ (4.4 liter) V12, and was so successful it almost became a brand name, rather than just a model. Its first year increased Lincoln sales almost ninefold.Gregorie simply sectioned a 1938 Zephyr Coupé 10 cm (4"), allowing most of the existing dies and tooling to be retained, adding the hallmark vertically-mounted spare tire.

The result became the Continental, eventually the most important car made by Lincoln; by the time it ended production in 1948, 5322 were built, almost entirely by hand. The Zephyr, on which it was based, stopped production in early 1942 when Ford converted to war work, and was not revived.The Continental's spare tire mount was so distinctive, those who work on custom cars still call adding a similar mount a "Continental kit".

Continental Mark II

The Continental Mark II revived the concept. It was produced by the short-lived Continental division from April 1955 to July 1957 before it was turned over to the Lincoln marque. The Mark II had a basic list price of $10,000, the same as a Rolls-Royce that year. The Continental division merged with Lincoln in 1958.

Town Car

The Continental became Lincoln's flagship model until 1981 when the Town Car, previously the Continental's top trim level, became its own model and took over that role.

In 1998 Lincoln was the best-selling luxury brand in the United States, helped by the massive success of the Navigator SUV, and a redesign of the Town Car as well as the Continental.
Renaissance as global brand
Lincoln was one of the Premier Automotive Group brands from 1998 to 2002, but was pulled out due to Ford's new marketing strategy of separating its import brands from its domestic marques. In recent years the company had fallen behind Japanese, European, and American competitors for a lack of new models. The company has reacted to remedy this, however, by sharing parts and platforms with other Ford divisions worldwide in an attempt to bring more new models to market faster. The result is the introduction of several new models, starting with the 2006 Mark LT pickup (later replaced by the Platinum trim version of the Ford F-150), Zephyr (upgraded and renamed Lincoln MKZ for the 2007 model year) and the MKX Crossover SUV. Subsequent model launches were the MKS sedan in 2009 and the MKT "Touring" crossover for the 2010 model year.
These recent and rapid changes in model line up have only served to confused brand identity further. For example, the product positioning of the MKZ, LS, MKX, Zephyr, Aviator, and Navigator is not obvious.
Lincoln vehicles are currently officially available in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, South Korea, and the Middle East.

Presidential cars

Lincoln MKT (2010-)
Lincoln MKS (2009-)
Lincoln MKX (2007— )
Lincoln MKZ (2007— )
Lincoln Navigator (1998— )
Lincoln Town Car (1981— )
Concept cars
Lincoln Continental 1950-X (1952)
Lincoln Anniversary (1953)
Lincoln Maharaja (1953)
Lincoln XL-500 (1953)
Lincoln Mardi Gras (1954)
Lincoln Premiere (1955)
Lincoln Futura (1955)
Lincoln Indianapolis(1955)
Lincoln Continental Town Sedan (1965, 1969)
Lincoln Coronation Coupe (1966)
Lincoln Coronation II (1967)
Lincoln Mark III Dual Cowl Phaeton (1970)
Lincoln Continental Concept 90 (1982)
Lincoln Continental Concept (1983)
Lincoln Quicksilver (1985-1986)
Lincoln Continental Next Generation

Mark (1986-1987)
Lincoln Vignale (1987)
Lincoln Machete (1988)
Lincoln Marque X (1992)
Lincoln L2K (1995)
Lincoln Sentinel (1996)
Lincoln Special LS (1999)
Lincoln Mark 9 (2001)
Lincoln Continental Concept (2002)
Lincoln Navicross (2003)
Lincoln Aviator concept (2004)
Lincoln Mark LT concept (2004)
Lincoln MK9 concept (2004)
Lincoln Mark X concept (2004)
Lincoln MKS concept (2006)
Lincoln MKR concept (2007)
Lincoln MKT concept (2008)
Lincoln C concept (2009)