Two Firsts Today For Me - Off Topic

[TonyC]

Lincoln was not the first to employ reverse-hinged hoods, although they did become the most famous. Ford did that with lots of their cars starting in '57; Lincoln's first foray was in '58. Naturally, all those cars were fitted with inside releases. All other cars (yes, to include the high-priced ones) had the outside releases, with the exception of Fords at the close of the '40s (there is a stalled restoration project in the auto-skill center, a '48 I believe, which confirmed this for me).

In the '40s, '50s, and most of the '60s this was not really viewed as the security hazard it actually was. Yes, Dan, it was a big concern; I remember accounts of this happening quite regularly when I was a kid: It wasn't until the late-'60s and early-'70s that on-spot stripping of cars became a crime fad, which is likely why the whole industry abandoned outside releases in favor of inside ones by the end of the '70s. When Lincoln ditched the inside releases starting in 1970, never mind the overhaul to the hood hinging, that was a big step backwards: As if stealing wheel covers wasn't already a bad-enough problem, now thieves and vandals could steal batteries and/or other pieces in the engine bay, or pour sugar down the carburetor just for kicks. If I were inclined to buy an early-'70s model (would have to be a two-door, though, just because of the streamline of the profile), I would have to look into retrofitting a later inside release to replace the archaic and risky outside popper.

As a matter of fact, I can remember when my mother and stepfather gave me a '73 Buick Apollo that belonged to my stepfather's father (for those who don't remember that nameplate, it was basically a Chevy Nova with fancier-looking Buick treatment of the front- and rear-end details). It took me a long while to find how to open the hood; when I finally found the slider lever under the front panel, I was like "WTH...??" I was so used to inside latch releases (my grand's Lincolns, all of them) that it threw me when I learned I had to open this car's hood from the outside. I felt like I was taking a step into the ghetto with that...but, being the mid-'80s, with the Eddie Murphy craze in full swing, I took it in stride with an Axel Foley attitude...that is, until '87, when like an idiot I drove it under a lifted-ass Cutlass of the same period, crushing the whole front panel, along with the A/C condenser and radiator.

---Tony