Ford Motor Co.’s efforts to be taken seriously as a luxury-car maker get their biggest test with this year’s revival of the Lincoln Continental, a broad-shoulder boulevard cruiser that draws on the brand’s Rat Pack hip days of a half-century ago.
After the car wowed crowds last year as a concept in New York -- and drew accusations of plagiarism from a Bentley designer -- Ford on Tuesday at the Detroit auto show unveils the real-world version of the Continental that reaches showrooms in fall 2016. The exterior remains mostly intact from the show car, even if the highflying interior was tamed by removing the Champagne chiller and deep-pile shearling wool carpeting.