Car Spotlight-Lincoln Blackwood (2002)

Was there ever a time where you would be out driving and you come across a giant pickup truck that's covered in chrome, has leather seats, and has rims that looked like it costed as much as the truck itself?  Chances are the first thing that went through your mind was "I bet that guy never uses that truck to haul things." To a lot of people (including myself) the pickup truck is meant to haul and tow things.  They were meant to get bumps and bruises as the years went on with little to no worry.  Well, the Lincoln Blackwood pretty much changed all that.

By the late 1990s, the SUV boom has gotten to the point where luxurious automakers such as Mercedes-Benz and Cadillac were hopping on the bandwagon.  Ford's Lincoln division entered the SUV market with the Navigator, a fancied up version of the Ford Expedition.  The Navigator was an instant success, becoming very popular with upscale clubbers, limousine companies and especially celebrities and their die-hard fans.

Ford wanted to capitalize on the success of the Navigator so someone on Lincoln's design committee came up with the wise idea of making the Navigator into a pickup truck.  The Blackwood was the end result.

Now just by looking at this post's title pretty much gives you an idea as to how that panned out.    Rather than have me explain WHY the Blackwood was such a flop, let me just list off some of it's features (and lack of):

• The bed was converted into a trunk that was lined with velvet
• You can get it in any color you want, as long as it was black and had extra chrome (a shout out to Henry Ford...I guess)
• there was no 4x4 or choice of multiple engines to choose from.
• the single option that can be had on the Blackwood was a dashboard navigation system, taken from the Navigator!...yeah I didn't think you would get the pun.
• All this could be had for the ridiculous price of $52,000!

So after reading the list above, would YOU buy a Lincoln Blackwood?  Even if you're someone who wouldn't use a pickup truck for what it was built for?  Well, unless you're one of the roughly 3,000 people who DID buy one before it was cancelled after just one year on the market...NO!

So while the Blackwood was a flop, it still set the trend for useless ultra-luxury pickups that have become such a common-sight today.  Believe it or not there is one Lincoln Blackwood in my hometown that's owned by a lady that looks like Roseanne Barr.  It's ALWAYS in the same parking spot outside the local Quiznos.