Ford’s luxury brand Lincoln published a teaser image that suggests it is planning to bring back a design feature that marked one of its biggest models in the 1960s.
Ford actually gave its Thunderbird suicide doors in that same era as well, but it was the Lincoln Continental that made the unusual design feature famous. The iconic large sedan quickly earned a place among the classic models of automotive history.
That didn’t prevent suicide doors from going the way of the dodo. It has appeared briefly on a few models in recent years, but mostly on models with back doors that were much smaller than the front ones, for example the Mazda RX-8, Toyota FJ-Cruiser or BMW i3.
Lincoln remains coy about its precise plans (rumours about suicide doors have surfaced before, as recently as this past spring), but the company did post the following message on Facebook: "Center-opening doors elevated the Lincoln Continental of the mid 1960's to the pinnacle of mid-century style, a car driven by the likes of Pablo Picasso. TBT... or is it?"
That last abbreviation stands for Throw Back Tuesday, which calls on people to post images harkening back to their past on that day of the week. And the addendum that follows it is clearly meant to stir up debate and speculation.
And which Lincoln produce would integrate this design feature? The Continental is still around and would be logical candidate, but rumours are that it’s set to be discontinued after 2020.
Unless… unless, the suicide doors are a way to give it a last chance at life. Which would be ironic of course, but it would be greeted with interest, at least.
