2021 Lincoln Aviator Reserve on 2040-cars

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Five cursed and haunted cars

Any kid lucky enough to grow up in Detroit is familiar with the Henry Ford Museum. It's huge, full of shiny things and a great place to take a child and let them burn off some energy. After several field trips and weekend outings however, the dusty concept vehicles and famous aircraft tend to lose their punch for youngsters. As a fifth grader, I was already gazing on the museum's many gems with glassy eyes. On yet another school trip, we made our way to John F. Kennedy's death car, a gleaming black Lincoln limo. The aging volunteer docent told our little group something I had never heard before. "You know, this car is haunted. Several employees have reported seeing a gray presence right here," he said, pointing to the back passenger side seat. I perked up. Now here was something I had never heard before. A haunted car? Sure, it happened in Goosebumps, but this was real life. It made sense, in a way. Cars can be violent, emotional places. That's certainly the case with JFK's limo, as well as the other four cars on this list. And maybe those gut-wrenching deaths can permanently doom a car. 5. Archduke Franz Ferdinand's Graf & Stift Death Limo World War I tends to be a forgotten war, despite being pretty terrible in its own right and setting the stage for the entire 20th Century. The French forces, for instance, lost more lives in the first month of WWI than the US did in the entire Civil War. Everyone who has been through a freshman world history course knows the conflict started when Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were shot by a Bosnian anarchist. The crazy thing is, Ferdinand had already avoided an attempt on his life that day, and was actually on his way to the hospital to comfort those who had been injured in the crossfire. One of the would-be assassins simply walked out of a cafe and saw his intended target sitting in front of him where the open-air limo had stalled. The archduke and his wife were shot through their heads and throats. Their deaths would not be the last caused by the limo. Throughout the war and into the 1920s, the limo was owned by fifteen different people and involved in six accidents and thirteen deaths, not counting the 17 million or so killed in the war triggered by the Archduke's assassination. The first person to own the car after the Archduke was an Austrian general named Potiorek, who went insane while riding in the car through Vienna.

Submit Your Questions for Autoblog Podcast #403

We're set to record Autoblog Podcast #403 this evening. Check out the topics below or drop us your questions and comments via the Q&A module. And don't forget to subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes if you haven't already done so. To take it all in live, tune in to our UStream (audio only) channel at 10:00 PM Eastern tonight.
Discussion Topics For Autoblog Podcast Episode #403
Ford investing $5B in Lincoln

2020 Lincoln Corsair will be revealed at the New York Auto Show

It's official, the 2020 Lincoln Corsair will be revealed at the New York Auto Show this April. To go along with the announcement is a teaser video that, well, doesn't reveal much of anything except the crossover's name prominently displayed on the front fender. But we know a fair bit about the crossover from spy shots and prior announcements. The Corsair is the successor to the MKC, Lincoln's smallest crossover, which is also based on the Ford Escape. We expect that it will continue to be based on the Escape, albeit the completely redesigned one that hasn't yet been revealed. That also means powertrains will probably be shared, but the Lincoln might get one or two model-specific powertrains like with the Lincoln Aviator. Reportedly, the new Corsair will feature turbocharged 2.0-liter and 2.3-liter four-cylinder engines along with a plug-in hybrid. Spy shots have revealed that the Corsair will have styling closely related to that of the larger Aviator. That means a floating roof, more broad-shouldered nose, and large amounts of glass. The inside is also inspired by the Aviator and Navigator and features piano-key shift buttons, a low, wide dash and a healthy amount of chrome. 2020 Lincoln Corsair spied View 16 Photos