1979 Lincoln Continental Town Car on 2040-cars

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Here are a few of our automotive guilty pleasures

It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway. The world is full of cars, and just about as many of them are bad as are good. It's pretty easy to pick which fall into each category after giving them a thorough walkaround and, more important, driving them. But every once in a while, an automobile straddles the line somehow between good and bad — it may be hideously overpriced and therefore a marketplace failure, it may be stupid quick in a straight line but handles like a drunken noodle, or it may have an interior that looks like it was made of a mess of injection-molded Legos. Heck, maybe all three. Yet there's something special about some bad cars that actually makes them likable. The idea for this list came to me while I was browsing classified ads for cars within a few hundred miles of my house. I ran across a few oddballs and shared them with the rest of the team in our online chat room. It turns out several of us have a few automotive guilty pleasures that we're willing to admit to. We'll call a few of 'em out here. Feel free to share some of your own in the comments below. Dodge Neon SRT4 and Caliber SRT4: The Neon was a passably good and plucky little city car when it debuted for the 1995 model year. The Caliber, which replaced the aging Neon and sought to replace its friendly marketing campaign with something more sinister, was panned from the very outset for its cheap interior furnishings, but at least offered some decent utility with its hatchback shape. What the two little front-wheel-drive Dodge models have in common are their rip-roarin' SRT variants, each powered by turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder engines. Known for their propensity to light up their front tires under hard acceleration, the duo were legitimately quick and fun to drive with a fantastic turbo whoosh that called to mind the early days of turbo technology. — Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski  Chevrolet HHR SS: Chevy's HHR SS came out early in my automotive journalism career, and I have fond memories of the press launch (and having dinner with Bob Lutz) that included plenty of tire-smoking hard launches and demonstrations of the manual transmission's no-lift shift feature. The 260-horsepower turbocharged four-cylinder was and still is a spunky little engine that makes the retro-inspired HHR a fun little hot rod that works quite well as a fun little daily driver.

Matthew McConaughey Lincoln pitches drive on with new MKZ ads

You didn't think a few spoofs were going to break up Lincoln and pitch-man Matthew McConaughey, did you? With more than three million extra free views of Lincoln products on YouTube because of the send-ups – and no one is making fun of the car, remember – the brand rightly concludes, "We couldn't ask for better." That's why the pair are back, this time working on behalf of the MKZ and MKZ Hybrid. The two commercials "Balance" and "Diner" are new, but the formula is the same - cinematic, contemplative, channeling more than a bit of True Detective. They'll hit broadcast channels during college bowl games on New Year's Day. You can watch "Balance" above and "Diner" below, and the press release further down has more details. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Matthew McConaughey Gets Behind Wheel of 2015 Lincoln MKZ in New Ads Airing Jan. 1 - The Lincoln Motor Company teams up again with Academy Award™ winner Matthew McConaughey to create Lincoln MKZ and Lincoln MKZ Hybrid ad campaign that will begin airing during high-profile New Year's Day college football bowl games - Two new TV and online ads will promote Lincoln MKZ and Lincoln MKZ Hybrid midsize sedans, which have given a new direction to the brand with their introduction two years ago - Lincoln's previous collaboration with McConaughey, the "Live in Your Moment" campaign, fueled early sales success of 2015 Lincoln MKC small premium utility DEARBORN, Mich., Dec. 29, 2014 – In the bright spotlight of New Year's Day college football bowl games, The Lincoln Motor Company will launch its newest ad campaign promoting the 2015 Lincoln MKZ and Lincoln MKZ Hybrid and featuring Matthew McConaughey. Filmed in a style and tone consistent with last summer's much-talked-about "Live in Your Moment" ads for the first-ever Lincoln MKC, the new campaign brings the attention back to the premium midsize sedan that has been Lincoln's best-selling vehicle since arriving in showrooms two years ago. "The overwhelming response to the MKC campaign sparked truly great awareness for Lincoln," said Andrew Frick, Group Marketing Manager Lincoln. "Matthew's natural storytelling ability perfectly complements the Lincoln story as we continue to raise awareness and drive conversation in creative and unexpected ways.

Lincoln May Rebadge Its MKZ As Zephyr | Autoblog Minute

Ford Motor Company applied this month to get the rights to the trademark for the word Zephyr. We think the MKZ might be rebadge as the Lincoln Zephyr.