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Bentley designer calls Lincoln Continental concept a Flying Spur 'copy' [w/poll]

When you first laid eyes on the new Lincoln Continental concept, we'd wager you were likely impressed, because it's an impressive design. But if you also thought it looked familiar, you're in good company. According to Car Design News, design chief Luc Donckerwolke over at Bentley thinks the Lincoln concept bears more than a passing resemblance to another Continental: Bentley's own Flying Spur. "This behavior is not respectable. Building a copy like this is giving a bad name to the car design world," Donckerwolke told CDN, after posting some disparaging comments on Facebook and offering in jest to send over the tooling. "It is very disappointing, especially for an exclusive brand like Lincoln," added Sangyup Lee, his deputy for exterior design. The irony is further entrenched by the name, which Bentley only dropped from its Flying Spur in its latest iteration but still uses for the coupe and convertible models. Both automakers have a deeply routed history with the nameplate, but Lincoln's stretches back further, having first used the handle in 1939 before Bentley did in 1952. However it's not the nameplate that's the subject of controversy here, rather the design of the vehicle to which it's applied. So what do you think, did Lincoln borrow too heavily from its British counterpart? Related Video:

Lincoln Navigator is the people's choice for best of Detroit Auto Show

At a big auto show, you hear a lot of from automotive journalists about the outstanding cars on display — for example, Autoblog's own editors' choices from the Detroit Auto Show. But the Detroit News does something neat instead. It asks the public to vote in its annual Readers' Choice Awards. And coming out on top was the 2018 Lincoln Navigator. The newspaper collars 100 attendees at the North American International Auto Show and asks them to vote. This year, the public's pick as Best of Show coincided with the North American Car of the Year voters, journalists who picked the Navigator as the Truck of the Year. (We at Autoblog were wowed by the Navigator, too, but our editors' choices were limited to vehicles that were revealed at the show — the Navigator has been out long enough, that we've actually driven and reviewed it.) The Navigator on display at the show has the ultra-plush Black Label interior. It's a $95,000 rig. No surprise then that hit was also the public's choice in the category of Best Road-Trip Ride. The public's other choices: Best Dream Machine — Ford GT. Best Family Fun Finder — Chrysler Pacifica. Baddest Off-Road Vehicle — Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. Coolest Technology — BMW i8 Roadster. Most for Your Money — Kia Stinger. (Commenters on our recent Drivers' Notes review said the Stinger was a media darling the public won't buy, but these voters, at least, liked it.) Best Future Concept — Infiniti Q Inspiration. Most Eco-Friendly — Smart Fortwo. Most Amazing Mobility — Toyota Concept i-Walk. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Featured Gallery 2018 Lincoln Navigator: First Drive View 53 Photos Auto News Detroit Auto Show Lincoln SUV Luxury 2018 detroit auto show

The 1965 Ford Mustang could have looked a lot different

The 1965 Ford Mustang is unquestionably an automotive design icon, and nearly every generation of Mustang has some connection to that original car. Because it's such a universally-known vehicle, we were amazed to see all the different designs that were being considered. Head of Ford's archives Ted Ryan recently shared photos of design proposals for the original Mustang on Twitter that he and Jamie Myler found, and we reached out to them to find out more. As Ryan initially noted, the photos were taken on August 19, 1962, and they are proposals for the Ford Mustang. Apparently Ford had committed to doing a Falcon-based youth-oriented car at this point, and it did have plans to launch the car in 1964 for the 1965 model year. But after having little success with early design proposals, the company asked all of its design studios — the Advanced Studio, Lincoln-Mercury Studio and Ford Studio — to submit proposals. With only about two years before the planned launch, Ford was understandably short on time, and it's believed that the studios only had a month to create and present these designs. Lincoln-Mercury design proposal View 8 Photos The majority of the designs, a total of five, came from the Advanced Studio, and part of this was because they already had a couple of concept designs in reserve it could present. Two other models representing three design possibilities came from Lincoln-Mercury, and just one model with two options came from Ford. The Advanced Studio proposals are shown in the gallery at the very top of this article, and the Lincoln-Mercury and Ford proposals are in the gallery directly above this paragraph. The Advanced Studio's most radical design is the one that was clearly related to the Mustang I concept that would be shown later that year with huge wraparound rear glass, turbine-inspired bumpers and enormous side scoops. The other proposals from the studio were more conservative, featuring simple lines, grilles reminiscent of the Falcon, and one even borrowing the jet-thruster-style taillights made famous on the Thunderbird. Lincoln-Mercury had some impressively bold designs, particularly its fastback that had buttresses to extend the shape all the way to the tail. This car had two different side trim possibilities. The other Lincoln-Mercury design was toned down a bit, but had two interesting possibilities for side detailing, as well as some crisp, low-profile tail fins.