Lincoln Blackwood merges a truck, wagon and plush luxury car
Bob Plunkett
Date Posted: 5/10/2005
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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- What happens when you blend a full-size pickup truck with a king-size sport-utility wagon and a four-door luxury sedan?
The resultant hybrid vehicle -- sturdy like the powerful truck but accommodating and spacious like the big wagon and trimmed in soft leathers and glossy hardwoods like the elite sedan fitted with all the equipment of convenience and comfort -- forges a unique classification as the world's only SULT, or Sport-Utility Luxury Truck.
Product developers for the luxurious Lincoln brand from Ford Motor Company call this big truck-wagon-sedan by another name: Blackwood.
Lincoln's Blackwood reaches the American market this month cast in only one color -- black, of course, as the name implies, but with rear panels clad in six black bands of a photo laminate that resembles the grain of exotic African wood as segmented by strips of brushed aluminum.
Blackwood comes with a humongous V8 engine set below the broad front hood and a spacious passenger compartment outfitted with four doors and four contoured bucket seats plus consoles in front and back and every conceivable optional component as standard equipment.
Yet there's more: The rear truck bed is capped by a rigid tonneau cover that opens and closes by power controls to reveal trunk-like space measuring to 26 cubic feet. A carpeted floor, stainless steel side walls and cool-to-touch LED light strips ring the fancy box, as Dutch doors with storage recesses form the tailgate.
You don't want to use the Blackwood as a work truck, because that's not the intent -- and Ford already has the four-door SuperCrew based on a F-150 truck for that purpose.
You also wouldn't want it as a sport-utility wagon for off-road travel with four-wheel traction because that's the role of Lincoln's Navigator, the foundation for Blackwood.
Instead, Blackwood is reserved strictly as a rear-wheel-drive vehicle designed for pavement cruising.
It looks like a big truck yet functions like an oversized limousine built with a higher stance and stronger engine, more plush gear in the cabin and more space in that truckbed trunk.
We pick up a prototype edition of Blackwood near Paso Robles and spend a long afternoon steering it over a variety of California roads.
First, we head east on a wiggly state highway across the rolling Cholame Hills to reach bee-line routes cut through flat fields of the San Joaquin Valley. Then we wind around westward to the 101 freeway at Atascadero for a speedy descent through Cuesto Pass in the Santa Lucia Range to the Pacific Coast at San Luis Obispo.
Covering so many miles, we spend enough time in Blackwood's plush buckets to develop opinions about the way Lincoln's new vehicle operates on the open road.
Despite a hefty curb weight of almost three tons, it's a nimble machine that's surprisingly easy to steer through curves or maneuver in traffic.
It's also quiet powerful when commanded, capable of zipping down the fast lane or leaping around a string of slow trucks on a two-lane highway.
Blackwood's driver and riders will also find the cabin as a quiet space isolated from the outside world and at all times utterly luxurious and comfortable for long-haul treks.
And it scores a rave rating for those cushy front seats. Each bucket, clad in perforated Connolly leather, contains an internal blower that circulates either soothing warm air or refreshing cooling to your backside. A thumb wheel positioned below each seat on the outboard side controls air flow and temperature, from toasty warm to chilly cool.
Driver and passengers perch high in Lincoln's form-fitting seats. With generous expanses of window glass wrapping the cabin, the outward visibility looks good. A functional dash design integrates easy-to-view and easy-to-reach instruments and controls in a system housing twin air bags. The dashboard mounts through a unique cross-truck beam welded to the frame for no-squeak durability.
Blackwood rides on the chassis of Ford's full-size F-150 pickup truck but uses a heavy-duty rear framework. texture of the ride feels refined and remote from a typical truck, thanks to a suspension with short and 1ong arm design up front and acceleration-sensitive shocks in back tied to a hybrid design for leaf and air springs.
The air springs work progressively, producing plush ride sensations in normal driving situations but firmer responses when loaded or turning.
A power mechanism in the steering system relates to vehicular speed so the driver has more assistance for turning the wheel at low speed, such as in a parking lot. At higher speeds like on a highway less power assistance is added so you need only a slight touch on the steering wheel to turn.
For strength, Blackwood flexes its muscles.
A sophisticated dual-cam and four-valve 5.4-liter V8 delivers up to 300 hp at 5000 rpm and exerts massive torque to 355 lb-ft at 2750 rpm. Ninety percent of that torque is available in a broad range between 1750 and 4700 rpm.
Ford's excellent 4R100 four-speed automatic transmission mates to the V8 and shifts unobtrusively.
Blackwood packs a number of safety features, including anti-lock brakes and air bags up front and on the sides.
Standard gear includes Ford's innovative power adjustable drive pedals and a rear-sensing sonar detection system. Pedal movement works with an electric motor to set brake and accelerator pedals closer toward the driver's seat for a custom fit, while the sonar detection system adds audio and visual alarms as warnings in reverse mode when an object is detected in the vehicle's rearward path.
Throughout the cabin, car-like details for comfort and practicality may be found -- from eight cupholders and multiple support handles to handy hooks and storage spaces.
On-board equipment ranges from a deluxe Alpine Audiophile sound system with six-disc CD changer to the leather seats and genuine oak wood trim in a dark stain, a steering wheel in leather and wood with controls for speed and audio or cabin temperature, automatic climate controls for front and back seats, the heating and cooling for front seats plus memory settings on the driver's seat and mirrors and pedals, floor and ceiling consoles, a power moonroof, the rear load leveling suspension and a Class III/IV towing kit with trailer rating to 8700 pounds.
The sole version of Blackwood is so complete that the only option is a GPS satellite navigation system with mapping from CD data using a console-mounted video screen.
Blackwood stickers at $52,500 including delivery fee to a Lincoln dealer. The navigation system adds $1,995.
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| 2002 LINCOLN BLACKWOOD VEHICLE SPECIFICATIONS |
| Description: |
Full-size 4-door luxury truck
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| Model Options: |
Full-size 4-door luxury truck
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| Wheelbase: |
138.5 inches
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| Overall Length: |
220.2 inches Cargo box length.............56.3 inches
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| Engine Size: |
DOHC 5.4-L V8
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| Transmission: |
Auto/4
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| Drive: |
Rear
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| Braking: |
Power 4-disc/ABS/EBD/TCS
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| Airbags: |
2 (front) + 2 (side)
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| Gross Weight: |
6800 pounds |
| Towing Capacity: |
8700 pounds |
| Gas Mileage: |
12/17 mpg |
| MSRP Price: |
$ 52,500 to $ 54,495 |
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