Lincoln Continental was a model name for a series of automobiles produced by the Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company from 1939 to 1948 and again from 1956 to 1980 and from 1981 to 2002. Despite often sharing underpinnings with less-expensive Fords in more recent years, the Lincoln Continental had usually been a distinctively platformed and styled, highly equipped luxury car in the course of its long history.