2003 Lincoln Town Car; Your airport limo just got better.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, seemed an appropriate stopping-off point for the initial drive of the 2003 Lincoln Town Car.

While we don't really know what kind of car the 40th president preferred, the fact that he was the oldest man ever elected president would put him into the Town Car buyer demographics (average age: 70). The reaction of a geriatric docent at the library to the arrival of the new Town Car (``The new Town Car is here!'') left little doubt that this car hits its target.

While the previous-generation car had few redeeming enthusiast qualities, it remains the choice vehicle for limousine services across the country and is a big hit in rental fleets, too. Throw in those blue-hairs, and it adds up to trunk loads of cash for Ford-the company, not the president.

But even Ronald Reagan knew you could only ride a horse for so long. The Town Car-in Lincoln's line since 1981, the third-generation released in 1998-was getting old. Lincoln product development director Al Kammerer and engineering director Mike Renucci were charged with making the car better without alienating the core customer. See, one of the things that happens around the time you qualify for discounted dinners at your favorite eatery is that you get set in your ways; you like your car and you don't want anybody changing it.

At the time of the Town Car's redesign, Richard Parry-Jones, Ford's global chief of product development and chief technical officer, instituted a ``driving dynamics DNA'' program to better the handling characteristics of all Lincolns. The Town Car would ride and handle differently from previous generations. The worst of that sloppy steering, baby-buggy suspension and weak brakes was improved in the '98 redo, particularly in the low-volume Signature Touring Edition. But that redesign didn't go far enough for Parry-Jones. All Lincolns would ...