Detroit Debuts: 1997 Lincoln Navigator
This week marks the Detroit Auto Show, a soiree at which some brands will introduce new rigs while others show off existing wares or make promises for the future. Thirty-ish years ago, the event was a centrepiece of the Big Three’s marketing strategy, with Detroit automakers saving their big reveals for media day - some of which were a lot more over-the-top than others.
Our series of posts has been a bit heavy on Chrysler since that brand was arguably the one to take more chances with this type of stuff at the time. Between the 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee, the 1994 Ram 1500 pickup truck, and the 1996 minivans, there were plenty of bombastic reveals during this era from the crowd in Auburn Hills.
[Images: Ford]
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.
But they weren’t the only ones - even if they were the most notable. Perhaps it was a combination of Chrysler’s size compared to Ford and GM which made them more apt to take chances like these, or maybe it was simply the very people in charge at the time.
Nevertheless, Ford had a good reveal during this time with its 1998 Lincoln Navigator, driving it out on stage through an active waterfall. Members of the press made predictable jokes about the model making a splash at the show. Hardy har har.
In reality, it looked baller - as the model itself quickly became the darling of rich people in no time flat. There’s a great shot of this scene in a Motorweek report from the same year; look it up on YouTube and you’ll find the appropriate moment about two minutes into the clips.
I’d love to include a screengrab of that shot here in this post but, thanks to the bizarre requirements of this publication, I cannot. Go find it and you’ll see what we’re on about. The real waterfall was surrounded by a huge stone wall imitating the face of a cliff; with water cascading down over the Navigator, it did look remarkable.
Ford quickly found itself with a hit on its hands, selling in excess of 40,000 units that first model year. Its 5.4L V8 engine was great for the time (later-in-life problems unknown when new not withstanding).
The Navigator almost instantly found itself amongst the darlings of rap videos, found in front of costly hotels, and on every street where expensive addresses could be found. The across-town Cadillac Escalade ate a lot of its lunch for a few years, proving that style means a lot in this segment, though one can argue recent models are dragging things back into the original order.
