"A principle goal of Lincoln's emerging design philosophy is to broaden the brand's customer base and appeal to new customers with highly aspirational products that are unique, distinctive and unmistakably American. The Blackwood design proves that Lincoln can stretch, and the 'buzz' it has created around the brand will help lay the groundwork for our future concepts and production vehicles."
" Gerry McGovern, Lincoln Mercury Design Director

DISTINCTIVE DESIGN: The Lincoln Blackwood blurs the line between a luxury car, an SUV, and a pickup truck.

• The production Lincoln Blackwood remains true to the visual promise of the concept vehicle that debuted in 1999.
• Blackwood's most striking design feature is its 4-foot, 8-inch cargo trunk, which recalls the craftsmanship of classic wooden motorboats.
• The interior of the trunk is visually arresting with its stainless-steel trim and LED accent lighting.
• Blackwood's industry-first power tonneau cover and side-hinged Dutch doors enhance the trunk's appearance and functionality.
• A gloss-black finish, signature Lincoln grille and low-profile 18-inch wheels and tires contribute to the vehicle's dramatic stance.
• Blackwood's luxurious passenger cabin provides a visual link to the exterior cabin through its monochromatic black interior trimmed in Connolly leather and dark-stained crystal oak wood.

Design Brief: Luxury without Rules
"The Lincoln Blackwood concept quite literally began life as an exercise in 'what if,' with designers encouraged to blur the distinctions between a luxury car, a sport-utility vehicle and a pickup truck," said Design Manager Ehab Kaoud. "We wanted to make the strongest possible visual impact, so we looked to distinctive icons of luxury for direction and seized upon classic wooden motorboats and finely crafted jewelry boxes as the inspirations for our trunk design."

CRAFTED LOOK: Blackwood features a faithful interpretation of African Wenge wood behind a durable, weather-resistant, low-maintance finish.

Deeply striated, African Wenge wood - often referred to simply as blackwood - was selected for the exterior because of its exotic appearance. "When quartersawn, Wenge wood shows fine, pencil-thin tan lines interspersed with blackish-brown stripes, which blend very well with the exterior's gloss-black paint," Kaoud says. "The dark, straight grain of the horizontal wood planks offset by the satin strips gives us a look that is customized and crafted."

While the Blackwood concept wore real varnished wood planks on its flanks, that appearance has been faithfully interpreted for production with a photographic process that creates a durable, weather-resistant, low-maintenance laminate finish. Actual Wenge panels are photographed to give an accurate image of the wood's distinctive graining.

Blackwood's gloss-black finish, its signature Lincoln grille, the geometric pattern of the 18-inch wheels and low-profile tires help contribute to the vehicle's dramatic stance.

The Blackwood's wheel-to-body relationship is enhanced by the smooth sill and rocker panel area. Blackwood's low step-in height of 19.5 inches (500 millimeters) allowed the designers to forgo running boards.

On the driver's side exterior of the trunk, Blackwood's chrome fuel-filler door pays homage to the designs of racing cars, but it is executed with simplicity. To maintain the sleek, simple look, the radio antenna is hidden away - built into the backlight.

The inside of the trunk has as much visual impact as the exterior. The trunk's interior walls are clad in durable stainless steel, with rub strips to ward off dents and scratches.
Cool-to-the-touch LED light strips on either side provide an accent along the junction between the sides and cargo floor. The load floor is carpeted, to minimize the transmission of road noise and to provide a high-friction surface for luggage.

The Blackwood Trunk: Strong and Functional
If the trunk's appearance is the product of the designer's art, its construction, safety features and utility reveal the hands of engineers.

The trunk body sides are made from a five-layer sandwich of materials mounted to a square-channel steel space frame. The outer layer consists of wood photo laminate film bonded to plastic panels. These panels are protected against the elements by a durable, clear-coat finish. The outer panels are bonded to reaction-injection molded (RIM) plastic body side panels, which are mounted to the space frame. The .032-inch stainless-steel interior trim panels are attached to a waterproof plastic tub liner.

Accelerated weathering tests have proven that the wood appearance can stand up to years of severe sun, water and salt without fading. The panels are highly dent resistant, but if one is damaged in an accident, it can be replaced easily as a single unit.

Because the trunk's space frame is exceptionally stiff - two-and-a-half times stiffer than a conventional pickup box - it is cantilever-mounted to the chassis so that it "floats" over the Blackwood's frame. This minimizes the transmission of road shocks to the trunk and its contents.

A pair of U-channel, structural steel members are welded longitudinally to the space frame's lower rails and serve as a torsion beam. The cantilever design allows the trunk to maintain its dimensional stability when the vehicle chassis flexes in response to road and load forces. Stainless-steel bins with pop-up latches are built into either side of the trunk, just aft of the wheel housings. Each bin provides .12 cubic feet of protected storage for organizing items. Bins in each Dutch door provide an additional .14 cubic feet of storage.

The interior cargo floor between the door openings is 49 inches wide. The trunk interior is 15.9 inches deep and 56.3 inches long. Four recessed chromed steel D-ring tie-downs - reminiscent of marine-grade hardware - provide robust anchor points for organizing cargo. Each anchor is strength-rated at 2,225 Newtons (more than 500 pounds of force).

The industry-first motorized tonneau cover - which can be operated via a set of buttons on the overhead console, the keypad on the driver's door or by remote control - was the focus of intensive engineering work - particularly in the realm of safety.

STORAGE BINS: To help keep smaller items safe and organized, convenient storage compartments, have been built into Blackwood's truck. The dual swing-out rear-truck composite doors offer more room with handy storage bins.

TONNEAU CONVER: Blackwood's industry-first power-operated hard tonneau cover can be operated from the key fab, driver's door keypad, or the overhead console. When closed, the tonneau cover latches securely over Blackwood's 26.5 cubic foot truck.

The tonneau's motorized electric hinge mechanism provides smooth, nearly silent operation and can fully open or close the cover in 8-10 seconds. The tonneau, which lifts to a height of 6 feet, 8 inches, works with a hidden liner to make the trunk weather tight. Latches at the rear corners lock the tonneau securely into the frame when the cover is closed.

If the cover meets resistance while lowering, the motor reverses and raises the lid in order to prevent injury to anyone who might be leaning into the cargo area. In addition, a continuous, pressure-sensitive pinch strip around the underside of the tonneau cover reverses the motor if it detects an obstruction between the lid and the trunk sides. The tonneau cover can be closed manually as well, simply by pushing it down until the latches click into place.

A glow-in-the-dark manual "escape handle" is provided in the right rear corner of the trunk interior in case of entrapment. A key-operated, manual lock release, intended mainly for dealer service use, is behind the right fender well, accessible from beneath the vehicle. Release handles for the rear Dutch doors are fitted inside the trunk, for a clean, flush exterior appearance.

Interior

Blackwood's kinship to the Lincoln Navigator is established by it's waterfall grille and chrome accents. To enhance the clean, uncluttered appearance, the radio antenna was integrated into the rear glass. Both the fuel-filler door and bright aluminum wheels were refined as the design evolved into a concept vehicle -and eventually into production.

Blackwood's passenger cabin provides a visual link to the exterior cabin through its monochromatic black interior, which is trimmed in Connolly leather and dark-stained crystal oak wood. Blackwood's interior also is designed with consumers in mind. It offers generous room in and around its four captain's chairs.

The Blackwood's truck's interior melds apperance and functionality by offering a sophisticated surface texture - stainless steel - with clever storage solutions such as the stainless bins on both sides, and additional storage bins in the rear doors. Carpeted flooring, which was not on the original concept, and tie-down rings further enhanced functionality, and rub strips were added to the stainless-steel sides for durability.

Interior storage includes bins hidden behind the rear seats and large consoles with padded leather-covered armrests between each pair of seats. The front seat-back map pockets close with a magnetic clasp like those used on fine leather handbags.

The interior also offers a host of comfort and convenience features, including a memory function to allow three users to record driver seat positions, and adjustable pedal and side mirror settings. Electronic conveniences include an available GPS-based navigation system, a 140-watt audiophile-quality Alpine audio system with AM/FM Stereo, cassette player and a six-disc CD changer, and the Homelink™ system, which can learn to operate garage door openers and home security systems.

Safety and Security
Blackwood comes standard with a comprehensive package of safety and security features, including dual-front and side air bags. Air bags contained in the outer seat bolsters deploy in the event of certain side impacts, to offer head-and-torso protection to front-seat occupants. Safety engineers calibrated Blackwood's air bag computer to factor in the vehicle's specific characteristics - such as the absence of running boards. Side-impact sensors are located beneath the driver and passenger seats.

The safety belt system is height-adjustable in all four seating positions, to tailor the shoulder belt fit to occupant size for comfort. Blackwood's front safety belts are equipped with load-limiting retractors, which slowly release a small amount of safety belt material in a severe crash to reduce forces on the occupant's chest. In the instant before crash forces reach the cabin, pretensioner devices tighten the front lap and shoulder belts to position the occupants in relation to the other safety systems.

Blackwood's BeltMinder™ system provides a gentle reminder to the driver to use the safety belt. Tethers are provided in the two rear seating positions for secure mounting of child safety seats.

Blackwood is constructed with engineered crush zones in the front frame and structural upper load beams, or "shotguns," above the wheel wells, which absorb 70 percent of frontal-impact energy and keep it from reaching the passenger compartment. The robust body-on-frame construction and side-door intrusion beams offer further protection. Blackwood passes Ford Motor Company's stringent internal crash standards, which in many cases exceed federal requirements. For example, Blackwood maintains fuel system integrity in a 50-mph, vehicle-to-vehicle side crash. In a severe impact, the fuel pump automatically shuts off as a further safety measure.

Designer's of the new Lincoln Blackwood lavished a lot of attention on the exterior apperance of the dramatic rear cargo trunk. The dark Wenge wood strips reinforce the vehicle's strong horizontal lines while adding distinction and elegance. Dutch doors provide both appearance and functionality benefits by allowing convenient loading. The motorized tonneau cover - an industry first - nests into the rear doors for a clean, integrated appearance.

LED repeater turn signals mounted at the outer edge of the power-adjustable side mirrors provide enhanced visibility to other drivers during turns and lane changes. This may help to head off potential accidents. In cold weather, heating elements in the side mirrors begin clearing frost as soon as the rear window defroster is activated.

To deter would-be thieves, Blackwood is equipped with Ford Motor Company's SecuriLock™ passive anti-theft system (PATS), in which a microchip embedded in the vehicle's key must communicate with the ignition system, or the vehicle will not start. This prevents unauthorized duplicate keys.

A valet key system allows a parking attendant to move the vehicle, but will not allow access to the rear cargo area. The tonneau cover actuation buttons mounted on the overhead console can be deactivated in such cases.

Key fob buttons allow separate control of the tonneau cover, the driver's door or all doors at once. The key fob also offers a panic button to sound the vehicle alarm.

A door-mounted keypad allows the driver to access most functions, including the tonneau cover, without the fob. The tonneau cover can be released manually, if necessary, using a key-operated handle under the passenger-side rear wheel well. An emergency release is provided inside the trunk to prevent entrapment.

Blackwood's parking brake automatically releases when the vehicle is shifted out of park or neutral into drive or reverse - a handy feature on a boat ramp.

Extensive interior lighting, including map/reading lights for every seating position, provides even illumination throughout the cabin when the doors are unlocked. A battery saver feature automatically turns off interior and cargo lamps approximately 30 minutes after the doors are closed, with the ignition key off, to assure that there is always power for a restart.

Headlamps also feature an auto-shutoff mode, which keeps the lights on for a short time after parking, for convenience and security, then shuts them off to preserve battery life.

To further enhance the driver's feeling of security, Blackwood comes standard with a reverse sensing system that warns of objects within a range of less than 6 feet (1.8 meters) from the rear bumper. As the vehicle moves in reverse, a tone increases in frequency to provide an audible cue to the proximity of obstacles.