Rare Rides: 2002 Neiman Marcus Lincoln Blackwood is a Garbage Truck
The last Rare Rides we brought you was really quite fantastic; a Toyota Town Ace with all the brown, diesel, 4WD, and multi-window things you could ever desire. Go check it out if you haven’t yet, as it will elevate your mood before today’s Rare Ride drags it right back down into the dirt.
As we’ve seen in some past editions of Rare Rides, things which are rare and “special” are not always good. And frankly, this Lincoln Blackwood Neiman Marcus Edition sucks.
A one year, one-off model, the Blackwood was devised by the Lincoln Motor Carriage Establishment and Coachwork, LLC to cater to the specialty high-end luxury truck market. And I use those last few words in their loosest form here, because the Blackwood was confused and hampered [from the factory] in many ways.
Let’s start with the drivetrain. Ford’s ubiquitous 5.4-liter V8 is here, and that’s fine. But it powers only the rear wheels — and that’s not so good. Ford thought it unnecessary to use a 4×4 or all-wheel drive system like in the popular and successful Denali and Escalade lines.
The exterior modifications in turning the Blackwood from an F-150 into a Lincoln truck are interesting crap as well. The body is clad in dark wood appliques, and while normally I have no problem with exterior brougham treatments, it simply doesn’t work in such a dark shade and on a truck-shaped vehicle like this. However, I will assert here that I believe the Blackwood to be the last vehicle available from the factory with wood appliques. Prove me wrong if you can.
Additional handicapping came at the back of the vehicle, where the mandatory powered tonneau lifted up and horizontal tailgate doors swung open to reveal — wait for it — a carpeted trunk. Space was reduced by storage boxes on either side of the bed, and there were some stainless panels to collect scratches from any cargo sharper than a beanbag chair. The box itself was produced by Magna Steyr, and caused the vehicle’s introductory delay due to the producer’s supply issues.
The Blackwood was available in only one color, because of how special it was or something. That didn’t change for today’s even more special version, the Neiman Marcus Edition. For its 2001 spring catalog, luxury department chain Neiman Marcus ordered 50 total Blackwoods built to its specifications.
These special editions received a short list of upgrades, but the price went from the base of $52,500 to a staggering $58,800; approximately $81,800 in 2017 dollars. Those upgrades included stitched headrests with Neiman Marcus logo, a leather rear console lid, and time capsule 7-inch DVD player with headphones, and a cooler. You also got a certificate of authenticity, verifying that you were, in fact, insane for purchasing such a stupid vehicle.
All Blackwoods sat only four people, as the rear center console was not optional.
Happily, the Blackwood lasted just one model year. Ford did a better job the next time around, when they introduced the much more successful and less ridiculous Mark LT for 2006.
[Images via Mecum]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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The Blackwood's wood was indeed far too black to even notice or recognize as wood (at least in photos), but as useless-ish as that carpeted trunk is, it looks like something straight out of Star Trek.
Hey Corey, thanks for this and all the other articles on these "rare rides". I've enjoyed them all! Keep 'em coming, eh!