When is a car actually rare? No, I’m not talking about being the only yellow Corvette with a blue interior, a transparent top, no Z51 package, and bronze wheels, I’m talking about total production run. Is it something along the lines of 11,273 examples? That’s how many Ferrari F355s were ever made.
How about 7,141 units? That’s how many Aston Martin DB7s were built, including all variants. What about 4,099 cars? That’s how many Murcielagos that Lamborghini produced. Most would say those are fairly rare cars in the grand scheme of things, and yet the Lincoln Blackwood is rarer still.
With a production run of just 16 months, fewer than 3,900 of these unusual pickups ever rolled out of Ford’s Kansas City Assembly plant during the early aughts throw-everything-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks luxury light truck boom. Alright, so production was capped by demand rather than by design, but not only are these trucks now cool pieces of automotive history, but they also don’t cost nearly as much as some similarly rare vehicles.
What Are We Looking At?
When it launched in 2002, nobody knew quite what to think of the Lincoln Blackwood. In hindsight, this thing’s a marvelous chimera, mating the cab and frame of a rear-wheel-drive F-150, the front clip, interior, and 300-horsepower four-valve 5.4-liter V8 of a Navigator, and a unique imitation wood bed with inlaid aluminum strips together to create one of the weirdest pickup trucks ever sold in America.
You get all the toys of a Navigator, from heated and cooled front seats to an Alpine audio system to automatic climate control, but in a package that separates you from your cargo. While a towing capacity of 8,700 pounds comes in just under that of a Navigator, it’s still plenty enough to pull a new project car home in style, and it’s weird enough to make you a local celebrity.
Yes, the Blackwood gets seriously strange, with two main oddities worth pointing out. The first is seating, because the Blackwood features a pair of captain’s chairs instead of a rear bench. This means it’s a four-seater, with a huge center console taking up the middle space in back. The second is the bed situation, because it’s not really a traditional bed. Lined with carpet and aluminum and clad externally with fake wood, it’s more of a waterproof trunk than anything, which begs the question: Is the Blackwood technically a sedan? Car And Driver certainly seemed to think that the Blackwood was rocking a trunk, but the magazine was impressed with this oddball’s straight-line scoot and pillowy ride, writing:
The Blackwood’s 5.4-liter DOHC 32-valve V-8 generates enough snort to propel this hefty truck (at 5637 pounds, it weighs in a bit lighter than a 4wd Avalanche and is dimensionally similar) to 60 mph in 8.1 seconds, which is impressive scoot for a behemoth. We were also impressed with the Blackwood’s ride quality, which does a very good job of ironing out rough pavement and washboard dirt roads.
However, perhaps in part due to the strange appearance of the Blackwood, or its compromised practicality over an Escalade EXT, or its $54,495 price tag, Lincoln only managed to sell 3,383 units, with the 2002 model year being the only one for this truck in the U.S. market. It soldiered on for another model year in Mexico, but it’s still rarer than a Lamborghini Murcielago. Oh, and did I mention it’s relatively cheap for such a rare beast?
How Much Are We Talking?
Want one of the nicest Lincoln Blackwood examples in the world? That’ll run you about $24,500, like this pristine 17,000-mile example that sold on Bring A Trailer last year. With absolutely gleaming paint, the optional CD-ROM-based GPS navigation system, and an undercarriage you could legitimately eat off of, this is a concours-grade example of an exceedingly rare machine for about the price of a new Honda Civic.
Alright, you’d have to really love the Blackwood to spend that much on one, so how about we take a look at what examples with some mileage actually go for? Well, this Floridian example with 106,000 miles on the clock sold on Cars & Bids last year for $13,100, and it looks to be in properly good shape. No hits on the Carfax, very few visual signs of having six figures worth of mileage on the odometer, and just a surprisingly tasteful aftermarket head unit and tinted windows as the only modifications. This thing would make a killer tow rig, simple enough to fix wherever if need be but plush enough to get where you’re going in comfort.
That’s great, but what if you’re looking for a high-mileage hero that you can beat on a bit without feeling too bad? Well, this Blackwood is up for sale in Oklahoma for $7,995, and although it is rocking some very period aftermarket wheels and sports 146,921 miles on the clock, it’s also a southern truck with a clean Carfax, so it’s probably in decent shape underneath.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong On A Lincoln Blackwood?
Underneath the skin of the Lincoln Blackwood, it’s mostly good news. Most mechanical parts are cheap, and it uses Lincoln’s 5.4-liter quad-cam 32-valve V8 so it doesn’t have the spark plug issues that F-150s of the era can suffer from. Outside of general old car wear and tear, the biggest common problem on the Blackwood pertains to the power-operated tonneau cover. The modules can pack up, although there is a company out there called Module Master that can rebuild them for $350.
Beyond that, the compressor for the rear air springs probably won’t last forever, although a third-party compressor is available for $226.79 on Rock Auto, and a solenoid’s $48 if you need it. Aftermarket rear air springs from an F-150 of the same vintage can also be made to fit with some modification, and the whole system seems totally DIY-able.
Should You Buy A Lincoln Blackwood?
If you’re looking for a weird older tow rig for a camper or a car trailer, or simply want to add to an already unusual stable of cars, a Lincoln Blackwood is a fine contender. It’s mechanically simple enough to be a reasonable proposition, yet unique enough to turn heads wherever it goes. Plus, you can’t help but get the feeling that few of these trucks lived hard lives, as they really were Town Cars for people who wanted something truckish.
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[Ed Note, I thought you might enjoy this tour of the Blackwood with a scrappy, little-known YouTuber – Pete]Â
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This one weird feature of an 04+ f150 being better in every way.
Made this vote with my wallet at the time. Today an aluminum f150 is both lighter and better.
The biggest irony here is if Cadillac and Lincoln made a pickup truck today, they’d sell like hotcakes. Can you imagine a Cadillac-V truck?
The Blackwood is a spiritual descendant of the Brazilian pickup cars which often had a trunk.
As a tow rig I’d sooner have my 2002 F150 XLT. I have the more reliable 2 valve 5.4, a longer wheelbase for stability and an 8,000 lb tow rating. I also have leather seats, power windows and mirrors, and a Pioneer stereo, for a whopping $3000 5 years ago. I do lose out on back seat space since I have a Super Cab but I have only had passengers back there a few times
I just bought one! I thought these things were absolutely silly when they were introduced. In my recent search for a unique tow vehicle that wouldn’t break the bank, all roads lead to the Blackwood. I’m beyond excited.
I will never forget the story that a mechanic at my parents’ preferred shop told about a customer of his that bought one of these brand new. She was an elderly lady who drove only Lincolns, and she had traded in her Town Car for one of these. She brought it to his shop after owning it for only 2 weeks, with less than a thousand miles on it. He did a bit of a double take and asked her what could possibly be wrong with such a brand new luxury vehicle. She heaved a sigh and said, “John, you’ve just got to do something with this thing – it just drives so much like a truck. What can you do about it?”
He was never the most diplomatic kind of guy, but even he managed to not bark out the obvious: “Go trade it back in for a car, because it IS a truck, stupid.” He found a gentler translation for that idea, and that’s exactly what she did that very day.
I wonder how many Blackwoods moved under that exact situation. I bet it’s a relatively high percentage.
While I do appreciate weird cars in a general sense, and more weird in the world is a good thing, I’ve always found these to be just hideous. I can’t really bring myself to appreciate them whenever I see them in person.
I will make the usual caveat that I mostly like the Juke, just to let people know how much they should value my opinion on aesthetics.
My local L-M dealer had one in the showroom window for five years plus. Demand-limited indeed…
I feel like truck owners want the features the Blackwood offered, but still want to look like a “real truck owner”.
So take a F-150 or Silverado/Sierra and put all the luxury trappings in it and price it at $90k, but putting a Lincoln or Cadillac badge on it is a step too far.
Dead on target, the top trim F150 sells really well and 2001-2003 F150 Super Crews with Lariat or Limited trim are very common. I think they outnumber XLT trim crew cabs
Yep, the major selling point of a truck for many white collar office employees is to cosplay as blue collar rough and tumble folks, and to throw something in the bed every once in a while. A Lincoln with a carpeted bed doesn’t square with that.
A friend of mine owned a 90’s SL500 for a while that he bought for $7k. His biggest complaint about it was random people in luxury spec trucks they spent far more money on giving him shit over driving a an “expensive” German luxury car.
Nope. Ford found out it could sell a loaded f150 for Lincoln LT money without the rebadge or marketing.
So what I remember the Blackwood for the most was when these were still being sold, someone who owned one showed up at my neighbor’s to bid on some work (roof or siding I’m thinking) in one. This was shall we say a lower middle class neighborhood and showing up in that pretty much was going to guarantee they weren’t getting the job.
If you think of the Blackwood as a high-riding Town Car alternative wherein Lincoln put forth much more effort, it makes much more sense.
Meanwhile, I will go and check out that Blackwood, as I live in the OKC metro.
I was just realizing that what bothers me so much about the look is that it’s a Town Car from the front (with weird dimensions, admittedly).