The Blackwood, displayed for the first time in the region, will go on sale early in 2001.

"Blackwood is truly the ultimate luxury utility vehicle," said Tom Shelley, Northeast regional sales manager. "It is as much at home hauling horses to an equestrian event as it is carrying a party of four to a Broadway play. It’s a prefect representation of the new direction of Lincoln."

The four-door, four-passenger luxury utility is an extension of the extremely successful Lincoln Navigator, with one important difference: an enclosed 4-foot, 8-inch box that serves as a trunk. The trunk sides are finished in 20 square feet of Wenge wood – a dark, dense, striated wood from central Africa – with a brushed aluminum strip defining each band of wood. It's a modern twist on the "woody," which traditionally used different-colored wood strips between large wood bands.

The hard top of the closed box in the rear, which is operated by a key fob, opens hydraulically to a 45-degree angle to reveal an aluminum finished trunk interior. The interior of the Blackwood concept vehicle is based on the Lincoln Navigator's, with the addition of a global positioning system integrated into the floor-mounted center console and four bucket seats trimmed in black Connolly leather.

Blackwood is built on a 4x2 chassis that is lowered 3 inches to give the utility vehicle a more stately stance. It's powered by a 5.4-liter DOHC V-8 and fits into the Class III trailer tow group – allowing enough towing capacity for a boat or horse trailer.

Joining Blackwood on the Lincoln Mercury stand is the 2000-model Lincoln LS, which was previewed as a concept car one year ago at the New England show. This time the all-new Lincoln is a production model, and it is off to a fast sales start. After only 2 ½ months, dealers had already placed orders for all 30,000 LS sedans that Lincoln planned to build in calendar 1999. After four months in dealer showrooms, retail sales exceeded 18,500.

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"This is a wonderful driver's car, and I can attest to that since I've spent quite a few enjoyable hours behind the wheel," Shelley said. "It exudes American luxury inside and out…and its driving dynamics are nothing short of superb."

The Lincoln LS with a V-8 has a starting price of $35,225, thousands of dollars less than competitive V-8 luxury sedans; the LS with a V-6 and automatic transmission starts at $31,450; and the LS V-6 with a five speed manual and standard sport package starts at $32,250. All prices include $535 in destination and delivery charges.

Also displayed for the first time in New England is the redesigned Mercury Sable. 

The 2000 Sable offers sedan buyers several safety firsts, including Ford Motor Company’s Personal Safety System and a standard emergency trunk release. The sophisticated passive safety system features integrated safety belt pretensioners, energy management belt retractors, and sensors that can deploy the frontal air bags at one of two levels, depending upon whether the driver and passenger are wearing their belts, the severity of the crash, and how far the driver is seated from the air bag.

The new Mercury also features child seat tether hooks and optional side air bags. A dashboard switch raises or lowers the optional adjustable brake and accelerator pedals by up to 3 inches, to comfortably fit a wider variety of drivers.

Sable prices begin at $18,845 including destination charges. A Northeast Touring Package, available in New England, offers a free ABS anti-lock braking system and power moonroof – a savings of $1,440 – on the Sable LS Premium model.

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