April 19, 2014.

Fusion Cuisine: Lincoln MKZ Isn't a Full Meal

The door opened. With a small gesture the officer indicated the skull-faced man.

YOU THINK IT'S EASY. You just wave your little magic wand and poof, Lincoln—Ford's empty storefront of a luxury division where once presided American car-building glory—is fixed. Oh no.

"Room 101," he said.

This week it became known that in December Lincoln, with little comment, relieved its chief designer, Max Wolff, and replaced him with David Woodhouse, a veteran Ford campaigner formerly of Jaguar, Aston Martin, and Land Rover. Mr. Wolff will stay on as Lincoln's head of exterior design, though I resent any reference to these men as deck chairs.

There was a gasp and a flurry at Winston’s side. The man had actually flung himself on his knees on the floor, with his hand clasped together.

Having no insight into the workings of Dearborn's design department, and having never met the man, I will only note the contrast between Mr. Wolff's demotion and the occasion of his promotion in 2010, when he was given rock-star coverage as the man who would revitalize the look, the brand, the lure of Lincoln. Fate apparently has answered a resounding no.