Lincoln Liberty Engine - Lincoln Production

Lincoln Production

As the United States entered World War I, the Cadillac division of General Motors was asked to produce the new Liberty aircraft engine, but William C. Durant was a pacifist who did not want General Motors or Cadillac facilities to be used for producing war material. This led to Henry Leland leaving Cadillac to form the Lincoln Motor Company to make Liberty engines. He quickly gained a $10,000,000 government contract to build 6,000 engines. Subsequently the order was increased to 9000 units, with the option to produce 8000 more if the government needed them. Other manufacturers in the program included Packard, Ford and Marmon. Lincoln had delivered 6500 of the 400 hp, V-12, overhead camshaft engines when production ceased in January 1919. Although it is widely reported otherwise, a few Liberty engines did see action in France as power for the American version of the DeHaviland DH4.