Initially it was a replacement for the previous Model K Lincolns (produced from 1934 to 1939) and earlier luxury cars of the 1920s and 1930s.

This car competed with the Packard Super Eight, Cadillac Sixty Special and Buick Limited while the Lincoln-Zephyr was considered the "junior" introduced in the mid-1930s to a shrinking luxury car market as engineering advances diminished the difference in performance between the outsized earlier luxe and the newer, more rational, affordable offerings.

[1] A small number were modified by the few custom coach builders left in the United States before the war.

The famous Lincoln Continental remained as a limited production, very expensive (and not very reliable) semi-custom offering from the luxury division of Ford Motor Company.

For 1949, a major revamp of the entire Lincoln line was made, eliminating the slant-back Zephyr and custom Continental and introducing relatively modern V-8 power.

Cadillac and Lincoln vied for visibility and prestige by supplying limousines and other special vehicles to the White House (generally by means of a $1.00 per year or other low-cost lease arrangement).