Early Mustang Sketch by Jack Telnack (1962)
Source: Internet
Thursday, November 1, 2012
The 1963 Mustang II
The 1963 Mustang II running prototype was displayed at the U.S. Grand Prix and previewed many of the design elements that would be incorporated into the production model, including the long hood, short rear deck, 108-inch wheelbase, the rear wheel scoops and tri-bar taillights.
Early Mustang Sketch by Jack Telnack (1962)
Source: Internet
Early Mustang Sketch by Jack Telnack (1962)
Source: Internet
The Aurora
The Aurora is an experimental family car with a bank of twelve 1-inch headlights, electro-luminous side panels, a clam-shell rear entry system for the children seats. The comfortable lounge-like interior is equipped with built-in beverage cooler, three radios, a plug-in TV screen and a navigation system.
1964 Ford Aurora Concept
Source: Internet
1964 Ford Aurora Concept
Source: Internet
Cougar II
The Cougar II is a V8-powered 2-seater GT coupé conceived for speeds in the 170 mph range.
Source: Internet
Source: Internet
1963 Allegro Fastback Coupe
The 1963 Allegro Fastback Coupé was a sportscar featuring a movable steering wheel with a memory unit and adjustable pedals.
Source: Internet
Source: Internet
1965 Ford Mustang Prototypes
The Allegro-X car shown in August 1963 was one of many ideas to come from the T-5 program, but it proved a literal red herring.
Designing the 1965 Ford Mustang
It was still more than two years before the original 1965 Ford Mustang would make its debut, and Ford was casting about for the right formula. Engineers, designers, and marketing men were in uncharted territory: No one had ever created the kind of car they were after.
Ford briefly considered another two-seat idea, the "XT-Bird," a revival of the 1957 Thunderbird proposed by the Budd Company, which had built the original bodies and still had tooling. Budd pitched a prototype using a Falcon chassis and a '57 T-Bird body with updated styling and a tiny rear seat added. But though claimed production costs were temptingly low, Ford couldn't see a two-seater of any kind drawing the sales and profits that Ford Division chief Lee Iacocca was after.
Even so, two-seaters persisted for a while in T-5 work, which produced scores of sketches, renderings, and clay models. Major themes were refined through several groups of designs labeled Avventura, Allegro, Mina, Median, and Stilletto, to name a few.
The Allegro series alone comprised some 13 workouts differing in appearance, size, projected cost, and other key factors. One Allegro, a fastback coupe, was publicly shown as a "styling experimental car" in August 1963, but it was already a dead duck. Of the many sporty-car concepts churned out in 1961 and into '62, none satisfied Iacocca and other Ford execs.
To get things moving, an impatient Iacocca had the program restarted in August 1962. A new package was laid down, and the company's three design studios were assigned to come up with fitting proposals. Iacocca felt the in-house competition was bound to produce the car everyone was searching for.
The requirements were daunting: a $2500 target price, 2500-pound curb weight, 180-inch overall length, seating for four, standard floorshift, and maximum use of Falcon components. Styling was to be "sporty, personal, and tight." Marketers threw in the notion of an arm-long option list so buyers could equip the car for economy, luxury, performance, or any combination.
Lincoln-Mercury submitted a crisp notchback in Ford's in-house competition to design the original Mustang.
The contest pitted the Ford and Lincoln-Mercury divisional studios against a team from the Advanced Design section under Don DeLaRossa, all guided by design vice-president Eugene Bordinat. Each studio had just two weeks to come up with one or more full-size clay models.
Ultimately, seven candidates were wheeled into the Ford Design Center courtyard for an August 16 executive review. Each had its own character, some more formal than others, but most featured a long hood and a relatively short rear deck surmounted by a close-coupled "greenhouse." This look was at least partly inspired by the sporty yet elegant 1956-57 Continental Mark II, a design benchmark among recent Dearborn cars, but it was also the basic look of many genuine sports cars. Other shared traits included full rear-wheel openings and crisp body lines.
At Last, a Winner
Among the gathered seven, one design leaped out, a white notchback coupe. "It was the only one that seemed to be moving," Iacocca said.
A Ford Studio design was eventually chosen. Note the Cougar insignia indicative of an early proposal for the car's name.
Fittingly perhaps, it came from the Ford Studio headed by veteran designer Joe Oros, studio manager Gale Halderman and executive designer L. David Ash. Oros had his team paint their clay white so as to catch management eyes, which it obviously did. It looked much like the eventual showroom Mustang except for different side treatments left and right -- the former would be chosen for production -- plus rectangular headlamps, different trim, and nameplates (more of which shortly). Ironically, this mockup was a second-thought rush job, completed in only three days after the group spent its first week on a design that Oros immediately vetoed upon returning from an outside seminar.
Iacocca's baby now moved ahead with unusual speed.
The design for the production Mustang can be traced, mostly untouched, to the Ford Studio model.
The 1965 Ford Mustang Prototype
What would become the epochal 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang can be traced directly to the Ford Studio model that was "validated" for production on September 10, 1962, less than a month after a courtyard showdown of competing design concepts.
Except for changes typically made for mass production -- suitable bumpers, round headlights, less windshield rake -- the design was essentially untouched. And most Ford people didn't want it touched anyway. That included engineers, who bent a good many in-house rules to keep the styling intact.
The task of "productionizing" the Mustang fell to executive engineer Jack Predergast and development engineer C. N. Reuter. It was mainly a body engineering job, because the basic chassis, suspension, and driveline were, by design, shared with the Falcon and the related "intermediate" Fairlane, new for '62.
Overall length ended up at 181.6 inches, a bit over the specified limit but identical to that of the reskinned 1964 Falcon. Wheelbase was set at 108 inches, 1.5 inches shorter than Falcon's, but enough to accommodate four passengers. Though Falcon relied mainly on six-cylinder engines, designer Joe Oros' team had left plenty of underhood space for Ford's light and lively new "Challenger" V-8, which arrived with the Fairlane and became a new option for top-line '63 Falcons.
Designer Joe Oros felt a fastback coupe would give Mustang a truly sporty image and got it approved.
Though Mustang development focused mainly on a hardtop coupe, the effort more or less assumed that a convertible would also be offered despite its inevitably higher price and lower sales. But with racy fastbacks starting to make a comeback in the market, designers felt a sloped-roof coupe was essential to give Mustang a credible performance image with American youth. Planners okayed the fastback, and it was all but wrapped up by mid-October 1963. However, it wouldn't start sale until some six months after its stablemates.
Why the delay? One reason was that the Mustang was a new idea and thus not a guaranteed success, however promising it seemed. While many Ford people thought it would be quite popular, there were a few -- including chairman Henry Ford II -- who feared a replay of the recent Edsel fiasco. They needn't have worried. Indeed, market research conducted during the program's final months strongly indicated that Ford had a winner on its hands. But the Edsel's outlook had been just as rosy, hence a certain amount of hand-wringing in late 1963.
Names and Icons
By that point, Ford had settled on the Mustang name after months of search and debate. Cougar had emerged as the early favorite, one reason the Oros team model wore Cougar nameplates and a big stylized cat within its grille. But countless other names were considered along the way, including Torino, Turino, and even T-5. Chairman Ford liked "Thunderbird II" and "T-Bird II." Ford Division chief Lee Iacocca, engineer Donald N. Frey, and others argued for Mustang, though other horses were in the running for a time, including Colt, Bronco, Maverick -- and Pinto.
In any case, the name wasn't finally decided until late in the game. Indeed, some early Mustang press photos showed production prototypes with another big cat in the grille. But a galloping horse soon took its place. This icon was cast from a mahogany carving by sculptor Waino Kangas working from sketches by John Najjar and Phil Clark for the Mustang I. Equine name aside, the only other legacy from the little midships roadster was a small tri-color logo designed by Najjar, which appeared on the production model's dashboard and lower front fenders.
Many newspapers and magazines previewed Ford's new sporty car with early PR photos of a "Mustang" wearing a Cougar grille emblem.
In many ways, Mustang was a perfect name for the sporty new Ford, evoking romantic images of free-spirited cowboys astride powerful steeds. Just as important, it was easy to spell and easy to remember. As one Ford ad man said, Mustang "had the excitement of the wide-open spaces, and it was American as all hell."
But it wasn't yet a household name, and Ford publicists wanted to build on the buzz created by the Mustang I. The result was a new showpiece, a convertible logically named Mustang II. Though billed as another "experiment," this was really an exaggerated preview of the showroom models, built after tooling was ordered with mostly production-line parts.
Differences included a five-inch longer hood, a more pointed front, a bulkier tail, a cut-down windshield, matching liftoff hardtop, no bumpers, and an elaborately trimmed custom interior. Ford returned to Watkins Glen in October 1963 to unveil the Mustang II. Response was enthusiastic, which must have lessened some anxiety in Dearborn. Reporters, noting the car looked factory-ready, now knew what they'd suspected for months: Ford was up to something potentially very big.
Unveiled in October 1963, the "experimental" Mustang II was actually a fully engineered production Mustang with a custom liftoff hardtop.
The Mustang II kicked off a six-month publicity buildup to announcement day. The next major step came on January 21, 1964, when invited reporters went to Dearborn for a "Mustang Technical Press Conference." Iacocca, who conceived the Mustang idea, played host, beaming like a proud new papa. "Frankly, we can hardly wait for you to get behind the wheel of a Mustang," he gushed. "We think you're in for a driving experience such as you've never had before."
A revolution was about to begin and the American automotive landscape would be forever changed. It's not too far a stretch to say Mustang helped alter America itself in some ways.
Source: Internet
Ford Mustang I
The Ford Mustang I was a small, mid-engined (4-cylinder), open two-seater with aluminium body work, that began life as a design exercise and eventually became the progenitor of the famed Ford Mustang. Although it shared few design elements with the final production vehicle, it did lend its name to the line.
Ford Mustang I at the Henry Ford Museum
Manufacturer
Ford Motor Company
Production
1962
Assembly
Dearborn, Michigan, United States
Class
Concept car
Body style
2-door convertible
Layout
mid-engine layout
Platform
Experimental
Related
Ford Mustang
Design and development
The original Ford Mustang was a product of the Fairlane Group, a committee of Ford managers led by Lee Iacocca. The Fairlane Group worked on new product needs and, in the summer of 1962, the Group laid out the framework of a new sports car to counter the success of GM's Corvair Monza sports coupe. Designer Eugene Bordinat envisioned a low-cost sports car that would combine roadability, performance, and appearance in a radical layout. A 90 in (2,286.0 mm) wheelbase, 48 in (1,219 mm) front and a 49 in (1,245 mm) rear track, width of 61 in (1,549 mm) with an overall length of 154.3 in (3,919 mm) were the working dimensions. The body skin was a one-piece unit that was riveted to a space frame. To increase rigidity, the seats were part of the body. The driver could adjust the steering column and clutch/brake/accelerator pedals.
Roy Lunn was put charge of building the car as he brought racing car design experience and together with his engineering really brought the concept to life. An "off-the shelf" German Ford Cardinal 1,500 cc 60 degree V4 powered the Mustang I. It was mounted in a power pack of engine and 4-speed transmission in a common housing with an axle and conventional clutch. Lead designer John Najjar favored a mid-engined configuration, cooled through two separate radiators on the sides of the car. Najjar also proposed the name "Mustang" for the concept vehicle. As an aviation enthusiast, he was familiar with the North American P-51 Mustang fighter and saw some design similarities in the diminutive but sleek profile of the new sports car.
Phil Clark's role
Najjar credits Phil Clark's important design role [N 1] in creating the mid-engine designs that later made it up to the executives and met their approval for Mustang I. Clark graduated with honors as a designer and stylist from Art School with a double major in Art Transportation and Design. Clark had been an engineer for Avco before he became ill with urological issues and decided that transportation design would be a better fit for his health.
Clark had been drawing the Mustang design in variation for years before the final car was produced. His drawing of the Mustang Coupe, or Fastback can be seen signed by him, in the Spring 1963 MotorBook Magazine. [N 2] The Mustang name was kept under wraps with the code name "Allegro" assigned to the entire project. Allegro was a musical term and Clark and all of the designers he worked with were involved with various musical instruments. This gave the young group who originally were with GM a way to speak about the Mustang project in a code that no one to this day can decipher except for the original designers.
Clark suggested the Mustang name to the executives after traveling from his hometown in Nashville, Tennessee to The Art School of Design in Pasadena, California where he passed the wild mustangs in Nevada and was captivated by their beauty. After public relations and the legal department vetted the project name (they particularly liked the connection to the wild horse of the same name), the name continued onto the Mustang II show car and later was applied to the production version of the Ford Mustang.
Clark died at 32 from an ulcer, but to this day is best known for his design of the Mustang "running horse" emblem.
Operational history
Although intended as a road vehicle, the prototype had a racing-type windshield and an integral roll bar. Two versions of the V4 engine were available, an 89 hp (66 kW) street and a 109 hp (81 kW) race engine. The manufacture of the Mustang I took place in the garage of famed racecar builders, Troutman-Barnes of Culver City, California. Using the Ford Styling clay and fiberglass body bucks to create a new aluminum body, the firm met a three-month deadline. Lunn and his team of engineers finished the prototypes in just 100 days. Final assembly and testing of two prototypes took place at the Ford Scientific Research Garage at Dearborn, Michigan.
Schematic view of Ford Mustang I.
Public debut
The Mustang I made its formal debut at the United States Grand Prix in Watkins Glen, New York on October 7, 1962, where test driver and contemporary Formula One race driver Dan Gurney lapped the track in a demonstration using the second "race" prototype. His lap times were only slightly off the pace of the F1 race cars. Gurney was the second Race Car Driver to officially try this car.
For the next two years, both Mustang Is appeared at car shows and automotive events as a show car. One of the unusual uses for the cars was to tour colleges as a marketing tool for Ford. After reactions from potential customers and focus groups had demonstrated that the original concept of the Mustang I had limited appeal to the general public, a completely new concept car, the Mustang II, appeared in 1963. Both cars were from Eugene Bordinat's Advanced Design group, which developed 13 Mustang concepts. The original code name for this group of cars was also "Allegro". One of the cars from this design project actually became known as Allegro.
The four-seater Mustang was known beforehand to be the car that would actually be produced for sale using the first generation Ford Falcon platform. Based on a four-seater configuration and using a front-engined layout based on the Falcon, the Mustang II was much more conventional in design and concept and resembled closely the final production variant that would appear in 1964. Nearly the only design element that remained from the original Mustang I were the fake louvers that recreated the radiator scoops of the two-seater.
Final disposition
One Mustang I languished for years in storage although it appeared at times on displays and in museum loans including the Henry Ford Museum. In 1967, Ford executives Morris Carter and Frank Theyleg discovered the remains of the car in a basement and arranged for the Scientific Research Garage to restore the car. Donated to The Henry Ford Museum, it officially became part of the museum collection in 1982, where it still resides.
Source: Internet
Ford Mustang I at the Henry Ford Museum
Manufacturer
Ford Motor Company
Production
1962
Assembly
Dearborn, Michigan, United States
Class
Concept car
Body style
2-door convertible
Layout
mid-engine layout
Platform
Experimental
Related
Ford Mustang
Design and development
The original Ford Mustang was a product of the Fairlane Group, a committee of Ford managers led by Lee Iacocca. The Fairlane Group worked on new product needs and, in the summer of 1962, the Group laid out the framework of a new sports car to counter the success of GM's Corvair Monza sports coupe. Designer Eugene Bordinat envisioned a low-cost sports car that would combine roadability, performance, and appearance in a radical layout. A 90 in (2,286.0 mm) wheelbase, 48 in (1,219 mm) front and a 49 in (1,245 mm) rear track, width of 61 in (1,549 mm) with an overall length of 154.3 in (3,919 mm) were the working dimensions. The body skin was a one-piece unit that was riveted to a space frame. To increase rigidity, the seats were part of the body. The driver could adjust the steering column and clutch/brake/accelerator pedals.
Roy Lunn was put charge of building the car as he brought racing car design experience and together with his engineering really brought the concept to life. An "off-the shelf" German Ford Cardinal 1,500 cc 60 degree V4 powered the Mustang I. It was mounted in a power pack of engine and 4-speed transmission in a common housing with an axle and conventional clutch. Lead designer John Najjar favored a mid-engined configuration, cooled through two separate radiators on the sides of the car. Najjar also proposed the name "Mustang" for the concept vehicle. As an aviation enthusiast, he was familiar with the North American P-51 Mustang fighter and saw some design similarities in the diminutive but sleek profile of the new sports car.
Phil Clark's role
Najjar credits Phil Clark's important design role [N 1] in creating the mid-engine designs that later made it up to the executives and met their approval for Mustang I. Clark graduated with honors as a designer and stylist from Art School with a double major in Art Transportation and Design. Clark had been an engineer for Avco before he became ill with urological issues and decided that transportation design would be a better fit for his health.
Clark had been drawing the Mustang design in variation for years before the final car was produced. His drawing of the Mustang Coupe, or Fastback can be seen signed by him, in the Spring 1963 MotorBook Magazine. [N 2] The Mustang name was kept under wraps with the code name "Allegro" assigned to the entire project. Allegro was a musical term and Clark and all of the designers he worked with were involved with various musical instruments. This gave the young group who originally were with GM a way to speak about the Mustang project in a code that no one to this day can decipher except for the original designers.
Clark suggested the Mustang name to the executives after traveling from his hometown in Nashville, Tennessee to The Art School of Design in Pasadena, California where he passed the wild mustangs in Nevada and was captivated by their beauty. After public relations and the legal department vetted the project name (they particularly liked the connection to the wild horse of the same name), the name continued onto the Mustang II show car and later was applied to the production version of the Ford Mustang.
Clark died at 32 from an ulcer, but to this day is best known for his design of the Mustang "running horse" emblem.
Operational history
Although intended as a road vehicle, the prototype had a racing-type windshield and an integral roll bar. Two versions of the V4 engine were available, an 89 hp (66 kW) street and a 109 hp (81 kW) race engine. The manufacture of the Mustang I took place in the garage of famed racecar builders, Troutman-Barnes of Culver City, California. Using the Ford Styling clay and fiberglass body bucks to create a new aluminum body, the firm met a three-month deadline. Lunn and his team of engineers finished the prototypes in just 100 days. Final assembly and testing of two prototypes took place at the Ford Scientific Research Garage at Dearborn, Michigan.
Schematic view of Ford Mustang I.
Public debut
The Mustang I made its formal debut at the United States Grand Prix in Watkins Glen, New York on October 7, 1962, where test driver and contemporary Formula One race driver Dan Gurney lapped the track in a demonstration using the second "race" prototype. His lap times were only slightly off the pace of the F1 race cars. Gurney was the second Race Car Driver to officially try this car.
For the next two years, both Mustang Is appeared at car shows and automotive events as a show car. One of the unusual uses for the cars was to tour colleges as a marketing tool for Ford. After reactions from potential customers and focus groups had demonstrated that the original concept of the Mustang I had limited appeal to the general public, a completely new concept car, the Mustang II, appeared in 1963. Both cars were from Eugene Bordinat's Advanced Design group, which developed 13 Mustang concepts. The original code name for this group of cars was also "Allegro". One of the cars from this design project actually became known as Allegro.
The four-seater Mustang was known beforehand to be the car that would actually be produced for sale using the first generation Ford Falcon platform. Based on a four-seater configuration and using a front-engined layout based on the Falcon, the Mustang II was much more conventional in design and concept and resembled closely the final production variant that would appear in 1964. Nearly the only design element that remained from the original Mustang I were the fake louvers that recreated the radiator scoops of the two-seater.
Final disposition
One Mustang I languished for years in storage although it appeared at times on displays and in museum loans including the Henry Ford Museum. In 1967, Ford executives Morris Carter and Frank Theyleg discovered the remains of the car in a basement and arranged for the Scientific Research Garage to restore the car. Donated to The Henry Ford Museum, it officially became part of the museum collection in 1982, where it still resides.
Source: Internet
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