car design thread | Page 450 | FerrariChat

car design thread

Discussion in 'Creative Arts' started by jm2, Oct 19, 2012.

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  1. Schultz

    Schultz Karting

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  2. jm2

    jm2 F1 World Champ
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    I do understand. I just didn't want to sell yourself or your education short.
    I have known so many Cleveland Grads over the years. Every one of them was super talented and I put you in that group as well.
    Some of the most talented designer/artist combinations I ever worked with came from Cleveland.
    I just figured it must have been something 'in the water!'
    Sorry it didn't work out.
     
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  3. jm2

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  4. HotShoe

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  5. energy88

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  6. jm2

    jm2 F1 World Champ
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  7. 330 4HL

    330 4HL Formula 3

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    orsetto lavatore ??

    I could not in all conscience click on like...
     
  8. Qvb

    Qvb F1 Rookie
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  9. jm2

    jm2 F1 World Champ
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    Is it possible to like an 'unlike' button? Just askin.
     
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  10. 330 4HL

    330 4HL Formula 3

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    I just did!
     
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  11. Tenney

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    Looks like it comes pre-duct taped? Part of the Patina Package?
     
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  12. Tcar

    Tcar F1 Rookie

    Looks like Duck tape.
     
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  13. 330 4HL

    330 4HL Formula 3

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    I came across this Ami a few days ago, and in a world of $million super-hyper cars & overwought SUVs I find it surprisingly compelling...
    looks like it's going a 100mph (OK, 30) standing still!


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  14. VigorousZX

    VigorousZX Formula Junior

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  15. jm2

    jm2 F1 World Champ
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    Or in the words of one of my peers: "that thing lacerates my eyeballs"
    Just sayin'
    Only the French could get away with that design.
     
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  16. jm2

    jm2 F1 World Champ
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    This came in today's mail.
    While I haven't read it yet, i did look through all 384 pgs. What a wonderful job the author has done capturing the car design history at the FoMoCo during the George Walker era. Filled with rare photos of some great Ford designs. Started my career at Ford Design, but many years after Walker had retired. Did work with that generation of colorful characters. Think MadMen automotive designers. What a period of wacky creativity, prior to the Federal regulations that would change the way the automobile would look forever. End of an era. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  17. 330 4HL

    330 4HL Formula 3

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    not a big Harry Potter fan then...


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  18. jm2

    jm2 F1 World Champ
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  19. 330 4HL

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    I had one of these for quite a few years; lowered, Cortina GT struts with disc brakes, Dunlop alloys & 1500 X-flow.
    It was a blast on the back roads but brutal on the highway, even with a numerically lower R&P from a Lotus Cortina.

    I guess I need to get a '64 Merc to complete the set...
     
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  20. jm2

    jm2 F1 World Champ
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    Always love these design histories.
    https://www.hotrod.com/articles/behind-curtain-1967-mercury-cougar-born-fords-styling-studios/?fbclid=IwAR0HghdYXfGYPkqIXtfu4qfqxlKt3JAy8ccxbBgRYCOnJJfpoQ-fXFVP4PM

    Behind the Curtain: How the 1967 Mercury Cougar Was Born In Ford’s Styling Studios

    Richard TruesdellAuthorTodd GregoryAuthorFord ArchivesPhotography
    Apr 30, 2018
    The development of the Mercury Cougar, internally codenamed T-7 (the Mustang was T-5), commenced in 1963, almost a year before Mustang's debut in April 1964. This was long before the success of the Mustang was assured. In the early 1960s, in the aftermath of the marketing debacle of the Edsel and its end in 1960, management at the Ford Motor Company was still risk-averse. So while a program was in place for a Mercury companion to the Mustang's planned refresh in 1967, the T-7 program moved along slowly, gaining momentum after the unprecedented success of the Mustang was known by the fall of 1964.


    The development of the 1967 Mercury Cougar started in February 1963 through the efforts of separate proposals from two studios within Ford, the Lincoln-Mercury (L-M) Advanced Styling Studio (LMASS) led by John Aiken, and the Corporate Special Projects Studio (FCSPS) headed by David Ash. Elements from both studios were incorporated into the final design, along with the characteristic vertical-lined "electric razor" grille design from Lincoln-Mercury designer Richard Schierloh. It's the Aikin proposal that's credited with winning the competition. From January 1965, the Aikin proposal was refined as the Cougar moved forward towards Job One, the first production Cougar due in the summer of 1966 for the car's official launch on September 30, 1966, in Monterey, California.

    In the spring of 2018, Muscle Car Review was able to speak with John Aiken, now long retired, who helped us identify the photos supplied by the Ford Archives. He had this to say in looking back at the project, which started 53 years ago in Dearborn:


    "After graduating from Art Center College of Design on a Ford scholarship in 1959, I began work at the Ford Design Center in Dearborn, Michigan, in the Lincoln-Mercury division. My first production programs were as chief designer of the 1966 Mercury Comet and the 1966 Lincoln Continental in 1963. Next, in 1964, came a manager's position on the T-7 program. Things happened fast and furious with occasional overnights and continuous 12-hour days as teams of designers, clay modelers, and studio engineers competed to create the best Cougar design."




    Market Positioning
    What started as a Mercury version of Ford's Mustang evolved over time. The Ford Motor Company was not eager to have a direct competitor to the Mustang. Rather, it wanted a more luxuriously trimmed Mustang with European flair, one not offered with a six-cylinder engine, and one that could be positioned in the market between the smaller, sporty Mustang and the Thunderbird.



    The cost of the Cougar development program was modest, even by the standards of the day: a reported $40 million (that's $320 million in today's dollars, and today the cost of bringing an all-new model to market typically exceeds $1 billion). Because of the budget constraints, only a single model would be available at launch, a two-door hardtop.

    However, that didn't mean Cougar's product planners weren't thinking about other models. First and foremost was a convertible model, especially considering that 15 percent of Mustang's early sales were ragtops. Development photos from the period show that up to mid-1965, a convertible model was seriously considered. But to keep the program for the first-generation Cougar within budget, the convertible would have to wait until the Cougar proved itself in the marketplace. The convertible wouldn't appear until the launch of the Cougar's extensively restyled 1969 model.

    Even more interesting was that some consideration was given to a four-door version of the first-generation model, a version not seriously considered in the Mustang's initial lineup (despite the photos of a clay model mockup of a boxy, Falcon-esque four-door Mustang from 1964 that have surfaced over the years). This is not surprising given that as the development of the Cougar moved forward, the Ford Motor Company was clearly positioning it between the Mustang and Thunderbird. But again, because of the budget, the four-door Cougar proposal died. Unlike the convertible, it appears that no four-door clay model proposals were produced, just a fullsize rendering, which can be seen behind the fullsize clay model proposal for the convertible dated January 22, 1965, in our lead photo.


    Overall, the Mercury Cougar was an unqualified sales success. While its numbers never approached those of the Mustang, due in part to Mercury's much smaller dealer base, the 150,893 sales in the debut year far exceeded Mercury's expectations. And 47 percent of those buyers had no trade-in. That it was named Motor Trend's Car of the Year for 1967, eclipsing Chevrolet's Camaro debut, certainly didn't hurt.

    With the midyear introduction of the even more luxurious XR-7 model, with a woodgrain dash and European-inspired toggle switches, Mercury was able to take the Cougar more upmarket, further separating it from the Mustang and pushing it closer to the Thunderbird. It was so successful in its market positioning that a May 1967 Car and Driver cover story compared the XR-7 to a much more expensive Jaguar sedan.

    Thanks to this collection of images provided by the Ford Archives, we can follow the development of the Mercury Cougar from its modest beginnings to its introduction in the fall of 1966, into an increasingly competitive ponycar marketplace that included Chevrolet's Camaro, followed six months later by Pontiac's Firebird, and in 1968 with AMC's Javelin. Those were great times.

    1967 Dimensions

    Cougar Mustang Thunderbird
    Wheelbase (in) 111.2 108 114.5
    Length (in) 190.3 183.6 206.9
    Height (in) 51.8 51.7 52.8
    Width (in) 71.2 70.9 77.3
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  21. Jeff Kennedy

    Jeff Kennedy F1 Veteran
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    I am surprised in the back cover quote how Bordinat says nice things on Walker. The story is that Walker worked very hard to have one of his fair haired boys be his successor and to block Bordinat's ascension. When Elwood Engle wasn't selected Walker engineered him going to Chrysler to become Styling VP.
     
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  22. jm2

    jm2 F1 World Champ
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    I'm almost finished with the book! I have to say I'm really enjoying it.
    While I never met Walker, i got to meet most of the other characters in the book. Talk about 'colorful'. What a bizarre era in design/styling. So many great stories during that era. From the '49 Ford, the '55 T-Bird to the '58 Lincoln and the Continental MkII. Crazy times.
    From the book, I doubt I would have had much respect for Walker, yet he was quite the larger than life persona. But I have to give him credit for raising the stature of design/styling within the FoMoCo at the time. It was a political snakepit to work in. I showed up 10 yrs after Walker had left, and Ford Design was still like that. :eek:
     
  23. Jeff Kennedy

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    I always heard stories that Ford politics were a blood sport.

    One of the stories on the design for the Mark II was that it was an ex-Packard designer that got no help from the regular Ford staff in the expecation that he would fail. If I remember correctly some of this comes from an interview with Delarossa; could have been in Collector Car.
     
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  24. jm2

    jm2 F1 World Champ
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    Yes that's correct. It was a very big political football with W.C.Ford involved and Walker staying as far away as possible from the project. The MKII only lasted 2 yrs and was a sales disaster, followed by the Edsel! But that's another story.
     
  25. jm2

    jm2 F1 World Champ
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    Cybertruck anyone?
     

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