Continental Mark II—End Game
Axe the Continental. Full steam on the Edsel.
Henry Ford’s Plastic Car
Henry Ford’s soy bean, lightweight, $400 car. Concrete molds. Didn’t smell so good.
A Re-Think on the Origins of Wedge Car Design
Ray Cannara’s built this wedge design while a student of Strother MacMinn at Art Center School in the ’60s.
A Tale of Two Mercurys—Turnpike Cruiser and the XM-800
That these cars represented an opposite design philosophy from Harley Earl’s show cars from the same era would be an understatement.
Why Cars Are So Bad
Brief summaries of Karl Ludvigsen’s stories on his new website.
Women in the 1950 Mexican Road Race
We don’t need no stinkin’ seat belts.
Design of the 1961 Thunderbird Sports Roadster and Italien
Just get the right guy to like it.
1961 Thunderbird Design Development
Last minute all-nighter clay marathon. “Vertical stabilizers.”
Alex Tremulis: Elephant Ears, Theater Receipts, and Other Stories
Alex Tremulis—Antics at Ford
D-523, The First “Cougar”
The D-523 Cougar—From Styling Study to show car to movie star.
The Continental Mark II Retractable Hardtop
The back story to the Continental Mark II retractable hardtop.
The Origins of Ford’s Retractable Hardtop
Gil Spear’s Retractable Hardtop Presentation and resulting Sytris 3/8-scale Model.
Who Designed the 1949 Ford?
The controversy over who designed the 1949 Ford.
George Walker and the 1964 Lincoln Continental Mark IX
Corporate politics and the aborted Mark IX.
The 1957 Ford Mystere Story
The mystery of the Mystere revealed.
The Lincoln Futura/Batmobile, Part 3: Interview with George Barris
George Barris answers questions about the acquisition and development of the Batmobile in a 1995 interview.
The Lincoln Futura, Part 2: The Batmobile
The story of how Futura, the belle of the ball, turns into Creuella, the Batmobile.
The Lincoln Futura, Part 1
Inspired by a Bahama’s fishing trip with Bill Mitchell. Bill Schmidt came back with an idea for the Futura; Mitchell with an idea that lead to the XP-755.
McNamara’s Interchangeability Study
McNamara had clay models created to test parts interchangeability between car models (like GM).
The ‘59 Chevrolet and the Ford Quicksilver
“On seeing the ‘59 Chevrolet clay model, Ford designers soon convinced themselves that GM had somehow caught on to what Ford was doing and was purposely trying to mislead them.”
Lincoln in a Box
Some 900 new 1936 Lincoln-Zephyrs also went overseas—shipped in crates.
Ford Designer McKinley W. (Mac) Thompson, Jr.
Highlights of the career of Mac Thompson—Ford Designer from 1956–1985.
Automotive Designers Showcase—Pontiac, Sept 16, 2021
A photo essay of the Exhibit at the Pontiac Creative Art Center featuring design sketches and renderings from production and advance Pontiac Studios.
A James Dean Wannabe
Jim Van Orden remembers his first car, a well-used ’49 Merc.