Timeless Design: Professor recalls heady days of Ford Mustang's birth- 50 years ago

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At first, the Mustang wasn小蝌蚪APP檛 supposed to be a passenger car. Instead, its designers were dreaming up a racecar.

Jerry Malinowski was one of those dreamers. In 1961, he graduated at the top of his class from the Cleveland Institute of Art and joined the team at Ford Motor Co.小蝌蚪APP檚 Design Styling Center in Dearborn, Mich., a suburb of Detroit.

小蝌蚪APP淒etroit was a 小蝌蚪APP榟appening,小蝌蚪APP 小蝌蚪APP Malinowski told La Louisiane, using a term that was hip in the 小蝌蚪APP60s.

Soul music was spinning out of the Motor City, where Ford made cars and Motown made stars like Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and The Supremes.

While the singers crooned and shimmied, business managers at Ford began to panic over the company小蝌蚪APP檚 declining sales.

In 1958, they had pinned their hopes of overtaking Buick and Oldsmobile with the Edsel, a car that was such a fiasco that its very name became synonymous with 小蝌蚪APP渆pic fail.小蝌蚪APP The Edsel cost the company an estimated $250 million 小蝌蚪APP the equivalent of more than $2 billion today. By 小蝌蚪APP61, Ford was pushing the Falcon, an affordable family car. It was a no-frills, no-thrills ride. But the sedan was too sedate. Sales were taking a dive.

America would soon be caught up in the zeitgeist of the 小蝌蚪APP60s. The space race was under way. The United States小蝌蚪APP military presence in Vietnam was starting to grow. On the domestic front, the dashing young president, John F. Kennedy, symbolized a new generation. Change was in the wind and Bob Dylan was singing about it.

Ford小蝌蚪APP檚 designers, including the 22-year-old Malinowski, were about to help the company change gears.

While the suits fretted about sales, the company小蝌蚪APP檚 owner, Henry Ford II 小蝌蚪APP the grandson of its founder 小蝌蚪APP lusted after Italian sports cars.

小蝌蚪APP淗e was obsessed with them,小蝌蚪APP Malinowski recalled in a recent interview. 小蝌蚪APP淗e had a Maserati and a Ferrari in his stable. And when he came by the Styling Center, he was often driving one of them.小蝌蚪APP

Multiple layers of managers all got the message and passed it on to the designers. 小蝌蚪APP淭hey kept saying, 小蝌蚪APP楳ake it more Italian.小蝌蚪APP That小蝌蚪APP檚 because when it came to design, Henry had the final say.小蝌蚪APP

The Design Styling Center where Malinowski worked was both a crucible of creativity and a grueling workplace.

小蝌蚪APP淭here was an attitude. It was a fast life. You worked 12-hour days and left at 9 o小蝌蚪APP檆lock at night. You worked eight hours on Saturdays and did even more work in your free time. As for a personal life, you didn小蝌蚪APP檛 have much of one. It was a crazy business.小蝌蚪APP

Think real-life Mad Men.

小蝌蚪APP淭here was definitely a hierarchy in management 小蝌蚪APP and plenty of chiefs. If you were a high chief, you had a sterling silver water pitcher on your desk. If you were a really high chief, you had a crystal water pitcher.小蝌蚪APP

Malinowski and his fellow designers didn小蝌蚪APP檛 have water pitchers 小蝌蚪APP or desks. They worked at drafting tables, churning out drawings and illustrations.

小蝌蚪APP淚t was the guys in the trenches who designed the cars,小蝌蚪APP he observed.

They pinned their designs to the wall and waited for the brass to approve or reject them. Those that got a green light were passed on to a team of modelers, who created full-scale versions in clay.

小蝌蚪APP淗enry Ford, along with Gene Bordinat, vice president of Ford design, and his entourage of chiefs and little chiefs, would come to the studio to review the drawings and clay models. They wanted 小蝌蚪APP榥ewness小蝌蚪APP 小蝌蚪APP  and it had to sell.小蝌蚪APP

Malinowski小蝌蚪APP檚 first assignment was in the Thunderbird Preproduction Studio.

小蝌蚪APP淚n a preproduction studio, designers are still trying out ideas,小蝌蚪APP he explained. Once a car was destined for the assembly line, its designers were more influenced by the dictates of physics and the practicality of the manufacturing process.

It takes about two to three years for a vehicle to evolve from the design phase, or ideation, to production. So, in 1961, Malinowski was helping redesign the car that would become the 1964 T-Bird.

小蝌蚪APP淭he problem was that the car had become too weighed down, in terms of design,小蝌蚪APP he said.

When it was introduced in 1955, the Thunderbird was a two-seater. In 小蝌蚪APP58, it became a four-passenger car. By 1960, the T-Bird resembled a tank. 小蝌蚪APP淪itting in the back seat of that car made you feel claustrophobic.小蝌蚪APP

Malinowski told his boss, studio chief Joe Oros, 小蝌蚪APP淚小蝌蚪APP檓 going to go back to the 1955 model.小蝌蚪APP

The lines of the Thunderbird and its profile, which featured a long hood and short trunk, suggested movement and velocity. Malinowski imitated those lines and explored new possibilities.

小蝌蚪APP淚 loved to experiment. I didn小蝌蚪APP檛 want my drawings to look like everybody else小蝌蚪APP檚,小蝌蚪APP he said.

He completed some of his early images using gouache, an opaque watercolor paint. 小蝌蚪APP淚 liked the freedom of it and the effect that came from using a brush. Part of the experience of using different media is that sometimes something wonderful 小蝌蚪APP and completely accidental 小蝌蚪APP happens. The way the water moves the pigment across the paper may reveal the beginning of a form, which gives you something to work with, something to explore, and it can take you in an unexpected direction.

小蝌蚪APP淭hat doesn小蝌蚪APP檛 happen on a computer. Even a pencil, just a regular pencil, can reveal something surprising.小蝌蚪APP

Malinowski小蝌蚪APP檚 小蝌蚪APP渋deations小蝌蚪APP for the 1964 Thunderbird  included a new feature: scooped-out side panels. Even though the cars had air conditioning, he wanted to capture the feeling of streaming down the highway in an open cockpit, or at least driving with the windows down. In designer-speak, those scoops were a celebration of the open road.

小蝌蚪APP淭he original intent was to celebrate ventilation to the claustrophobic rear,小蝌蚪APP he said. 小蝌蚪APP淚 wanted to give the impression of air flowing into the back seat.小蝌蚪APP

To sell decision makers on the idea, he drew a series of illustrations, including a version with stainless steel side scoops.

小蝌蚪APP淢any times, I would exaggerate parts of my drawings and illustrations to draw attention to certain areas,小蝌蚪APP he recalled. 小蝌蚪APP淟ighting and highlighting details you wanted them to focus on played a big part in getting your ideas chosen, then put into clay and into production.小蝌蚪APP

Although higher-ups didn小蝌蚪APP檛 entirely buy into Malinowski小蝌蚪APP檚 ideas, some of his suggestions were applied to the 1964 Thunderbird model. It didn小蝌蚪APP檛 have side scoops, but compared to the 1960 T-Bird, it looked like a car that flowed with the wind, instead of one that was continually pulled down by gravity.

In late January 1962, after only seven months in the preproduction studio, Malinowski was transferred to the Advanced Design studio, where he would work on Henry Ford II小蝌蚪APP檚 pet project: a racecar. Ford was determined to debut the car in the U.S. Grand Prix in October.

小蝌蚪APP淲e had to have a car designed, built and ready to show to the public, so time was not on our side. But that made it even more exciting.小蝌蚪APP The short turnaround gave the designers more freedom than usual, he explained. 小蝌蚪APP淏ecause decisions had to be made quickly, the details of the car didn小蝌蚪APP檛 get bogged down in management committees.

小蝌蚪APP淚nitially, there was no body design. There were no engineering constraints. It didn小蝌蚪APP檛 even have a name, but we knew it was going to have a horse on it.小蝌蚪APP

That小蝌蚪APP檚 because Henry Ford II wanted to shake a fist at Enzo Ferrari, the owner of the Italian car company, Scuderia Ferrari.

Ferrari小蝌蚪APP檚 logo, a black horse prancing on a field of yellow, originated with Francesco Baracca, Italy小蝌蚪APP檚 most decorated World War I fighter pilot. Baracca, who served in the cavalry division, had a similar horse painted on his plane. 小蝌蚪APP淭he story goes that Baracca小蝌蚪APP檚 mother asked Ferrari to use the cavallino rampante on his racecars to honor her son after he was killed in battle,小蝌蚪APP said Malinowski.

In the studio, the young designer applied concepts he had been developing for the Thunderbird.

小蝌蚪APP淚n most cases, we would start a concept drawing as a side view. And I was still working out the relationship of the front end to the side scoop.小蝌蚪APP The design quickly evolved into a mid-engine car. Instead of putting the engine in front, under the hood, the designers positioned it behind the driver. Having the weight of the engine closer to the center of the car could give it an advantage on the track, especially in turns.

The side scoops Malinowski had suggested to 小蝌蚪APP渃elebrate ventilation小蝌蚪APP now became functional. They would draw in air to cool the racecar小蝌蚪APP檚 engine.

In one of his drawings for the project, Malinowski experimented with racing stripes.

Most often, racing stripes run along the centerline of a car, parallel to the ground, to create the illusion of forward motion. Malinowski mixed things up. He used vertical stripes 小蝌蚪APP渋n red, white and blue to emphasize that it was an American car.小蝌蚪APP

After Ford management dubbed it the 小蝌蚪APP淢ustang,小蝌蚪APP studio chief Bob Maguire asked Malinowski and another designer, Phil Clark, to come up with an emblem for the racecar. 小蝌蚪APP淲e had a lot of fun with it,小蝌蚪APP Malinowski recalled.

Eventually, one of Clark小蝌蚪APP檚 horses and Malinowski小蝌蚪APP檚 stripes were combined to create the enduring Mustang logo.

A custom fabrication company built the car in 100 days, just in time for the Grand Prix. Ford hired Dan Gurney, the nation小蝌蚪APP檚 top racecar driver, to show off its new machine, the Mustang I, on the track in Watkins Glen, N.Y.

The sleek racecar turned heads and generated publicity. Bolstered by public reaction, company executives placed their bets on a passenger car that captured the wild Mustang spirit.

Another team of designers helped the sports car evolve into a concept car called the Mustang II, which led to commercial production of the Mustang.

With a fresh design, the company transformed the fuddy-duddy Falcon, the affordable car that was losing money. 小蝌蚪APP淗enry wanted a car with Ferrari flair and a Falcon price tag and that小蝌蚪APP檚 what we achieved,小蝌蚪APP said Malinowski.

Ford Motor Co. designed and built a car that weighed less than 2,500 pounds and cost less than $2,500. The weight limit helped control the cost of materials and, ultimately, the sticker price. The production model of the Mustang also used the Falcon platform, all its mechanical parts, and in some cases, interior parts as well. 小蝌蚪APP淭oday, that approach is called sustainable design.小蝌蚪APP

On April 17, 1964, at the New York World小蝌蚪APP檚 Fair, Ford introduced something new: 小蝌蚪APP淗enry小蝌蚪APP檚小蝌蚪APP affordable car with European styling. The Mustang was a sports car and a family car with a base price of just $2,368.

Buyers could select a hardtop or a convertible and could choose from 15 colors, which included Chantilly Beige and Pagoda Green, Rangoon Red and Wimbledon White.

America succumbed to Mustang madness. On that first day, buyers placed 22,000 orders.

小蝌蚪APP淕ood design sells,小蝌蚪APP said Malinowski. Within two years, Ford had sold more than a million Mustangs and changed forever the way Americans looked at cars.

By then, Malinowski had moved on, first to Philco, a Ford subsidiary that manufactured home products. There he designed refrigerators, cooking ranges, radios and televisions.

In 1964, he went to Japan, where he designed electronics for Panasonic Corp. In 小蝌蚪APP67, he moved to Syracuse 小蝌蚪APP, where he ultimately designed a bobsled for the 1988 U.S. Olympic team and helped America come within striking distance of a medal. The bobsledders finished fourth, beaten by the Soviets by just 2/100ths of a second. In 1992, Malinowski tried a new design, which was tested by Boeing Corp. and deemed the most aerodynamic bobsled ever.

In 1999, after retiring from Syracuse, he made his way to Lafayette to help establish the 小蝌蚪APP小蝌蚪APP檚 new industrial design program.

小蝌蚪APP淗ow could I resist a place with alligators on campus? I had to see that for myself!小蝌蚪APP

Since then, he小蝌蚪APP檚 connected with the culture 小蝌蚪APP he goes out Cajun dancing at least twice a week 小蝌蚪APP and with UL Lafayette students.

Over the years, they have benefitted from lessons about timeless design from someone who helped create a car that, 50 years later, is still an object of desire.