Exotic powertrains, two- or six-wheelers, original composite materials, reconfigurable cabins, detachable engines… Ford’s engineers and designers were not short of ideas.
They still had to be a bit realistic…
Ford “soybean car” 1941
Photo: Ford
plastic, it’s awesome! At least that’s what Henry Ford thought. In his obsession with combining agriculture and industry, he saw soybeans as a magical plant. In the 1930s he started a program to make plastic body panels from soy fiber. The first drawings were by Eugene T. Gregorie, but Ford was apparently not satisfied. He then entrusts the project to Lowell E. Overly, who is assisted by chemist Robert A. Boyer (the latter will file the first patent applications for imitation meats made from soy in 1953).
A prototype was presented on August 13, 1941. It was based on a tubular chassis and used a 136 cubic inch (2.2 liter) V8 with 60 hp. Installed on top of this are 14-quarter-inch-thick plastic body panels said to be made from soybean fiber impregnated with phenoplast and formaldehyde (a technique relatively similar to the East German Trabant 601’s thermoset panels, but with cotton fiber). We don’t know more because the wording was never revealed and would have disappeared today. The final weight is around 2,000 pounds (900 kg), almost 25% less than an equivalent car of the time. World War II will stop Ford’s project. After the conflict, the company is more concerned with ensuring its survival than with experimentation. The prototype is destroyed and work is stopped.
1961 Ford Gyron
Photo: Ford
A 4-wheel car is too commonplace. Three wheels, that’s more interesting, but still too easy. So why not two wheels? The idea is to optimize air penetration. It comes from Alex Tremulis, a designer who will have an extraordinary career. Before World War II he was styling manager at Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg and worked for several coachbuilders. After the Pearl Harbor bombing, he joined the armed forces. After the conflict, he designed the lines of the 1948 Tucker before returning to Ford’s advanced styling studio. There he can develop concepts related to his passion: aerodynamics. He begins with the first sketches of a two-wheeled car stabilized by a gyroscope.
The project took shape in 1959. With the help of Syd Mead (illustrator genius) and McKinley Thompson (future designer of the 1966 Bronco), he built a scale model, a fairly large gyroscope, which was eventually presented at the 1961 New York Auto Show Show without this technology and with two retractable rear wheels for stability. The brochure states that “Ford’s stylists were guaranteed that a gyroscope under two feet would be sufficient to stabilize the vehicle”. Passengers enter the interior through the roof, which rises. You can then settle into two one-piece molded seats that surround a phone to communicate with the outside world. No more steering wheel, it’s a rotary dial with two rings (one for speed, one for direction) that steers the car! The dashboard includes a screen with infrared vision. After the show, the Gyron will be displayed at Ford’s Rotunda, a Dearborn exhibition center. It will burn down with the building on November 9, 1962.
However, this is not the end of the story. After leaving Ford in 1963 and starting his own design company, Tremulis continued to work on stabilized vehicles. In 1967 he presented the Gyro-X, a fully functional one-seater model with a mini engine. In front of the driver is the gyroscope, which rotates between 4,000 and 6,000 rpm. The car still exists today and has been restored.
1958 Ford Nucleon
Photo: Ford
This prototype is an absolute testament to the unwavering optimism of the 1950s: how about a car that could drive 8,000 kilometers between visits to the gas station? The solution is to use a nuclear reactor coupled to a steam engine instead of a gasoline engine. Obviously not a question of refueling. The rear blocks, containing the radioactive core and all insulation, are interchangeable at the station.
Ford suggests the reactor could be fusion or fission, and even thinks it could be customized to suit the driver’s needs. Of course, the company leaves it to the engineers of the future to sort out the final details… such as radioactivity issues in the event of an accident… Unsurprisingly, the idea will never go beyond a mockup on the 3/. 8. scale.
Ford Seattle-ite XXI 1962
Photo: Ford
This concept was developed to be presented at the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, hence the name. After exploring a two-wheeled car, Alex Tremulis took a completely different path for one of his latest designs for Ford: a 6-wheeled car! The four front wheels steer and improve traction and braking. But the most interesting thing is that the entire front block is removable. It can be replaced to change the engine, which could be a fuel cell or nuclear reactor…we’ll get back to that! The performance targeted by Ford ranges from 60 to 400 hp.
The controls (steering, brakes, accelerator pedal) are connected to the passenger compartment via flexible couplings. The latter is not left out since it includes a screen for the ancestor of the GPS, while the steering wheel disappears in favor of control levers. In order not to die from the heat under this glass bubble, openable shutters are installed on the back. A brochure will be distributed during the exhibition, but logically this concept will not go beyond the 3/8 model stage.
1966 Ford Ranger II
Photo: Ford
From the 1960s, Ford understood that vans were gradually becoming machines for all purposes, not just for work. Originally developed by Syd Mead and built on a 120 inch (3.05 meter) wheelbase F-250 chassis, the Ranger II features hydraulically opening doors integrated into the windshield. However, this is not the most amazing feature of the concept. Because to go from a 2-seater with an 8-foot box to a 4-seater for the weekend, the rear of the cabin moves back 45 centimeters, an additional roof section lifts and two additional seats fold out.
The box has a walnut floor, interior lighting and aluminum loading rails. The interior includes bucket seats and power steering, tilt steering wheel, AM/FM radio and air conditioning. The engine is a 390 cf (6.4 liter) V8 with three carburetors mated to a 3-speed SelectShift Cruise-O-Matic automatic transmission.
The Ranger II is shown at the Detroit Auto Show in November 1966. The following year it is modified and presented as the Ranger III. Ford will add a hood that opens automatically from the inside.
Mercury Wrist Twist 1965
Photo: Ford
Many have tried to reinvent the wheel, but in 1965 Robert J. Rumpf, a Ford engineer, attempted to reinvent the steering wheel. The system was demonstrated on 1965 Mercury Park Lane convertibles. The two small flywheels are synchronized. They control chains that run through the two fixed arms and are mounted on the steering shaft. The benefit is easier access, better visibility and long-distance driving comfort as you can rest your arms on the armrests.
The difficulty is that if the hydraulic assistance is lost, turning becomes absolutely impossible. To counteract this, engineers added a second hydraulic assist pump. Imagine the head of accountants! If Ford considered marketing it for a while, the Wrist-Twist was primarily a solution to a problem.