Craig Gorris sent this over and it’s glorious… Essentially, it’s a 1954 film produced by Ford in an effort to show off Ford’s ability to create both jobs and great products.

This video might be a little late for us here at the Ford Barn, but I fell in love with it and had to post it. Essentially, it’s a one-minute spot produced by Ford that shows consumers just how quiet the 1965 Ford is relative to high-dollar Rolls Royce. Brilliant.

In 1957, Ford released what became one of their largest and most public failures – the Edsel. It was a risky venture. In fact, Ford invested over 250 million 1950’s era bones on the project – at that time, the most expensive development program they had ever taken on. History tells us the car failed for a number of reasons – marketing, manufacturing, timing, etc… To this day, folks argue and debate the reasons. I’m not in that game.

Recently, the confidential dealer video that announced the cars was released. Admittedly, it’s dry and boring… However, if you think about the ultimate demise of the car and contrast that with the incredibly optimistic tones while watching it, it’s really quite interesting.

Check it out:

The thing about early Fords is that they are just so damned utilitarian. They were built with a purpose and that functionality gives them their beauty. Make one even more specialized and they just get all the more special… As an example, enjoy this small gallery (after the break) of vintage wreckers.

Here’s an interesting concept car… In 1955, Ford used a Thunderbird chassis as a test bed for many different innovations including fuel injection and disc brakes. By 1962 or so, they were done with their tests and handed over the chassis to Dean Jeffries. Jeffries then turned the car into the “Cougar 406 Concept.”

It’s a graceful design for sure, but not one that was realistic. I don’t know that any of these styling cues made it to production in any way… Still, hard not to enjoy the view.

The North Carolina Highway Patrol was ready to do just about anything to protect and serve… Including drive Fords… FAST.

Some fine footage from a “Safety & Economy” run held in the 1950’s. The run started in Los Angeles and ended in Barstow, CA. It might be a little off topic to the Ford Barn, but what the hell – there’s a Ford or two in the footage!

Enjoy:

“See these completely new ‘55 Ford models at your Ford dealer tomorrow!”

Wouldn’t that be just peachy? I love ‘55 fords… So simple in design, but striking at the same time… Enjoy the commercials.

Here’s something you don’t see every day… The funeral of Henry Ford in a motion picture format. Most of you fellas know the story of Henry’s death. Put simply and frankly, he died of old age… gracefully. However, many don’t know the circumstances. The night before Henry died, there were torrential downfalls in the Michigan area. The River Rouge overflowed which, in turn, flooded the local power station. Henry’s power went out in his home and he and his wife went to sleep by candle light.

The next morning, Mrs. Ford woke up and found that Henry had died in the night – in the same room that he was born in 83 years earlier.

UPDATE: Apparently, the Ford archives had this video mislabeled. It’s actually the funeral of Clara Ford – Henry’s wife. She died in September, 1950 of natural causes in the Henry Ford Hospital.

On September 24, 1960, Lee Iacocca saw his dream become a reality. That was the day that Flora, Illinois became “Ford Town USA.” It was a huge promotional stunt that Lee organized for Ford. Essentially, all 1600 citizens of Flora with a registered vehicle was given a new for 1961 Ford Falcon, Fairlane, Thunderbird, or truck to test drive for one week. All the passenger cars were painted white while the trucks were dressed in blue. For that one week, Flora was surely a sight to behold.

Your best friend? He had a brand new Ford for a week. That schmuck that stole your lunch money every day in grade school? Driving a new Ford. Your moms? Loving a new Fairlane. The local Chevrolet dealer? Sporting a white Ford. You? You don’t mind the new Falcon so much.

It went down like a country style Lemans start. Every eligible citizen was given a number. The 1600 Fords were numbered as well and parked in a field just outside of town. At 10:23 AM, the citizens of Flora were let loose and sprint across the field to find their new loaner.

You just gotta know that shenanigans ensued. I mean if Ford gave me a new car for a week it damn sure wouldn’t be “near new” when they got it back and I’m a pretty decent guy. What would a real hoodlum do?

I’ve searched and searched for dark sided stories, arrests, and general law shifting that went on during Ford week, but found nothing. In fact, all that seems to remain from the week of wonder are these three photos and some PR sprinkled press clips. We are just left to wonder…

In an ironic twist, Flora no longer has a Ford dealership.