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.
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.
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.
