Tag Archives: Ford

The Mystery of the Ford Capri

It’s been one of the greatest mysteries of the transportation industry: Just who designed the Ford Capri?

It’s taken four decades, but we finally know the answer. And interestingly enough—and probably not surprisingly—he was an Art Center alum. Phil Clark, an Iowa native who graduated from Art Center in 1958 and went to work for Ford in 1962, was the designer of Mustang’s galloping horse logo. Thanks to his daughter Holly, Clark has been identified as the designer of the Capri as well.

Holly was just a toddler when her father died of kidney failure at age 32. As an adult, she began an extensive investigation, piecing together his surviving art folios.

From Hemmings Blog: “‘Code-named GBX, his drawings and clay models for Project Colt, the name given to Capri preproduction planning within Ford, range from 1964 through 1966,’ said Norm Murdock, executive of the Ford Capri Hall of Fame, which inducted Clark earlier this month when the news came to light. Early Clark renderings show nearly all the classical Capri hallmarks: Long hood, short rear deck, fastback pillars with notchback rear window, squared-off rear quarter, upswept front valence, dramatic side crease, etc.’”

Read more at Hemmings Blog and at Holly’s fascinating site about her father.

Making Concept Cars That Work

Check out this great L.A. Times profile on Art Center Transportation Design alum Freeman Thomas, design director for Ford Motor Co.’s strategic concepts group in Irvine.

Thomas has helped design the new Beetle, the first Audi TT and the Chrysler 300. Now his latest creation is the eco-friendly Start.

From the article: “The Ford Start concept vehicle is a small, ‘eco-friendly’ car with a 1-liter, turbocharged, three-cylinder engine that puts out 120 horsepower. He said it could get more than 60 miles per gallon, depending on driving conditions. ‘The basic idea of the car was finding a polished pebble on the sand. You are attracted to that pebble and you want to pick it up and play with it. We want the car to look as if nature had shaped it,’ Thomas said. Although there are no production plans for the vehicle, he says it is a serious concept that is ‘buildable.’ Anything else would be a waste of time and Ford’s money, Thomas said. ‘If we don’t combine design and marketing and engineering into the concept cars, it is a fruitless exercise. You have to be able to make the concept cars that work.’”

Very cool. Read more: Ford’s Freeman Thomas has a better idea, and check out this video of the Start featuring J Mays, another of our Transportation Design alums and Ford’s chief creative officer below: