Ford’s 1963 Allegro concept. Photo courtesy Ford Motor Company.
In the decades following the Second World War, the drive to produce a more stylish automobile year upon year created an arms race between American automakers, none of which were content to lose ground to rival brands in the quest for driveway dominance. In 1964, with the introduction of the Mustang behind it, Ford released Styling and the Experimental Car, a short film that gave a glimpse into Ford’s views on automotive design and its occasionally accurate vision of the future.
If the Allegro concept looks familiar, it should; the car’s long hood and fastback styling influenced the production Mustang’s lines, as did the car’s recessed headlamps and protruding grille. The adjustable pedals seen in the Allegro concept would eventually find their way into production, as would the tiltaway steering wheel to allow easy egress (although the cantilever design with push-button adjustability shown in the video never reached production). The Allegro concept lived on in several other forms, including a roadster variant with styling similar to the fastback and a later Allegro II variant (shown in 1967) that bore a striking resemblance to the 1974 Mustang II.
The Cougar II never saw production, but perhaps it should have. Obviously a shot by Henry Ford II across the bows of Italian automakers Lamborghini and Ferrari, the Cougar II could have served as a halo car for Ford, complete with European influenced styling, an upscale and driver-centric cockpit, and world class performance from its high-output V-8 engine. Such a car may have altered public perception of Ford, but the automaker was already busy with its GT40 endurance racing program; while the Cougar II never took on the Italian brands in the showroom, the GT40 soundly defeated Ferrari on the race track.
The Aurora concept died on the show stage, but many of its ideas saw production decades later. The concept predicted a crude form of navigation system (as did GM’s earlier Firebird concept), and decades later a demilitarized global positioning system made guided navigation and vehicle tracking a reality. Though the Aurora’s dozen front headlamps never saw production, the idea of a luminescent grille made it to the 1986 Mercury Sable, which was produced in both wagon and sedan form. The “constant speed device” is now known as cruise control, and several automakers offer beverage coolers and even heated compartments in affordable family vehicles. While multiple radios never found favor, most modern minivans (which, sadly, have supplanted station wagons as the family car of choice) now feature rear audio controls, and few modern parents would embark on a long-distance road trip without a supply of kid-friendly DVDs for the rear seat video screens. Even the Aurora’s variable ratio steering is now common, and new electric steering systems allow driver to change the perceived weight of the steering without affecting the car’s steering ratio (and thus its handling).
The Aurora concept’s clamshell tailgate. Still image from video.
Beyond these pictured concepts, there is still quite a bit of truth in Ford’s film. The public still decides, though perhaps to a lesser degree, which concepts progress beyond the show circuit and into production. Stylists are still part artist and part engineer, and modern concepts are still meant to inspire the public, even if they’re no longer as futuristic and forward-looking as in years past. As Ford so aptly states in Styling and the Experimental Car, the search for beauty never ends.
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