FORD MOTOR COMPANY STYLING CENTER 1961 PROMOTIONAL FILM "THE SECRET DOOR" 88464
This film is an adaptation of a 1961 episode, “The Secret Door,” from Jack Douglas’ series Keyhole for presentation by the Ford Motor Company. Jack Douglas greets the audience from the studio. Viewers see a security man open the door to the Ford Motor Company’s Dearborn, MI Styling Center. William Clay Ford joins Douglas on set for the episode (00:50). Douglas sits and talks with Ford, who is head of product planning and design at the company. The episode shows Greenfield Village (02:19), the first Ford Factory (relocated from Detroit), and the 1903 Ford model as it drives on a road. The episode also shows a 1910 Model T (03:13), a 1929 Model A, and William Clay Ford as he drives a Thunderbird along the Edsel Ford Expressway on his way to work (03:42). He drives through security at the Ford Styling Center. In the Advanced Styling Studio (04:35), men sketch new designs for cars. Ford and a styling executive, Gene Bordinat, look at sketches of new designs. Ford and other members of the Styling Committee review a new design dubbed the Astrion (05:48). A man builds a wooden skeleton for a full-scale clay model of the Astrion (06:10). Men apply warm clay and shape the new design. Inside one of the clay modeler’s homes, viewers see him design clay masks; viewers see inside another designer’s home as he paints. A man makes an interior appliance-a metal door handle-in the metal shop (08:15). Men add lights to the clay model of the Astrion. Mr. Bordinat looks at different fabrics for the car (09:12). Upholsters work on fabrics used in the interior of the car. Men put a thin film of plastic on the clay model to simulate glass windows. Sheets of painted DI-NOC are applied to mimic painting for the body. The Astrion model is presented to the Styling Board (10:40). A rejected model of a car is flipped over and destroyed. A man climbs into a model of a Futura (11:50). The car is tested for its aerodynamics in a massive wind tunnel named Hurricane Road. The Futura is frozen to test its response to sub-freezing temperatures (12:40). A man tests the car’s brake systems, while another tests the decibel levels of the engine. A test driver climbs into a Futura at the Dearborn Proving Ground and drives the car around the high-speed track (14:00). A man works on a delta-shaped model car, modeled after the delta wing (15:05). A toy train is used to test ideas for a compact radar scope (warning device). A man uses a small model of the Delta that features a gyroscope for stability. A man works on a model of the Volante (16:58). Men look at a model “dream” tractor called the Typhoon (18:15). The episode then takes viewers to “Dreamville” (18:48), where they see a number of advanced-design cars on display, including one that looks like a hovercraft and others that look like rockets and jet planes. Douglas and William Clay Ford talk about the future of the car design on the set of Keyhole, concluding the episode.
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Nice to see the Batmobile being put through its paces.
That Lincoln Futura was a concept car and was the original Batmobile in 1966 TV show.
Starting in 2020, this design center in this video is being torn down. The secret door is no more. It's being replaced by something more elaborate and just as tightly secured. If your anywhere near Greenfield Village, just park in the parking lot, and look across the street, and see the new styling center go up.
All those concept cars and models, quite the pieces of art!
Great to see some proven techniques, old but a few used today. Thanks for sharing.
How far we have strayed. Instead of a new model evey year, we drive white/black/gray/silver crossover SUVs. Little boxes, and they all look just the same.
My Grand Dad had a 61 T Bird too, and worked a little way further at Engineering. This was right before Mustang planning. And my cousin worked at Design Center on Rotunda making prototypes until 08. Me, I drive a Dodge & Chevy.
"KEYHOLE" was originally syndicated in the 1961-'62 season (distributed by Ziv-United Artists), and lasted 39 episodes. The original version of this episode was initially syndicated in early 1962.
The future isn't what it used to be.
Ford always had the best taillights. While I was working for a Pontiac dealer, someone brought in a '70s Torino. When it went on the lift, we all gathered around. It was highly superior to the junk we had come accustomed to. Ford is a stand-up company. The only one that didn't go begging to Congress for distress money. I'm sorry to see them suffering and ready to leave the US market.
@sylviafrank8302
4 жыл бұрын
Alex T .. Henry Ford was one of the greatest Americans in the history of our country.
@drpoundsign
4 жыл бұрын
@@sylviafrank8302 A NAZI!!
@OHUQTU
3 жыл бұрын
@@drpoundsign - he was a Hitler/NAZI sympathizer and Jew hater, as were many in the USA in the 1930's. He was never a NAZI
@21stcenturyfossil7
2 жыл бұрын
Ford sold millions of cars with a design flaw in their automatic transmissions which allowed the transmission to sometimes shift itself from park to reverse. Under the rules of the time, Ford would be required to recall and repair those cars. That would cost billions and really hurt Ford's profits. So, Ford whined and cajoled the Feds, who knuckled under and allowed Ford to simply mail a warning decal, to be attached by the owner. I knew a guy from a transmission repair shop who was really hot about this settlement. He said the notch in the gearshift quadrant was both shallower and closer to the reverse notch than on GM or Chrysler products. At the shop, idling Fords would occasionally shift themselves into reverse as the door was slammed. He said he almost was hit by one of those driverless, reversing Fords. Soon after, the shop banned letting Fords idle without a driver. More people were killed by the reversing Ford automatic transmissions than the exploding Pintos. But, thanks to Ford's friends in the Federal Government, it all was set right with a mail in sticker, not a recall.
@MidKid61
2 жыл бұрын
@@21stcenturyfossil7 I had a 1972 Maverick where it did jump into reverse on it's own after I put it in park. It sounds like a simple fix to the problem. Fords did have a closer notch than GM, Chrysler or AMC products.
Strange how they are testing the Futura long after they originally had it built. It was painted red for the film "It Started With A Kiss" in 1959 so it was already more than four years old by then.
Each manufacturer had their own details, but Detroit products followed the same general trends. There was the Inverted Bathtub Era (1938 -1955), the Rocketship Era (1955 -1963) followed by the Domed Slab or Aircraft Carrier Era (1963 - ? I think the Caprice Classic and Crown Victoria were the last of these). This remains true today, the most produced body style is the mid-size SUV, available in ten different marques and none really distinguishable from the others.
@zchris87v80
Жыл бұрын
Amen. Can’t tell a BMW from a Hyundai these days. That’s why my most recent purchase is a 1964 Comet Caliente convertible.
@michaelplunkett8059
Жыл бұрын
And ony 3 colors, black, white gray.
That old timer of a security guard watching the unwanted sketches burning up,looks like he doesn't know what he's looking at.
The host of "The Secret Door", Jack Douglas, looks and sounds like Eugene Levy, from SCTV, doing his Bobby Bittmann character.
19:36 Considering that star trek first aired in 1966 and this is from 1961 you can see where the designers of the enterprise got their ideas from.
Industrial espionage is a serious concern. That Astrion never made it past the prototype stage. Buick Division always got the lion's share of R&D money from GM. The Astrion might have competed with Buick's Riviera in its day.
@tomservo56954
2 жыл бұрын
It's more likely to have become the next-generation Thunderbird...already a target for the yet to be introduced Riviera.
I grew up a child of a Ford dealer executive and eventual owner. I was able to see and eventually drive many beautiful and different Fords. It's so sad to see how far this once premier automaker has fallen in quality and customer service.
11:48 Batmobile
@Raiderzombie57
4 жыл бұрын
The best batmobile with a great story
@zchris87v80
Жыл бұрын
@@Kamina1703 and, as much as they’re hated, Gotham Garage kept the futura alive
They did eventually bring out radar at the front of the car but it was 45 plus years later
Automotive design is different nowadays because of CADD software. Also, at that time aerodynamics (exterior) and ergonomics (interior) did not have much importance in production cars...the shapes of surfaces were more limitless.
Boy, did they get the future wrong.
12:22 Original Batmobile
Every production back then had to start with blaring horns and long credits
FORD!!!!! Release the "AIR ENGINE" ...NOW!!!!
@ob1kubota465
3 жыл бұрын
Tata Motors of India has actually made one.
@rayroberson298
2 жыл бұрын
@@ob1kubota465 some guy on you tube a free valve engine and you can get blue prints and information free don’t know if same thing you are talking about. Meant design wise
8:24 no eye protection
19:03...that vehicle was designed to be powered by a nuclear reactor.
@jgrothou
2 жыл бұрын
“Nucleon!”
@lestersabados1306
2 жыл бұрын
They did build a few nuclear fission cars. As Pinto had a rear bumper made of flint, the nucleon didn't age well.
So much irony. - little Ford Jr. Jr. griping about "design is hard" - yeah - they made this film a year after that great Edsel design was finally taken back of the barn and shot; then proceed to show nothing but the worst designs possible - even the fantasy cars sucked and if it weren't for Barris modding that Futura we wouldn't even give THAT mess a 2nd glance. Last irony is that the current '61 Galaxies and Starliners in coupe form were actually really nice simple timeless designs. 🚙
If you let people into the room with cameras, via “The Secret Door” well then what’s behind “The Secret Door” is no longer a “Secret” is it? Thus, “The Secret Door” is useless.
Lot's of design ques for future models show up here.