I am based in Beirut LEBANON. I have small collection of american and other vintage cars. as the topic about 1973 Fords 2 years ago I bought 1973 Ford Mustang Hardtop coupe bronze ext color with brown vinyl int. 8600 original miles with alk documentation & owners manual. 302 2B, PS, PB, Factory AC, Factory AM radio, manual window. ease view my car at http://www.connorsmotorcar.com/vehicles/258/1973-ford-mustang
Fascinating, if dated. Amazing to see how manual the process was 45 years ago coupled with the shear complexity of getting all of that stuff together into a completed working product – something that many take for granted! Thx for posting.
Those folks were mighty busy during production of those 1973 models in that record breaking year. It is funny to listen to all of the talk of quality when that was an era where Ford had a lot of trouble with it in some areas. I loved the crowing about their fabulous rustproofing. 🙂
But wow, can I ever smell those brand new Fords. Great film!
I loved the crowing about their fabulous rustproofing. ?
Surely what Ford was doing in 73 was redundant. Fisher Body declared in 55 “a through rustproofing protects them for a lifetime” (at the 22:45 mark). They must be talking about the “lifetime” of a Mayfly.
April Fools? How can the regrettable 1973 Fords be a favorite?
Favorite mistake? I remember being carpooled in a new 1973 Gran Torino wagon and noticing how it seemed to rattle apart increasingly w/ each ride. That car was pure junk.
1973, when not just the cars and computers were bigger … the sideburns were too. This video is an interesting find; I had an all-day interview at Ford engineering in 1976 and I found it fascinating, but ultimately couldn’t face moving from California to Michigan.
Really enjoyed that. I find it good to be reminded how much work goes in to making even the most ordinary cars, the scale of work involved, and what a large portion of many lives it takes to make it happen.
Interesting to watch, some of Ford’s styling exercises bore a remarkable resemblance to what GM was doing around the same time. Some of the drawings are remarkably colonnade-like.
I’ve seen a few similar films from GM or Chrysler made in the same general time frame, but never one from Ford. Good find.
Ford may have at first planned to match GM’s fastback Colonnades, but then the Personal Lux formal roof look sold better. The ’77 T-Bird may have evolved from these drawings.
The funny and sad thing about this video is that it shows at least one part of Ford had it completely nailed on where the market was going. Environmental concerns, quality issues, even labor relations- the problems that would destroy the industry 30 years later were obviously already known. So is this video a cynical attempt to pay lip service to the public’s concerns, or an earnest acknowledgment that they were trying to do better, only just to horribly fail on the execution side?
Good watching, I think it highlights just how complex it is to put a mass market car into production,
Lots of great moments in the video, but I loved https://youtu.be/AIibGVQQMpA?t=13m57s where he says “stopped on a dime” as the vast land yacht dives and slews on its undersized tires. Even then, surely consumers must have experienced a little cognitive dissonance between the images and the words?
I binge watched all the Bud Lindemann test videos a long time ago and based on their results I think this is true. Half the cars they’d brake test ended up sideways, the other half had severe rear axle hop(mostly the mopars). Different standards, only car they tested that would been merely passable today would have been the Jaguar XKE
That was an interesting start to my morning! Amazing journey from the mining of the iron ore to the finished product. Computers have come a long way (big warehouses holding data from a computer!), and I am sure robots have taken over most of the work those guys were doing on the production lines. I did notice that the door on one of the cars was not properly aligned before the painting process took place.
Thanks for this, Paul. I’ll be sure to share with my career-FoMoCo father next time I see him.
Some of shots looked like the Cleveland Foundry & Engine Assembly plants of my acquaintance, but one big takeaway is that that’s how the (middle-American) world looked back then, fashions and all. It seems truer time-warp than, say, a ’73 Hollywood film or advertisement.
For me, it’s just “back then,” but I’ve gotta remind myself that a 20-yr-old seeing it today is like me in ’73 seeing a 1928 production film.
BTW, I want to salute the Periscope Film firm, which does a lot of WWII stuff. They can’t keep preparing & sharing their transfers & restorations “for free,” and so the online samples have their watermark, which I shouldn’t complain about.
After watching this film I’m amazed that with all the technology available at the time that cars weren’t better engineered and assembled. I seem to remember that the standard warranty for a new Ford in the early 70s was 2 years or 24k miles. Does that seem right? Returns for warranty work had to cost Ford money on the back end instead of building it right on the front end. I guess I’m spoiled with modern cars with long waranties and great build quality. I remember back in the 50’s and 60’s that my dad would trade in a car every three years because by that time they were worn out.
A friend from college, mechanical engineer, was working for Ford at this time in the crash testing and safety area. He told me a lot of stories that probably should not ever be repeated. He did say that scheduling was a nightmare. Getting everyone to agree on what the configuration of the crash car was to be and finding a time when everyone who needed to be there was available was almost impossible. So, there were a lot of extra crashes needed because engineering could not settle on what to test.
I was expecting the usual dried out, clear but slightly drawled cigaretty voice universal in the commentary in any US documentary from the ’40’s through to the late ’80’s, but this one took me aback. Quite mellifluous and precise, and I’d put money on it being Orson Welles. Luckily, I have none, but I wonder if anyone else thinks so?
I am based in Beirut LEBANON. I have small collection of american and other vintage cars. as the topic about 1973 Fords 2 years ago I bought 1973 Ford Mustang Hardtop coupe bronze ext color with brown vinyl int. 8600 original miles with alk documentation & owners manual. 302 2B, PS, PB, Factory AC, Factory AM radio, manual window. ease view my car at http://www.connorsmotorcar.com/vehicles/258/1973-ford-mustang
Fascinating, if dated. Amazing to see how manual the process was 45 years ago coupled with the shear complexity of getting all of that stuff together into a completed working product – something that many take for granted! Thx for posting.
Those folks were mighty busy during production of those 1973 models in that record breaking year. It is funny to listen to all of the talk of quality when that was an era where Ford had a lot of trouble with it in some areas. I loved the crowing about their fabulous rustproofing. 🙂
But wow, can I ever smell those brand new Fords. Great film!
I loved the crowing about their fabulous rustproofing. ?
Surely what Ford was doing in 73 was redundant. Fisher Body declared in 55 “a through rustproofing protects them for a lifetime” (at the 22:45 mark). They must be talking about the “lifetime” of a Mayfly.
They were talking about the lifetime of the car. When it rusts out, that’s the end of its lifetime!
“no 2 [new] cars exactly alike” Not anymore.
I wish I can go back and live in 70s or even 80s. I honestly Hate the Evil present even with all tech advances.
April Fools? How can the regrettable 1973 Fords be a favorite?
Favorite mistake? I remember being carpooled in a new 1973 Gran Torino wagon and noticing how it seemed to rattle apart increasingly w/ each ride. That car was pure junk.
1973, when not just the cars and computers were bigger … the sideburns were too. This video is an interesting find; I had an all-day interview at Ford engineering in 1976 and I found it fascinating, but ultimately couldn’t face moving from California to Michigan.
At 8:09, in the outdoor sequence, there’s a ’74 Mustang II fastback in the shot, undisguised.
Really enjoyed that. I find it good to be reminded how much work goes in to making even the most ordinary cars, the scale of work involved, and what a large portion of many lives it takes to make it happen.
Interesting to watch, some of Ford’s styling exercises bore a remarkable resemblance to what GM was doing around the same time. Some of the drawings are remarkably colonnade-like.
I’ve seen a few similar films from GM or Chrysler made in the same general time frame, but never one from Ford. Good find.
I noticed a few Collonade like designs as well, one looked freakishly close to the 73 Cutlass.
Ford may have at first planned to match GM’s fastback Colonnades, but then the Personal Lux formal roof look sold better. The ’77 T-Bird may have evolved from these drawings.
The funny and sad thing about this video is that it shows at least one part of Ford had it completely nailed on where the market was going. Environmental concerns, quality issues, even labor relations- the problems that would destroy the industry 30 years later were obviously already known. So is this video a cynical attempt to pay lip service to the public’s concerns, or an earnest acknowledgment that they were trying to do better, only just to horribly fail on the execution side?
I guess some of the footage was shot in 72, as there were a few Bumpside (fifth generation) pickups on the car haulers.
I noticed a few Mach 1 Mustangs with the 72 style stripes too.
Good watching, I think it highlights just how complex it is to put a mass market car into production,
Lots of great moments in the video, but I loved https://youtu.be/AIibGVQQMpA?t=13m57s where he says “stopped on a dime” as the vast land yacht dives and slews on its undersized tires. Even then, surely consumers must have experienced a little cognitive dissonance between the images and the words?
Back then, I’m not sure that most American drivers knew any better.
I binge watched all the Bud Lindemann test videos a long time ago and based on their results I think this is true. Half the cars they’d brake test ended up sideways, the other half had severe rear axle hop(mostly the mopars). Different standards, only car they tested that would been merely passable today would have been the Jaguar XKE
I remember many elder folks back then hated power brakes, and were used to Model A like stopping distances, hence they drove slow.
That was an interesting start to my morning! Amazing journey from the mining of the iron ore to the finished product. Computers have come a long way (big warehouses holding data from a computer!), and I am sure robots have taken over most of the work those guys were doing on the production lines. I did notice that the door on one of the cars was not properly aligned before the painting process took place.
Thanks for this, Paul. I’ll be sure to share with my career-FoMoCo father next time I see him.
Some of shots looked like the Cleveland Foundry & Engine Assembly plants of my acquaintance, but one big takeaway is that that’s how the (middle-American) world looked back then, fashions and all. It seems truer time-warp than, say, a ’73 Hollywood film or advertisement.
For me, it’s just “back then,” but I’ve gotta remind myself that a 20-yr-old seeing it today is like me in ’73 seeing a 1928 production film.
BTW, I want to salute the Periscope Film firm, which does a lot of WWII stuff. They can’t keep preparing & sharing their transfers & restorations “for free,” and so the online samples have their watermark, which I shouldn’t complain about.
After watching this film I’m amazed that with all the technology available at the time that cars weren’t better engineered and assembled. I seem to remember that the standard warranty for a new Ford in the early 70s was 2 years or 24k miles. Does that seem right? Returns for warranty work had to cost Ford money on the back end instead of building it right on the front end. I guess I’m spoiled with modern cars with long waranties and great build quality. I remember back in the 50’s and 60’s that my dad would trade in a car every three years because by that time they were worn out.
A friend from college, mechanical engineer, was working for Ford at this time in the crash testing and safety area. He told me a lot of stories that probably should not ever be repeated. He did say that scheduling was a nightmare. Getting everyone to agree on what the configuration of the crash car was to be and finding a time when everyone who needed to be there was available was almost impossible. So, there were a lot of extra crashes needed because engineering could not settle on what to test.
I was expecting the usual dried out, clear but slightly drawled cigaretty voice universal in the commentary in any US documentary from the ’40’s through to the late ’80’s, but this one took me aback. Quite mellifluous and precise, and I’d put money on it being Orson Welles. Luckily, I have none, but I wonder if anyone else thinks so?