The Ford Vega was the winning entry in a

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

-sponsored automotive design contest completed in 1953. Only one example was created.

History

GIs A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing Geographic data and information, geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with Geographic information system software, sof ...

returning after serving overseas in the years following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

were bringing home MGs,

Jaguars The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the thi ...

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." ...

s, and similar European

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

s, a category that largely did not exist for American manufacturers. In 1951,

Nash Motors Nash Motors Company was an American automobile manufacturer based in Kenosha, Wisconsin from 1916 to 1937. From 1937 to 1954, Nash Motors was the automotive division of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation. Nash production continued from 1954 to 195 ...

began selling an expensive two-seat sports car, the

Nash-Healey The Nash-Healey is a three-seat luxury sports car or grand tourer produced from 1951 to 1954. It was marketed by the Nash-Kelvinator conglomerate in North America as a halo car to promote sales of its Nash Motors division. The car was the resu ...

, that was made in partnership with the Italian designer

Pininfarina Pininfarina S.p.A. (short for Carrozzeria Pininfarina) is an Italian car design firm and coachbuilder, with headquarters in Cambiano, Turin, Italy. The company was founded by Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930. On 14 December 2015, the Indian mu ...

and British auto engineer

Donald Healey Donald Mitchell Healey CBE (3 July 1898 – 15 January 1988) was a noted English car designer, rally driver and speed record holder. Early life Born in Perranporth, Cornwall, elder son of Frederick (John Frederick) and Emma Healey (née Mitc ...

, but there were few moderate-priced models. GM responded with the hand-built, EX-122 pre-production Corvette prototype, first shown on January 17, 1953. Production began six months later, with the

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...

bodied

Chevrolet Corvette (C1) The Chevrolet Corvette (C1) is the first generation of the Corvette sports car produced by Chevrolet. It was introduced late in the 1953 model year, and produced through 1962. This generation is commonly referred to as the "solid-axle" generati ...

Ford also responded. The Ford Vega was conceived as an entry to a Ford-sponsored design contest,

Henry Ford II Henry Ford II (September 4, 1917 – September 29, 1987), sometimes known as "Hank the Deuce", was an American businessman in the automotive industry. He was the oldest son of Edsel Ford I and oldest grandson of Henry Ford I. He was president ...

expressed interest and provided the additional financing needed for the completion of the lightweight, two-seat roadster. The contest rules specified a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Ford Anglia The Ford Anglia is a small family car that was designed and manufactured by Ford UK. It is related to the Ford Prefect and the later Ford Popular. The Anglia name was applied to various models between 1939 and 1967. In total, 1,594,486 Anglias ...

chassis mounted to a Phil Weiand-built Ford flathead V8 modified with dual carburetors, high-compression cylinder heads and tube-type exhaust headers. The winning design was from Vince Gardner, who began his career as a clay modeler working for Gordon M. Buehrig during the design of the

Cord 810 The Cord 810, and later Cord 812, was a luxury automobile produced by the Cord Automobile division of the Auburn Automobile Company in 1936 and 1937. It was the first American-designed and built front wheel drive car with independent front suspen ...

. Some styling touches, such as the

pop-up headlamps Hidden headlamps, also commonly known as pop-up headlamps, pop-up headlights, flip-eye headlamps, or hideaway headlights, are a form of automotive lighting and an automotive styling feature that conceals an automobile's headlamps when they are not ...

, were Cord-inspired details. The lightweight body was fabricated from

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

by metalsmith Emil Deidt.

Influence

Celebrities such as

Groucho Marx Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, stage, film, radio, singer, television star and vaudeville performer. He is generally considered to have been a master of quick wit an ...

and

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...

were offered private viewings of the Vega by invitation of Henry Ford II. Henry Ford II proudly displayed the car at the firm's 50th anniversary. Gardner had planned on producing an inexpensive fiberglass version of the Vega to be offered in kit form, unfortunately, the rights to the vehicle's design were the property of Ford according to the rules of the original contest. While Ford did show enthusiasm the Vega was a one-off project that ultimately did not enter series production. As an exercise, however, it was a success. The production of a stylish roadster kindled interest within Ford concerning making its own modern sporty roadster, which led directly to the creation of the highly successful 2 seat

Ford Thunderbird The Ford Thunderbird (colloquially called the T-Bird) is a personal luxury car produced by Ford from model years 1955 until 1997 and 2002 until 2005 across 11 distinct generations. Introduced as a two-seat convertible, the Thunderbird was pro ...

in 1955. The Thunderbird convertible held the same niche as the Vega would have. After the introduction of the

Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its sixth generation, it is the fifth-best selli ...

in 1964, the Thunderbird increased in size and shifted emphasis away from these performance aspirations and towards increased luxury, so as not to cannibalize sales within the Ford enterprise.

Eventual fate

The single car was displayed for several years in the

Ford Rotunda The Ford Rotunda was a tourist attraction that was originally located on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, and later was relocated to Dearborn, Michigan. At one point in the mid-20th century, it was the fifth most popular tourist destination ...

Exhibition Center in

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 109,976. Dearborn is the seventh most-populated city in Michigan and is home to the largest Muslim population in the United States pe ...

, remaining in the property of Ford. In the 2006

Barrett-Jackson Barrett-Jackson is an American collector car auction company headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was founded by Scottsdale business partners Tom Barrett and Russ Jackson. They initially launched a car show, Fiesta de los Autos Elegantes, in 19 ...

Scottsdale Auction it was sold for $385,000 to private collector Sam Pack, in whose possession it remains.

References

External links

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History

Influence

Eventual fate

References

External links

Further reading