Ford 021C
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The Ford 021C was a concept car first shown to the public at the October 1999
Tokyo Motor Show The is a biennial auto show held in October–November at the Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan for cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles. Hosted by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), it is a recognized international show ...
by
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 ...
. It was designed by
Marc Newson Marc Andrew Newson CBE RDI (born 20 October 1963) is an industrial designer who works in aircraft cabin design, product design, furniture design, jewellery, and clothing. His style uses smooth geometric lines, translucency, strength, tran ...
and built by
Ghia Carrozzeria Ghia SpA (established 1916 in Turin) is an Italian automobile design and coachbuilder, coachbuilding firm, established by Giacinto Ghia and Gariglio as "Carrozzeria Ghia & Gariglio". The headquarters are located at Corso Guglielmo Mar ...
. The car's name is taken from the
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orange colour, said to be Newson's favorite, although it was repainted in lime green when it was brought to the
Milan Furniture Fair The Milan Furniture Fair ( it, Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano) is a furniture fair held annually in Milan. It is the largest trade fair of its kind in the world. The exhibition showcases the latest in furniture and design from countrie ...
in April 2000. Ford officials stated that 021C also stands for "21st Century." It was produced purely as a styling exercise and was not intended for production.


Design

The design was commissioned by Ford’s design director
J Mays J Mays is an American industrial designer who served as Group Vice President of Global Design and Chief Creative Officer at Ford Motor Company, and is now Chief Design Officer at Whirlpool. His name is simply "J", named after his grandfather, S ...
, who selected Newson after seeing his Lockheed lounge chair in a Madonna video for the song "
Rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water ...
." The result was a four-door saloon in what Newson termed a " retro-futurist" theme, similar to the predictions made of Year 2000 automobiles in the 1960s. Mays quipped "It's probably more
George Jetson George J. Jetson is a fictional character from the animated television series ''The Jetsons''. He is the patriarch of the Jetson family. He is the husband of Jane Jetson and the father of teenage daughter Judy and son Elroy. Fictional charac ...
than
Georg Jensen Georg Arthur Jensen (31 August 1866 in Rådvad – 2 October 1935 in Copenhagen) was a Danish silversmith and founder of Georg Jensen A/S (also known as Georg Jensen Sølvsmedie). Early life Born in 1866, Jensen was the son of a knife gr ...
" at its unveiling. Ford pitched the concept at young buyers (21 years old and younger) who "want quality products which express their individuality. The exterior and interior shapes echoed prior Newson designs for round-cornered rectangular dish racks, furniture and spoke-and-hub lamps. The concept also incorporated many innovations in the interior such as four seats, with the front two seats swiveling on pedestals; a jewel-like dashboard that moved vertically to accommodate drivers of differing heights; and, when the light was switched on, an electro-luminescent film glowed snowy white across the ceiling. The dashboard dials were built by Newson's Ikepod watch company and the steering wheel was reminiscent of his 1997 Alessi coat hook. Exterior features included a slide-out boot,
suicide doors A suicide door is an automobile door hinged at its rear rather than the front. Such doors were originally used on horse-drawn carriages, but are rarely found on modern vehicles, primarily because they are perceived as being less safe than a fro ...
and LED lamps front and rear. The front and rear lamps were created by Jonathan Coles for Isometrix Lighting. The car was painted green after its unveiling in Tokyo and, unusually for an old prototype, has continued to be shown again at various art exhibits.


Specification

The 021C is powered by a 1.6 L
Zetec Ford Motor Company used the Zetec name on a variety of inline 4-cylinder automobile engines. It was coined to replace "Zeta" on a range of 1.6 L to 2.0 L multi-valve engines introduced in 1991 because Ford was threatened with legal acti ...
engine producing driving the front wheels through a four-speed automatic transmission. The 16" alloy wheels were fitted with bespoke graphite coloured Pirelli tyres. The body of the car was constructed from carbon fiber composites and was designed with minimal surface ornamentation. The car was long, wide and sat on a wheelbase of . It is shorter than the contemporary first-generation
Ford Ka The Ford Ka is a small car manufactured by Ford Motor Company from 1996 to 2016 as a city car and from 2016 to 2021 as a subcompact car. It entered its second generation in 2008, produced by Fiat in Tychy, Poland. A third generation was introduce ...
city car.


Reception

After its 1999 unveiling at the Tokyo Auto Show, automotive critics generally panned the design, with one self-deprecatingly calling himself "old and out of touch" and thus unable to appreciate what was perceived as a toy-like, naïve box. Others noted the sharp divide in opinions between "traditional" automotive styling critics and design professionals, who hailed the unified concepts in the design.
Jonathan Glancey Jonathan Glancey, is an architectural critic and writer who was the architecture and design editor at ''The Guardian'', a position he held from 1997 to February 2012. He previously held the same post at ''The Independent''. He also has been invo ...
, writing for ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', said at the time that most "contemporary car design is about as interesting as watching magnolia paint dry" and called the 021C "an eye-catcher", noting that " t madeeveryone who saw it smile." In 2009, ten years after it was first unveiled, critics revisited the design of the 021C and found the design had aged well, still appearing sleek and modern. Alex Kierstein, writing for ''Automobile'' in 2020, noted influences from the original
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and called it "ahead of its time ... had Newson penned the Ford 021C today, maybe it could have been recast as a small production EV", comparing it to contemporary small EVs such as the Fiat New 500 and Honda e.


In popular media

A car similar to the Ford 021C received a parking citation from newly-minted officer Judy Hopps in the movie ''
Zootopia ''Zootopia'' (titled ''Zootropolis'' in various regions) is a 2016 American computer-animated buddy cop action comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 55th Disney animated feature film, ...
''. J Mays is credited as the chief car designer for the film.


Exhibited

*
Tokyo Motor Show The is a biennial auto show held in October–November at the Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan for cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles. Hosted by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), it is a recognized international show ...
, October 1999 * North American International Auto Show, January 2000 *
Milan Furniture Fair The Milan Furniture Fair ( it, Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano) is a furniture fair held annually in Milan. It is the largest trade fair of its kind in the world. The exhibition showcases the latest in furniture and design from countrie ...
, April 2000 * Design Museum London, May–July 2001 *
Gagosian Gallery Gagosian is a contemporary art gallery owned and directed by Larry Gagosian. The gallery exhibits some of the most influential artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. There are 16 gallery spaces: five in New York City; three in London; two in P ...
New York, September–October 2010 * Philadelphia Museum of Art, Nov 2013-Apr 2014


References


External links

* : Segment from BBC's ''Imagine'' Series 12, entitled "Marc Newson: Urban Spaceman" featuring the 021C roadcast 4 March 2008* {{Ford Concept 021C Cars introduced in 1999