X-1500

[Barry Wolk]

The Holy Grail of Mark II lore.

[linc64]

Are you going to give us a peek inside?

[Barry Wolk]

Currently, it's at the Benson Ford Research Center, in their archives. On the 7th of April I'll be using it as a show-and-tell piece when I talk before the Lincoln design team. I hope to get images of all of the pages.

When I dropped my car off I was introduced to the group and virtually none of them knew of the Mark II's place in Ford history. I offered to their boss to enlighten them by doing a Powerpoint that focused on the design aspects of the Mark II. They liked it so much they asked me to speak, for an hour. I didn't know how I was going to fill the hour so I started thinking about my audience.

For those that don't know the X-1500 was the Mark II project's name. The Continental team came up with a design that was mercilessly rejected by Henry II. It was decided that there would be a competition for the design. The in-house team was up against four outside design concerns, some very well known. The competitors all had to meet the standard parameters and had to be rendered from the exact same angles, using the same colors on the same background. The groupings were hung separately with no hint as to which group was which. It was a true blind competition. The in-house's second attempt won the competition, much to the delight of William Clay Ford. The renderings were bound and given to WCF and ended up in the research center's archives.

I live by the old "If you don't ask, you don't get" philosophy. I started with the woman that runs the Ford Estates. I met her when we were at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford Estate for the MKZ shoot. She put me onto the head of The Henry Ford who "suggested" to the Benson Ford Research Center that they find a way to accommodate my request. Well, apparently, if you want to do anything that honor's WCF's achievements, they're all for it. The were more than happy to accommodate my needs. He was, after all, the museum's largest contributor and leader in many areas. So, they're sending the Holy Grail of Mark II lore as a show-and-tell piece. I was hoping they had a Sample Book, but they couldn't find one, so I boldly asked WCF's long term assistant if there was one floating around. I'd love to give the design group an idea what it used to be like to buy a high end car. The Sample Book is a tactile wonderland. Anyone have one that can be here by 2:00 on Monday?

Is there a way to post a Powerpoint on a forum?

Pat made a suggestion that I posed and got a very favorable reaction. Pat suggested the we swap a copy of the set of Invoices, which they don't have, for a set of copies of the Production Orders, which they do have. The POs have a lot of hand written notes, both front and back, that give a great deal insight into the history of Mark II production, some are marked missing radios or shortages of some other part the kept them from being sent out. It's just stuff that geeks like Pat and I and others enjoy. That swap would greatly expand the Forum's database.

Monday should be pretty exciting.

[RL Chilton]

Wow! That's so cool I can't hardly stand it. Sure wish I could be there to hear your presentation, Barry! That's a real honor. You mentioned that none of them knew the Mark II's place in Ford's history, lemme see, how did you put it . . .

" . . . virtually none of them knew of the Mark II's place in Ford history."

What do you think the average age of the design team is? 30+?

I'm not super savvy with Powerpoint. I do know if it has your speech within the presentation, the file becomes quite large (probably too big to email, for instance). However, if there is a way, I would love to see/hear/have/ buy the CD with it burned onto it, or whatever you can work out.

Maybe that's the answer: burn it onto a DVD, make copies and sell them to cover your costs, etc.

Cool. Cool. Cool!

[Barry Wolk]

Yes, you are correct on the age. I have underwear older than some of them. Interestingly, though, there were few young modelers.

It's a relatively short Powerpoint. I don't want to stand up there and read what I wrote, as I often speak differently than I write so the presentation will be sent to the participants ahead of time. I hope to just tell about my first experience see in a Mark II at an old mansion my parents were thinking of buying when I was 14 and the car was 10. I'm hoping the presentation will garner enough questions to fill the rest of the time. Even though I covered it in my Powerpoint, having the design book should raise some interest with them and give me something else to talk about.

[Roger Zimmermann]

It would be great to be here on Monday...Halas, I cannot! Interesting to know that the design people are not knowing the history from their company...OK, I suppose they are there because they found a job...
I wish you a great time on Monday!

[Barry Wolk]

I think it's a valid point about their age. I think that Lincoln-Continental have been together so long in marketing that they've become synonymous. Then there's the Lincoln drivetrain and the fact that it was sold through Lincoln dealers. I can see where the confusion comes from.

Plus, it was kind of an obscure car. I don't remember seeing any clips of TV advertising. All I've ever seen is print. It seemed almost quietly marketed. I had never heard of one until I was 14 and I grew up in the largest concentration of Mark IIs, anywhere. If you go through the records you'd see that Continental's biggest customer was Ford.

[linmk2]

This has been posted before, but I supposed the presentation is as close to an advertisement I've ever seen.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEJ7qH7Ym14"]Continental Mark II Intro - YouTube[/ame]

[joeinbcs]

Barry,
Interesting to hear when you first became aware of the Mark II.
I still remember being smacked in the jaw by the elegance of this car, even though I was even younger than you.
My family traveled between Kalamazoo, MI and Homestead City, FL frequently from around 1957 to about 1961 when my dad was building houses in Florida. I would have been between 5 and 9.
I was a rotten kid, and I took delight in annoying my dad. But, we did share a love of cars, and he taught me to recognize every car on the road in those days, probably when I was closer to 5 than 9.
One late night when we'd been driving too long, my mom finally insisted that we stop at a pretty "up town" looking inn. We drove in the circular drive, past the fountain that dominated the front entrance. Parked directly in front of the entrance was a long, low black Mark II, the most stunning car I'd ever seen, and for once a car that I did not recognize.
We just kept driving around the circle...out to the street, looking for another place. My dad explained that if the inn attracted a customer driving a Mark II, it was obviously a budget buster for his young family.
Much later, my dad always drove Lincolns, and had two of them when he finally quit driving. I know he's smiling somewhere, looking down (or up) at me driving that very same car that forced us out into the Georgia night looking for a cheaper motel....

[Barry Wolk]

I don't know if I related my first interaction. My father wanted me to follow in his footsteps and go to his technical high school and go into his field and his business of advertising. I wanted no part of that rat race, but did want to go to Cass Tech in Detroit. However, you had to be a resident or pay huge tuition.

To that end my folks, who liven in the suburbs, started looking for a house in Detroit and looked a some mansions in Palmer Park, a well-known ritzy area, but dirt-cheap compared to the suburbs. We went to look at a 10,000 square foot house that came furnished as the man that had passed had no family. It had a movie theatre, a billiards room, formal dining areas and a host of other amenities.

We toured the house and ended up in the kitchen. The agent hit 5 buttons on the wall and all 5 garage doors opened, the closest one revealing a 10 year old Mark II that came with the house.

The view must have had an impact on me as I had a visceral reaction to seeing the car I have now from the same view.

It turns out that the utility bills were equal to the house payment my father was making so we didn't get the house, or the car, just the love of the design that's kept with me until this day.

In my effort to find a sample book, Pat Marshall stepped up and is bringing one up for show and tell. He's also bringing a suitcase-full of styling tidbits like emblems and such so the designers can see and feel the heft and quality of the objects. I am more than pleased to share the stage with Pat.

It seems I can only post my Powerpoint as a movie, but that distorts the pictures. If anyone would like to see it I could send it as an e-mail.