Those Furious Fords: 1997 Ford F-150
Workers at the Blue Oval are currently in the throes of moving house - or moving Glass House, as the case may be. The old headquarters, a 12-storey monolith built in the mid-’50s and the site of an untold amount of Detroit history from the whole Ferrari deal to Iacocca being turfed, will be demolished in the coming year.
Why? Because a new Glass House has been constructed a few miles away, located far more sensibly near design and testing facilities which will promote better collaboration amongst all arms of vehicle planning. They’re even taking the old building’s address when they go. Here’s hoping at least some of mid-century modern tokens are saved from the old HQ.
[Images: Ford]
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Ford has, by its own admission, never been very good at preserving its four-wheeled heritage. A god’s honest quote from the company back in the day about the matter amounted to “Ford sells cars, we don’t collect them.” Fortunately, someone like Jim Farley is now at the helm, a gearhead who decreed two years ago the company needed to go out and recover some of its history.
This culminated in the assemblage of important concept vehicles and rigs with notable VINs. About 50 are on display in a parking garage not open to the public adjoining the old Glass House, with plans to create a rotating display at the new place in due time.
With this on the brain, the next three galleries will showcase a trio of Fords this author feels had a huge impact on what America puts in its driveways. It’ll be slightly nerdy - the original Mustang and such are important but obvious choices - but digging into the minutiae of automobiles is the type of content with which this site used to be filled, so I’ll do my damndest to fill the space.
The concept of a so-called snazzy pickup truck wasn’t new in 1997; witness rigs like the Gentleman Jim model at GMC about two decades prior. But the ‘97 F-150 was arguably an initial salvo in using the pickup truck as a family machine, a notion commonplace today. Safety gear like dual airbags was one thing but cushiony seats and a car-like dashboard was something else entirely for its day.
Banging (for the time) sound system, switches which would have felt at home in a Crown Vic - it all crafted the type of interior welcoming to a family, even if so-called ‘truck types’ were unsure about the new jellybean exterior styling.
But the real hero was that door. You know the one: an addition of a passenger-side clamshell which permitted easy access into the rear seat area on SuperCab models. Later, four forward swinging portals on a SuperCrew would advance the idea further a few years after the ‘97 model launch. Toss in a yaffle of cool trims from Flareside models to collabs with Harley and you’ve a truck which heavily influenced change in how Americans buy vehicles.
